Tavily vs Linkup: web results with an optional answer or sourced answers under EU terms
Tavily is a web search API for AI agents that returns ranked results, optional page text and an optional short LLM answer. Linkup is a web search API for AI that returns ranked URLs, a sourced answer, or structured JSON.
The short answer
- Tavily: Quick, agent-ready web search with snippets or page text and an optional answer in one call.
- Linkup: Grounding answers with sources under European (EU) legal terms, with a cheap standard tier.
Side by side
| Tavily | Linkup | |
|---|---|---|
| Searches | The open web (general and news topics). | Linkup's own index of the web (it offers to run the full index inside a customer's cloud). |
| 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. | Ranked search results, or a sourced answer, or structured JSON to a schema you supply. |
| Before the first call | A free account and an API key (Bearer token); no credit card for the free plan. | A free account and API key; or pay per request in USDC via x402 with no account. |
| Free | 1,000 API credits a month, no credit card; a basic search costs 1 credit (advanced costs 2). | $20 credit at sign-up with a professional email, topped back up to $20 each month for eligible accounts (about 4,000 standard searches). |
| Paid | Pay as you go at $0.008 a credit; a basic search is 1 credit, an advanced one 2. | $0.005 a standard search; $0.05 a deep search. |
| Acting on a result | Through the web page each result links to | Through the web page each result links to |
| Limits on keeping or showing results | Not stated on its pages | Open web content may be kept only as long as needed for text-and-data-mining purposes (EU exception). |
| 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. | Answers are for internal use only, not for resale or acting as a wrapper of the API; Linkup may use client data, including prompts, to train its service. |
| MCP server | Official remote MCP server: https://mcp.tavily.com/mcp/ (code: https://github.com/tavily-ai/tavily-mcp) | Official MCP server: https://mcp.linkup.so/mcp (code: https://github.com/LinkupPlatform/linkup-mcp-server) |
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).
What do I need before I can use Linkup?
A free account and API key; or pay per request in USDC via x402 with no account.
Is Linkup free?
$20 credit at sign-up with a professional email, topped back up to $20 each month for eligible accounts (about 4,000 standard searches).
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”
Linkup, read on October 15, 2026:
- docs.linkup.so/pages/documentation/development/pricing: “We will top up eligible accounts back to $20 each month.”
- docs.linkup.so/pages/documentation/development/pricing: “When you first sign up with a professional email address, your account is automatically credited with $20.”
- linkup.so/pricing: “Run 4,000 queries for free.”
- docs.linkup.so/pages/documentation/get-started/introduction: “Query → ranked URLs, sourced answer, or structured JSON”
- docs.linkup.so/pages/documentation/get-started/introduction: “the full Linkup index runs inside your VPC and queries never leave your environment”
- docs.linkup.so/pages/documentation/development/authentication: “pay per request in USDC, no account needed”
- linkup.so/terms-of-use: “retain Open Web Content for as long as is necessary for the purposes of text and data mining only”
- linkup.so/terms-of-use: “acting as a wrapper of the Linkup APIs”
- linkup.so/terms-of-use: “training and improving the Linkup Solution”
- docs.linkup.so/pages/integrations/mcp/mcp: “https://mcp.linkup.so/mcp”
- docs.linkup.so/pages/documentation/development/pricing: “"flash" / "fast" / "standard" "searchResults" $0.005”
- docs.linkup.so/pages/documentation/development/pricing: “"deep" "searchResults" $0.05”