Best web search API in 2026
12 APIs by price, score and reply.
The best web search API in 2026 is SpecStream, the most accurate web search API in the world: a 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 SimpleQA Verified questions, from $1 per 1,000 searches. Parallel prints 97 and Linkup 94% on their own pages.
SpecStream is the live web data engine for teams and agents. One search returns ranked results, the answer when they agree on one, and typed rows. Source URL and read time on every value. A client built for another API switches by its base address.
New accounts get $10 of credit, no card.
Web search APIs, from each company's own pages on Nov 12, 2026
| SpecStream | Parallel | Linkup | Brave | Exa | Tavily | Serper | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price per 1,000 searches | $5, or $1 with speed=fast and on every drop-in address | From $1 | $5 to $6 | $5 | $4, $7 or $12 by search type | $8 basic, $16 advanced | $1.00 on the 50k pack, down to $0.30 on the 12.5M pack |
| Free to start | $10 of credit, no card | $5 a month with a card on file, plus up to $80 at signup | 4,000 queries | $5 of credits every month | $10 of credits a month, plus a $10 onboarding bonus | 1,000 credits a month, no card | 2,500 queries, no card |
| Results per call | Up to 10 at the base price, up to 100 with num; each started block of 10 more adds $0.006, or $0.0012 on the fast search | 10, and more at $1 per 1,000 results | Set with maxResults | Set with count | Up to 10 in the base price, $1 per 1,000 requests for each result above 10 | Set with max_results | Google's organic results, set with num |
| What one call returns | Ranked sources, typed rows, and an answer with its page and seen_at when the results agree on one | Results with excerpts of each page | Results, or a sourced answer with outputType | Web results with a description each | Results, with page text when asked | Results with content, and an answer when asked | Google's organic results with snippet and position |
| SimpleQA Verified, own published score | 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 official questions (978 correct), raw answers public | 97 for Parallel Advanced, evals run September 9, 2026 | 94% F-score | None; Brave prints 85.3% on FreshQA at $18 per 1,000 questions | None printed as text | No number; its homepage says it ranks #1 on SealQA and SimpleQA | None on its homepage |
| Remote MCP server | https://api.specstream.ai/mcp, with search_web and read_pages | https://search.parallel.ai/mcp | https://mcp.linkup.so/mcp | A GitHub repository, brave/brave-search-mcp-server | https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp | https://mcp.tavily.com/mcp/ | None on its homepage |
| Same client on SpecStream, $1 per 1,000 | GET https://api.specstream.ai/v1/web-search with speed=fast | Base address https://api.specstream.ai/parallel | Base address https://api.specstream.ai/linkup/v1 | Base address https://api.specstream.ai, key in X-Subscription-Token | Base address https://api.specstream.ai/exa | Base address https://api.specstream.ai/tavily | Base address https://api.specstream.ai/serper, key in X-API-KEY |
Why SpecStream ranks first
The right answer more often, on a test you can check
On all 1,000 official SimpleQA Verified questions, graded with the set's official grader prompt, the SpecStream Search API scored a 97.9 F-score: 978 correct, 20 wrong and 2 not attempted, at 1.3 searches and 9.7 seconds a question on average. Every raw answer is public, linked from specstream.ai/benchmarks, so anyone can grade it again or run another API on the same 1,000 questions. On all 200 official WideSearch tasks it scored 64.0 item F1 and 43.4 row F1, ahead of every system in the WideSearch paper on item F1.
A reply a program can use as it comes
GET /v1/web-search returns the search results in rank order in sources, the results as typed rows with the facts the request asks for, and an answer with the page it was read on and seen_at when the results agree on one value. When they do not agree, answer is null and every value found stays in rows. A call that returns no results costs nothing, and the reply's price_usd says what the call cost.
Keep your code when you switch
SpecStream answers at the addresses of the APIs above, in each one's own request and reply shape: Tavily, Exa, Brave, Serper, SerpApi, Parallel, Linkup, Perplexity, You.com, Firecrawl, Google Custom Search and Bing Web Search v7 among them. Change the base address and the key, and each call is one fast search at $1 per 1,000. The full list is at specstream.ai/migrate.
One key for search, pages and rows
The Extract API reads 1 to 20 pages a call at $0.80 per 1,000 pages, and a page with no text is not charged. Deep Search turns a request in plain words into structured rows at 5¢, 15¢ or $1 a row, and shows the most a run can cost before it runs.
