# Web search API comparison 2026: price, reply and score Compared on Nov 12, 2026. The page: https://specstream.ai/web-search-api-comparison Web search APIs cost $1 to $25 per 1,000 searches. Parallel starts at $1, Exa at $4, Brave at $5, Tavily at $8 for a basic search, and SerpApi at $25 a month for 1,000. Three of these six print an accuracy number. SpecStream costs $5 per 1,000 searches of up to 10 results, or $1 with `speed=fast`, and scores a 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 SimpleQA Verified questions. Each reply holds the answer, ranked rows and sources. Below: the table, then a test you can run. [Get an API key](https://specstream.ai/signup?src=alternatives-web-search-api-comparison&utm_source=alternatives-md&utm_campaign=web-search-api-comparison&returnTo=%2Fworkspace%2Fagents%3Ftab%3Dkeys) New accounts get $10 of credit, no card. It covers 2,000 searches, or 10,000 on the fast search. ## Six web search APIs, from each company's own pages on Nov 12, 2026 | | SpecStream | Parallel | Exa | Tavily | Brave | SerpApi | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | Price per 1,000 searches | $5, or $1 with `speed=fast` and on every drop-in address | From $1 | From $4 on Lite, $7 on Auto, $12 on Deep | $8 basic, $16 advanced ($0.008 a credit) | $5 | $25 a month for 1,000 searches on Starter | | Results in that price | Up to 10, and up to 100 with `num`. Each started block of 10 more adds $0.006, or $0.0012 on the fast search | 10 results per request, and more at $1 per 1,000 results | Up to 10. Each result above 10 adds $1 per 1,000 requests | 10 by default (`max_results`) | Up to 20 (`count`, default 20) | A response with 100 results counts as 1 search | | What the reply holds | The `answer` with its `page` and `seen_at` when the results agree on one, ranked `rows` with typed fields, and the `sources` read. `passages=true` adds page text | LLM-optimized excerpts of each result | Webpage text and highlights | Results, and an LLM-generated answer with `include_answer` | Complete search results (URLs, text, news, images) with additional LLM context | Google's results as JSON, in `organic_results` and the other blocks of the page | | Accuracy score on its own pages | 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 official SimpleQA Verified questions (978 correct). 64.0 item F1 on all 200 official WideSearch tasks | 97 on SimpleQA Verified for Parallel Advanced | None printed as text. Parallel's SimpleQA Verified table prints 91 for Exa Auto | Its homepage says it ranks #1 on SealQA and SimpleQA, with no number. Parallel's table prints 92 | 85.3% on FreshQA at $18 per 1,000 questions | None printed. It returns the results Google shows | | Free to start | $10 of credit, no card | $5 free monthly with a card on file, plus up to $80 at signup | $10 of credits every month plus a $10 onboarding bonus, no payment method | 1,000 API credits a month, no card | $5 in free credits every month | 250 searches a month | | Hosted MCP server | `https://api.specstream.ai/mcp`, with `search_web` and `read_pages` | `https://search.parallel.ai/mcp` | `https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp` | `https://mcp.tavily.com/mcp/` | A GitHub repository, brave/brave-search-mcp-server | `https://mcp.serpapi.com/YOUR_SERPAPI_API_KEY/mcp` | ## What the table does not show ### The price you pay is the price per useful call A cheap search that returns the wrong fact costs a second search, a longer prompt or a wrong step. SpecStream prints `price_usd` on every reply, and a call that returns no results costs nothing. On Tavily an advanced search takes 2 credits, and on SerpApi an empty result set counts as 1 search. ### One reply your code can use without a model Most search APIs return pages and leave the reading to your model. SpecStream returns the value when the results agree on one, the page it was read on and the time it was read. When they disagree, `answer` is null and every value found stays in `rows`, so your agent sees the conflict instead of a guess. Field by field in the [Search API docs](https://specstream.ai/docs/search-api?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=web-search-api-comparison). ### A score with every answer published On all 1,000 official SimpleQA Verified questions the SpecStream Search API scored a 97.9 F-score: 978 correct, 20 wrong and 2 not attempted, at 1.3 searches and 9.7 seconds a question on average. On all 200 official WideSearch tasks it scored 64.0 item F1. The method and every raw answer are on the [benchmarks page](https://specstream.ai/benchmarks?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=web-search-api-comparison). ### One key for search, pages and rows The same key reads pages with the [Extract API](https://specstream.ai/extract-api?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=web-search-api-comparison) at $0.80 per 1,000, and a page with no text is not charged. [Deep Search](https://specstream.ai/deep-search?