Brave Search API vs the Best Web Search APIs (2026): Comparison & Benchmark
Brave Web Search scores 93.3% accuracy at $5 per 1,000 requests. Average search time: 630ms. Compare the best web search APIs for AI: Exa, Tavily, Parallel and Firecrawl, with official pricing and independent benchmarks.
- Brave pricing: $5 per 1,000 requests, with $5 monthly credits. Official pricing ↗
- Brave LLM Context: 94.0% accuracy · 601ms average search time.
- Brave Web Search: 93.3% accuracy · 630ms average search time.
- Best by accuracy: Exa (type=fast) — 99.3%.
- Fastest search: Parallel (mode=turbo) — 348ms.
- Lowest recorded query price: TinyFish — $0.00 per 1,000 queries; plan limits apply.
Brave Search API pricing per 1,000 queries
Search and LLM Context share the $5 per 1,000 request rate. Answers adds model generation and has a separate token charge. Official plans checked 21 September 2026.
| Product | Per 1,000 requests | Monthly credits | Published capacity | Official source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Search / Web Search | $5.00 | $5 | 50 queries/second | Pricing ↗ · Docs ↗ |
| Search / LLM Context | $5.00 | Search plan allowance | Search plan capacity | Official docs ↗ |
| Answers | $4.00 + $5/million input/output tokens | $5 | 2 queries/second | Official pricing ↗ |
At $5 per 1,000 requests, 10,000 searches cost $50 and 100,000 cost $500 before credits. Budget your application’s LLM generation and any extra scrape calls separately.
Brave vs Exa, Tavily and Parallel: web search API comparison
Accuracy, average search time and cost per 1,000 queries across 300 search questions. Every row identifies its endpoint and configuration. Last measured 21 Oct 2026.
| Rank | Vendor | Endpoint & configuration | Official docs | Accuracy | AR@1 | AR@5 | $ / 1k correct | Latency | Snippet tokens | Total $ | Cost per 1,000 queries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Exaweb searchfast | POST /searchtype=fast | Official docs ↗ | 99.3% | 95.0% | 99.3% | $7.05 | 652ms | 1,987 | $2.10 | $7 / 1ktype=fast · up to 10 results |
| 2 | Contextweb search | POST api.context.dev/v1/web/searchnumResults=10 · highlights maxCharacters=1200 | Official docs ↗ | 98.0% | 88.7% | 98.3% | $4.49 | 15.93s | 1,972 | $1.32 | $4.4 / 1k2 credits / 10 results with Highlights · $2.20 per 1,000 credits |
| 3 | Exaweb searchinstant | POST /searchtype=instant | Official docs ↗ | 97.7% | 80.0% | 97.3% | $7.17 | 398ms | 2,128 | $2.10 | $7 / 1ktype=instant · up to 10 results |
| 4 | Perplexityweb search | POST /searchsearch_context_size=low | Official docs ↗ | 97.3% | 91.7% | 98.3% | $5.14 | 1.38s | 476 | $1.50 | $5 / 1kSearch API · POST /search |
| 5 | Linkupweb searchfast | POST /v1/searchdepth=fast · outputType=searchResults | Official docs ↗ | 96.7% | 79.0% | 94.7% | $5.17 | 1.57s | 3,022 | $1.50 | $5 / 1kdepth=fast · searchResults |
| 6 | SERPgoogle search | GET google-search74.p.rapidapi.comlimit=10 | Official docs ↗ | 96.0% | 78.0% | 95.0% | $3.13 | 751ms | 497 | $0.90 | $3 / 1kPro overage $0.003/request |
| 7 | Firecrawlweb search | POST /v2/search | Official docs ↗ | 95.3% | 77.7% | 96.7% | $5.24 | 510ms | 678 | $1.50 | $5 / 1k2 credits / 10 results |
