# Crustdata Web Search API alternative: $1 per 1,000 searches Compared on Nov 12, 2026. The page: https://specstream.ai/crustdata-web-search-api Crustdata's Web Search API costs 1 credit per query, and its docs send you to the dashboard for the dollar price. The default limit is 10 requests per minute, and purchased credits expire 12 months after you buy them. SpecStream is the live web data engine for teams and agents. Its Search API costs $1 per 1,000 searches with `speed=fast`, returns up to 100 results a call, and reads pages and builds structured rows on the same key. Credit never expires. [Get an API key](https://specstream.ai/signup?src=alternatives-crustdata-web-search-api&utm_source=alternatives-md&utm_campaign=crustdata-web-search-api&returnTo=%2Fworkspace%2Fagents%3Ftab%3Dkeys) New accounts get $10 of credit, no card. It covers 10,000 fast searches. ## SpecStream and Crustdata Web Search side by side | | SpecStream | Crustdata Web Search | |---|---|---| | The call | `GET` or `POST https://api.specstream.ai/v1/web-search` with a Bearer key, or the `search_web` tool over MCP at `https://api.specstream.ai/mcp` | `POST https://api.crustdata.com/web/search/live` with a Bearer key and `x-api-version: 2025-11-01` | | Price | $1 per 1,000 searches of up to 10 results with `speed=fast`, $5 per 1,000 on the default search. Each reply's `price_usd` says what the call cost | 1 credit per query. The price of a credit is shown in your dashboard, and the per credit rate drops as your volume grows | | Free start | $10 of credit, no card: 10,000 fast searches or 2,000 default searches | $20 in credits on a new account | | Requests a minute | A call past the minute's limit gets `503` with `Retry-After` and is not charged | 10 by default. Higher limits by email | | Results per call | 1 to 100, set with `num`, and `page` 1 to 10 continues the same ranked list | About 10 a page, and `page` gathers up to 15 pages into one reply, from one source only | | What comes back | Each source's `url`, `title`, `site`, `snippet` and published date. The default search adds the answer with the page it was read from and its read time, and `rows` with the facts the request asks for, each with its page | `results[]` whose shape depends on the source: `title`, `url`, `snippet` and `position` for web and news | | Filters | `site:`, `-site:`, `filetype:`, `after:` and `before:` in `q`, with `country`, `language` and `safe`. Image results with `images=true` at the same price | `site`, `location`, `start_date` and `end_date` in Unix seconds, and the sources `web`, `news`, `scholar-articles`, `scholar-author`, `ai` and `social` | | Reading the pages | Extract API: up to 20 pages, PDFs, Word and Excel files a call, the main text as Markdown, $0.80 per 1,000 pages. A page with no text is not charged | Web Fetch (`/web/enrich/live`): up to 10 URLs a call, 1 credit per page, returning the page's HTML | | Credit you do not use | A top-up never expires | Purchased credits expire 12 months after purchase | | Structured rows | Deep Search: a request in plain words returns every match on the live web as structured rows, companies, people, places, filings or tenders, with a source URL and read time on every value. 5¢, 15¢ or $1 a row | People, company and job search and enrichment from its own database, priced in credits per result | ## Why Crustdata Web Search buyers choose SpecStream ### A dollar price on the page Crustdata prices its Web Search API in credits, and the price of a credit is in the dashboard after sign-up. SpecStream prints its price: $0.001 for a fast search of up to 10 results, $0.005 on the default search, the same on every plan. 100,000 fast searches cost $100, and you know it before the first call. ### The most accurate web search API in the world On SimpleQA Verified the SpecStream Search API scores 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 official questions, 978 of them correct. On WideSearch it scores 64.0 item F1 and 43.4 row F1 on all 200 official tasks. The Extract API scores 0.908 F1 on WCXB. Every score and its method is on the [benchmarks](https://specstream.ai/benchmarks?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=crustdata-web-search-api) page. ### The answer, with the page that prints it A Crustdata search returns links and snippets, and your code reads them. The SpecStream default search reads the pages for you: a question with one answer comes back as `answer.value` with the `page` it was read from and its read time, and a request for many results comes back as `rows`, each value with its page. `passages=true` adds the text of each page closest to the question, up to about 3,500 characters. ### 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=crustdata-web-search-api) at $0.80 per 1,000 pages. [Deep Search](https://specstream.ai/deep-search?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=crustdata-web-search-api) takes a request in plain words and returns every match on the live web as structured rows that meet every condition you wrote, at 5¢, 15¢ or $1 a row, plus 5¢ for an email and 15¢ for a phone. The most a run can cost is quoted before it starts, and a saved request reruns hourly to yearly with every row labeled changed, unchanged or no longer matching. SpecStream also holds public records read every morning at [specstream.ai/data](https://specstream.ai/data?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=crustdata-web-search-api), and signals such as funding rounds, new executives and layoffs at [specstream.ai/signals](https://specstream.ai/signals?