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Search APIs for AI Agents · Reviewed 27 Oct 2026

Brave Search API

Independent web search API with AI answers for developers.

free tier · brave.com ↗

Paid against free › Search APIs for AI Agents › Brave Search API

Brave Search API at a glance
653.1MEstimated total trafficModeled monthly visits15.8KRanking keywordsPublic search sample98/100Technical health15 pages checked0Referring domainsLive backlink summary

Overview

01

Summary

The useful answer before the supporting detail.

Brave Search API is a developer-facing web search API powered by an independent index of the web, enabling search and AI applications to retrieve results and AI-generated answers S1. It is used by AI companies and developers who need search functionality or training data for models, with notable users including Cohere, Mistral, Perplexity, and You.com S1. The API offers a free monthly credit allowance and prepaid pricing, making it accessible for experimentation and scalable for production use S149.

02

Product identity and positioning

Name, category, positioning, audience, and first-party claims.

  • Identity: Brave Search API is a web search API product from Brave, an internet company S1.
  • Core purpose: It provides an independent web index to power search and AI applications, addressing reliance on big-tech search engines S1.
  • Intended users: Developers and AI companies building search or AI-powered applications S1.
  • Product scope: It is a standalone API offering, distinct from the Brave browser and other consumer products S1.
  • Positioning: Brave positions the API as a privacy-respecting, independent alternative to major search APIs S1.
  • Claimed distinction: It is one of only three global-scale independent search engines, not influenced by Big Tech S1.
03

Use cases and audiences

Who the product serves and the jobs it is designed to handle.

AudiencePractical use case
AI companiesPower AI assistants and answer engines with web search and AI-generated answers S1.
DevelopersIntegrate independent web search into applications via a single API call S1.
Model trainersUse the index as a unique source of training data for AI models S1.

Features

09

Features and capabilities

Core functions and evidence-backed product capabilities.

CapabilityWhat it does
Web searchReturns search results from an independent index of billions of webpages via a single API call S1.
AI answersProvides AI-powered answers for question-like queries, with citations and streaming support S1 S149.
GogglesAllows custom filtering and ranking of search results using community-created rules S149.
Extra snippetsOffers additional result snippets for richer search responses S149.
Rate limitingSupports configurable query-per-second limits, with 50 QPS on the Search plan and 2 QPS on Answers S149.
Data retention optionsEnterprise plan offers zero data retention for privacy-sensitive use cases S149.
10

Integrations and ecosystem

Connected products, exports, APIs, and workflow compatibility.

Integration or interfaceTypeWhat it enables
Brave Search APIAPIProvides programmatic access to the independent web index for search and AI applications S1.
MCP serverAI interfaceAllows AI agents to query Brave Search through the Model Context Protocol S149.
OpenAI-compatible chat completionsAPISupports chat completions with AI answers using a familiar interface S149.
Subscription tokenAPIAuthenticates API requests via a subscription token header S149.

Pricing

11

Pricing and plans

Published plans, free access, trials, credits, and pricing limitations.

Plan or offerVerified price and billingIncludedLimits
Search$5 per 1,000 requests, prepaid credits S149$5 free credits per month S14950 queries per second; Goggles, extra snippets S149
Answers$4 per 1,000 requests + $5 per million tokens, prepaid credits S149$5 free credits per month S1492 queries per second; citations, streaming S149
EnterpriseContact sales, custom billing S149Custom terms S149Zero data retention S149

Competition

12

Competitive landscape

Domains competing for the same organic search demand.

Sampled competitors

CompetitorFirst-page appearancesSampled queriesAverage positionQueries observed
reddit.com223.5ad blocker browser, adults search engine
play.google.com215ad blocker browser
youtube.com111adults search engine
adblockbrowser.org113ad blocker browser
elegantthemes.com113adults search engine
adblockplus.org114ad blocker browser
support.google.com114adults search engine
quora.com115adults search engine
chromewebstore.google.com116ad blocker browser
cloudwards.net116adults search engine

