Best web search APIs

The best web search API, ranked by price per search.

These catalog providers search the web for a query and return results an agent can read. Ranked by price per call, with the cost of 1,000 searches next to it.

Give this to your agent
set up looot for Best web search API - https://looot.ai/best/web-search-api/skill.md

The short answer

The short answer

The best web search API depends on what your agent reads next. Links and snippets suit an agent that opens pages itself, while excerpts or page text in the answer save a second call. This page ranks the looot catalog providers by live price per search, so the cheapest one that returns what you need comes first.

Updated

The ranking

11 providers, one job

Web results for a query. Bars show price per call, to scale.

How we rank

What the ranking is built on

  • Every provider here has a web search endpoint in the looot catalog, billed per call.
  • We rank by the price per call of that endpoint, read live from the catalog. A cheaper search ranks higher.
  • Search endpoints billed per result are left out, because their price per call depends on how many results you ask for, so the units do not compare.
  • Some providers price by mode or depth. The ranking reads the price the catalog lists for the endpoint, and a deeper mode can cost more.
  • The catalog publishes measured run counts in its search results, but this page does not rank by them. Where a provider has few runs, one bad answer moves the figure a lot.
  • Extra capabilities do not make a provider rank higher. Providers outside the looot catalog are not ranked.

Cheapest web search API per 1,000 searches

The ranking shows each provider's live price per search and per 1,000 searches. Read it before a batch, because a mode or depth setting can move one provider to a dearer price.

A cheap links-only search plus a page read can cost more than one search that returns page text. Add both prices when your agent reads every result.

Web search API for agents, step by step

Web search API for AI agents

An agent needs short, clean text it can quote, not a page of ads and widgets. Providers such as Tavily, Exa, Linkup and Parallel return snippets or excerpts written for a model to read, and Jina returns the page text itself.

If your agent already has a scraper, a links-only search such as Brave or Limadata is enough. It picks the links, and the scraper reads them.

The prompt

Let your agent pick the cheapest.

Paste the prompt. The agent finds the web search endpoints, checks each price and runs the cheapest one that fits.

  • One run is one call.
  • Runs on demand, whenever you ask.
  • Checking on a timer needs scheduled runs, not available yet.
Prompt: Best web search API
Use looot to search the web for the five newest articles on email verification APIs: call the cheapest web search endpoint, list title, link and one sentence on each result, then tell me what the search cost. 1. Set up https://looot.ai/skill.md. 2. Search the catalog for each step and check its price before you call. 3. Run the cheapest endpoint that fits. 4. Show the results as a table and the total cost.

Give this to your agent
Setup command
set up looot for Best web search API - https://looot.ai/best/web-search-api/skill.md

FAQ

Questions people ask

It depends on what your agent reads next. This page ranks the looot catalog providers by live price per search. Pick the cheapest for links and snippets, or a provider that returns page text or an answer when you would otherwise pay for a second call.

The first row of the ranking above, read live from the catalog. Prices can change, so the page reads them on each refresh and shows no number when the catalog is unreachable.

This page ranks priced endpoints. Some catalog search endpoints bill per result and are left out here, because their price per call depends on the number of results.

One that returns text a model can read without a second call. Tavily, Exa, Linkup and Parallel return snippets or excerpts, and Jina returns page text. A links-only search suits an agent that already has a scraper.

Google's own web search API is not in the looot catalog, so this page does not rank it. Limadata returns Google results, the providers above search their own or other indexes, and the best SERP API page ranks Google results with positions.

A SERP API returns a search engine's results page as data, with positions, ads and features, which suits rank tracking. A web search API returns results for an agent to read, often with snippets or page text, and the order is the provider's own.

A list of results for a query, each with a title and a link. Most add a snippet, some add excerpts, page text, publish dates or a short answer with sources.

Pick a provider that returns page text, such as Jina or Octen with full content on, or send each link to a page to markdown endpoint. Most providers here have one, shown as a tag in the ranking.

Run the same queries again and compare the links. Doing it on a timer needs scheduled runs, not available yet, so run it by hand when you want fresh results.

Paste the prompt on this page into your agent. It sets up looot, finds the web search endpoints, checks the price and runs the cheapest one that fits.

Several of these endpoints have only a few measured runs, so their rates move a lot from one answer to the next. We rank by a price we can read for every provider and leave rates out.

No. looot bills per call, and nothing runs while your agent is idle.
For agents
list
Best web search API
job
Web results for a query
ranked by
live price per call from the looot catalog
provider
brave-search
provider
exa
provider
tavily
provider
linkup
provider
parallel
provider
octen
provider
youcom
provider
keenable
provider
jina
provider
olostep
provider
limadata
setup
https://looot.ai/best/web-search-api/skill.md
llms.txt
https://looot.ai/llms.txt
updated
2026-10-28
markdown /best/web-search-api.md

Call any web search API through one key.

Start your workspace, top up, and paste the prompt into the agent you already use.

Start your workspace Browse the catalog