Best by task completion
- Task completion
- 77.3%
- Mean search time
- 957ms
- Search price / 1,000 queries
- $5.00
Recorded search API price. Model and scrape costs are separate. Official docs ↗ · Pricing ↗
Independent comparison · 2026
Best Search API for Coding Documentation (2026): Task Completion, Speed & Cost
Best search API for coding documentation by task completion: Perplexity, 77.3% at $5.00/1,000 queries. Fastest: Parallel turbo, 333ms. Cheapest: TinyFish, $0.00/1,000 queries within free-tier limits.
Compare 10 providers, including Exa, Tavily, Brave, Parallel and Firecrawl, across 14 configurations on 100 questions. Compare search APIs for coding documentation on the developer board, search results only, scored by grounded task completion.
Fastest search
- Task completion
- 64.7%
- Mean search time
- 333ms
- Search price / 1,000 queries
- $1.00
Recorded search API price. Model and scrape costs are separate. Official docs ↗ · Pricing ↗
Cheapest search
- Task completion
- 59.3%
- Mean search time
- 2.15s
- Search price / 1,000 queries
- $0.00
Free-tier limits apply. Model and scrape costs are separate. Official docs ↗ · Pricing ↗
Compare all 14 configurations → · Open benchmark code ↗ · Public dataset sample ↗
Updated 23 September 2026. Last measured 15 September 2026.
Best search API for coding documentation
Task completion on 100 documentation tickets with the same agent using search results. A pass needs a patch that checks out and a citation from the run’s sources. The agent does not scrape the page on this board. Search latency and total task latency are shown separately. Prices are the benchmark-recorded rate basis, with the same configurations used for the quality results.
| Rank | Provider & configuration | Task completion | Mean search time | Recorded $ / 1,000 queries | Median task time | Median task cost | Official docs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Perplexitysearch_context_size=low/search | 77.3% | 957ms | $5.00Search API · POST /search | 18.31s | $0.06 | Official docs ↗ |
| 2 | Firecrawlfirecrawl-search/v2/search | 70.3% | 2.87s | $5.002 credits / 10 results | 27.95s | $0.06 | Official docs ↗ |
| 3 | Parallel fastmode=fast/v1/search | 66.7% | 953ms | $1.00mode=fast · 10 results | 22.09s | $0.05 | Official docs ↗ |
| 4 | Exa fasttype=fast/search | 66.3% | 626ms | $7.00type=fast · up to 10 results | 19.97s | $0.10 | Official docs ↗ |
| 5 | Parallel turbomode=turbo/v1/search | 64.7% | 333ms | $1.00mode=turbo · 10 results | 18.69s | $0.06 | Official docs ↗ |
| 6 | Exa instanttype=instant/search | 61.3% | 447ms | $7.00type=instant · up to 10 results | 20.58s | $0.10 | Official docs ↗ |
| 7 | TinyFishfree · 30 req/min capapi.search.tinyfish.ai | 59.3% | 2.15s | $0.0030 req/min cap | 27.84s | $0.03 | Official docs ↗ |
| 8 | Tavily basicsearch_depth=basic/search | 51.0% | 1.72s | $8.001 credit · $0.008 PAYG | 26.40s | $0.10 | Official docs ↗ |
| 9 | Nimblesearch_depth=lite · full_content=false · focus=general/v2/search | 46.7% | 3.15s | $1.10search_depth=lite · full_content=false | 32.72s | $0.04 | Official docs ↗ |
| 10 | Linkup fastdepth=fast · outputType=searchResults/v1/search | 43.3% | 1.39s | $5.00depth=fast · searchResults | 26.76s | $0.10 | Official docs ↗ |
| 11 | Nimblesearch_depth=standard · full_content=false · focus=general/v2/search | 42.3% | 878ms | $5.00search_depth=standard · full_content=false | 25.27s | $0.08 | Official docs ↗ |
| 12 | Youextraction_mode=highlights/v1/search | 41.3% | 596ms | $5.00highlights included in Web Search | 23.93s | $0.10 | Official docs ↗ |
| 13 | Youextraction_mode=highlights · knowledge=core/v1/search | 38.3% | 677ms | $5.00highlights · knowledge=core · same Web Search price assumption | 21.05s | $0.10 | Official docs ↗ |
| 14 | Bravecount=10 · result_filter=web/res/v1/web/search | 38.0% | 523ms | $5.00Recorded search-request rate; see official terms. | 19.87s | $0.08 | Official docs ↗ |
Choose the best search API for coding documentation
Coding documentation, scored as task completion
The agent receives a documentation ticket and must produce a patch that passes its checks, citing a source returned in the run. This page uses the search-only coding board: the agent works from search results and does not scrape the page. That is the ranking for a search API for coding documentation.
Search excerpts and the docs page
Search results include titles, URLs and excerpts. Some tickets are solvable from that excerpt. Others need the full docs page. When you need the page, compare the separate search-and-scrape coding board. Do not average the two scores into one rank.
Time and cost of a documentation task
Mean search time is the search call. Median task time includes the agent’s edits and any repeated searches. Median task cost includes model tokens and the search API. Recorded price per 1,000 queries is the search rate alone, so a low request price and a low completed-ticket price can differ.
Reproduce the comparison on your docs
Hold the agent and the tickets fixed. Change the search API and the result count together only when you mean to test that pair. Require a citation URL from the run’s sources. The open coding benchmark and the public dataset sample are linked below.
Benchmark method and source data
Task completion on 100 documentation tickets with the same agent using search results. A pass needs a patch that checks out and a citation from the run’s sources. The agent does not scrape the page on this board. Search latency and total task latency are shown separately. Each row is one measured configuration. Missing measurements appear as a dash.
Open benchmark code ↗ · Public dataset sample ↗ · All benchmark methods →
Common questions
What is the best search API for coding documentation?
Best search API for coding documentation by task completion: Perplexity, 77.3% at $5.00/1,000 queries. Fastest: Parallel turbo, 333ms. Cheapest: TinyFish, $0.00/1,000 queries within free-tier limits.
Which benchmark does the main ranking use?
Task completion on 100 documentation tickets with the same agent using search results. A pass needs a patch that checks out and a citation from the run’s sources. The agent does not scrape the page on this board. Search latency and total task latency are shown separately.
What does the price per 1,000 queries include?
The recorded search endpoint’s request price. Model-token spend, page scrape and plan conditions are separate. Rows with a task measurement show median task cost in its own column. Check the linked provider terms for current pricing.
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