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# Tavily free tier in 2026: 1,000 credits a month and where it stops

Compared on Nov 12, 2026. The page: https://specstream.ai/tavily-free-tier

Tavily's free Researcher plan gives 1,000 API credits a month, no credit card. A basic search costs 1 credit and an advanced one 2, so that is 1,000 basic searches. When the credits run out, requests stop until the first of the month.

SpecStream is the live web data engine for teams and agents. It answers Tavily's `POST /search` at `https://api.specstream.ai/tavily` for $1 per 1,000 searches. A new account gets $10 of credit, no card: 10,000 searches, with no end date.

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

## Tavily's free plan, its paid rate and SpecStream, side by side

| | SpecStream | Tavily Researcher (free) | Tavily pay as you go |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you pay | Nothing to start. Then $1 per 1,000 searches of up to 10 results on the Tavily address | Free | $0.008 a credit: $8 per 1,000 basic searches, $16 per 1,000 advanced |
| The free allowance | $10 of credit once at sign-up, no card, with no end date | 1,000 API credits a month, no credit card required | The plan's 1,000 monthly credits first, then each credit is billed |
| What the free allowance buys | 10,000 searches of up to 10 results, or 12,500 pages read at $0.80 per 1,000 | 1,000 basic, fast or ultra-fast searches, or 500 advanced, or 5,000 pages through basic Extract, each month | Not a free plan |
| When it runs out | Calls stop with `402` until you add balance. Nothing resets your credit to zero | Requests stop until the credits reset on the first day of each month, or you upgrade | Calls keep running and each credit is billed |
| Requests per minute | The spending limit you set on the account or on each key | 100 | 1,000 |
| Results a search | Up to 20 on the Tavily address. Up to 100 on `GET /v1/web-search` with `num`, on the same key | Up to 20, set with `max_results` (default 10) | Up to 20, set with `max_results` (default 10) |
| Answer and advanced depth | `include_answer` or `search_depth` `advanced` runs the default search at $5 per 1,000 | An advanced search costs 2 credits | An advanced search costs 2 credits, $0.016 |
| Reading pages | `POST /tavily/extract` takes up to 20 pages a call at $0.80 per 1,000 pages. A page with no text is not charged | Every 5 successful URL extractions cost 1 credit on basic, 2 on advanced | $1.60 per 1,000 pages on basic Extract |
| What changes in your code | One line: `api_base_url="https://api.specstream.ai/tavily"` in `TavilyClient`, and a SpecStream key | A Tavily key as the Bearer token | The same key, with pay as you go turned on in billing |

## What Tavily's free tier covers, and what to use after it

### What 1,000 credits buy

Every Tavily call spends credits from the same 1,000. A basic, fast or ultra-fast search is 1 credit and an advanced search 2. Extract costs 1 credit for every 5 successful URLs on basic. Crawl is the map cost plus the extract cost. A Research request costs 4 to 110 credits on `mini` and 15 to 250 on `pro`, so four large Research requests can spend a month's free credits.

On SpecStream, $10 of credit is 10,000 searches or 12,500 pages, spent in any mix, with no monthly reset and no end date.

### The limits on the free plan

Tavily's free plan allows 100 requests a minute, shared by every key in the account. A plan with pay as you go turned on allows 1,000. `/crawl` and `/map` stop at 100 a minute and `/research` at 20 on every plan. On free plans, a search that sets `max_age_hours` can be refused with `434 Flex tier capacity exceeded` while Tavily is under heavy load.

### Tavily with no key

Tavily also answers `/search` and `/extract` with no account, when a request carries the `X-Tavily-Access-Mode: keyless` header. It is free and rate limited, and Tavily does not print the limit. `/crawl`, `/map` and `/research` need a key.

### After the free credits

Pay as you go is $0.008 a credit. Monthly plans run from Project, $30 for 4,000 credits, to Growth, $500 for 100,000, which is $0.005 a credit or $5 per 1,000 basic searches. Tavily also gives startups in its program 100,000 free credits and students the service at no cost.

SpecStream's price on the Tavily address is $1 per 1,000 searches from the first call, with no plan to pick and no monthly commitment.

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

SpecStream's Search API scores 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 official SimpleQA Verified questions (978 correct), and 64.0 item F1 and 43.4 row F1 on all 200 official WideSearch tasks. The Extract API scores 0.908 F1 on WCXB. The scores and the method are on the [benchmarks page](https://specstream.ai/benchmarks?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=tavily-free-tier).

