Tavily vs Bing Search API for AI agents
Tavily is a web search API for AI agents that returns ranked results, optional page text and an optional short LLM answer. Microsoft's Bing Search APIs were retired on August 11, 2025 and are no longer available.
The short answer
- Tavily: Quick, agent-ready web search with snippets or page text and an optional answer in one call.
- Bing Search API: Nothing for new projects: it is retired; Microsoft points customers to Grounding with Bing Search inside Azure AI Agents.
Side by side
| Tavily | Bing Search API | |
|---|---|---|
| Searches | The open web (general and news topics). | – |
| Returns | JSON: ranked results with title, URL, a content snippet and relevance score; optional cleaned full page text (raw_content), images, and a short LLM-generated answer. | – |
| Before the first call | A free account and an API key (Bearer token); no credit card for the free plan. | – |
| Free | 1,000 API credits a month, no credit card; a basic search costs 1 credit (advanced costs 2). | – |
| Paid | Pay as you go at $0.008 a credit; a basic search is 1 credit, an advanced one 2. | – |
| Acting on a result | Through the web page each result links to | – |
| AI in its terms | Tavily and its AI providers may use your inputs and outputs to train and improve AI models; you may not use output to build models that compete with Tavily. | – |
| MCP server | Official remote MCP server: https://mcp.tavily.com/mcp/ (code: https://github.com/tavily-ai/tavily-mcp) | – |
Questions people ask
What do I need before I can use Tavily?
A free account and an API key (Bearer token); no credit card for the free plan.
Is Tavily free?
1,000 API credits a month, no credit card; a basic search costs 1 credit (advanced costs 2).
Sources
Every line about another company comes from its own pages. Prices and terms change, so check the source before you rely on one.
Tavily, read on October 15, 2026:
- tavily.com/pricing: “1,000 API credits / month”
- tavily.com/pricing: “No credit card required”
- tavily.com/pricing: “$0.008 / credit”
- docs.tavily.com/documentation/api-credits: “Each request costs 1 API credit.”
- docs.tavily.com/documentation/api-credits: “Each request costs 2 API credits.”
- tavily.com/terms: “may incorporate insights derived from your Customer Input and Outputs into their respective training datasets”
- tavily.com/terms: “use Output generated by the AI Functionality to develop models that compete with the Company”
- docs.tavily.com/documentation/mcp: “The easiest way to take advantage of Tavily MCP is by using the remote URL.”
- docs.tavily.com/documentation/mcp: “https://github.com/tavily-ai/tavily-mcp”
Bing Search API, read on October 15, 2026:
- learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/announcements/bing-search-api-retirement: “Bing Search APIs will be retired on August 11, 2025.”
- learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/announcements/bing-search-api-retirement: “the product will no longer be available to be used or new customer signup.”
- learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/announcements/bing-search-api-retirement: “Customers are encouraged to migrate to Grounding with Bing Search as part of Azure AI Agents.”