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=crustdata-web-search-api). ## Other web search APIs for AI agents ### SpecStream The live web data engine for teams and agents, and the most accurate web search API in the world. $1 per 1,000 searches with `speed=fast` or $5 on the default search, up to 100 results a call, page reading at $0.80 per 1,000 pages and structured rows at 5¢, 15¢ or $1 a row. New accounts get $10 of credit, no card. ### Exa Search costs $7 per 1,000 requests on the `auto` and `fast` types. SpecStream costs $1 per 1,000 with `speed=fast`, and Exa code moves by changing its base address to `https://api.specstream.ai/exa`. ### Tavily Pay as you go costs $0.008 per credit, and a basic search costs 1 credit: $8 per 1,000. SpecStream answers Tavily's own calls at `https://api.specstream.ai/tavily` for $1 per 1,000. ### Brave Search API $5 per 1,000 requests. SpecStream answers Brave's own `/res/v1/web/search` call at $1 per 1,000, with the same key in `X-Subscription-Token`. ### Parallel Search from $1 per 1,000 requests. SpecStream costs the same $1 per 1,000 with `speed=fast`, and answers from the pages on the default search at $5. ## How to switch from Crustdata Web Search 1. Create a key under Agents & API in the workspace, with `finds:spend` and a spending limit. A new account gets $10 of credit, no card. 2. Move the fields: `query` becomes `q`, `location` becomes `country`, `site` becomes `site:` inside `q`, and `start_date` and `end_date` become `after:` and `before:` with dates. `page` stays `page`, and `num` sets how many results come back. ``` # Before curl https://api.crustdata.com/web/search/live \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $CRUSTDATA_API_KEY" \ -H "x-api-version: 2025-11-01" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"query": "AI agent product launch", "site": "techcrunch.com", "location": "US", "sources": ["web"]}' # After curl https://api.specstream.ai/v1/web-search \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $SPECSTREAM_API_KEY" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"q": "AI agent product launch site:techcrunch.com after:2026-10", "country": "US", "speed": "fast", "num": 10}' ``` 3. Read `data.sources`: each item has `url`, `title`, `site` and `snippet`, where Crustdata has `url`, `title` and `snippet`. Read pages with `POST https://api.specstream.ai/v1/extract` and up to 20 URLs in `urls`, where you called `/web/enrich/live` with 10. 4. When the job is records, send the request in plain words. This call spends nothing: the `402` reply shows how SpecStream read the request, the columns and the most it can cost. ``` curl -i https://api.specstream.ai/v1/agent/lists \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"request": "AI startups that announced a product launch in the last 30 days, with the product name, the launch date and the announcement URL", "count": 25}' ``` ## Frequently asked questions ### How much does the Crustdata Web Search API cost? 1 credit per query. Crustdata's docs do not print the dollar price of a credit: it is in your dashboard, and the per credit rate drops with volume. New accounts start with $20 in credits. SpecStream costs $1 per 1,000 searches with `speed=fast` and $5 on the default search. ### What is the Crustdata Web Search API rate limit? 10 requests per minute by default, with higher limits by email. On SpecStream a call past the minute's limit gets `503` with `Retry-After` and is not charged. ### How many results does Crustdata Web Search return? About 10 a page, and one call gathers up to 15 pages when it asks for one source. SpecStream returns 1 to 100 results for one search with `num`. ### Do Crustdata credits expire? Yes, 12 months after purchase. SpecStream credit you buy never expires. ### What is the best Crustdata Web Search alternative? SpecStream, at $1 per 1,000 searches with `speed=fast`. It is the most accurate web search API in the world, with 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 SimpleQA Verified questions, and the same key reads pages and returns structured rows. ### Does SpecStream have an MCP server? Yes, at `https://api.specstream.ai/mcp`. An agent searches with `search_web`, reads pages with `read_pages` and builds rows with Deep Search. See the [MCP docs](https://specstream.ai/docs/mcp?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=crustdata-web-search-api). ## Sources SpecStream wrote this page. Each figure about Crustdata and other providers comes from that company's own page. - [Crustdata, Web Search API](https://docs.crustdata.com/web-docs/search/introduction), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Crustdata, Web Search reference](https://docs.crustdata.com/web-docs/search/reference), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Crustdata, API reference, web search](https://docs.crustdata.com/api-reference/web-apis/web-search), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Crustdata, pricing docs](https://docs.crustdata.com/general/pricing), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Crustdata pricing](https://crustdata.com/pricing), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Exa pricing](https://exa.ai/docs/admin/pricing), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Tavily API credits](https://docs.tavily.com/documentation/api-credits), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Brave Search API](https://brave.com/search/api/), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Parallel pricing](https://parallel.ai/pricing), read Nov 12, 2026