October 2026
Search APIs for AI agents: Tavily, Exa, Brave and Openpath
The best search API for an AI agent depends on what the agent is looking for. Tavily, Exa and Brave Search API search the web and return pages. Openpath searches listings (homes, jobs, local services and products in the US) and returns each one with a way to reach whoever offers it. The prices below come from each company’s own pricing page, read on October 12, 2026.
Tavily, Exa, Brave and Openpath at a glance
| Tavily | Exa | Brave Search API | Openpath | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Searches | The web | The web, by meaning, over its own index | The web, over Brave’s own index | US listings: homes, jobs, local services, products |
| Returns | Results with snippets or page content, and an optional short answer | Results with page text and highlights | Web results with titles, addresses and snippets | Markdown: each listing’s facts, source, date checked and contact |
| Free each month | 1,000 credits, no card | $10 of credit, no card | $5 of credit, card required | Free |
| Paid price | $0.008 a credit; a basic search is 1 credit, an advanced one 2 | $4 per 1,000 Instant searches, $7 per 1,000 fast or auto | $5 per 1,000 requests | None today |
| API key | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Reach the seller | No | No | No | An inbox address on every result |
| Coverage | Worldwide | Worldwide | Worldwide | United States |
Tavily: web search for research agents
Tavily is built for agents that answer questions from the web, and it has ready-made integrations in LangChain, LlamaIndex and CrewAI. A search can return a short generated answer beside the results, and an advanced search digs deeper for two credits instead of one. It is a good first choice when an agent needs current web pages with little setup.
Exa: web search by meaning
Exa searches the web by meaning over an index of its own, so a query can describe what a page is about rather than match its words. It is good at finding companies, papers and pages like one the agent already has, and its results include page text, so the agent often needs no separate page reader. Instant search is the cheapest and fastest; Deep search costs $12 to $15 per 1,000 and works through harder questions.
Brave Search API: an independent web index
Brave runs its own web index rather than reselling Google’s or Bing’s, which matters if you want results that depend on neither. It returns plain web results, so most agents pair it with a page reader to get each page’s text. New accounts get $5 of credit each month and need a card to start; Brave says the card only confirms identity and isn’t charged on a free plan.
Openpath: listings with a way to reach the owner
Openpath returns listings instead of web pages: an apartment with its rent, a job with its pay and how to apply, a plumber with their area, a product with its price. They come from owners’ own feeds, company job boards, USAJOBS, Overture Maps places, and public pages read by OpenpathBot, which follows robots.txt. Every result names its source and the day it was last checked.
The difference that matters most is what happens after the search. Each result carries an inbox address for its owner, so the agent can ask whether the apartment is still available or whether the plumber is free on Thursday. If the owner hasn’t joined Openpath, the message waits 30 days and is handed over when they claim the listing.
Openpath is new and in early access. It covers the US only and won’t answer a general question, so it works next to a web search API rather than in place of one.
Which search API for which job
| The agent needs to | Use |
|---|---|
| Answer a question from current web pages | Tavily or Exa |
| Find pages, companies or papers like one it already has | Exa |
| Search an index that comes from neither Google nor Bing | Brave Search API |
| Find a home, job, service or product in the US and contact whoever offers it | Openpath |
| Do research and also find things to rent, hire or buy | A web search API and Openpath, as two tools the agent chooses between |
What 10,000 searches a month cost
At list prices on pay as you go, after each free allowance, an agent making 10,000 searches a month would pay:
- Tavily, basic search: 9,000 paid credits at $0.008, about $72.
- Exa: $40 for Instant search, less the $10 monthly credit, about $30. Fast or auto search comes to about $60.
- Brave Search API: $50, less the $5 monthly credit, about $45.
- Openpath: nothing. 10,000 a month is well inside its limit of 2,000 a day per network.
Tavily and others sell monthly plans that cost less per search at higher volume, and prices change often, so check each pricing page before you budget.
Using more than one
An agent doesn’t have to pick one. Over MCP or function calling, each search is a separate tool with its own description, and the model chooses the one that fits the request. Describe each tool by what it returns, such as “search the web for pages” and “search US listings of homes, jobs, local services and products, with a way to contact the owner”, and the model is less likely to mix them up.
Questions people ask
What is the best search API for AI agents?
It depends on the job. For answering questions from the web, Tavily and Exa are the common choices, and Brave if you want an independent index. For finding something to rent, hire or buy and reaching whoever offers it, a listing search such as Openpath fits better, because web results carry no way to contact the owner.
Is there a search API for AI agents with no API key?
Openpath needs no key, account or card to search. Tavily, Exa and Brave all need a key. See a free search API for AI agents for the request and the limits.
Which search API is cheapest?
For web search at list prices, Exa’s Instant search at $4 per 1,000 is the lowest of the three, then Brave at $5 and Tavily at $8 per 1,000 basic searches on pay as you go. Openpath is free, but it searches listings rather than the web.