<!-- twin of https://specstream.ai/bing-search-api-key -->
# Bing Search API key: get a key for the same v7 call in a minute

Compared on Nov 10, 2026. The page: https://specstream.ai/bing-search-api-key

You can no longer get a Bing Search API key. Microsoft retired the Bing Search APIs on August 11, 2025, decommissioned every existing instance and closed new customer signup.

SpecStream answers the same v7 call at `https://api.specstream.ai/v7.0/search`. Create a key under Agents & API in the workspace and send it in `Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key`, where your Bing key went.

It is the most accurate web search API in the world: 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 SimpleQA Verified questions, on the [benchmarks](https://specstream.ai/benchmarks?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=bing-search-api-key) page. A search costs $0.005, and new accounts get $10 of credit.

[Get an API key](https://specstream.ai/signup?src=alternatives-bing-search-api-key&utm_source=alternatives-md&utm_campaign=bing-search-api-key&returnTo=%2Fworkspace%2Fsearch%3Froute%3Dbing) New accounts get $10 of credit, no card. It covers 2,000 searches.

## A SpecStream key next to a Bing Search API key and Grounding with Bing Search

| | SpecStream | Bing Search API v7 | Grounding with Bing Search |
|---|---|---|---|
| Get a key today | Yes. Create one in a minute under Agents & API in the workspace. A new account starts with $10 of credit, no card | No. Microsoft retired the Bing Search APIs on August 11, 2025 and ended new customer signup | A Grounding with Bing resource in Azure, used by an agent in Azure AI Agents. Transactions are counted by the number of tool calls per run |
| Where the key goes | In the `Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key` header, as a Bearer token, or in `subscription-key=` in the address | In the `Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key` header of `GET https://api.bing.microsoft.com/v7.0/search` | With the agent in Azure. The tool lets Azure AI Agents use real-time public web data when a model writes its response |
| Price | $5 per 1,000 searches of up to 10 results. `count=50` costs $0.029 a call | Retired. Every existing instance was decommissioned completely | $14 per 1,000 transactions |
| What a call returns | Bing's JSON: `webPages.value[]` with `name`, `url`, `displayUrl` and `snippet`, `queryContext` and `rankingResponse`. Errors come as `ErrorResponse` with Bing's codes | `webPages.value` with `name`, `url` and `snippet` for each result | A model's response with citations and a link to the Bing query. Developers and end users have no access to the raw content it returns |
| Results a call | `count` from 1 to 50, 10 by default, and `offset` up to 10,000. Up to 100 in one search on `GET /v1/web-search` | `count` defaulted to 10, with a maximum of 50 | `count` defaults to 5, with a maximum of 50 |
| Volume | No daily limit. Up to 8,800 searches a minute on one account. A call over that gets a `429` with `Retry-After` and is not charged | No calls. Retired on August 11, 2025 | 150 transactions per second and 1 million transactions a day |
| What the key holds | A spending limit and zero retention, set per key: a search made with a zero-retention key keeps no request text and no answer after the reply | Signup for the product ended with the retirement | Your data flows outside the Azure compliance and Geo boundary, and the Microsoft Data Protection Addendum does not apply to it |

## Why Bing developers take a SpecStream key

### A new key and one changed line

Your code keeps its path, its parameters, its header and its parser. The address changes, and the key.

```
# Before
curl -G https://api.bing.microsoft.com/v7.0/search \
  -H "Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key: $BING_KEY" \
  --data-urlencode "q=Who founded Mistral AI and when?" -d count=10

# After
curl -G https://api.specstream.ai/v7.0/search \
  -H "Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key: $SPECSTREAM_API_KEY" \
  --data-urlencode "q=Who founded Mistral AI and when?" -d count=10
```

The reply has Bing's shape: `_type`, `queryContext`, `webPages.value[]` with `name`, `url`, `displayUrl`, `snippet` and `datePublished` when the page gives one, and `rankingResponse`. `dateLastCrawled` is not returned.

### The key carries its own limits

Each key has its scopes, a spending limit and, when you want it, zero retention. A key that searches is made with this body, in the workspace or with `POST https://api.specstream.ai/v1/account/keys`:

```
{
  "name": "production",
  "scopes": ["account:read", "finds:spend"],
  "spend_cap_cents": 500000,
  "zero_retention": true
}
```

With zero retention on, a search keeps no request text and no answer after the reply. The charge keeps the account, the key, the request ID, the price and the time.

### $5 per 1,000 searches, against $14 per 1,000 transactions

Grounding with Bing Search costs $14 per 1,000 transactions. A SpecStream search of up to 10 results takes $0.005 from your balance, each started block of 10 more results adds $0.006, and `count=50` costs $0.029. A call stopped by a `429` charges nothing. Credit you buy never expires.

### The most accurate web search API, answering in about one second

SpecStream scores 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 official SimpleQA Verified questions (978 correct), and 64.0 item F1 and 43.4 row F1 on all 200 official WideSearch tasks. On production on November 9, 2026, the search behind the v7 route had a median of 0.82 s at 1 search a second and 1.07 s at 20 a second, and answered 718 of 720 calls.

