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# Kagi Search API pricing: $12 per 1,000 searches, and $1 on SpecStream

Compared on Nov 12, 2026. The page: https://specstream.ai/kagi-search-api-pricing

Kagi's Search API costs $12 per 1,000 requests and its Extract API $4 per 1,000 pages. Kagi invoices every 30 days or as soon as usage reaches $100. The $25 per 1,000 on older price pages is the deprecated v0 rate.

SpecStream is the live web data engine for teams and agents. It answers Kagi's own search call at $1 per 1,000 searches, returns the answer with its page at $5, and reads pages at $0.80 per 1,000. New accounts get $10 of credit.

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

## Every Kagi API price, and what SpecStream charges for the same job

| | SpecStream | Kagi |
|---|---|---|
| Web search, per 1,000 calls | $1 per 1,000 searches of up to 10 results on Kagi's own call, `https://api.specstream.ai/kagi/api/v1/search`. $5 per 1,000 on `/v1/web-search` with the answer | $12 per 1,000 requests on the Search API (v1). The v0 Search API, now deprecated, was $25 per 1,000 queries |
| Page text | `extract` on Kagi's call returns page text inside the $0.001 search. The Extract API reads up to 20 URLs a call at $0.80 per 1,000 pages, and a page with no text is not charged | Extract API $4 per 1,000 pages, up to 10 URLs a request, as Markdown or JSON |
| A cited answer | $5 per 1,000 searches. The reply carries `answer` with its `page` and read time when the results agree on one value, `rows` with the facts asked for, and the results read | FastGPT $15 per 1,000 queries with web search. Its `web_search` switch is out of service, so every call is billed at that rate |
| Searches that return nothing | Cost nothing. A busy call answers `429` with `Retry-After` and is not charged | The Enrichment API ($2 per 1,000 searches on Kagi's small web and news indexes) bills only when results come back. Cached responses are free |
| Free use | $10 of credit on a new account, no card: 10,000 searches through a drop-in address, 2,000 with the answer, or 12,500 pages | Kagi search subscribers got $5 of API credit when the public preview opened on May 21, 2026. Beyond that you pay for what you use, with a Kagi account and a payment method, billed separately from a Kagi subscription |
| How you pay | Prepaid credit, with a spending limit on each API key: a total, a limit per run, a monthly limit and the operations it allows | Billed after use: an invoice every 30 days or as soon as usage reaches $100, with an optional spending cap in USD |
| What a search covers | The whole live web, read at the moment of the call. News and image searches cost the same $0.001 | Web, images, news, videos and podcasts, with lenses, country and language filters |
| Summaries | The answer search at $5 per 1,000 returns the value with the page it was read on. The Extract API returns the full text of a page at $0.80 per 1,000 | Universal Summarizer: $0.030 per 1,000 tokens on the consumer models, or $1 per summary on Muriel |
| MCP | `https://api.specstream.ai/mcp`: `search_web`, `read_pages` and Deep Search on one key, at the API's prices | An MCP server for the Search and Extract APIs |
| Volume | The same rate from the first search, with no plan to buy | Enterprise volume discounts by quote |

## What the Kagi price list means for your bill

### Why price sites show $2.50, $15 and $25

Price comparison sites list the Kagi Search API from $2.50 per 1,000 queries, or at $15 to $25. Kagi's own pages give the rates behind those ranges. $25 per 1,000 was the v0 Search API, now deprecated. $15 per 1,000 is FastGPT, the answer API. The lowest Kagi rate, $2 per 1,000, is the Enrichment API, which searches only Kagi's small web and news indexes.

The Search API that new code calls, `POST https://kagi.com/api/v1/search`, costs $12 per 1,000 requests on Kagi's pricing page today.

### What 100,000 searches a month cost

At 100,000 searches a month, the Kagi Search API costs $1,200. The same calls cost $100 on SpecStream through Kagi's own call shape, or $500 with the answer written for you.

Read 10 full pages for each search and Kagi's Extract API adds $0.04 a call, $4,000 a month. The SpecStream Extract API reads the same pages for $0.008 a call, $800 a month, and `extract` on Kagi's call shape returns page text inside the $0.001 search.

