# You.com Research API alternative in 2026: reports at 10¢ to $1 Compared on Nov 13, 2026. The page: https://specstream.ai/you-com-research-api-alternative You.com's Research API costs $12 to $1,200 per 1,000 calls by effort tier: 1.2¢ a call on `lite`, 5¢ on `standard`, 10¢ on `deep`, 45¢ on `exhaustive` and $1.20 on `frontier`. Its Web Search API costs $5 per 1,000 calls. SpecStream is the live web data engine for teams and agents. A research report costs 10¢, 30¢ or $1.00, charged once when it is delivered. On the same key, You.com's own search call costs $1 per 1,000 searches and pages cost $0.80 per 1,000. [Get an API key](https://specstream.ai/signup?src=alternatives-you-com-research-api-alternative&utm_source=alternatives-md&utm_campaign=you-com-research-api-alternative&returnTo=%2Fworkspace%2Fsearch%3Froute%3Dyou) New accounts get $10 of credit, no card. It covers 100 quick reports or 10,000 searches. ## SpecStream and the You.com Research API side by side | | SpecStream | You.com | |---|---|---| | Price of one report | 10¢ on `quick`, 30¢ on `standard`, $1.00 on `deep` | 1.2¢ on `lite`, 5¢ on `standard`, 10¢ on `deep`, 45¢ on `exhaustive`, $1.20 on `frontier`. You.com prints them per 1,000 calls: $12, $50, $100, $450 and $1,200 | | When you pay | Once, when the report is delivered. The reply to the `POST` shows the price as `price_usd`, and a cancelled report is not charged | One request to an endpoint is one billable call, whatever it returns | | Web search, per 1,000 | $1 per 1,000 searches of up to 10 results on You.com's own call, `https://api.specstream.ai/you/v1/search`. $5 per 1,000 on `/v1/web-search` with the answer | $5 per 1,000 calls, with up to 100 results per call | | Page text, per 1,000 | $0.80 per 1,000 pages on the Extract API. A page with no text is not charged | $1 per 1,000 pages on the Contents API | | Time to the report | About a minute on `quick`, about four minutes on `standard`, about five on `deep` | Under 10 seconds on `lite`, 10 to 30 seconds on `standard`, under 120 seconds on `deep`, under 300 seconds on `exhaustive`. `frontier` runs 30 to 12,000 seconds, with a median of 300 | | How the call runs | `POST /v1/research` answers `202` at once with the report's `id`. Read it with `GET /v1/research/{id}`, follow `GET /v1/research/{id}/events`, or name a `webhook` that is called when the report ends | Synchronous by default: the request holds the connection for the full run. `background: true` returns a task to poll or stream, and `frontier` runs in background mode only | | What comes back | `report.content` with `[1]` markers. `report.citations` gives each cited sentence its page, read time and passage. `report.sources` lists every page read | `content` in Markdown with inline citations such as `[[1, 2]]`, and `sources`: the pages read and cited, each with a URL, a title and snippets | | JSON in place of text | Send `"output": {"type": "json", "schema": {...}}` with a JSON Schema | `output_schema`, in beta, on `standard` and above. With `lite` the request returns `422`. A schema holds up to 100 properties and 5 levels of nesting | | Question and sources | `input` of up to 15,000 characters. `include_domains` and `exclude_domains` choose the sites, and `length` is `short`, `standard` or `long` | `input` of up to 40,000 characters. `source_control`, in beta, filters by domain, freshness and country | | When the answer is a list | Deep Search returns every match as its own structured row, at 5¢, 15¢ or $1 a delivered row. The most a run can cost is quoted before it starts | One call returns one answer: a natural language answer or a structured JSON object with inline citations, plus search results | | MCP | `https://api.specstream.ai/mcp`: `research_price` shows the price of each depth, `start_research` starts the report once the person approves that price, `get_research` reads it | `https://api.you.com/mcp`, with the Research tools on the `/mcp/research` path, billed at the same rate as direct API calls | | Free use | $10 of credit on a new account, no card: 100 quick reports, 33 standard reports or 10,000 searches | $10 of API credit at sign up and $90 more on verifying the account, valid for 60 days | ## Why Research API users move to SpecStream ### What one report costs You.com bills each Research call by its `research_effort`: $12 per 1,000 calls on `lite`, $50 on `standard`, $100 on `deep`, $450 on `exhaustive` and $1,200 on `frontier`. A SpecStream report costs 10¢ on `quick`, 30¢ on `standard` and $1.00 on `deep`. The price is taken from your balance once, when the report is delivered, and the reply to your request shows it as `price_usd`. A cancelled report is not charged. ### The search bill beside the report A research product is rarely the only call an agent makes. You.com's Web Search API costs $5 per 1,000 calls. SpecStream answers that same call, in the same JSON, at $1 per 1,000 searches of up to 10 results. Each search saves 0.4¢, so from 63 searches for each standard report the SpecStream bill is the lower one, even with the report at 30¢ against 5¢. One month of 200,000 searches, 100,000 pages and 1,000 standard reports costs $1,150 on You.com: $1,000 of search, $100 of pages and $50 of research. On SpecStream it costs $580: $200 of search, $80 of pages and $300 of reports. See the [pricing](https://specstream.ai/pricing?