The 12 web search APIs, ranked
1. SpecStream
The live web data engine for teams and agents, and the most accurate web search API in the world. The Search API costs $5 per 1,000 searches of up to 10 results, or $1 with speed=fast and on every drop-in address, and scores a 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 official SimpleQA Verified questions. MCP: https://api.specstream.ai/mcp, where search_web runs a search and read_pages reads pages.
2. Parallel
A search API from $1 per 1,000 requests, with 10 results a request and more at $1 per 1,000 results. Its benchmarks page prints 97 for Parallel Advanced on SimpleQA Verified, from evals run September 9, 2026. A Parallel client moves to SpecStream with the base address https://api.specstream.ai/parallel, at $1 per 1,000, and gets the answer and typed rows when it asks the native search.
3. Linkup
A search API at $0.005 to $0.006 a request, with 4,000 free queries. Its docs print a 94% F-score on SimpleQA Verified. A Linkup client moves to SpecStream with the base address https://api.specstream.ai/linkup/v1, at $1 per 1,000, against a 97.9 F-score on the same set.
4. Brave
The Brave Search API costs $5 per 1,000 requests, with $5 in free credits every month, and its page prints 85.3% accuracy on FreshQA at $18 per 1,000 questions. A Brave client moves to SpecStream with the base address https://api.specstream.ai, the key in X-Subscription-Token, at $1 per 1,000.
5. Exa
A search API at $4, $7 or $12 per 1,000 requests by search type, with up to 10 results in the base price and $1 per 1,000 requests for each result above 10. Its evals page charts scores with no number tied to a system in its text. An Exa client moves to SpecStream with base_url="https://api.specstream.ai/exa" in the official SDK, at $1 per 1,000.
6. Tavily
A search API billed in credits at $0.008 each: 1 credit for a basic search and 2 for advanced, so $8 or $16 per 1,000, with 1,000 free credits a month. Its homepage says it ranks #1 on SealQA and SimpleQA and prints no number. A Tavily client moves to SpecStream with api_base_url="https://api.specstream.ai/tavily" in the official SDK, at $1 per 1,000.
7. Perplexity Search API
Ranked web results as JSON at $5 per 1,000 requests, or $1 with fast search, with no generated answer. Its Search API pages print no score. A SpecStream search at the same $5 also returns the answer with its page, when the results agree on one. Its client moves with the base address https://api.specstream.ai/perplexity.
8. You.com
The Web Search API costs $5 per 1,000 calls, and a call that returns 1 result costs the same as one that returns 100. New accounts get $10 of credit, which it counts as 2,000 searches. Its client moves to SpecStream with the base address https://api.specstream.ai/you, at $1 per 1,000.
9. Firecrawl
Search costs 2 credits per 10 results, from monthly plans that start at $19 for 5,000 credits. Its homepage prints 96% coverage on its own scrape benchmark, which measures page reads, not search. SpecStream prices a search from $1 per 1,000 and a page read at $0.80 per 1,000, and answers at https://api.specstream.ai/firecrawl.
10. Oxylabs
A scraping company whose /Search product costs $1 per 1,000 searches, inside monthly plans that start at $15 a month. SpecStream sells search with no plan: $1 per 1,000 on the fast search, paid from one balance that also reads pages and builds rows.
11. Serper
A Google results API sold in prepaid credits, from $1.00 per 1,000 on the 50k pack to $0.30 on the 12.5M pack, with 2,500 free queries. Its homepage prints no score and no MCP server. A Serper client moves to SpecStream with the base address https://api.specstream.ai/serper, and needs no pack.
12. SerpApi
A results page API sold by the month: Starter costs $25 a month for 1,000 searches. Its client moves to SpecStream with the base address https://api.specstream.ai/serpapi, at $1 per 1,000 and no monthly plan.
