# AnythingLLM web search: set one field and search at $5 per 1,000 Compared on Nov 10, 2026. The page: https://specstream.ai/web-search/anythingllm AnythingLLM's agents search the web through one provider, and one field takes any address: SearXNG API Base URL. SpecStream answers there, so your agents search without a SearXNG server to run. In Settings, Agent Skills, Web Search, choose SearXNG and set SearXNG API Base URL to `https://api.specstream.ai/searxng/YOUR_KEY/search`. The key sits in the address. SpecStream scores 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 SimpleQA Verified questions and costs $5 per 1,000 searches. A new account gets $10 of credit, no card, which covers 2,000 searches. [Get an API key](https://specstream.ai/signup?src=alternatives-web-search-anythingllm&utm_source=alternatives-md&utm_campaign=web-search-anythingllm&returnTo=%2Fworkspace%2Fsearch%3Froute%3Dsearxng) New accounts get $10 of credit, no card. It covers 2,000 searches. ## The web search providers AnythingLLM offers, from each company's own pages on Nov 10, 2026 | | SpecStream | Bing Search API | Brave Search API | Tavily | Serper | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | Open to a new account | Yes. Create a key and start with $10 of credit, no card | No. Microsoft retired the Bing Search APIs on August 11, 2025 and closed sign up | Yes, with $5 in free credits every month | Yes, with 1,000 free credits every month | Yes, with 2,500 free queries and no credit card | | Price per 1,000 searches | $5, with up to 10 results a search | Microsoft points customers to Grounding with Bing Search, at $14 per 1,000 transactions | $5 per 1,000 requests | $0.008 a credit on pay as you go. A basic search is 1 credit and an advanced search 2 | $1.00 per 1,000 in the pack of 50,000 credits | | Address in AnythingLLM | Set in the SearXNG API Base URL field, or `AGENT_SEARXNG_API_URL` | Fixed in AnythingLLM's code at `api.bing.microsoft.com/v7.0/search`, which Microsoft decommissioned | Fixed in AnythingLLM's code at `api.search.brave.com` | Fixed in AnythingLLM's code at `api.tavily.com/search` | Fixed in AnythingLLM's code at `google.serper.dev/search` | | Limit | No daily limit. Up to 8,800 searches a minute on one account | Grounding with Bing Search allows 150 transactions per second | 50 queries per second | On a monthly plan, requests stop when the month's credits run out | 300 queries per second on the largest pack | | How long credit lasts | Credit you buy never expires | Existing instances of the Bing Search APIs were decommissioned | $5 in free credits every month | Credits reset on the first day of each month | Credits are valid for 6 months | | What answers the search | The whole live web, read at the moment of the call. 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 SimpleQA Verified questions, 978 correct | Grounding with Bing Search answers inside Azure AI Agents, not at the address AnythingLLM calls | Brave's own index. Its page publishes 85.3% accuracy on FreshQA | Tavily's search. Its own post reports 97.6% on SimpleQA | Serper's search, bought in credit packs from 50,000 credits | ## Why AnythingLLM users set SpecStream as the search provider ### One field, and nothing to host AnythingLLM sends its agent's searches to the SearXNG address exactly as you type it, adds `q` and `format=json`, and reads `results[]` with `title`, `url` and `content`. SpecStream answers that call in SearXNG's JSON. AnythingLLM adds no path, so the address ends in `/search`, and it sends no key header, so the key goes in the address. ``` # AnythingLLM: Settings, Agent Skills, Web Search Provider SearXNG SearXNG API Base URL https://api.specstream.ai/searxng/YOUR_SPECSTREAM_KEY/search # The same address in the server's .env AGENT_SEARXNG_API_URL=https://api.specstream.ai/searxng/YOUR_SPECSTREAM_KEY/search ``` This is the call your agent sends, and what comes back: ``` # The call AnythingLLM's agent sends: q and format=json added to your URL curl "https://api.specstream.ai/searxng/$SPECSTREAM_API_KEY/search?q=latest+AnythingLLM+release&format=json" # {"results": [{"title": "...", "url": "https://...", "content": "..."}, ...]} ``` ### The one provider field that takes an address AnythingLLM fixes the address of Serper, Bing, Tavily, Exa, Brave, Perplexity, SerpApi, SearchApi, Serply and Firecrawl search in its code. Its Bing provider still calls `api.bing.microsoft.com`, which Microsoft retired on August 11, 2025. SearXNG API Base URL is the field that takes an address, so it is where SpecStream goes. ### $0.005 a search, from a balance that never expires Each search your agent makes returns 10 results and costs $0.005, which is $5 per 1,000. There is no monthly plan and no credit that resets. Credit you buy never expires, and a call stopped by a `429` charges nothing. A new account starts with $10 of credit, which covers 2,000 searches. ### The most accurate web search API in the world 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=web-search-anythingllm) page. ### About one second a search, measured under load Every drop-in route runs on the fast search. On November 9, 2026 production took 1, 5, 10 and 20 searches a second through it and answered 718 of 720. The median was 0.82 s at 1 search a second and 1.07 s at 20 a second, and the 95th percentile stayed between 1.09 and 1.73 s. One account can send up to 8,800 searches a minute; a call over that gets a `429` with `Retry-After` and is not charged. ### You decide what is kept, on each key Give AnythingLLM a 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 and its log lines carry neither. The charge keeps the account, the key, the request ID, the price and the time. `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}' ``` ### Every search reads the live web SpecStream reads the web at the moment of the call, so a page published