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# Brave Search API vs Tavily in 2026: one key answers both calls

Compared on Nov 10, 2026. The page: https://specstream.ai/compare/brave-vs-tavily

On Nov 10, 2026, the Brave Search API costs $5 per 1,000 requests with $5 in free credits a month. Tavily costs $0.008 a credit pay as you go, 1 credit a basic search and 2 an advanced one.

SpecStream answers both calls on one key. Brave code calls `https://api.specstream.ai` in place of `https://api.search.brave.com`, and Tavily code calls `https://api.specstream.ai/tavily` in place of `https://api.tavily.com`. The bodies and the parsers stay.

Every search costs $5 per 1,000 for up to 10 results, basic or advanced. SpecStream scores 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 SimpleQA Verified questions and 64.0 item F1 on WideSearch. New accounts get $10 of credit, no card.

[Get an API key](https://specstream.ai/signup?src=alternatives-brave-vs-tavily&utm_source=alternatives-md&utm_campaign=brave-vs-tavily&returnTo=%2Fworkspace%2Fagents%3Ftab%3Dkeys) New accounts get $10 of credit, no card. It covers 2,000 searches.

## SpecStream, Brave Search API and Tavily side by side

| | SpecStream | Brave Search API | Tavily |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your code today | Runs as it is on both. Brave's `GET /res/v1/web/search` answers at `https://api.specstream.ai` with the key in `X-Subscription-Token`, and Tavily's `POST /search` at `https://api.specstream.ai/tavily` with the key as the Bearer token | `GET https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/web/search` with a Brave key in `X-Subscription-Token` | `POST https://api.tavily.com/search` with a Tavily key as the Bearer token |
| Price per 1,000 searches | $5 for up to 10 results, on every route and every search depth. 11 to 20 results cost $0.011 a call | $5 per 1,000 requests on the Search plan. Answers costs $4 per 1,000 requests plus $5 per million input and output tokens | $8 basic and $16 advanced at $0.008 a credit pay as you go, or $0.0075 to $0.005 a credit on monthly plans from $30 for 4,000 credits to $500 for 100,000 |
| How you pay | From a balance, with no monthly plan. Credit you buy never expires, and a key's `spend_cap_cents` is the most it can spend | Prepaid credits: load credits, use as you go | Monthly credits. When they run out, requests stop until they reset on the first day of the month or you upgrade |
| What answers the call | The whole live web, read at the moment of the call | Brave's own search index. Search operators are written inside `q` | Tavily's search, which serves cached copies and fetches pages live as needed. `max_age_hours` sets the cached copy's age from 1 to 720 hours, or 0 to fetch live |
| What comes back | Each API's own reply. On Brave's path, `web.results[]` with `title`, `url` and `description`. On `/tavily`, `results[]` with `title`, `url`, `content` and `score`, and `answer` and `raw_content` when asked, at no extra cost | `web.results[]` with a title, URL and description, and up to 5 extra excerpts per result | `results[]` with a title, URL, content and relevance score, an optional answer and each page's raw content when asked |
| Results per call | Up to 20 on both routes. `GET /v1/web-search` on the same key returns up to 100 for one search, for $0.059 | `count` up to 20, 20 by default, and `offset` from 0 to 9 | `max_results` from 0 to 20, 10 by default |
| Volume | No limit per key and no daily limit. A busy call gets a `429` with `Retry-After` and charges nothing | 50 queries per second on the Search plan | Requests stop when the month's credits run out |
| Free to start | $10 of credit, no card: 2,000 searches | $5 in free credits every month | 1,000 free credits a month, no credit card |
| Published accuracy | 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 official SimpleQA Verified questions (978 correct). 64.0 item F1 and 43.4 row F1 on all 200 official WideSearch tasks. Extract API 0.908 F1 on WCXB. Method at [specstream.ai/benchmarks](https://specstream.ai/benchmarks?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=brave-vs-tavily) | No accuracy score on its API page | No accuracy score on its pricing page |
| Reading pages and every match as rows | Extract API at $0.80 per 1,000 pages, and Deep Search: every match on the live web as structured rows at 5¢, 15¢ or $1 a row, with the most a run can cost quoted before it starts | Up to 5 extra excerpts with each search result | `include_raw_content` returns each result's page as markdown or text |

