You.com Search API vs Linkup for AI agents
You.com Search API is a web and news search API for AI apps, with optional full-page content. Linkup is a web search API for AI that returns ranked URLs, a sourced answer, or structured JSON.
The short answer
- You.com Search API: Trying web search in an agent with zero setup via the free keyless MCP, then scaling on a simple per-call price.
- Linkup: Grounding answers with sources under European (EU) legal terms, with a cheap standard tier.
Side by side
| You.com Search API | Linkup | |
|---|---|---|
| Searches | The web and news (the pages read do not say whose index). | Linkup's own index of the web (it offers to run the full index inside a customer's cloud). |
| Returns | JSON web and news results with several text snippets each; optional full page content as Markdown or HTML ($1 per 1,000 pages crawled live). | Ranked search results, or a sourced answer, or structured JSON to a schema you supply. |
| Before the first call | An API key (X-API-Key header); the free MCP profile needs no key, account or card. | A free account and API key; or pay per request in USDC via x402 with no account. |
| Free | 100 Web Search queries a day through the MCP with no key, account or card. | $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 | $5 per 1,000 calls (Web Search API, Standard); Contents $1 per 1,000 pages. | $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 | Not stated on its pages | 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 MCP server: https://api.you.com/mcp (keyless free profile: https://api.you.com/mcp?profile=free) | 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 You.com Search API?
An API key (X-API-Key header); the free MCP profile needs no key, account or card.
Is You.com Search API free?
100 Web Search queries a day through the MCP with no key, account or card.
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.
You.com Search API, read on October 15, 2026:
- you.com/pricing: “No API key, no account, no credit card”
- you.com/pricing: “100 Web Search API queries/day via MCP”
- you.com/docs/guides/search: “Multiple text snippets per result for context”
- you.com/docs/guides/search: “Every request sends your API key in the X-API-Key header.”
- you.com/docs/guides/search: “https://api.you.com/mcp?profile=free”
- you.com/pricing: “Web Search API $5 /1k calls”
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”