<!-- twin of https://specstream.ai/brave-search-api-free-alternative -->
# Brave Search API free tier alternatives: 10,000 searches, no card

Compared on Nov 12, 2026. The page: https://specstream.ai/brave-search-api-free-alternative

Brave no longer has a free plan. Its Search plan costs $5 per 1,000 requests and includes $5 in free credits every month, which is 1,000 requests. Brave asks for a card, and its launch post ties the credit to attributing Brave on your website.

SpecStream answers Brave's own `/res/v1/web/search` call in Brave's JSON. A new account gets $10 of credit with no card: 10,000 searches of up to 10 results. After that, $1 per 1,000.

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=brave-search-api-free-alternative) page.

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

## Free tiers that replace the Brave Search API, from each company's own page

| | SpecStream | Brave Search API | Tavily | Exa | Serper | Firecrawl |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| What you get free | $10 of credit on a new account. It does not expire | $5 in free credits every month on the Search plan | 1,000 API credits a month, reset on the first day of each month | $10 of credits a month plus a $10 onboarding bonus | 2,500 free queries | 1,000 credits every month |
| Searches it covers | 10,000 Brave calls of up to 10 results | 1,000 requests at $5 per 1,000 | 1,000 basic searches, or 500 advanced at 2 credits each | Up to 2,500 searches of up to 10 results at $4 per 1,000 | 2,500 queries | 500 searches |
| Card needed | No | Yes. Brave says the card is to prevent abuse | No | No payment method required | No | No |
| Other conditions | None. The credit runs every product on the account | Brave's launch post asks you to attribute the Brave Search API on your website or about pages to get the credit | When the monthly credits run out, requests stop until they reset or you upgrade | The monthly credit resets, the onboarding bonus comes once | Credits are taken for each successful response | 10 requests a minute on the free plan |
| Moving your Brave code | None: `GET /res/v1/web/search` with `q`, `count`, `offset` and `freshness` answers in Brave's JSON, with `web.results[]` | Up to 20 results a request, `offset` from 0 to 9 | A new client and a new parser | A new client and a new parser | A new client and a new parser | A new client and a new parser |
| Price after the free step, per 1,000 | $1 for up to 10 results through Brave's call. `count=20` costs $0.0022 a call | $5 | $8 pay as you go at $0.008 a credit | $4 on Lite, $7 on Auto, $12 on Deep | $1.00 on the $50 pack of 50,000 | About $7.60 on the $19 Hobby plan of 5,000 credits |
| 10,000 searches a month | $10 the first month, paid by the free credit, then $10 a month | $45 a month: 9,000 requests past the credit at $5 per 1,000 | $72 a month at $0.008 a credit past the 1,000 free | $30 a month at $4 per 1,000 past the $10 monthly credit | About $10 a month, drawn from the $50 pack of 50,000, after the 2,500 free | $19 Hobby covers 2,500 searches; 10,000 need a larger plan |
| Reading the pages it finds | Extract API: the main text of up to 20 URLs a call, at $0.80 per 1,000 pages, from the same credit | A description and up to 5 extra excerpts with each result | Extract requests, billed in the same credits | Contents at $1 per 1,000 pages | Search results only | 1,000 pages scraped in place of 500 searches |

## Why Brave users start free on SpecStream

### The free credit runs your Brave code as it is

Every other free tier on this page needs a new client and a new parser. SpecStream answers Brave's call, so the change is the base address and the key.

```
# Before
curl -G https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/web/search \
  -H "X-Subscription-Token: $BRAVE_API_KEY" \
  --data-urlencode "q=Which US banks failed in 2026" -d count=10

# After
curl -G https://api.specstream.ai/res/v1/web/search \
  -H "X-Subscription-Token: $SPECSTREAM_API_KEY" \
  --data-urlencode "q=Which US banks failed in 2026" -d count=10
```

The reply has Brave's shape: `type`, `query`, `mixed` and `web.results[]` with `title`, `url`, `description`, `profile`, `meta_url` and `page_age` when known. Every field is mapped on the [Brave migration page](https://specstream.ai/migrate/brave?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=brave-search-api-free-alternative).

### No card, no attribution, no monthly reset

Brave's $5 renews each month and covers 1,000 requests, with a card on file and a credit line on your site. SpecStream's $10 comes once with a new account and no card, covers 10,000 Brave calls, and does not expire, so an eval run of 5,000 queries fits in the first day.

### After the free step, a fifth of Brave's price

Brave charges $5 per 1,000 requests at every volume. SpecStream charges $1 per 1,000 Brave calls of up to 10 results, and a call with no `count` returns 10. A call for 11 to 20 results costs $0.0022, and a call stopped by a `429` with `Retry-After` charges nothing.

### The most accurate web search API in the world

A free search is the same search a paying account gets: 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 SimpleQA Verified questions (978 correct), and 64.0 item F1 and 43.4 row F1 on all 200 WideSearch tasks. Every score and its method is on the [benchmarks](https://specstream.ai/benchmarks?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=brave-search-api-free-alternative) page.

### Search, pages and datasets on the same credit

The $10 also runs the [Extract API](https://specstream.ai/extract-api?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=brave-search-api-free-alternative), which reads web pages, PDF, Word and Excel files at $0.80 per 1,000 pages, and `GET /v1/web-search`, which returns the `answer` with the page it was read from at $5 per 1,000. [Deep Search](https://specstream.ai/deep-search?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=brave-search-api-free-alternative) returns every match on the live web as structured rows at 5¢, 15¢ or $1 a row, under a maximum you approve before it runs.