How SpecStream scores
The same numbers as the benchmarks page, from the official tasks and scorers.
| SpecStream |  Parallel |  Exa |  Tavily |  Perplexity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Web researchWideSearch, GPT-5.6 Luna | 60.9 | 45.5 | 53.0 | 47.9 | 47.0 |
| Factual accuracySimpleQA Verified, GPT-5.6 Luna | 96 | 94 | 91 | 94 | 94 |
| Factual accuracySimpleQA Verified, GPT-5.6 Sol | 99 | 97 | 91 | 92 | 95 |
How to start
New accounts get $10 of credit, no card: 2,000 searches at $5 per 1,000, or 10,000 on the fast search. Create an API key and send the first search.
curl -G https://api.specstream.ai/v1/web-search \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $SPECSTREAM_API_KEY" \
--data-urlencode "q=Who is the CEO of Stripe?"Code written for Tavily keeps its SDK and changes one line. Each call is one fast search at $1 per 1,000.
from tavily import TavilyClient
client = TavilyClient(
api_key="YOUR_SPECSTREAM_KEY",
api_base_url="https://api.specstream.ai/tavily",
)
print(client.search("Who is the CEO of Stripe?", max_results=10))Agents that speak MCP add https://api.specstream.ai/mcp and call search_web. Setup for each client is in the MCP docs, and every drop-in address is at specstream.ai/migrate.
Frequently asked questions
Something we didn't answer? Talk to a human
What is the best web search API in 2026?
How much does a web search API cost in 2026?
Which web search API is the most accurate?
What replaced the Bing Search API?
https://api.specstream.ai/v7.0/search in Bing's own reply shape, at $1 per 1,000.Is Google's Custom Search JSON API still an option?
https://api.specstream.ai/customsearch/v1 in Google's reply shape, at $1 per 1,000.Are the OpenAI and Claude web search tools web search APIs?
Is there a free web search API?
Sources
SpecStream wrote this page. Each rival figure comes from that company's own page, read on Nov 12, 2026.
- SpecStream pricingspecstream.ai/pricing, read Nov 12, 2026
- SpecStream for agentsspecstream.ai/agents.md, read Nov 12, 2026
- SpecStream benchmarksspecstream.ai/benchmarks, read Nov 12, 2026
- Parallel pricingparallel.ai/pricing, read Nov 12, 2026
- Parallel benchmarksparallel.ai/benchmarks, read Nov 12, 2026
- Parallel Search MCPdocs.parallel.ai/integrations/mcp/search-mcp, read Nov 12, 2026
- Linkup pricinglinkup.so/pricing, read Nov 12, 2026
- Linkup docsdocs.linkup.so/pages/documentation/get-started/introduction, read Nov 12, 2026
- Linkup MCPdocs.linkup.so/pages/integrations/mcp/mcp, read Nov 12, 2026
- Brave Search APIbrave.com/search/api/, read Nov 12, 2026
- Brave Search MCP servergithub.com/brave/brave-search-mcp-server, read Nov 12, 2026
- Exa pricingexa.ai/pricing, read Nov 12, 2026
- Exa MCPdocs.exa.ai/reference/exa-mcp, read Nov 12, 2026
- Exa evalsexa.ai/evals, read Nov 12, 2026
- Tavily pricingtavily.com/pricing, read Nov 12, 2026
- Tavily search referencedocs.tavily.com/documentation/api-reference/endpoint/search, read Nov 12, 2026
- Tavily MCPdocs.tavily.com/documentation/mcp, read Nov 12, 2026
- Tavily homepagetavily.com/, read Nov 12, 2026
- Perplexity pricingdocs.perplexity.ai/docs/getting-started/pricing, read Nov 12, 2026
- You.com plansyou.com/plans, read Nov 12, 2026
- You.com pricingyou.com/pricing, read Nov 12, 2026
- Firecrawl pricingfirecrawl.dev/pricing, read Nov 12, 2026
- Firecrawl homepagefirecrawl.dev/, read Nov 12, 2026
- Oxylabs pricingoxylabs.io/pricing, read Nov 12, 2026
- Serper homepage and pricingserper.dev/, read Nov 12, 2026
- SerpApi pricingserpapi.com/pricing, read Nov 12, 2026
- Bing Search API retirementlearn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/announcements/bing-search-api-retirement, read Nov 12, 2026
- Grounding with Bing Searchmicrosoft.com/en-us/bing/apis, read Nov 12, 2026
- Google Custom Search JSON APIdevelopers.google.com/custom-search/v1/overview, read Nov 12, 2026
- OpenAI API pricingdevelopers.openai.com/api/docs/pricing, read Nov 12, 2026
- Claude web search toolplatform.claude.com/docs/en/agents-and-tools/tool-use/web-search-tool, read Nov 12, 2026