# Tavily pricing: $5 to $16 per 1,000 searches, and $1 on SpecStream Compared on Nov 12, 2026. The page: https://specstream.ai/tavily-pricing Tavily bills in credits: $0.008 each pay as you go, or $30 a month for 4,000 up to $500 for 100,000. A basic search costs 1 credit and an advanced search 2, so 1,000 searches cost $5 to $16. SpecStream is the live web data engine for teams and agents. It answers Tavily's own `/search` call at $1 per 1,000 searches and `/extract` at $0.80 per 1,000 pages, with no monthly limit that stops your calls. [Get an API key](https://specstream.ai/signup?src=alternatives-tavily-pricing&utm_source=alternatives-md&utm_campaign=tavily-pricing&returnTo=%2Fworkspace%2Fsearch%3Froute%3Dtavily) New accounts get $10 of credit, no card. It covers 10,000 searches. ## Every Tavily price, and what SpecStream charges for the same job | | SpecStream | Tavily | |---|---|---| | Basic search, per 1,000 | $1 on Tavily's own call, `https://api.specstream.ai/tavily/search`, for up to 10 results. 11 to 20 results cost $0.0022 a call | 1 credit a search: $8 pay as you go, $7.50 on Project, $6.70 on Bootstrap, $5.80 on Startup and $5 on Growth | | Advanced search or an answer, per 1,000 | $5. `search_depth` `advanced` and `include_answer` run the default search at $0.005 a call | 2 credits for an advanced search: $16 pay as you go, $10 on Growth | | Monthly plans | None. A balance you top up, inside the spending limit you set on the account or the key. Credit you buy never expires | Researcher free with 1,000 credits, Project $30 for 4,000, Bootstrap $100 for 15,000, Startup $220 for 38,000, Growth $500 for 100,000, Enterprise custom | | Page text (Extract), per 1,000 pages | $0.80 on `/tavily/extract`, up to 20 URLs a call. A page with no text is not charged | 1 credit per 5 successful URLs on basic and 2 on advanced: $1.60 or $3.20 pay as you go. A failed URL is not charged | | Site map | `/tavily/map` answers in Tavily's form. A map is one page read, $0.0008 | 1 credit per 10 pages returned, 2 with `instructions`. A failed map is not charged | | Research and lists | Deep Search: every match on the live web as rows that meet each condition you wrote, at 5¢, 15¢ or $1 a row, with the most a run can cost quoted before it starts | Research takes 4 to 110 credits a request on `mini` and 15 to 250 on `pro`: $0.032 to $2.00 pay as you go | | When the credits run out | Calls go on while the balance lasts. There is no monthly allowance to reset | Credits reset on the first day of each month. When the monthly credits run out, requests stop until they reset or you upgrade | | Free use | $10 of credit on a new account, no card: 10,000 searches or 12,500 pages | 1,000 credits a month, no credit card: 1,000 basic searches | | Pay per call with no account | An agent with no account buys a list over x402 in USDC on Base, Arbitrum or Polygon, or by card over MPP, and pays only for the results found. A search on a key costs $1 per 1,000 | Advanced search over x402 at `https://x402.tavily.com`: $0.01 a call in USDC on Base, $10 per 1,000, with no API key and no account | | Results in one search | Up to 20 on Tavily's call. On the same key, `GET /v1/web-search` returns up to 100 with `num`; 100 results on the fast tier cost $0.0118 | `max_results` from 0 to 20, default 10. A basic search costs 1 credit for any count | | What answers the call | The whole live web, read at the moment of the call. 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 SimpleQA Verified questions (978 correct) and 64.0 item F1 on all 200 WideSearch tasks | Tavily's search, which serves cached copies of pages and fetches pages live as needed | | A failed call | A `429` with `Retry-After` charges nothing, and a search that returns no results costs nothing | Each search request costs its credits. A failed URL extraction or map is not charged | ## What the Tavily price list means for your bill ### What 100,000 searches a month cost 100,000 basic searches use 100,000 credits: $500 on the Growth plan, or $800 pay as you go. If they are advanced searches they use 200,000 credits, $500 for the plan plus 100,000 credits at $0.008, $1,300 in all. On SpecStream the same 100,000 calls cost $100 through Tavily's own call, or $500 when every call is advanced or asks for the answer. A quiet month costs only the calls you made. ### Extract and map, priced per page Tavily Extract costs 1 credit for every 5 pages on basic and 2 on advanced, $1.60 or $3.20 per 1,000 pages pay as you go. SpecStream reads pages on `/tavily/extract` at $0.80 per 1,000 in Tavily's reply shape, `results[].url` and `raw_content`, and a page with no text is not charged. ### x402: $10 per 1,000 searches, or $1 on a key Tavily sells one search over x402 at `https://x402.tavily.com/search` for $0.01 in USDC on Base, and every call there runs as an advanced search. 1,000 searches cost $10, with no API key and no account. On SpecStream an agent with no account buys a whole list the same way: `POST /v1/agent/lists` answers `402` with the most the run can cost, the agent signs for it in USDC on Base, Arbitrum or Polygon, and only what the results found is taken. Searches run on a key at $1 per 1,000, and a new account gets $10 of credit with no card. The [agent payments guide](https://specstream.ai/docs/agent-payments?