an hour ago can be in what your agent reads. Your workspace documents stay in AnythingLLM, and the agent gets fresh results from the web beside them. ### 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=web-search-anythingllm) 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=web-search-anythingllm) takes a request in plain words and returns every match on the live web as structured rows, at 5¢, 15¢ or $1 a row, with a source URL on every value. ## The other providers in AnythingLLM, and what each costs ### Bing Search API Microsoft retired the Bing Search APIs on August 11, 2025, and AnythingLLM's Bing provider still calls the retired address. Microsoft's replacement, Grounding with Bing Search, costs $14 per 1,000 transactions inside Azure AI Agents. SpecStream answers your agents at $5 per 1,000 through the SearXNG field. ### 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 costs the same $5 per 1,000 and scores 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 SimpleQA Verified questions. ### Tavily Search billed in credits at $0.008 each on pay as you go, with 1,000 free credits a month that reset on the first day of each month. A basic search is 1 credit and an advanced search 2. SpecStream charges $0.005 a search from a balance that never resets. ### Serper Search sold in credit packs: $1.00 per 1,000 in the pack of 50,000, with credits valid for 6 months and 2,500 free queries to start. SpecStream credit never expires, and every search reads the live web at the moment of the call. ### Exa A search API priced at $7 per 1,000 requests for `auto` and `fast` search. AnythingLLM fixes Exa's address in its code. SpecStream costs $5 per 1,000 searches and reaches your agents through the SearXNG field. ## How to set SpecStream as AnythingLLM's web search 1. Create a key under Agents & API in the SpecStream workspace. A new account gets $10 of credit, no card, which covers 2,000 searches. Turn on `zero_retention` on the key if your searches must leave no trace. 2. In AnythingLLM, open Settings, then Agent Skills, then Web Search. Turn the skill on and choose SearXNG from the providers. 3. Set SearXNG API Base URL to `https://api.specstream.ai/searxng/` followed by your key and `/search`, and save. ``` https://api.specstream.ai/searxng/YOUR_SPECSTREAM_KEY/search ``` 4. To check the key from a terminal, send the call your agent sends. A `200` with `results` means AnythingLLM will get the same. ``` curl "https://api.specstream.ai/searxng/$SPECSTREAM_API_KEY/search?q=test&format=json" ``` 5. Ask your agent a question about something that happened today. Each search shows up in your SpecStream request log with its price. ## Frequently asked questions ### How do I enable web search in AnythingLLM? Set one field. In Settings, Agent Skills, Web Search, choose SearXNG and set SearXNG API Base URL to `https://api.specstream.ai/searxng/YOUR_KEY/search`. Each search costs $0.005. ### Which search provider should I use in AnythingLLM? SpecStream, with 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 SimpleQA Verified questions at $5 per 1,000 searches. It works through the SearXNG field, the one provider setting in AnythingLLM that takes an address. ### Why is AnythingLLM web search with Bing not working? Microsoft retired the Bing Search APIs on August 11, 2025, and AnythingLLM's Bing provider still calls that address. Switch the provider to SearXNG and set its URL to SpecStream. ### Do I need to run a SearXNG server for AnythingLLM? No. SpecStream answers in SearXNG's JSON at `https://api.specstream.ai/searxng/YOUR_KEY/search`, at $0.005 a search, with no server to host and no JSON output to turn on. ### Why must the SearXNG URL end in /search? AnythingLLM calls the address exactly as typed and adds only 2 parameters, `q` and `format=json`. So the address you enter is the whole search address, ending in `/search`. ### How much does AnythingLLM web search cost with SpecStream? $0.005 a search of 10 results, which is $5 per 1,000. A new account gets $10 of credit with no card, which covers 2,000 searches, and credit you buy never expires. ## Sources SpecStream wrote this page. AnythingLLM's settings come from its source on GitHub, and each provider's figure from that company's own page. - [AnythingLLM web-browsing.js](https://github.com/Mintplex-Labs/anything-llm/blob/master/server/utils/agents/aibitat/plugins/web-browsing.js), read Nov 10, 2026 - [AnythingLLM search provider options](https://github.com/Mintplex-Labs/anything-llm/blob/master/frontend/src/pages/Admin/Agents/WebSearchSelection/SearchProviderOptions/index.jsx), read Nov 10, 2026 - [AnythingLLM updateENV.js](https://github.com/Mintplex-Labs/anything-llm/blob/master/server/utils/helpers/updateENV.js), read Nov 10, 2026 - [AnythingLLM web browsing docs](https://docs.anythingllm.com/agent/usage/web-browsing), read Nov 10, 2026 - [Microsoft, Bing Search API retirement](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/announcements/bing-search-api-retirement), read Nov 10, 2026 - [Grounding with Bing Search pricing](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/bing/apis/grounding-pricing), read Nov 10, 2026 - [Brave Search API](https://brave.com/search/api/), read Nov 10, 2026 - [Tavily API credits](https://docs.tavily.com/documentation/api-credits.md), read Nov 10, 2026 - [Tavily pricing](https://tavily.com/pricing), read Nov 10, 2026 - [Tavily, SealQA and SimpleQA post](https://www.tavily.com/blog/tavily-ranks-1-on-sealqa-and-simpleqa), read Nov 10, 2026 - [Serper](https://serper.dev/), read Nov 10, 2026 - [Exa pricing](https://exa.ai/docs/admin/pricing.md), read Nov 10, 2026 - [SpecStream benchmarks](https://specstream.ai/benchmarks), read Nov 10, 2026 - [SpecStream pricing](https://specstream.ai/pricing), read Nov 10, 2026 - [SpecStream for agents](https://specstream.ai/agents.md), read Nov 10, 2026