Cheapest search API
Every endpoint gets the same user query and can retrieve max 10 results. There is no single best web search API. It is a tradeoff between accuracy, latency, cost, and retrieval quality.
SERP (RapidAPI) has the lowest list-price search cost on this run ($0.42).
Cheapest at volume. Read Cost. List price for this run, not free tiers or volume discounts.
Most accurate · Fastest · Cheapest · Full benchmark
Ranking, sorted by total $
12 endpoints. This table is Total $ only.
| Rank | Vendor | Endpoint & configuration | Total $ |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SERPgoogle search | GET google-search74.p.rapidapi.comlimit=10 | $0.42 |
| 2 | Brave Searchweb search | GET /res/v1/web/searchcount=10 · result_filter=web | $0.67 |
| 3 | Firecrawlweb search | POST /v2/search | $0.67 |
| 4 | Parallelweb search | POST /v1/searchmode=advanced | $0.74 |
| 5 | Parallelweb search | POST /v1/searchmode=basic | $0.75 |
| 6 | Seltznews index | POST /v1/searchscope=news | $0.76 |
| 7 | Linkupweb search | POST /v1/searchdepth=fast · outputType=searchResults | $0.76 |
| 8 | Linkupweb search | POST /v1/searchdepth=standard · outputType=searchResults | $0.76 |
| 9 | Exaweb search | POST /searchtype=instant | $0.96 |
| 10 | Exaweb search | POST /searchtype=deep | $1.51 |
| 11 | Tavilyweb search | POST /searchsearch_depth=advanced · chunks_per_source=3 | $2.08 |
| 12 | PredictLeadscompany news events | GET /api/v3/companies/{domain}/news_events | $4.81 |
All metrics
Same order. Accuracy, AR@1, AR@5, speed, snippet tokens, and cost.
| Rank | Vendor | Endpoint & configuration | Accuracy | AR@1 | AR@5 | Latency | Snippet tokens | Total $ | Official docs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SERPgoogle search | GET google-search74.p.rapidapi.comlimit=10 | 94.1% | 76.5% | 93.3% | 2.14s | 468 | $0.42 | Official docs |
| 2 | Brave Searchweb search | GET /res/v1/web/searchcount=10 · result_filter=web | 95.0% | 85.7% | 95.0% | 697ms | 727 | $0.67 | Official docs |
| 3 | Firecrawlweb search | POST /v2/search | 94.1% | 77.3% | 93.3% | 1.10s | 672 | $0.67 | Official docs |
| 4 | Parallelweb search | POST /v1/searchmode=advanced | 98.3% | 63.0% | 98.3% | 3.33s | 2,143 | $0.74 | Official docs |
| 5 | Parallelweb search | POST /v1/searchmode=basic | 97.5% | 68.9% | 93.3% | 1.40s | 2,413 | $0.75 | Official docs |
| 6 | Seltznews index | POST /v1/searchscope=news | 68.9% | 31.9% | 64.7% | 321ms | 2,913 | $0.76 | Official docs |
| 7 | Linkupweb search | POST /v1/searchdepth=fast · outputType=searchResults | 96.6% | 89.1% | 96.6% | 1.84s | 2,846 | $0.76 | Official docs |
| 8 | Linkupweb search | POST /v1/searchdepth=standard · outputType=searchResults | 97.5% | 84.9% | 95.0% | 2.34s | 2,936 | $0.76 | Official docs |
| 9 | Exaweb search | POST /searchtype=instant | 99.2% | 84.9% | 97.5% | 444ms | 2,053 | $0.96 | Official docs |
| 10 | Exaweb search | POST /searchtype=deep | 99.2% | 98.3% | 99.2% | 2.95s | 1,293 | $1.51 | Official docs |
| 11 | Tavilyweb search | POST /searchsearch_depth=advanced · chunks_per_source=3 | 95.0% | 84.0% | 95.0% | 4.34s | 3,035 | $2.08 | Official docs |
| 12 | PredictLeadscompany news events | GET /api/v3/companies/{domain}/news_events | 63.0% | 47.9% | 63.0% | 668ms | 411 | $4.81 | Official docs |
Most accurate, fastest, and cheapest search API
What is the most accurate search API?
Exa (type=instant) leads extracted-answer accuracy at 99.2% on 119 lookup questions.
What is the fastest search API?
Seltz has the lowest mean latency at 321ms on this run.
What is the cheapest search API?
SERP (RapidAPI) has the lowest list-price search cost on this run ($0.42). Free tiers and volume discounts are not included.