<!-- twin of https://specstream.ai/migrate/baidu-qianfan -->
# Baidu AI Search (Qianfan) compatible: change one address

Compared on Nov 13, 2026. The page: https://specstream.ai/migrate/baidu-qianfan

Baidu's search API on Qianfan lists ¥0.036 a call on its standard edition, with 3 QPS by default and 100,000 calls a day before you must contact Baidu. SpecStream answers the same `POST /v2/ai_search/web_search` in Baidu's own JSON for $1 per 1,000 searches.

The switch is one address: `https://api.specstream.ai/qianfan` in place of `https://qianfan.baidubce.com`, and a SpecStream key as the Bearer token. Your code reads `references[]` with `title`, `url`, `content` and `date` as before.

SpecStream scores 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 SimpleQA Verified questions and 64.0 item F1 on all 200 WideSearch tasks. New accounts get $10 of credit, no card.

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

## Baidu AI Search on Qianfan to SpecStream, parameter by parameter and field by field

| | SpecStream | Baidu AI Search (Qianfan) |
|---|---|---|
| Address | `POST https://api.specstream.ai/qianfan/v2/ai_search/web_search` | `POST https://qianfan.baidubce.com/v2/ai_search/web_search` |
| The key | A SpecStream key as `Authorization: Bearer`, or in `X-Appbuilder-Authorization` | A Baidu API key as `Authorization: Bearer` |
| Price | $1 per 1,000 searches of up to 10 results, the same for every edition | ¥0.036 a call on the standard edition, ¥0.04 on the enhanced edition and ¥0.072 on the flagship edition for content inside China. IT Home reports a promotion from October 30, 2026 with a lowest price of 4.9 yuan per 1,000 calls |
| Prepaid packs | Credit you buy never expires | 10,000 calls for 352 yuan, 100,000 for 3,420 yuan and 1,000,000 for 30,600 yuan, each valid for 1 year |
| Limit | No limit per key and no daily limit | 3 QPS by default, and 100,000 requests a day before you contact Baidu |
| Free use | $10 of credit on a new account, no card: 10,000 searches, with no end date | 1,500 calls a month, given out at about 50 a day |
| `resource_type_filter` | `web` with `top_k` 0 to 50, 20 when you send no filter. `image` with `top_k` up to 30 when the call asks for no web result | `web` up to 50, `video` up to 10, `image` up to 30 and `aladdin` up to 5. Default: `web` 20 |
| Site filter | `search_filter.match.site` at no extra cost, and `block_websites` to leave sites out | Up to 100 sites. Baidu's reference calls it a paid feature that is free for a limited time |
| The reply | `request_id` and `references[]` with `id`, `title`, `url`, `web_anchor`, `website`, `snippet`, `content`, `date`, `type`, `icon`, `image`, `video` and `rerank_score` | `request_id` and `references[]` |

## The Baidu AI Search reference, on SpecStream

### The call, before and after

```
# Before
curl -X POST https://qianfan.baidubce.com/v2/ai_search/web_search \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $BAIDU_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Who founded Mistral AI and when?"}], "resource_type_filter": [{"type": "web", "top_k": 10}]}'

# After
curl -X POST https://api.specstream.ai/qianfan/v2/ai_search/web_search \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SPECSTREAM_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Who founded Mistral AI and when?"}], "resource_type_filter": [{"type": "web", "top_k": 10}]}'
```

The body and the parser stay. The host changes to `api.specstream.ai/qianfan`, and the key changes. The results come from the SpecStream Search API, in Baidu's JSON.

An AppBuilder client that sends its key as `X-Appbuilder-Authorization: Bearer` is read too.

### Every parameter the route uses

Used in the search: `messages` (the search is the `content` of the last message), `resource_type_filter` (`web` with `top_k` 0 to 50, `image` with `top_k` 0 to 30), `search_recency_filter` (`week`, `month`, `semiyear` or `year`) and `safe_search`.

