You.com Search API alternatives in 2026

The same $5 returns the answer

A You.com call returns web results: a URL, a title, a description and snippets for each one. Your model reads them and works out the answer, and you pay for its tokens as well. A SpecStream search costs the same $0.005 and does that reading. The reply carries the answer with its page and its read time in seen_at, rows with the facts the request asks for, and sources, the results read in rank order. A question that asks several things comes back with each part answered and the page for each part.

The most accurate web search API in the world

On November 8, 2026 the SpecStream Search API scored 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 official SimpleQA Verified questions, 978 of them correct, and 64.0 item F1 and 43.4 row F1 on all 200 official WideSearch tasks. The Extract API scored 0.908 F1 on WCXB. Every score and its method are on the benchmarks page.

SpecStream gives an answer when the values the results print agree on it. When they disagree, answer is null and every value found stays in rows with its page, so your agent never passes on a guess.

Page text comes with the search

You.com bills full page content on top of the search: $1.00 per 1,000 pages read live, so a call for 10 results costs up to $0.015 with every page. On SpecStream, add passages=true and the same $0.005 search returns the text of the top pages closest to the request, each with its URL and title, plus an excerpt of up to about 3,500 characters for each result. For whole pages and documents, the Extract API reads up to 20 URLs a call at $0.80 per 1,000 pages, PDF, Word and Excel included, and a page that gives no text is not charged.

Every value has its page

You.com adds up to 25 knowledge results from licensed data providers to a call, and each one carries a credit that names the provider with no URL. On SpecStream, every value in the answer and in every row has the page it was read from and the time it was read. Your product can show the link next to the fact, and your user can open it.

From one search to a full dataset

When a search asks for many results, the reply says how many there are and hands the request to Deep Search. SpecStream quotes the most the full run can cost, keeps working until it reaches the count, for up to four hours on the largest lists, and delivers one row per match into your sheet, your CRM, Slack or your agent. A row costs 5¢, 15¢ or $1 by how much it needs, so 10,000 rows with 5 facts cost $500. The request reruns on your schedule and labels each row changed, unchanged or no longer matching. The public records SpecStream already reads every morning are at specstream.ai/data.

An agent spends inside a hard maximum

Each API key carries its own limits: a total, a limit per run, a monthly limit and the operations it allows. A Deep Search run never costs more than the maximum you approved, and what it does not use goes back to your balance. A search needs no quote: each call of up to 10 results takes $0.005 and reports its cost in price_usd. Send an Idempotency-Key header and a retry is charged once.

SpecStream

The live web data engine for teams and agents. The Search API costs $5 per 1,000 searches of up to 10 results and returns the answer, rows and the results read. The Extract API reads pages at $0.80 per 1,000, and Deep Search delivers full datasets at 5¢, 15¢ or $1 a row. New accounts get $10 of credit, no card.

Brave Search API

A search API on Brave's own index, sold as prepaid credits. The Search plan costs $5 per 1,000 requests with $5 in free credits every month, and the Answers plan costs $4 per 1,000 requests plus $5 per million input and output tokens. A SpecStream search costs the same $0.005 and returns the answer with the page it was read from.

Exa

A search API priced by the request. Search costs $4 (lite) or $7 (auto, fast) per 1,000 requests of up to 10 results, more results cost $1 per 1,000, and page contents cost $1 per 1,000 pages. The free tier is $10 in credits. SpecStream reads pages at $0.80 per 1,000 through the Extract API, and one Deep Search request covers the search, the reading and the record.

Kagi Search API

Search results from Kagi at $12 per 1,000 requests, invoiced when usage reaches $100. SpecStream costs $5 per 1,000 searches, less than half the rate, and each search returns the answer and the rows found along with the results.

SerpApi

A search results API sold on monthly plans: Starter is $25 a month for 1,000 searches and Developer is $75 a month for 5,000. SpecStream costs $5 per 1,000 searches, a fifth of the Starter rate, with no monthly plan to buy, and a top-up is spent only on the calls you make.