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=web-search-api-comparison) returns every match on the live web as structured rows at 5¢, 15¢ or $1 a row. Source URL and read time on every value. ## More web search APIs to compare ### Perplexity Search API $5 per 1,000 requests, or $1 with Fast Search, for ranked web results as JSON with no generated answer. A successful response is billed even when it returns no results. SpecStream returns the answer when the results agree, at the same $5, and charges nothing for an empty call. ### Linkup $0.005 to $0.006 a search request, with 4,000 queries free, and a 94% F-score on SimpleQA Verified printed in its docs. SpecStream prints a 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 questions and costs $1 per 1,000 on the fast search. ### Serper Google results in prepaid packs: $50 for 50,000 credits ($1.00 per 1,000) down to $0.30 per 1,000 on 12.5 million, with 2,500 free queries. SpecStream's fast search is $1 per 1,000 with no pack to buy, and a Serper client moves by changing its base address to `https://api.specstream.ai/serper`. ### You.com The Web Search API costs $5 per 1,000 calls. SpecStream costs the same, or $1 on the fast search, and reads pages at $0.80 per 1,000 on the same key. ### Firecrawl Search costs 2 credits per 10 results. SpecStream answers Firecrawl's v2 search and scrape calls at `https://api.specstream.ai/firecrawl`. ## Run the comparison yourself Put 20 to 50 of your own questions in `questions.txt`, one a line, with the answers you expect kept aside. Send each to the API you are testing and save the reply. For SpecStream: ``` while IFS= read -r q; do curl -sG https://api.specstream.ai/v1/web-search \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $SPECSTREAM_API_KEY" \ --data-urlencode "q=$q" \ | jq -c --arg q "$q" '{q: $q, answer: .answer, took_ms: .took_ms, price_usd: .price_usd}' done < questions.txt > specstream.jsonl ``` Add `--data-urlencode "speed=fast"` to price the $1 tier. Grade the answers the same way for every API, then divide what each run cost by its right answers: that is the price that matters. New accounts get $10 of credit, no card. Agents that speak MCP add `https://api.specstream.ai/mcp` and call `search_web`; setup for each client is in the [MCP docs](https://specstream.ai/docs/mcp?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=web-search-api-comparison). ## Frequently asked questions ### Which web search API is the cheapest in 2026? Parallel and SpecStream's fast search both start at $1 per 1,000 searches, and Serper reaches $0.30 per 1,000 on a 12.5 million pack. Exa starts at $4, Brave and SpecStream's default search cost $5, Tavily $8 for a basic search, and SerpApi $25 a month for 1,000. ### Which web search API is the most accurate? SpecStream publishes a 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 official SimpleQA Verified questions (978 correct). Parallel prints 97 for Parallel Advanced and Linkup a 94% F-score; the method and raw answers for SpecStream are on the [benchmarks page](https://specstream.ai/benchmarks?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=web-search-api-comparison). ### How many results does one search return? Up to 10 on SpecStream at the base price, and up to 100 with `num`. Parallel, Exa and Tavily give 10 by default, Brave up to 20, and on SerpApi a page of 100 results counts as 1 search. ### Which web search APIs have an MCP server? SpecStream at `https://api.specstream.ai/mcp`, Parallel, Exa, Tavily and SerpApi publish hosted addresses; Brave publishes its server as a GitHub repository. ### Can I switch without rewriting my code? Yes. SpecStream answers the calls of Tavily, Exa, Brave, Serper, SerpApi, Parallel, Perplexity, Linkup, Firecrawl and others in their own shape: change the base address and the key. A search through a drop-in address costs $1 per 1,000. ### How do I compare web search APIs fairly? Run the same 20 to 50 questions through each API, grade every answer the same way, and divide each run's cost by its right answers. The loop above does it for SpecStream in one command. ## Sources SpecStream wrote this page. Each rival figure comes from that company's own page, read on 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 - [Parallel pricing](https://parallel.ai/pricing), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Parallel benchmarks](https://parallel.ai/benchmarks), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Parallel Search API quickstart](https://docs.parallel.ai/search/search-quickstart), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Parallel Search MCP](https://docs.parallel.ai/integrations/mcp/search-mcp), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Exa pricing](https://exa.ai/pricing), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Exa MCP](https://docs.exa.ai/reference/exa-mcp), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Tavily pricing](https://www.tavily.com/pricing), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Tavily Search API reference](https://docs.tavily.com/documentation/api-reference/endpoint/search), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Tavily MCP](https://docs.tavily.com/documentation/mcp), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Brave Search API](https://brave.com/search/api/), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Brave Search MCP server](https://github.com/brave/brave-search-mcp-server), read Nov 12, 2026 - [SerpApi pricing](https://serpapi.com/pricing), read Nov 12, 2026 - [SerpApi MCP](https://serpapi.com/mcp), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Perplexity pricing](https://docs.perplexity.ai/docs/getting-started/pricing), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Linkup pricing](https://www.linkup.so/pricing), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Linkup introduction](https://docs.linkup.so/pages/documentation/get-started/introduction), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Serper](https://serper.dev/), read Nov 12, 2026 - [You.com plans](https://you.com/plans), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Firecrawl pricing](https://www.firecrawl.dev/pricing), read Nov 12, 2026