### The same key reads pages and returns rows

The [Extract API](https://specstream.ai/extract-api?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=bing-search-api-key) reads up to 20 pages or documents a call at $0.80 per 1,000 pages, and scores 0.908 F1 on WCXB. [Deep Search](https://specstream.ai/deep-search?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=bing-search-api-key) returns every match for a request in plain words as structured rows at 5¢, 15¢ or $1 a row, and quotes the most a run can cost before it starts.

## Other ways to replace a Bing Search API key

### Grounding with Bing Search

Microsoft's named replacement, a tool inside Azure AI Agents. It costs $14 per 1,000 transactions, and developers have no access to the raw content it returns. A SpecStream key returns the results to your code, in Bing's JSON, at $0.005 a search.

### Brave Search API

A search API on Brave's own index. Search costs $5 per 1,000 requests, with $5 in free credits every month and a capacity of 50 queries per second. Its reply has Brave's own shape. SpecStream answers the Bing call your code already sends.

### SerpApi

A search results API sold in monthly plans. The Starter plan is $25 a month for 1,000 searches. On SpecStream $25 pays for 5,000 searches, and credit you buy never expires.

### Tavily

A search API for agents, billed in credits. Pay as you go costs $0.008 a credit. SpecStream answers Tavily's call too, at `https://api.specstream.ai/tavily/search`, and the Bing call on the same key, for $0.005 a search.

## How to get a key and make the first call

1. Sign up at specstream.ai and open Agents & API in the workspace. A new account gets $10 of credit, no card, which covers 2,000 searches.

2. Create a key. Give it a name and, if you want one, a spending limit and zero retention.

3. Put the key where your Bing key was, and the SpecStream address where your Bing address was.

```
import requests

ENDPOINT = "https://api.specstream.ai/v7.0/search"  # was https://api.bing.microsoft.com/v7.0/search

reply = requests.get(
    ENDPOINT,
    headers={"Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key": SPECSTREAM_KEY},
    params={"q": "Who founded Mistral AI and when?", "count": 10},
).json()

for page in reply.get("webPages", {}).get("value", []):
    print(page["name"], page["url"], page["snippet"])
```

4. Leave the rest. `q`, `count`, `offset` and `freshness` work as before, and `mkt`, `setLang`, `cc` and `safeSearch` are accepted, so the request needs no edit.

## Frequently asked questions

### How do I get a Bing Search API key?

You cannot since August 11, 2025, when Microsoft retired the Bing Search APIs and closed new customer signup. A SpecStream key answers the same `GET /v7.0/search` call at `https://api.specstream.ai`, and you create it in a minute under Agents & API in the workspace.

### Is there a free Bing Search API key?

No. The Bing Search APIs were retired on August 11, 2025. A new SpecStream account gets $10 of credit with no card, which covers 2,000 searches on the v7 route.

### Does my old Bing Search API key still work?

No. Microsoft decommissioned every existing instance of the Bing Search APIs when it retired them on August 11, 2025. Replace the key and the address, and the rest of your code stays as it is.

### How much does a Bing Search API key cost in 2026?

Bing sells none since August 11, 2025, and Grounding with Bing Search costs $14 per 1,000 transactions. A SpecStream key costs nothing to create, and each search of up to 10 results costs $0.005. Every rate is on the [pricing](https://specstream.ai/pricing?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=bing-search-api-key) page.

### Where does the SpecStream key go in a Bing request?

In the same `Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key` header your Bing key used. It also works as a Bearer token or as `subscription-key=` in the address.

### Can I limit what a key spends?

Yes. Each key takes its own spending limit in cents, for example `"spend_cap_cents": 500000` for $5,000, and a call that would go over it gets a `403`. Zero retention is one more field on the same key.

## Sources

SpecStream wrote this page. Each figure about Bing comes from Microsoft's own pages, and each other figure from that company's own page.

- [Microsoft: Bing Search APIs retiring on August 11, 2025](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/announcements/bing-search-api-retirement), read Nov 9, 2026
- [Microsoft: Grounding with Bing pricing](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/bing/apis/grounding-pricing), read Nov 9, 2026
- [Microsoft: Grounding with Bing Search tools](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/foundry/agents/how-to/tools/bing-tools), read Nov 9, 2026
- [Microsoft: Bing Web Search API query parameters (archived)](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/bing/search-apis/bing-web-search/reference/query-parameters), read Nov 9, 2026
- [Microsoft: Bing Web Search API headers (archived)](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/bing/search-apis/bing-web-search/reference/headers), read Nov 9, 2026
- [Microsoft: Bing Web Search API response objects (archived)](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/bing/search-apis/bing-web-search/reference/response-objects), read Nov 9, 2026
- [Brave Search API](https://brave.com/search/api/), read Nov 9, 2026
- [SerpApi pricing](https://serpapi.com/pricing), read Nov 9, 2026
- [Tavily pricing](https://tavily.com/pricing), read Nov 9, 2026
- [SpecStream benchmarks](https://specstream.ai/benchmarks), read Nov 10, 2026
- [SpecStream pricing](https://specstream.ai/pricing), read Nov 10, 2026
- [SpecStream for agents](https://specstream.ai/agents.md), read Nov 10, 2026