# Brave Search API pricing: plans, free credits, API key

Brave Search API pricing from Brave's own page: the Search and Answers plans, the free credits, how to get an API key, and what 1,000 agent searches cost.

## Summary

Brave Search API pricing is now one price per 1,000 requests on prepaid credits, with no subscription. There are two self-serve plans: Search, which returns raw results for your agent to read, and Answers, which returns a written answer with citations and also bills the tokens it uses. Both come with free credits each month.

Plans and free credits on search APIs change often, so check the date on any price you read. This post reads Brave's own API page as it stood on 2026-11-03, shows what each plan costs and includes, explains how to get a Brave Search API key, and prices the same search through a per-call route with live numbers.

## Brave Search API pricing by plan

Brave sells two plans to developers and a custom Enterprise plan. Search is priced per request; Answers is priced per request plus tokens. Each self-serve plan includes free credits each month, applied to your account automatically, and Brave asks for a card at sign-up to prevent abuse.

Brave Search API plans. Read on 2026-11-03 from [brave.com/search/api](https://brave.com/search/api/).

| Plan | Price | Free credits | Capacity | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Search | $5 per 1,000 requests | $5 every month | 50 queries per second | Web, news, image and video results, LLM context, Goggles reranking, extra snippets |
| Answers | $4 per 1,000 requests plus $5 per million input and output tokens | $5 every month | 2 queries per second | Summarized answers with citations, streaming, OpenAI SDK compatible |
| Enterprise | Custom | Not stated | Custom | Zero data retention, custom agreements, invoicing |

Brave sells prepaid credits, not a subscription, and asks for a card to prevent abuse. The headline on the page says up to $20 in free calls every month; each plan card says it includes $5 in free credits every month. Storing results or training on them needs a plan that includes storage rights.

The capacity column matters for agents. Search allows 50 queries per second, which covers a fleet of agents running in parallel. Answers allows two per second, which is enough for a chatbot but not for a batch job.

## Search or Answers: which plan fits an agent?

Pick Search when your agent reads the results itself, and Answers when you want Brave to write the answer. If your agent's own model already writes the answer, Search is usually enough, and Answers would add Brave's token charge on top of your model's.

| Your job | Plan | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Agent looks up facts and reads pages | Search | Raw results and LLM context, your model writes the answer |
| Chatbot answers a user's question with sources | Answers | Brave writes a cited answer, streaming, OpenAI SDK compatible |
| Batch of thousands of queries | Search | 50 queries per second against two for Answers |
| Results stored or used for training | Ask Brave | Needs a plan that includes storage rights |

## How do you get a Brave Search API key?

Register at Brave's API dashboard, pick a plan, add a card, and create a key in the dashboard. The key goes in the `X-Subscription-Token` header of each request. The free credits apply as soon as the plan is active, and you only pay for credits you choose to buy beyond them.

The key is tied to your account and your card. If several agents or teammates share it, they share its rate limit and its bill. That is fine for one project. For several, give each project its own key or use a route that meters each call separately.

## What do 1,000 agent searches cost?

On the Search plan, 1,000 requests cost the per-1,000 price in the table above, minus whatever free credit is left that month. An agent rarely stops at one search per task: it refines the query, searches again and then reads pages. Count the searches one task really runs on a sample of ten tasks, then budget per task, not per query.

The same web search is sold per call through looot from one prepaid balance, from Brave and other search providers. The table below reads each one's live price when the page loads.

Web search through looot, live price per call. Prices read on 2026-11-03 from the live looot catalog. They change when a provider changes its price.

| Option | Cheapest provider | Price per call |
|---|---|---|
| Brave Search, web results | Brave Search | $0.0050 per call |
| Brave Search, news results | Brave Search | $0.0050 per call |
| Exa search | Exa | $0.0070 per call |
| Tavily search | Tavily Search and Extract API | $0.0080 per call |
| Linkup search | Linkup | $0.0050 per call |

The ranking with what each provider returns is on the [best web search API page](https://looot.ai/best/web-search-api), and the agent setup is on the [web search API use case](https://looot.ai/use-cases/web-search-api). For how per-call web search pricing compares across vendors in general, see [web search API pricing](https://looot.ai/blog/web-search-api-pricing).

## Brave Search API key or a per-call route?

Use your own Brave key when Brave is the only search provider you need and you run enough volume to use the free credits well. Use a per-call route when your agent needs more than one search provider, or other data in the same task, and you would rather hold one balance than one key and card per vendor.

Brave also publishes an MCP server for its API. If you want several search providers in one MCP setup, [web search MCP servers](https://looot.ai/blog/web-search-mcp-servers) compares the options, and the [Exa MCP page](https://looot.ai/mcp/exa) shows how one of them runs through looot.

## Run it with an agent

Paste this into Claude Code, Cursor or any agent that reads a skill file.

## What it cannot do

- **Brave's Answers plan.** looot sells Brave's search results per call, not its written answers with token billing.
- **Storage rights.** Whether you may store or train on results is set by Brave's terms for your plan, not by looot.
- **Scheduled searches.** Re-running a query on a timer needs scheduled runs, not available yet.
- **Free credit.** looot has no free trial credit; you top up a prepaid balance first. See [pricing](https://looot.ai/pricing).

Last checked 2026-11-03. Brave's prices were read that day from the page linked in the table. looot prices are read from the live catalog when the page loads.

## Questions

### How much does the Brave Search API cost?

Brave sells the Search plan per 1,000 requests and the Answers plan per 1,000 requests plus tokens, both on prepaid credits. The dated table in this post shows each price as Brave's page stated it on 2026-11-03.

### Is the Brave Search API free?

Partly. Each self-serve plan includes free credits each month, applied automatically. Beyond them you pay per request from credits you buy, and Brave asks for a card at sign-up.

### How do I get a Brave Search API key?

Register at Brave's API dashboard, choose the Search or Answers plan, add a card and create a key. Send it in the X-Subscription-Token header on each request.

### Why does Brave ask for a credit card on the free credits?

Brave's page says the card is there to prevent abuse. Brave uses prepaid credits, not a subscription, so you are only charged for credits you choose to buy.

### What is the difference between Brave Search and Brave Answers pricing?

Search bills per request and returns raw results for your own model to read. Answers bills per request plus tokens and returns a written answer with citations, at a lower request rate limit.

### What is the Brave Search API rate limit?

The Search plan allows 50 queries per second and the Answers plan two, as Brave's plan cards stated on 2026-11-03. Enterprise capacity is custom.

### Does the Brave Search API use Google or Bing results?

No. Brave's page says every result comes from Brave's own index, with no fallback to another search engine.

### What does one Brave search cost through looot?

The live table in this post reads it from the looot catalog when the page loads, next to other search providers. Your agent also sees the price before it runs a call.

### Can I use Brave Search in an AI agent?

Yes, through your own key and Brave's MCP server, or per call through looot without a Brave account. The [best web search API page](/best/web-search-api) compares Brave with the other providers an agent can call.

## For agents

### Price a web search across providers

```text
Use looot to run web searches at a known price. First set up https://looot.ai/skill.md. Search the catalog for the job web.search and show me each provider, Brave Search included, with its price per call. Then run this query on Brave Search and on the cheapest other provider: <your query>. Show the top 5 results from each side by side, what each call cost, and the cost per 1,000 searches at those prices. Do not run more than 2 calls.
```