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=tavily-pricing) has the calls. ### The most accurate web search API 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 on all 200 official WideSearch tasks. Every score and its method are on the [benchmarks](https://specstream.ai/benchmarks?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=tavily-pricing) page. ### No stop at the end of the credits Tavily's monthly credits reset on the first day of each month, and when they run out requests stop until the reset or an upgrade. On SpecStream calls spend from a balance that never expires, under the spending limit you put on the account or on each key, and each reply carries `price_usd`, the price of that call. ## Other search API prices next to Tavily ### 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. ### Exa Search costs $4 per 1,000 requests on `lite` and $7 on `auto`, and the base price covers the first 10 results. SpecStream answers Exa's own call at $1 per 1,000 searches. ### Brave Search API Search costs $5 per 1,000 requests, with $5 in free credits every month. SpecStream answers Brave's own `/res/v1/web/search` call at $1 per 1,000 searches of up to 10 results. ### Firecrawl Monthly credit plans from $19 for 5,000 credits. A search costs 2 credits per 10 results and a scraped page 1. SpecStream answers Firecrawl's own calls at $1 per 1,000 searches and $0.80 per 1,000 pages. ### Serper Google results sold in credit packs: 50k credits cost $1.00 per 1,000, and credits are valid for 6 months. SpecStream costs the same $1 per 1,000 from the first search, with no pack to buy and credit that never expires. ## How to move your Tavily calls to SpecStream Change one line. `https://api.specstream.ai/tavily` answers the calls your code sends to `https://api.tavily.com` today, in Tavily's JSON, so the code that reads `results[]` stays as it is. Send a SpecStream key as the Bearer token or as `api_key` in the body. ``` # Before 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": 10}' # After 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": 10}' ``` In the official Python SDK, set the base address and keep the rest of your code: ``` from tavily import TavilyClient client = TavilyClient(api_key=SPECSTREAM_KEY, api_base_url="https://api.specstream.ai/tavily") reply = client.search("Who founded Mistral AI and when?", max_results=10) pages = client.extract(["https://mistral.ai/about"]) ``` `query`, `max_results`, `include_domains`, `exclude_domains`, `time_range` and `include_raw_content` work as before. Every field is in the [Tavily migration guide](https://specstream.ai/migrate/tavily?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=tavily-pricing), with [Extract](https://specstream.ai/migrate/tavily-extract?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=tavily-pricing) and [map](https://specstream.ai/migrate/tavily-map?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=tavily-pricing) on their own pages. 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 Tavily cost? $0.008 a credit pay as you go, or a monthly plan: Project $30 for 4,000 credits, Bootstrap $100 for 15,000, Startup $220 for 38,000 and Growth $500 for 100,000. Enterprise is custom. A basic search costs 1 credit and an advanced search 2. ### Is Tavily free? The Researcher plan gives 1,000 credits a month with no credit card, about 1,000 basic searches. SpecStream gives a new account $10 of credit with no card, which covers 10,000 searches through Tavily's own call. ### How much do 1,000 Tavily searches cost? $5 to $8 for basic searches, by plan, and $10 to $16 for advanced searches. On SpecStream 1,000 searches through Tavily's call cost $1, and $5 when they are advanced or ask for the answer. ### How much does Tavily Extract cost? 1 credit for every 5 successful URLs on basic and 2 on advanced, $1.60 or $3.20 per 1,000 pages pay as you go, and a failed URL is not charged. SpecStream reads pages on Tavily's `/extract` call at $0.80 per 1,000. ### What happens when Tavily credits run out? Requests stop until the credits reset on the first day of the month or you upgrade. On SpecStream calls spend from a balance that never expires, inside the spending limit you set. ### Can an agent pay for Tavily search with x402? Yes. `https://x402.tavily.com/search` takes $0.01 a call in USDC on Base, $10 per 1,000 advanced searches, with no API key. On SpecStream searches cost $1 per 1,000 on a key, and an agent with no account buys a list over x402 and pays only for the results found. ### Is there a cheaper alternative to Tavily? Yes. SpecStream answers Tavily's own `/search` call at $1 per 1,000 searches of up to 10 results, in Tavily's JSON. The change is the base address `https://api.specstream.ai/tavily` and the 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 Tavily price comes from Tavily's own pricing page and credits docs, read on 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 - [Tavily pricing](https://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 reference](https://docs.tavily.com/documentation/api-reference/endpoint/search.md), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Tavily on x402](https://tavily.com/blog/tavily-on-x402), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Tavily x402 docs](https://docs.tavily.com/documentation/machine-payments/x402.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 - [Firecrawl pricing](https://www.firecrawl.dev/pricing), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Serper](https://serper.dev/), read Nov 12, 2026