In `search_filter`: `match.site` keeps results to the sites you name, `block_websites` leaves sites out, and `range.page_time` keeps a window of days when you send both ends, with `gte` or `gt` and `lte` or `lt`. Each end is a day as `YYYY-MM-DD` or a preset such as `now/d`, `now-1w/d`, `now-1M/d` or `now-1y/d`.

One call is one search: the web results when it asks for any, and the image results when it asks for images alone. `video` and `aladdin` are accepted with their `top_k` and answered with no result. `edition`, `search_source` and `query_policy` are accepted, and the price is the same for every edition.

Refused with HTTP 400 and Baidu's `InvalidArgument`: a `top_k` above the kind's maximum, a resource type other than `web`, `image`, `video` or `aladdin`, a `search_recency_filter` Baidu does not take, and a call that asks for neither web nor image results.

### Every field that comes back

The reply has `request_id` and `references`. Each reference has `id` (counted from 1), `title`, `url`, `web_anchor`, `website`, `snippet`, `content`, `date` as `YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS` when the page gives a time, `type` (`web` or `image`) and `rerank_score`.

`content` carries the result's snippet text. On a web reference `icon`, `image` and `video` are `null`. An image reference has `image` with `url`, `height` and `width`.

One field is added: `specstream`, with what the Search API returns beyond Baidu's fields, including the call's `price_usd`. A parser that reads Baidu's fields never sees it.

A refusal carries Baidu's `requestId`, `code` and `message` and keeps its HTTP status, so a client's status check sees it: `216003` with 401 for a key that cannot be read, `BILLING_INSUFFICIENT_BALANCE` with 402 and `RATE_LIMIT_SEARCH_QPS` with 429.

### $1 per 1,000 searches, with no QPS cap

A call of up to 10 results costs $0.001. Each started block of 10 more results adds $0.0012: `top_k` 20 costs $0.0022 and `top_k` 50 costs $0.0058. A call with no `resource_type_filter` returns 20 web results, as on Baidu, so send `top_k` 10 to pay $0.001.

The site filter and the date filter cost nothing extra. A call stopped by a 429 charges nothing, and credit you buy never expires.

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

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=migrate-qianfan) page.

Every call on this route runs the fast search. Measured on production on November 9, 2026, its median was 0.82 s at 1 search a second and 1.07 s at 20 a second, the 95th percentile stayed between 1.09 and 1.73 s, and it answered 718 of 720. It has no limit per key and no daily limit.

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

Create the 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=migrate-qianfan) at $0.80 per 1,000 pages, and a page with no text is not charged. [Deep Search](https://specstream.ai/deep-search?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=migrate-qianfan) 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. The most a run can cost is approved before it starts.

## What else Baidu AI Search users price

### Alibaba Cloud IQS Web Search

Alibaba Cloud's search API for agents, priced by engine: 8 CNY per 1,000 calls on China Edition LiteBasic, 42 CNY on the Generic edition's first tier at 30 QPS, and 56 CNY on Global Edition GlobalAdvanced. SpecStream answers its `POST /search/unified` as well, at `https://api.specstream.ai/aliyun-iqs`, for $0.001 a search of up to 10 results.

### Tavily

A search API sold in credits at $0.008 each pay as you go: a basic search takes 1 credit and an advanced search 2. SpecStream answers Tavily's `POST /search` at `https://api.specstream.ai/tavily` for $0.001 a basic search and $0.005 an advanced one.

### Brave Search API

A search API on Brave's own index at $5 per 1,000 requests, with $5 in free credits every month and 50 queries per second. SpecStream answers Brave's call at `https://api.specstream.ai/res/v1/web/search` at $1 per 1,000, a fifth of Brave's rate, and has no limit per key.