### Invoiced after use, or prepaid with a limit

Kagi bills the API after use: you add a payment method, and Kagi invoices every 30 days or as soon as usage reaches $100. The API bill is separate from any Kagi search subscription.

SpecStream runs on prepaid credit, and each key carries its own spending limit. A search that returns no results costs nothing, an `Idempotency-Key` header makes a retried call charge once, and `GET https://api.specstream.ai/v1/account/requests` lists every call with its `price_usd`.

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

On its own test of 7 search APIs on 6,789 questions, Kagi reports that it returned the correct source page for 41% of them, the first of the 7. The SpecStream Search API scores 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 are on the [benchmarks](https://specstream.ai/benchmarks?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=kagi-search-api-pricing) page.

### Data priced per row

When the job is a list, every company or filing that meets a set of conditions, [Deep Search](https://specstream.ai/deep-search?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=kagi-search-api-pricing) returns one row per match with a source on each value, at 5¢, 15¢ or $1 a delivered row. The most a run can cost is quoted before it starts, nothing runs until you approve it, and a run that finds nothing costs nothing.

## Other search API prices next to Kagi

### SpecStream

The live web data engine for teams and agents. The Search API costs $1 per 1,000 searches of up to 10 results on the fast tier and every drop-in address, and $5 with the answer. The Extract API reads pages at $0.80 per 1,000, and Deep Search delivers full datasets at 5¢, 15¢ or $1 a row. New accounts get $10 of credit, no card.

### Brave Search API

A search API on Brave's own index at $5 per 1,000 requests, with $5 in free credits every month. A SpecStream search costs $0.001 on Brave's call, and $0.005 with the answer and its page.

### You.com

Web Search at $5 per 1,000 calls and Contents at $1 per 1,000 pages. SpecStream answers You.com's `/v1/search` at `https://api.specstream.ai/you` at $1 per 1,000 searches. The full list is on the [You.com API pricing](https://specstream.ai/you-com-api-pricing?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=kagi-search-api-pricing) page.

### Exa

Search costs $4 (lite) or $7 (auto, fast) per 1,000 requests of up to 10 results. SpecStream answers Exa's `POST /search` at `https://api.specstream.ai/exa` at $1 per 1,000 searches.

### Tavily

Search in credits at $0.008 a credit pay as you go, 1 credit for a basic search and 2 for an advanced one, with 1,000 free credits every month. SpecStream answers Tavily's `POST /search` at `https://api.specstream.ai/tavily` at $0.001 a search.

## How to move your Kagi calls to SpecStream

Change one line. `https://api.specstream.ai/kagi/api/v1/search` answers the call your code sends to `https://kagi.com/api/v1/search` today, in the same JSON, so your parser stays as it is. Send a SpecStream key as a Bearer token. Each call of up to 10 results costs $0.001.

```
# Before
curl https://kagi.com/api/v1/search -H "Authorization: Bearer $VENDOR_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"query": "'"$QUERY"'"}'

# After
curl https://api.specstream.ai/kagi/api/v1/search -H "Authorization: Bearer $SPECSTREAM_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"query": "'"$QUERY"'"}'
```

In Python:

```
import requests

BASE = "https://api.specstream.ai/kagi/api/v1"  # was https://kagi.com/api/v1

reply = requests.post(
    f"{BASE}/search",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {SPECSTREAM_KEY}"},
    json={"query": "Who founded Mistral AI and when?", "limit": 10},
    timeout=30,
)
reply.raise_for_status()
for result in reply.json()["data"]["search"]:
    print(result["title"], result["url"], result["snippet"])
```

`query`, `lens`, `filters`, `page`, `limit` and `extract.count` work as before, and the reply keeps `data.search[]` with `url`, `title`, `snippet` and `time`. Code still on v0, `GET https://kagi.com/api/v0/search?q=` with `Authorization: Bot <key>`, moves to `https://api.specstream.ai/kagi/api/v0/search`. Every parameter is in the [Kagi migration guide](https://specstream.ai/migrate/kagi?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=kagi-search-api-pricing).