| 8 | Nimbleweb searchlite | POST /v2/searchsearch_depth=lite · full_content=false · focus=general | Official docs ↗ | 94.3% | 59.7% | 93.7% | $1.17 | 2.46s | 860 | $0.33 | $1.1 / 1ksearch_depth=lite · full_content=false |
| 9 | Brave Searchweb searchBrave LLM context | POST /res/v1/llm/contextcount=10 | Official docs ↗ | 94.0% | 81.0% | 94.7% | $5.32 | 601ms | 2,064 | $1.50 | $5 / 1kSearch plan · LLM Context |
| 10 | Parallelweb searchbasic | POST /v1/searchmode=basic | Official docs ↗ | 93.3% | 55.0% | 92.0% | $5.36 | 1.68s | 2,330 | $1.50 | $5 / 1kmode=basic · 10 results |
| 11 | Brave Searchweb search | GET /res/v1/web/searchcount=10 · result_filter=web | Official docs ↗ | 93.3% | 79.3% | 91.7% | $5.36 | 630ms | 817 | $1.50 | $5 / 1k |
| 12 | Nimbleweb searchstandard | POST /v2/searchsearch_depth=standard · full_content=false · focus=general | Official docs ↗ | 93.0% | 86.3% | 94.3% | $5.38 | 861ms | 2,730 | $1.50 | $5 / 1ksearch_depth=standard · full_content=false |
| 13 | Tavilyweb searchadvanced | POST /searchsearch_depth=advanced | Official docs ↗ | 93.0% | 65.0% | 92.7% | $17.20 | 4.29s | 2,210 | $4.80 | $16 / 1k2 credits · $0.008 PAYG |
| 14 | TinyFishweb search | GET api.search.tinyfish.aifree · 30 req/min cap | Official docs ↗ | 92.0% | 74.3% | 90.7% | Free30 req/min cap | 2.62s | 441 | Free | $0free · 30 req/min, 500/hour |
| 15 | Linkupweb searchstandard | POST /v1/searchdepth=standard · outputType=searchResults | Official docs ↗ | 92.0% | 67.3% | 90.3% | $5.43 | 2.55s | 2,983 | $1.50 | $5 / 1kdepth=standard · searchResults |
| 16 | Youweb searchhighlights core | POST /v1/searchextraction_mode=highlights · knowledge=core | Official docs ↗ | 92.0% | 67.3% | 89.7% | $5.43 | 889ms | 2,862 | $1.50 | $5 / 1khighlights · knowledge=core · same Web Search price assumption |
| 17 | Youweb searchhighlights | POST /v1/searchextraction_mode=highlights | Official docs ↗ | 90.7% | 72.0% | 89.7% | $5.51 | 628ms | 2,837 | $1.50 | $5 / 1khighlights included in Web Search |
| 18 | Tavilyweb searchbasic | POST /searchsearch_depth=basic | Official docs ↗ | 87.7% | 82.0% | 87.7% | $9.13 | 1.88s | 1,639 | $2.40 | $8 / 1k1 credit · $0.008 PAYG |
| 19 | Parallelweb searchfast | POST /v1/searchmode=fast | Official docs ↗ | 86.0% | 44.3% | 79.0% | $1.16 | 942ms | 1,839 | $0.30 | $1 / 1kmode=fast · 10 results |
| 20 | Parallelweb searchturbo | POST /v1/searchmode=turbo | Official docs ↗ | 71.3% | 45.3% | 66.0% | $1.40 | 348ms | 1,853 | $0.30 | $1 / 1kmode=turbo · 10 results |
$ / 1k correct is $ / 1k queries divided by extracted-answer accuracy. Ranked by accuracy, highest first. Cost per 1,000 queries is the published PAYG list price, linked to the vendor pricing page. Not promotional packs or volume discounts. TinyFish Search is free with a 30 requests/min cap — $0 is not unlimited throughput.
Table prices are the recorded list rates for the tested configurations; provider links show current terms. View full search benchmark →
Brave Web Search vs LLM Context for AI agents
Web Search returns ranked URLs and snippets. LLM Context returns extracted passages and source metadata for grounding AI answers and RAG. Match the row to the endpoint your application uses; each endpoint’s score belongs to that tested configuration.