## Why teams give their agent SpecStream search

### Both calls on one key

A team does not have to pick one search API and rewrite the other. Each call keeps its path, its body and its parser; the address and the key change.

```
# Brave Search API, before and after
curl "https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/web/search?q=open+source+vector+databases&count=10" \
  -H "X-Subscription-Token: $BRAVE_API_KEY"
curl "https://api.specstream.ai/res/v1/web/search?q=open+source+vector+databases&count=10" \
  -H "X-Subscription-Token: $SPECSTREAM_API_KEY"

# Tavily, before and after
curl -X POST https://api.tavily.com/search \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TAVILY_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"query": "Who founded Mistral AI and when?", "max_results": 5}'
curl -X POST https://api.specstream.ai/tavily/search \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SPECSTREAM_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"query": "Who founded Mistral AI and when?", "max_results": 5}'
```

Each call of up to 10 results is one search at $0.005. A call that names no result count gets 10 results at that price, on Brave's path and on Tavily's.

### What stays the same

On Brave's path, `q`, `count` from 1 to 20, `offset` and `freshness` are read, and `country`, `search_lang` and `safesearch` are accepted. The reply has `type`, `query`, `mixed` and `web.results[]`, and a refusal keeps Brave's `ErrorResponse` shape. Each result carries one `description`, so `extra_snippets` comes back empty. Every parameter is in the [Brave migration guide](https://specstream.ai/migrate/brave?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=brave-vs-tavily).

On `/tavily`, `query`, `max_results`, `include_domains`, `exclude_domains`, `time_range` and `topic` are read. The reply has `query`, `answer`, `results[]` with `title`, `url`, `content`, `score` and `raw_content`, `response_time` and `request_id`; `favicon` and images are not returned. Every parameter is in the [Tavily migration guide](https://specstream.ai/migrate/tavily?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=brave-vs-tavily).

### $5 per 1,000, basic or advanced

Brave's Search plan costs $5 per 1,000 requests from prepaid credits. On Tavily pay as you go, 1,000 basic searches cost $8 and 1,000 advanced searches $16, and requests stop when the month's credits run out. SpecStream charges $5 per 1,000 searches of up to 10 results on both routes, with page text and the answer at no extra cost, from a balance that never expires.

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

The SpecStream Search API scores a 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. Every score and its method is on the [benchmarks](https://specstream.ai/benchmarks?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=brave-vs-tavily) page.

Both routes run the fast search unless the call asks for page text, the answer or more than ten results. On November 9, 2026 production took 1 to 20 fast searches a second and answered 718 of 720: the median was 0.82 s at 1 search a second and 1.07 s at 20 a second, and the 95th percentile stayed between 1.09 and 1.73 s. There is no limit per key and no daily limit.

### You decide what is kept, on each key

Create a key with `zero_retention` and a search made with it keeps no request text and no answer after the reply: it is not in the history, its answer is not reused for another call, and its log lines carry neither. `spend_cap_cents` is the most the key can spend.

```
curl -X POST https://api.specstream.ai/v1/account/keys \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SPECSTREAM_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"name": "production", "scopes": ["account:read", "finds:spend"], "spend_cap_cents": 500000, "zero_retention": true}'
```

### Search, pages and rows on one key

The same key reads up to 20 pages or documents a call with the [Extract API](https://specstream.ai/extract-api?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=brave-vs-tavily) at $0.80 per 1,000 pages, and runs [Deep Search](https://specstream.ai/deep-search?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=brave-vs-tavily), which returns every match for a request in plain words as structured rows at 5¢, 15¢ or $1 a row, with a source URL on every value. Save a request and it reruns hourly to yearly, with each row labeled changed, unchanged or no longer matching.

## Other search APIs for an AI agent

### SpecStream

The live web data engine for teams and agents. Search at $5 per 1,000 on its own API or on the Brave, Tavily, Exa, Serper, Parallel and Firecrawl routes, pages at $0.80 per 1,000, and every match as structured rows at 5¢, 15¢ or $1 a row.

### Exa

$4 per 1,000 requests on `lite` and $7 on `auto` and `fast`. SpecStream answers Exa's `POST /search` at `https://api.specstream.ai/exa`, in Exa's JSON, at $5 per 1,000.

### Serper

Google results from prepaid packs, $1.00 per 1,000 on the 50k pack, with credits valid for 6 months. SpecStream answers Serper's call at `https://api.specstream.ai/serper/search`, and its credit never expires.

### Parallel

Search from $1 per 1,000 requests. SpecStream answers Parallel's `POST /v1/search` at `https://api.specstream.ai/parallel` in Parallel's JSON, and the same key reads pages and returns rows.