### When the job is a list

Deep Search takes a request in plain words and returns every match on the live web as rows that meet each condition you wrote, at 5¢, 15¢ or $1 a row. The most a run can cost is quoted before it starts, and a run that finds nothing costs nothing. Source URL and read time on every value.

## Other free tiers for web search

### Exa

Exa's free tier gives $10 in credits at sign-up, up to 2,500 Lite searches, and resets the free balance to $10 on the first of every month. Lite search costs $4 per 1,000 requests after that. SpecStream's search costs $1 per 1,000 on its Exa address too.

### Brave Search API

Brave's Search API costs $5 per 1,000 requests and includes $5 in free credits every month, which is 1,000 searches. SpecStream answers Brave's own `GET /res/v1/web/search` at $1 per 1,000.

### Parallel

Parallel's search starts at $1 per 1,000 requests, and its MCP server runs `web_search` and `web_fetch` free at lower rate limits with no account. SpecStream gives the same $1 price with $10 of credit to start and page reading at $0.80 per 1,000.

## How to move a Tavily client to SpecStream

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, with a spending limit above 0.

3. Change the base address. In the official Python SDK:

```
from tavily import TavilyClient

# Before
client = TavilyClient(api_key="tvly-...")

# After
client = TavilyClient(
    api_key=SPECSTREAM_API_KEY,
    api_base_url="https://api.specstream.ai/tavily",
)

results = client.search("open source vector databases", max_results=10)
```

4. Or with curl, send the same body to the new address:

```
curl -X POST https://api.specstream.ai/tavily/search \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SPECSTREAM_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"query": "open source vector databases", "max_results": 10}'
```

The reply keeps `results[]` with `title`, `url` and `content`, so the code that reads it stays as it is. `client.extract(urls)` works on the same address. Every field is on the [Tavily migration page](https://specstream.ai/migrate/tavily?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=tavily-free-tier).

## Frequently asked questions

### Is Tavily free?

Tavily's Researcher plan is free and gives 1,000 API credits a month with no credit card. A basic search costs 1 credit, so that is 1,000 basic searches a month.

### How many searches does the Tavily free tier give?

1,000 basic, fast or ultra-fast searches a month, or 500 advanced searches, because an advanced search costs 2 credits. Extract, crawl, map and Research spend the same credits.

### When do Tavily's free credits reset?

On the first day of each month, whatever the billing date. When the credits run out before then, requests stop until the reset or an upgrade.

### What is the Tavily free tier rate limit?

100 requests a minute on the free plan, shared by every key in the account. `/crawl` and `/map` allow 100 a minute and `/research` 20 on every plan.

### Can I use Tavily without an API key?

Yes, for `/search` and `/extract`: send the `X-Tavily-Access-Mode: keyless` header. It is free and rate limited. `/crawl`, `/map` and `/research` need a key.

### What does Tavily cost after the free tier?

$0.008 a credit on pay as you go, $8 per 1,000 basic searches. Monthly plans run from $30 for 4,000 credits to $500 for 100,000. SpecStream answers the same call for $1 per 1,000 searches.

## Sources

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

- [Tavily pricing](https://www.tavily.com/pricing), read Nov 12, 2026
- [Tavily credits and pricing](https://docs.tavily.com/documentation/api-credits.md), read Nov 12, 2026
- [Tavily search API reference](https://docs.tavily.com/documentation/api-reference/endpoint/search.md), read Nov 12, 2026
- [Tavily rate limits](https://docs.tavily.com/documentation/rate-limits.md), read Nov 12, 2026
- [Tavily keyless access](https://docs.tavily.com/documentation/keyless.md), read Nov 12, 2026
- [Exa pricing](https://exa.ai/docs/admin/pricing.md), read Nov 12, 2026
- [Brave Search API](https://brave.com/search/api/), read Nov 12, 2026
- [Parallel MCP](https://parallel.ai/mcp), read Nov 12, 2026
- [Parallel pricing](https://parallel.ai/pricing), read Nov 12, 2026
- [SpecStream benchmarks](https://specstream.ai/benchmarks), read Nov 12, 2026
- [SpecStream for agents](https://specstream.ai/agents.md), read Nov 12, 2026