Brave in a research agent: multi-search benchmark
Additional context: an agent combines several searches across 45 questions. Quality is F1; median time covers the whole agent task. This comparison uses Brave Web Search.
| Provider | Endpoint & configuration | Official docs | F1 | Precision | Recall | Exact set | Median time | Mean turns | Median task cost | API list price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parallel basic | POST /v1/search mode=basicparallel-basic | Official docs ↗ | 46.5 ± 1.9 | 88.7 ± 0.9 | 34.4 ± 2.0 | 3.7 ± 2.6 | 67.6 s | 7.4 | $1.120$0.070 search$1.050 token cost | $0.005 / search |
| Exa deep | POST /search type=deepexa-deep | Official docs ↗ | 45.4 ± 2.0 | 83.2 ± 3.0 | 33.7 ± 1.4 | 1.5 ± 1.3 | 89.5 s | 7.4 | $0.717$0.156 search$0.556 token cost | $0.012 / search |
| Parallel advanced | POST /v1/search mode=advancedparallel-advanced | Official docs ↗ | 44.2 ± 1.4 | 87.6 ± 3.4 | 32.0 ± 1.6 | 2.2 ± 0.0 | 83.4 s | 7.3 | $0.625$0.070 search$0.565 token cost | $0.005 / search |
| Exa instant | POST /search type=instantexa-instant | Official docs ↗ | 43.3 ± 1.0 | 82.6 ± 3.8 | 32.2 ± 0.5 | 3.0 ± 1.3 | 49.8 s | 7.3 | $0.652$0.091 search$0.559 token cost | $0.007 / search |
| Linkup fast | POST /v1/search depth=fastlinkup-fast | Official docs ↗ | 41.1 ± 1.7 | 82.8 ± 1.0 | 30.3 ± 1.5 | 0.7 ± 1.3 | 64.2 s | 7.4 | $0.923$0.070 search$0.853 token cost | $0.005 / search |
| Tavily advanced | POST /search search_depth=advancedtavily-advanced | Official docs ↗ | 41.1 ± 2.3 | 83.7 ± 4.2 | 29.8 ± 1.7 | 2.2 ± 0.0 | 92.2 s | 7.4 | $1.029$0.224 search$0.808 token cost | $0.016 / search |
| Linkup standard | POST /v1/search depth=standardlinkup-standard | Official docs ↗ | 40.6 ± 0.9 | 84.0 ± 7.9 | 29.7 ± 1.4 | 1.5 ± 2.6 | 72.3 s | 7.3 | $0.937$0.070 search$0.867 token cost | $0.005 / search |
| You | POST /v1/searchextraction_mode=highlights | Official docs ↗ | 38.6 ± 0.8 | 79.3 ± 4.9 | 28.3 ± 0.9 | 4.4 ± 0.0 | 48.2 s | 7.5 | $0.971$0.070 search$0.901 token cost | $0.005 / search |
| You | POST /v1/searchextraction_mode=highlights · knowledge=core | Official docs ↗ | 38.1 ± 0.6 | 80.9 ± 1.6 | 27.4 ± 0.9 | 3.0 ± 1.3 | 47.6 s | 7.5 | $0.895$0.070 search$0.827 token cost | $0.005 / search |
| Parallel fast | POST /v1/search mode=fastparallel-fast | Official docs ↗ | 38.0 ± 2.0 | 79.9 ± 4.6 | 27.5 ± 1.4 | 1.5 ± 1.3 | 53.9 s | 7.6 | $0.460$0.014 search$0.447 token cost | $0.001 / search |
| Perplexity | POST /searchsearch_context_size=low | Official docs ↗ | 37.8 ± 2.1 | 79.3 ± 5.7 | 26.8 ± 1.4 | 2.2 ± 2.2 | 48.9 s | 7.7 | $0.334$0.070 search$0.264 token cost | $0.005 / search |
| Tavily basic | POST /search search_depth=basictavily-basic | Official docs ↗ | 36.5 ± 3.2 | 82.5 ± 1.9 | 25.7 ± 2.7 | 1.5 ± 1.3 | 63.0 s | 7.7 | $0.615$0.112 search$0.504 token cost | $0.008 / search |
| Parallel turbo | POST /v1/search mode=turboparallel-turbo | Official docs ↗ | 34.7 ± 2.4 | 80.0 ± 5.2 | 24.8 ± 2.4 | 1.5 ± 1.3 | 46.4 s | 7.6 | $0.419$0.014 search$0.405 token cost | $0.001 / search |
| Nimble | POST /v2/searchsearch_depth=standard · full_content=false · focus=general | Official docs ↗ | 30.7 ± 1.4 | 70.3 ± 3.3 | 21.3 ± 1.1 | 0.7 ± 1.3 | 53.0 s | 7.7 | $0.467$0.070 search$0.398 token cost | $0.005 / search |
| Firecrawl | POST /v2/searchfirecrawl | Official docs ↗ | 30.4 ± 1.1 | 77.3 ± 4.4 | 20.7 ± 0.7 | 2.2 ± 0.0 | 75.0 s | 7.9 | $0.282$0.070 search$0.212 token cost | $0.005 / search |
| Brave Search | GET /res/v1/web/searchbrave | Official docs ↗ | 28.0 ± 1.7 | 66.9 ± 8.5 | 19.3 ± 0.5 | 0.7 ± 1.3 | 43.5 s | 8.0 | $0.268$0.070 search$0.200 token cost | $0.005 / search |