### Firecrawl search

2 credits per search, from monthly plans that start at $19. SpecStream answers Firecrawl's search at `https://api.specstream.ai/firecrawl`. [Tavily vs Firecrawl](https://specstream.ai/compare/tavily-vs-firecrawl?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=brave-vs-tavily).

## How to move Brave and Tavily calls to SpecStream

1. Create a key under Agents & API in the workspace, with a spending limit. A new account gets $10 of credit, no card, which covers 2,000 searches.

2. Point the Brave calls at `https://api.specstream.ai` and put the SpecStream key in `X-Subscription-Token`.

```
import os, requests

reply = requests.get(
    "https://api.specstream.ai/res/v1/web/search",  # was https://api.search.brave.com
    params={"q": "open source vector databases", "count": 10},
    headers={"X-Subscription-Token": os.environ["SPECSTREAM_API_KEY"]},
).json()

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

3. Point the Tavily calls at `https://api.specstream.ai/tavily` and send the SpecStream key as the Bearer token.

```
const reply = await fetch("https://api.specstream.ai/tavily/search", { // was https://api.tavily.com/search
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.SPECSTREAM_API_KEY}`,
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({ query: "Who founded Mistral AI and when?", max_results: 5 }),
}).then((r) => r.json());

for (const result of reply.results) console.log(result.title, result.url, result.score);
```

4. Leave the rest. Each call of up to 10 results is billed at $0.005, and the reply's `specstream` field carries the call's price.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is the Brave Search API better than Tavily?

Brave costs $5 per 1,000 requests from its own index, and Tavily $8 per 1,000 basic searches pay as you go from cached and live pages. SpecStream answers both calls on one key at $5 per 1,000 searches, read from the live web, with a 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 SimpleQA Verified questions.

### Brave Search API vs Tavily pricing: what does each cost?

Brave costs $5 per 1,000 requests with $5 in free credits a month. Tavily costs $0.008 a credit pay as you go, 1 credit a basic search and 2 an advanced one, or $0.0075 to $0.005 a credit on monthly plans. SpecStream costs $5 per 1,000 searches of up to 10 results, basic or advanced.

### Can I use both Brave and Tavily?

Yes, on one SpecStream key since November 9, 2026. Brave calls go to `https://api.specstream.ai/res/v1/web/search` and Tavily calls to `https://api.specstream.ai/tavily/search`, each in its own JSON, from one balance.

### Which is faster, Brave or Tavily?

On SpecStream both routes run the same fast search: a median of 0.82 s at 1 search a second and 1.07 s at 20 a second, measured on production on November 9, 2026.

### Does Tavily have a monthly limit?

Yes, 1,000 free credits a month, and requests stop when the month's credits run out until they reset on the first day of the month. SpecStream has no monthly limit: calls spend from a balance that never expires.

### Do LangChain and crewAI work with SpecStream?

Yes, as of November 10, 2026: `langchain-tavily` takes `api_base_url="https://api.specstream.ai/tavily"` on `TavilySearch`, and crewAI's `BraveSearchTool` takes `search_url="https://api.specstream.ai/res/v1/web/search"`.

### Is there a free tier?

New SpecStream accounts get $10 of credit, no card, which covers 2,000 searches. Credit you buy never expires.

## Sources

SpecStream wrote this page. Each figure for Brave, Tavily and the other tools comes from that company's own page.

- [SpecStream pricing](https://specstream.ai/pricing), read Nov 10, 2026
- [SpecStream for agents](https://specstream.ai/agents.md), read Nov 10, 2026
- [SpecStream benchmarks](https://specstream.ai/benchmarks), read Nov 10, 2026
- [Brave Search API](https://brave.com/search/api/), read Nov 10, 2026
- [Brave Web Search documentation](https://api-dashboard.search.brave.com/app/documentation/web-search/get-started), read Nov 10, 2026
- [Brave Search API on AWS Marketplace](https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace/pp/prodview-qjlabherxghtq), read Nov 10, 2026
- [Tavily API credits](https://docs.tavily.com/documentation/api-credits.md), read Nov 10, 2026
- [Tavily pricing](https://tavily.com/pricing), read Nov 10, 2026
- [Tavily search reference](https://docs.tavily.com/documentation/api-reference/endpoint/search.md), read Nov 10, 2026
- [Exa pricing](https://exa.ai/docs/admin/pricing.md), read Nov 10, 2026
- [Serper](https://serper.dev/), read Nov 10, 2026
- [Parallel pricing](https://parallel.ai/pricing), read Nov 10, 2026
- [Firecrawl pricing](https://www.firecrawl.dev/pricing), read Nov 10, 2026