For the answer in place of FastGPT, call SpecStream's own Search API at $5 per 1,000: `GET https://api.specstream.ai/v1/web-search` with `Authorization: Bearer <key>` and the question in `q` in everyday words.

```
curl -G https://api.specstream.ai/v1/web-search \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SPECSTREAM_API_KEY" \
  --data-urlencode "q=Who leads engineering at Mistral AI, and when did they join?" \
  --data-urlencode "passages=true"
```

On MCP, your agent calls `search_web` with `{"q": ...}` and `read_pages` with `{"urls": [...]}` at `https://api.specstream.ai/mcp`.

## Frequently asked questions

### How much does the Kagi Search API cost?

$12 per 1,000 requests, $0.012 a search, on the v1 Search API. Extract costs $4 per 1,000 pages, FastGPT $15 per 1,000 queries, the Enrichment API $2 per 1,000 searches, and the Universal Summarizer $0.030 per 1,000 tokens or $1 per Muriel summary. Enterprise volume discounts are sold by quote.

### Why do some sites list Kagi at $25 or $2.50 per 1,000?

$25 per 1,000 queries was the v0 Search API, which Kagi has deprecated. The lowest Kagi rate is the Enrichment API at $2 per 1,000, which searches only Kagi's small web and news indexes. The v1 Search API costs $12 per 1,000 requests.

### Is the Kagi Search API free?

Kagi search subscribers got $5 of API credit when the public preview opened on May 21, 2026. Anyone else creates a Kagi account, adds a payment method and pays from the first request. SpecStream gives $10 of credit with no card, which covers 10,000 searches through Kagi's own call shape.

### Is the Kagi API included in a Kagi subscription?

No. Kagi bills API usage separately from a Kagi subscription, and invoices every 30 days or as soon as usage reaches $100.

### How much does Kagi FastGPT cost?

$15 per 1,000 queries, 1.5¢ a query, with web search. The cheaper rate without web search is out of service, so every call is billed at $15 per 1,000. SpecStream returns the answer with the page it was read on at $5 per 1,000 searches.

### Is there a cheaper alternative to the Kagi Search API?

Yes. SpecStream answers Kagi's own `POST /api/v1/search` at $1 per 1,000 searches of up to 10 results, a twelfth of Kagi's $12, in the same JSON. The change is one address and one key.

### Does SpecStream have an API and an MCP server?

Yes. The Search API is `GET https://api.specstream.ai/v1/web-search` at $5 per 1,000 searches, or $1 with `speed=fast`, and the MCP server is at `https://api.specstream.ai/mcp` over Streamable HTTP, with OAuth or an API key.

## Sources

SpecStream wrote this page. Each Kagi price comes from Kagi's own pricing page and API docs, read on Nov 12, 2026.

- [Kagi API pricing](https://kagi.com/api/pricing), read Nov 12, 2026
- [Kagi API product page](https://kagi.com/products/api), read Nov 12, 2026
- [Kagi API portal](https://help.kagi.com/kagi/api/overview.html), read Nov 12, 2026
- [Kagi API quick start](https://help.kagi.com/kagi/api/quick-start.html), read Nov 12, 2026
- [Kagi Search API (Legacy)](https://help.kagi.com/kagi/api/search-legacy.html), read Nov 12, 2026
- [Kagi FastGPT](https://help.kagi.com/kagi/api/fastgpt.html), read Nov 12, 2026
- [Kagi Enrichment API](https://help.kagi.com/kagi/api/enrich.html), read Nov 12, 2026
- [Kagi Universal Summarizer](https://help.kagi.com/kagi/api/summarizer.html), read Nov 12, 2026
- [Kagi Search API public preview](https://kagifeedback.org/d/10622-may-21st-2026-search-api-preview-opens-to-all-users), read Nov 12, 2026
- [CostBench, Kagi Search API](https://www.costbench.com/software/ai-search-apis/kagi-search-api/), read Nov 12, 2026
- [Brave Search API](https://brave.com/search/api/), read Nov 12, 2026
- [You.com pricing](https://you.com/pricing), read Nov 12, 2026
- [Exa pricing](https://exa.ai/docs/admin/pricing.md), read Nov 12, 2026
- [Tavily API credits](https://docs.tavily.com/documentation/api-credits.md), read 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