| TinyFish | GET api.search.tinyfish.aitinyfish | Official docs ↗ | 26.6 ± 1.3 | 64.7 ± 1.5 | 17.9 ± 0.8 | 1.5 ± 1.3 | 64.2 s | 7.9 | $0.212$0.000 search$0.212 token cost | $0 / search |
| Nimble | POST /v2/searchsearch_depth=lite · full_content=false · focus=general | Official docs ↗ | 25.3 ± 1.1 | 62.8 ± 1.9 | 17.6 ± 1.2 | 1.5 ± 1.3 | 67.9 s | 7.9 | $0.234$0.015 search$0.220 token cost | $0.0011 / search |
| Seltz | POST /v1/search scope=companiesseltz-companies | Official docs ↗ | 14.5 ± 0.9 | 40.0 ± 3.1 | 9.4 ± 0.7 | 0.0 ± 0.0 | 55.2 s | 7.3 | $1.751$0.070 search$1.681 token cost | $0.005 / search |
| SERP | GET google-search74.p.rapidapi.comserp | Official docs ↗ | 0.4 ± 0.6 | 0.7 ± 1.3 | 0.3 ± 0.4 | 0.0 ± 0.0 | 31.4 s | 7.8 | $0.103$0.036 search$0.065 token cost | $0.003 / search |
F1, precision, recall, and exact-set accuracy are percentages reported as mean ± sample SD across three independent runs; each run aggregates all 45 questions. SD is measured in percentage points. Median time is the median end-to-end time across all runs for each vendor. Median task cost is the median of LLM $ plus search API $ per agent run. API list price is the PAYG unit rate of the search endpoint the harness calls.
How the search APIs were benchmarked
The main table measures extracted-answer accuracy on company-news questions using one query and up to 10 results. The questions, model and judge stay fixed while the search API changes. The secondary research table measures company-set precision, recall and F1 across questions with several constraints. Scores remain separate for the two workflows.
Search benchmark code ↗ · Public dataset sample ↗ · Research benchmark code ↗
Brave Search API pricing and comparison: FAQ
How much does Brave Search API cost per 1,000 queries?
Brave's Search plan costs $5 per 1,000 requests and includes $5 in monthly credits. Web Search and LLM Context are included in the Search plan. At that rate, 100,000 requests cost $500 before credits. Official terms checked 21 September 2026.
Is Brave Search API free?
Brave applies $5 in free Search credits each month, equivalent to 1,000 requests at the published $5 per 1,000 rate. Requests beyond the credit allowance are billed under the plan terms.
Brave vs Exa vs Tavily: which is the best web search API for AI?
Exa (type=fast) leads the main search benchmark at 99.3% accuracy. Compare each endpoint's measured accuracy and search latency with its price per 1,000 queries. The same questions, model and judge are used for every measured configuration.
What is the difference between Brave Web Search and LLM Context?
Web Search returns ranked results and snippets. LLM Context returns extracted passages and source metadata for AI agents and RAG, with controls for the context budget. Each measured endpoint has its own row and score in the search table.
Is Brave Answers priced the same as Search?
Brave publishes Answers at $4 per 1,000 requests plus $5 per million input/output tokens. Search is $5 per 1,000 requests. Answers adds generated responses; the benchmark below measures the listed search endpoints.
Which search API is fastest and cheapest in this benchmark?
Parallel (mode=turbo) has the lowest mean search latency at 348ms. TinyFish has the lowest recorded API list price at $0.00 per 1,000 queries. Free allowances and plan limits apply; check official pricing and evaluate accuracy alongside speed and cost.
More web search API comparisons
Brave vs Exa · Brave vs Tavily · Brave vs Parallel · Cheapest search APIs · Best web search APIs for AI · Best web search APIs for developers