benchmarks/web search/serper alternatives
independently benchmarked · 300 questions · updated Sep 26, 2026

Serper Alternatives, 2026

Serper was not tested. Exa fast leads 11 tested alternatives at 99.3% accuracy on 300 company-news questions, independently benchmarked Sep 26, 2026.

What this page compares. This page ranks measured results from 3 boards: company-news factual lookup (web search APIs), coding-agent documentation tickets (search and page fetch) and multi-turn company search (search only). Serper was not tested, so this page makes no head-to-head claim about it.

How to read the result. The table ranks every complete run by its score on the same questions. Latency and cost are shown beside it and not blended into the score.

Company-news factual lookup, web search APIs, ranked by accuracy

Every row ran the same 300 questions. Provider names link to the official docs for the configuration measured.

RankProviderAccuracyAnswer recall @5Median search time$ / 1k queries$ / 1k correctResult tokensAccuracy / 1k tokensList price
1Exa fasttype=fast99.3%99.3%569 ms$7.00$7.051,98750.0$7.00 / 1k queries
2Exa instanttype=instant97.7%97.3%386 ms$7.00$7.172,12845.9$7.00 / 1k queries
3Perplexity lowsearch_context_size=low97.3%98.3%1.6 s$5.00$5.14476205$5.00 / 1k queries
4Linkup fastdepth=fast · outputType=searchResults96.7%94.7%1.2 s$5.00$5.173,02232.0$5.00 / 1k queries
5SERPlimit=1096.0%95.0%578 ms$3.00$3.13497193$3.00 / 1k queries
7Brave Search llm-contextcount=1094.0%94.7%590 ms$5.00$5.322,06445.6$5.00 / 1k queries
9Parallel basicmode=basic93.3%92.0%1.8 s$5.00$5.362,33040.1$5.00 / 1k queries
10Nimble standardsearch_depth=standard · full_content=false · focus=general93.0%94.3%822 ms$5.00$5.382,73034.1$5.00 / 1k queries
11Tavily advancedsearch_depth=advanced93.0%92.7%4.2 s$16.00$17.202,21042.1$16.00 / 1k queries
12Linkup standarddepth=standard · outputType=searchResults92.0%90.3%2.1 s$5.00$5.432,98330.8$5.00 / 1k queries
14You highlights coreextraction_mode=highlights · knowledge=core92.0%89.7%815 ms$5.00$5.432,86232.1$5.00 / 1k queries
15You highlightsextraction_mode=highlights90.7%89.7%614 ms$5.00$5.512,83732.0$5.00 / 1k queries
16Tavily basicsearch_depth=basic87.7%87.7%1.7 s$8.00$9.131,63953.5$8.00 / 1k queries
17Parallel fastmode=fast86.0%79.0%861 ms$1.00$1.161,83946.8$1.00 / 1k queries
18Nimble litesearch_depth=lite · full_content=false · focus=general75.3%75.3%1.4 s$1.10$1.46413183$1.10 / 1k queries
19Parallel turbomode=turbo71.3%66.0%315 ms$1.00$1.401,85338.5$1.00 / 1k queries

Coding-agent documentation tickets, search and page fetch, ranked by task completion

RankProviderTask completionMean search timeMedian task timeMedian cost / taskMedian task tokensCompletion / 1k tokensList price
1Exa deeptype=deep83.0%4.0 s36.8 s$0.1323,6603.51$12.00 / 1k queries
2Exa autotype=auto81.7%1.2 s22.7 s$0.1127,4332.98$7.00 / 1k queries
4Perplexitysearch_context_size=high77.7%991 ms21.5 s$0.08320,0623.87$5.00 / 1k queries
5Parallel advancedmode=advanced77.0%3.1 s33.4 s$0.09627,0922.84$5.00 / 1k queries
7Parallel basicmode=basic76.0%1.6 s30.0 s$0.1132,8092.32$5.00 / 1k queries
8Nimblesearch_depth=lite · full_content=false · focus=general60.3%1.9 s40.0 s—16,8283.59$1.10 / 1k queries
9Tavily advancedsearch_depth=advanced60.0%3.4 s46.4 s$0.1526,2692.28$16.00 / 1k queries
10Tavily basicsearch_depth=basic59.0%1.5 s32.4 s$0.1127,4052.15$8.00 / 1k queries
11Youextraction_mode=highlights55.0%638 ms27.3 s$0.1242,8061.28$5.00 / 1k queries
12Youextraction_mode=highlights · knowledge=core54.0%678 ms27.8 s$0.1237,4531.44$5.00 / 1k queries
13Linkup standarddepth=standard48.3%2.0 s48.2 s$0.1557,7910.84$5.00 / 1k queries
14Nimblesearch_depth=standard · full_content=false · focus=general45.0%905 ms44.2 s—28,5861.57$5.00 / 1k queries