## Other Brave Search API alternatives with a free tier

### SerpApi

250 free searches a month at 50 an hour, then $25 a month for 1,000 searches on Starter. An empty result set counts as a search. SpecStream's $10 covers 10,000 searches, and there is no plan to buy after it.

### Parallel

$5 free monthly with a card on file, plus up to $80 at signup, and search from $1 per 1,000 requests. SpecStream asks for no card, and answers Brave's call where Parallel needs a new client.

### Linkup

4,000 free queries, then $0.005 to $0.006 a request. A SpecStream Brave call costs $0.001 for up to 10 results.

### You.com

$10 of free credit, which You.com says is 2,000 searches, then $5 per 1,000 calls. SpecStream's $10 covers 10,000 searches with no card.

## How to move your Brave code to the free credit

1. Sign up at specstream.ai. The account starts with $10 of credit, no card.

2. Create a key under Agents & API in the workspace, and give it a spending limit.

3. Set the base address to `https://api.specstream.ai` where your code has `https://api.search.brave.com`, and send the SpecStream key in `X-Subscription-Token` or as a Bearer token.

```
import requests

BASE = "https://api.specstream.ai"  # was https://api.search.brave.com

reply = requests.get(
    f"{BASE}/res/v1/web/search",
    headers={"X-Subscription-Token": SPECSTREAM_KEY},
    params={"q": "Which US banks failed in 2026", "count": 10},
).json()

for result in reply["web"]["results"]:
    print(result["title"], result["url"], result["description"])
```

4. Each charged reply carries the `X-Balance-Cents` header, the balance in cents after the call, so you see what is left of the $10.

In an MCP client, add the server `https://api.specstream.ai/mcp` with OAuth or the key, and call the `search_web` tool. The [MCP docs](https://specstream.ai/docs/mcp?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=brave-search-api-free-alternative) list every client.

## Frequently asked questions

### Does the Brave Search API still have a free tier?

No free plan. The Search plan costs $5 per 1,000 requests and includes $5 in free credits every month, which is 1,000 requests. Brave asks for a card, and its launch post asks you to attribute the Brave Search API on your website to get the credit.

### What is the best free alternative to the Brave Search API?

SpecStream. A new account gets $10 of credit with no card, which covers 10,000 searches through Brave's own `/res/v1/web/search` call in Brave's JSON, and it scores 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 SimpleQA Verified questions. After the credit, $1 per 1,000.

### Why does Brave say up to $20 in free calls?

Each of Brave's four plans, Search, Answers, Spellcheck and Autocomplete, gets $5 a month, $20 across all plans. Web search runs on the Search plan, so $5 of it, 1,000 requests, pays for web results.

### Which Brave alternatives need no credit card?

SpecStream, Tavily, Exa, Serper and Firecrawl start with no card. SpecStream gives $10 once, Tavily 1,000 credits a month, Exa $10 a month plus a $10 bonus, Serper 2,500 queries and Firecrawl 1,000 credits a month.

### Do I have to change my code to leave Brave?

Not for SpecStream: change `https://api.search.brave.com` to `https://api.specstream.ai` and the key, and `/res/v1/web/search` answers in Brave's JSON. Moving to Tavily, Exa, Serper or Firecrawl means a new client and a new parser.

### Does the SpecStream free credit expire?

No. The $10 on a new account has no end date, and credit you top up never expires either. It pays for the Search API, the Extract API and Deep Search.

### Does SpecStream have an MCP server?

Yes, at `https://api.specstream.ai/mcp` over Streamable HTTP, with OAuth or an API key. Your agent searches with `search_web` and reads pages with `read_pages`, on the same $10 of credit.

## Sources

SpecStream wrote this page. Each rival figure comes from that company's own page, read on Nov 12, 2026.

- [SpecStream pricing](https://specstream.ai/pricing), read Nov 12, 2026
- [SpecStream for agents](https://specstream.ai/agents.md), read Nov 12, 2026
- [SpecStream benchmarks](https://specstream.ai/benchmarks), read Nov 12, 2026
- [Brave Search API pricing](https://brave.com/search/api/), read Nov 12, 2026
- [Brave, Search API plans announcement](https://brave.com/blog/most-powerful-search-api-for-ai/), read Nov 12, 2026
- [Brave Web Search documentation](https://api-dashboard.search.brave.com/app/documentation/web-search/get-started), read Nov 12, 2026
- [Tavily pricing](https://www.tavily.com/pricing), read Nov 12, 2026
- [Tavily search endpoint](https://docs.tavily.com/documentation/api-reference/endpoint/search), read Nov 12, 2026
- [Exa pricing](https://exa.ai/pricing), read Nov 12, 2026
- [Exa pricing docs](https://exa.ai/docs/admin/pricing.md), read Nov 12, 2026
- [Serper](https://serper.dev/), read Nov 12, 2026
- [Firecrawl pricing](https://www.firecrawl.dev/pricing), read Nov 12, 2026
- [SerpApi pricing](https://serpapi.com/pricing), read Nov 12, 2026
- [Parallel pricing](https://parallel.ai/pricing), read Nov 12, 2026
- [Linkup pricing](https://www.linkup.so/pricing), read Nov 12, 2026
- [You.com plans](https://you.com/plans), read Nov 12, 2026