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=you-com-research-api-alternative) page. ### The passage behind each cited sentence You.com's answer carries inline citations that point to a `sources` array of URLs, titles and snippets, and its guide asks you to build a step that follows citation URLs for legal, financial or medical use. A SpecStream report returns `report.citations`: for each cited sentence, the page read in that run, the time it was read and the passage. Your check reads one field of the reply. ### No connection to hold open A synchronous You.com request holds the connection for the full run, so its docs tell you to set your HTTP timeout above 120 seconds for `deep` and 300 seconds for `exhaustive`, or to send `background: true`. Every SpecStream report starts the same way: `202` at once with an `id`. You read it when `status` is `completed`, follow the server-sent events and resume with `Last-Event-ID`, or receive a `webhook`. An `Idempotency-Key` header makes a retry return the same report. ### A table when the answer is a list A Research call returns one answer. When the job is every company, person or product that meets your conditions, [Deep Search](https://specstream.ai/deep-search?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=you-com-research-api-alternative) returns each match as its own row with the facts you named, at 5¢, 15¢ or $1 a delivered row, under a maximum you approve before the run. On the same key, the Search API scores 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 SimpleQA Verified questions and 64.0 item F1 on all 200 WideSearch tasks ([benchmarks](https://specstream.ai/benchmarks?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=you-com-research-api-alternative)). ## Other You.com Research API alternatives ### Parallel Task API Research runs priced per 1,000 by processor: $5 on `lite`, $300 on `ultra`, which takes 5 to 25 minutes, and $2,400 on `ultra8x`. One charge per run, whatever the output fields. A SpecStream standard report costs the same 30¢ as one `ultra` run and takes about four minutes. ### Tavily Research A research endpoint billed in credits at $0.008 each on pay as you go: 4 to 110 credits a request on mini and 15 to 250 on pro, so one request costs 3¢ to 88¢ or 12¢ to $2.00. A SpecStream report has one price for its depth, shown in the reply to the request. ### Exa deep search and Exa Agent Exa's `deep` search type costs $12 per 1,000 requests and returns in 4 to 15 seconds. Exa Agent runs longer research at $0.012 to $1.00 a request at a fixed effort. SpecStream answers Exa's search call at `https://api.specstream.ai/exa` for $1 per 1,000 searches, with reports on the same key. The [Exa Research API comparison](https://specstream.ai/exa-research-api-alternative?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=you-com-research-api-alternative) has each number. ### Perplexity Agent API Perplexity bills research by the token and the tool call, with web search at $2.50 per 1,000 invocations, and its pricing guide says the cost of an effort level varies with the model, the tokens and the tool calls. A SpecStream report costs 10¢, 30¢ or $1.00, known before it starts. The [deep research API comparison](https://specstream.ai/deep-research-api?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=you-com-research-api-alternative) sets these side by side. ## How to move from the You.com Research API 1. Send the same question to `POST https://api.specstream.ai/v1/research`. `input` keeps its name. `research_effort` becomes `depth`: `quick`, `standard` (the default) or `deep`. The key moves from the `X-API-Key` header to `Authorization: Bearer `. ``` # Before curl -X POST https://api.you.com/v1/research \ -H "X-API-Key: $YDC_API_KEY" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"input": "Compare the pricing models of the top 3 vector databases", "research_effort": "standard"}' # After curl -X POST https://api.specstream.ai/v1/research \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $SPECSTREAM_API_KEY" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"input": "Compare the pricing models of the top 3 vector databases", "depth": "standard"}' ``` 2. The reply is `202` with the report's `id` and its `price_usd`. Read the report until `status` is `completed`. The text is in `report.content`, the page, read time and passage of each cited sentence in `report.citations`, and every page read in `report.sources`. ``` curl https://api.specstream.ai/v1/research/$REPORT_ID \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $SPECSTREAM_API_KEY" ``` 3. Move the rest of the request. An `output_schema` goes in `"output": {"type": "json", "schema": {...