## How to migrate, step by step

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

2. Set the host to `https://api.specstream.ai/qianfan` where your code has `https://qianfan.baidubce.com`, and send the SpecStream key as the Bearer token. In Python:

```
import requests

BASE = "https://api.specstream.ai/qianfan"  # was https://qianfan.baidubce.com

reply = requests.post(
    f"{BASE}/v2/ai_search/web_search",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {SPECSTREAM_KEY}"},
    json={
        "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Who founded Mistral AI and when?"}],
        "resource_type_filter": [{"type": "web", "top_k": 10}],
        "search_recency_filter": "year",
    },
    timeout=30,
)
reply.raise_for_status()
for ref in reply.json()["references"]:
    print(ref["id"], ref["title"], ref["url"], ref["date"])
```

3. In JavaScript:

```
const res = await fetch("https://api.specstream.ai/qianfan/v2/ai_search/web_search", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.SPECSTREAM_KEY}`,
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    messages: [{ role: "user", content: "Who founded Mistral AI and when?" }],
    resource_type_filter: [{ type: "web", top_k: 10 }],
  }),
});
const data = await res.json();
for (const ref of data.references) console.log(ref.title, ref.url);
```

4. Read `402` as an empty balance and `429` as a call to send again after `Retry-After`. Neither is charged.

5. When your product needs every match in place of a results page, write the request in plain words. SpecStream reads it back as the conditions every row must meet and the facts to bring back, quotes the most it can cost, and delivers the rows after you approve.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is there a Baidu AI Search compatible API?

Yes. SpecStream answers Baidu Qianfan's `POST /v2/ai_search/web_search` at `https://api.specstream.ai/qianfan/v2/ai_search/web_search` in Baidu's JSON, for $0.001 a search of up to 10 results.

### How much does the Baidu search API cost?

Baidu's billing page lists ¥0.036 a call on the standard edition, ¥0.04 on the enhanced edition and ¥0.072 on the flagship edition, with 1,500 free calls a month. IT Home reports a promotion from October 30, 2026 with a lowest price of 4.9 yuan per 1,000 calls. SpecStream costs $1 per 1,000 searches.

### How do I migrate from qianfan.baidubce.com?

Change one host: `https://api.specstream.ai/qianfan` in place of `https://qianfan.baidubce.com`, and a SpecStream key as the Bearer token. The body and the code that reads `references[]` stay as they are, and a search of up to 10 results costs $0.001.

### What is the Baidu search API rate limit?

3 QPS by default, and 100,000 requests a day before you contact Baidu, by its billing page. SpecStream has no limit per key and no daily limit, and answers 429 with `Retry-After` at no charge when search is busy.

### Are the results from Baidu's index?

No. The route returns results from the SpecStream Search API in Baidu's format, so the fields and the parser stay and the ranking is SpecStream's. It scores 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 SimpleQA Verified questions.

### Do video and Aladdin results work?

No. `video` and `aladdin` in `resource_type_filter` are accepted and answered with 0 results. Web results come back up to 50 a call, and image results up to 30 when the call asks for images alone.

### How much does a call with no resource_type_filter cost?

$0.0022, because it returns 20 web results, Baidu's own default. Send `top_k` 10 and the call costs $0.001.

## Sources

SpecStream wrote this page. Each Baidu fact comes from Baidu's own API reference and billing page, the promotion price from IT Home's report of October 30, 2026, and each other provider's figure from that company's own page. Each SpecStream line describes the route as it answers on November 13, 2026.

- [Baidu Qianfan, Baidu Search API reference](https://cloud.baidu.com/doc/qianfan-api/s/Wmbq4z7e5), read Nov 13, 2026
- [Baidu Qianfan, Baidu Search billing](https://cloud.baidu.com/doc/qianfan/s/1mh4sv6c4), read Nov 13, 2026
- [IT Home, Baidu search API promotion price](https://ithome.com/1/020/165.htm), read Nov 13, 2026
- [Alibaba Cloud IQS, billing for Web Search](https://help.aliyun.com/en/document_detail/2862023.html), read Nov 13, 2026
- [Tavily API credits](https://docs.tavily.com/documentation/api-credits.md), read Nov 13, 2026
- [Brave Search API](https://brave.com/search/api/), read Nov 13, 2026
- [SpecStream benchmarks](https://specstream.ai/benchmarks), read Nov 13, 2026
- [SpecStream pricing](https://specstream.ai/pricing), read Nov 13, 2026
- [SpecStream for agents](https://specstream.ai/agents.md), read Nov 13, 2026