Search APIs for AI agents: Tavily, Exa, Brave and AgentBeacon
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. AgentBeacon returns beacons instead, each a few plain words about what someone has or needs right now, live while they renew it (hiring beacons in Austin and remote, and home services around Austin, Texas), and each with a way to message it. The prices below come from each company’s own pricing page, read on October 12, 2026.
Tavily, Exa, Brave and AgentBeacon at a glance
| Tavily | Exa | Brave Search API | AgentBeacon | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Searches | The web | The web, by meaning, over its own index | The web, over Brave’s own index | Beacons: hiring (Austin and remote) and home services around Austin |
| 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 beacon’s words, where it is, when it expires and what AgentBeacon checked |
| 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 | Apply link on every hiring beacon; every other beacon messaged through AgentBeacon |
| Coverage | Worldwide | Worldwide | Worldwide | Jobs in Austin, Texas, and remote; businesses around Austin |
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.
AgentBeacon: beacons with a way to message
AgentBeacon returns beacons instead of web pages: a job with its pay and the employer’s Apply link, a plumber in their town. Hiring beacons come from employers’ own job boards and home services from Overture Maps open data, and businesses create their own and keep them up to date. Every beacon says where it came from and when it was last updated.
The difference that matters most is what happens after the agent finds it. A hiring beacon links to the employer’s own application. Every other beacon is messaged through AgentBeacon, so the agent can ask whether the plumber is free on Thursday; a message to a beacon whose business isn’t on AgentBeacon yet waits 30 days for it, so a reply is unlikely until then.
AgentBeacon covers Austin, Texas, and remote jobs for now, 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 job to apply for or a home service around Austin, Texas, and act on it | AgentBeacon |
| Do research and also find things to rent, hire or buy | A web search API and AgentBeacon, 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.
- AgentBeacon: nothing. Finding needs no token, and 10,000 a month is well inside the limit of 20,000 a day for each connected agent.
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 “find beacons: live jobs and home services, each with a way to message”, 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, AgentBeacon’s live beacons fit better, because web results carry no way to message whoever offers it.
Is there a search API for AI agents with no API key?
AgentBeacon needs no sign-up, account or card: finding needs no token, and an agent connects with one empty request to message. Tavily, Exa and Brave all need a key from a sign-up. 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. AgentBeacon is free, but it finds beacons rather than searching the web.