}}`. Domain filters from `source_control` go in `include_domains` and `exclude_domains`. In place of the `/stream` address, follow `GET /v1/research/{id}/events`, or send `"webhook": {"url": "https://..."}`. `POST /v1/research/{id}/cancel` stops a report at no charge. Every field is in the [research report docs](https://specstream.ai/docs/research?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=you-com-research-api-alternative). 4. Move search with one line. Set the base address to `https://api.specstream.ai/you` in place of `https://ydc-index.io`, keep the `X-API-Key` header, and `/v1/search` answers in You.com's JSON at $1 per 1,000 searches. The [You.com migration guide](https://specstream.ai/migrate/you?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=you-com-research-api-alternative) lists every parameter and reply field. On MCP, connect your agent to `https://api.specstream.ai/mcp`. It calls `research_price`, shows the price to the person who pays, then `start_research` and `get_research`. The [MCP guide](https://specstream.ai/docs/mcp?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=you-com-research-api-alternative) has the setup for each client. ## Frequently asked questions ### How much does the You.com Research API cost? $12 per 1,000 calls on `lite`, $50 on `standard`, $100 on `deep`, $450 on `exhaustive` and $1,200 on `frontier`, which is 1.2¢ to $1.20 a call. The Finance Research API costs $110 per 1,000 calls on `deep` and $500 on `exhaustive`. ### What does a research report cost on SpecStream? 10¢ on `quick`, 30¢ on `standard` and $1.00 on `deep`. The price is taken once, when the report is delivered, and a cancelled report is not charged. $10 of credit on a new account covers 100 quick reports. ### Is SpecStream cheaper than You.com for research? From 63 searches for each standard report, yes. A standard report costs 30¢ on SpecStream and 5¢ on You.com, and a search costs $1 per 1,000 on SpecStream and $5 on You.com. 200,000 searches, 100,000 pages and 1,000 standard reports cost $580 on SpecStream and $1,150 on You.com. ### How long does a research report take? About a minute on `quick`, about four minutes on `standard` and about five on `deep`. The request answers `202` at once, so no connection stays open while the report is written. ### Can a SpecStream report return JSON? Yes. Send `"output": {"type": "json", "schema": {...}}` with a JSON Schema and the report comes back as JSON in place of text. On You.com, `output_schema` is in beta and returns `422` on the `lite` tier. ### Does SpecStream answer You.com's search call? Yes, at $1 per 1,000 searches of up to 10 results. Set the base address to `https://api.specstream.ai/you`, and `/v1/search` returns `results.web[]` with `url`, `title`, `description` and `snippets` as before. ### Can my agent order a report over MCP? Yes, with 3 tools at `https://api.specstream.ai/mcp`. `research_price` shows the price of each depth, `start_research` starts the report once the person approves that price as `confirm_max_cents`, and `get_research` reads it until it is completed. ## Sources SpecStream wrote this page. Each rival figure comes from that company's own page, read on Nov 13, 2026. - [You.com billing](https://you.com/docs/administration/billing.md), read Nov 13, 2026 - [You.com Research API overview](https://you.com/docs/research/overview.md), read Nov 13, 2026 - [You.com Research background requests](https://you.com/docs/guides/research/background-requests.md), read Nov 13, 2026 - [You.com Research structured output](https://you.com/docs/guides/research/structured-output.md), read Nov 13, 2026 - [You.com pricing](https://you.com/pricing), read Nov 13, 2026 - [Parallel pricing](https://docs.parallel.ai/getting-started/pricing.md), read Nov 13, 2026 - [Tavily credits](https://docs.tavily.com/documentation/api-credits.md), read Nov 13, 2026 - [Exa pricing](https://exa.ai/docs/admin/pricing.md), read Nov 13, 2026 - [Perplexity pricing](https://docs.perplexity.ai/guides/pricing), 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 - [SpecStream benchmarks](https://specstream.ai/benchmarks), read Nov 13, 2026