Multi-turn company search, search only, ranked by F1

RankProviderF1PrecisionRecallMedian task timeMedian cost / taskMedian task tokensList price
1Parallel basicparallel-basic46.5%88.7%34.4%67.6 s$1.12303,467$5.00 / 1k queries
2Exa deepexa-deep45.4%83.2%33.7%89.5 s$0.72153,061$12.00 / 1k queries
3Parallel advancedparallel-advanced44.2%87.6%32.0%83.4 s$0.62159,733$5.00 / 1k queries
4Exa instantexa-instant43.3%82.6%32.2%49.8 s$0.65152,622$7.00 / 1k queries
5Linkup fastlinkup-fast41.1%82.8%30.3%64.2 s$0.92259,642$5.00 / 1k queries
6Tavily advancedtavily-advanced41.1%83.7%29.8%92.2 s$1.03237,706$16.00 / 1k queries
7Linkup standardlinkup-standard40.6%84.0%29.7%72.3 s$0.94249,382$5.00 / 1k queries
8Youextraction_mode=highlights38.6%79.3%28.3%48.2 s$0.97264,016$5.00 / 1k queries
9Youextraction_mode=highlights · knowledge=core38.1%80.9%27.4%47.6 s$0.90244,245$5.00 / 1k queries
10Parallel fastparallel-fast38.0%79.9%27.5%53.9 s$0.46119,953$1.00 / 1k queries
11Perplexitysearch_context_size=low37.8%79.3%26.8%48.9 s$0.3366,928$5.00 / 1k queries
12Tavily basictavily-basic36.5%82.5%25.7%63.0 s$0.61142,692$8.00 / 1k queries
13Parallel turboparallel-turbo34.7%80.0%24.8%46.4 s$0.42110,844$1.00 / 1k queries
14Nimblesearch_depth=standard · full_content=false · focus=general30.7%70.3%21.3%53.0 s$0.47109,000$5.00 / 1k queries
15Firecrawlfirecrawl30.4%77.3%20.7%75.0 s$0.2850,596$5.00 / 1k queries
16Brave Searchbrave28.0%66.9%19.3%43.5 s$0.2749,005$5.00 / 1k queries
17TinyFishtinyfish26.6%64.7%17.9%64.2 s$0.2151,091$0 / 1k queries
18Nimblesearch_depth=lite · full_content=false · focus=general24.1%65.2%16.1%67.2 s$0.2250,682$1.10 / 1k queries
19Seltzseltz-companies14.5%40.0%9.4%55.2 s$1.75500,633$5.00 / 1k queries
20SERP (RapidAPI)serp0.4%0.7%0.3%31.4 s$0.1010,890$3.00 / 1k queries

How the ranking was measured

  • Every API received the same natural-language question about a recent company event, one search per question, up to 10 results.
  • Each answer is a single verifiable value pinned to an official wire or newsroom URL, fixed before any vendor ran.
  • Accuracy is whether the returned results let the same answering model extract the correct value.
  • Latency is the search request time. Cost is the recorded list price for the calls made, per 1,000 queries and per 1,000 correct answers.
  • The runner and published data are open in openbenchmarks-labs/factual-lookup-company-news-search ↗ and openbenchmarks/OB-News-Websearch ↗. The full methodology is on the Web Search Benchmark →

Questions answered by this comparison

Which provider leads serper Alternatives?

Exa fast leads this table at 99.3% accuracy, on 300 company-news questions.

How was this measured?

Every API received the same natural-language question about a recent company event, one search per question, up to 10 results. Each answer is a single verifiable value pinned to an official wire or newsroom URL, fixed before any vendor ran. Accuracy is whether the returned results let the same answering model extract the correct value. Latency is the search request time. Cost is the recorded list price for the calls made, per 1,000 queries and per 1,000 correct answers.

How should speed and cost be read beside the score?

Exa fast recorded 569 ms median search time and $7.00 per 1,000 queries. The most accurate configuration is rarely the fastest or the cheapest, so each is reported in its own column.

Was Serper tested?

No. Serper was not run on this benchmark. The rows are tested alternatives on the same questions; this page makes no claim that any of them is more accurate, faster or cheaper.

What does this page not test?

This page ranks measured results from 3 boards: company-news factual lookup (web search APIs), coding-agent documentation tickets (search and page fetch) and multi-turn company search (search only). Serper was not tested, so this page makes no head-to-head claim about it.