Website intelligence — Collected evidence

Customers, testimonials, and first-party review claims

Page typeEvidenceSource
reviews0https://brave.com/reviews/
reviewsBrave reviewshttps://brave.com/reviews/
reviewsSee what users, creators, and the press are saying about Bravehttps://brave.com/reviews/
reviewsTable of Contentshttps://brave.com/reviews/
reviewsBrave is the fastest, most private browser on desktop and mobile. It’s better on Android, iOS, Linux, Mac, and Windows. But don’t take our word for it. Check out what press, creators, and—most importantly—our users say about Brave.https://brave.com/reviews/
reviewsWhat the creators sayhttps://brave.com/reviews/
reviews> “If I want to know something now, I’ve stopped Googling things… It’s shocking when you compare the difference.”https://brave.com/reviews/
reviews> “Brave is not looking in your underwear. They’re not checking under your fingernails.”https://brave.com/reviews/
reviews> Joe Rogan, The Joe Rogan Experiencehttps://brave.com/reviews/
reviews> “Brave … Browser has an awesome tool called Leo, which uses AI to summarize web pages.”https://brave.com/reviews/
reviews> Jason Calacanis, This Week in Startupshttps://brave.com/reviews/
reviews> “Best overall search engine. Balances fantastic search results along with excellent privacy.”https://brave.com/reviews/
reviews> Brett in Tech, May 2024https://brave.com/reviews/
reviews> Watch Brett’s videohttps://brave.com/reviews/
reviews> “Brave takes the cake. It’s open-source, easy to use, safe, and has built-in Tor.”https://brave.com/reviews/
reviews> Sumsub, March 2023https://brave.com/reviews/
reviews> Watch Sumsub’s videohttps://brave.com/reviews/
reviews> “Brave blocks things like ads, fingerprinting and trackers by default so you don’t have to do any extra setup for privacy.”https://brave.com/reviews/
reviews> Shannon Morse, March 2023https://brave.com/reviews/
reviews> Watch Shannon’s videohttps://brave.com/reviews/

Independent review sources discovered

No links to supported independent review platforms were discovered on the collected pages.

13

AI visibility

Measured ChatGPT and Google AI mentions with cited sources.

AI-assistant referral traffic

  • Estimated current generative-AI referral share: 0.5%
MonthSource
—All AI assistants
—All AI assistants
—All AI assistants

Website intelligence — Collected evidence

Site-stated AI capabilities

Page typeEvidenceSource
otherBrave Search is the private, independent search engine that’s default for most new users of the Brave browser. It’s also available in any other browser at search.brave.com. Brave Search serves fast, accurate results from its own independent index of the Web, and offers unique features like a powerful AI-answer engine. Unlike some other search engines, Brave Search doesn’t profile you; it can’t share, sell, or lose your personal data, because it’s not collected in the first place. Learn more about Brave Search.https://brave.com/
featuresAll topics AI news & features B2B & advertiser news BAT, creators, & Brave Rewards Brave Search news Browser performance Company news Developers & community New products & features Policy & legislation Privacy updates Research Web3, crypto, & NFTs WebStandards@Bravehttps://brave.com/blog/privacy-preserving-product-analytics-p3a/
featuresAI news & featureshttps://brave.com/blog/privacy-preserving-product-analytics-p3a/
featuresAll topics AI news & features B2B & advertiser news BAT, creators, & Brave Rewards Brave Search news Browser performance Company news Developers & community New products & features Policy & legislation Privacy updates Research Web3, crypto, & NFTs WebStandards@Bravehttps://brave.com/blog/privacy-preserving-product-analytics-p3a/
integrationsAI news & featureshttps://brave.com/blog/search-api-growth/
integrationsAll topics AI news & features B2B & advertiser news BAT, creators, & Brave Rewards Brave Search news Browser performance Company news Developers & community New products & features Policy & legislation Privacy updates Research Web3, crypto, & NFTs WebStandards@Bravehttps://brave.com/blog/search-api-growth/
integrationsThe Brave Search API shows exponential growth, emerging as the best search tool to power AI appshttps://brave.com/blog/search-api-growth/
integrationsThis increase in API calls coincides with huge growth in user adoption of AI in general—users who expect timely, accurate, in-depth answers. This makes Web search one of the most critical components of an app’s technical stack. An AI app’s access to the Web has to be fast, accurate, up-to-date, and reliable long-term.https://brave.com/blog/search-api-growth/
integrationsUntil recently, there were only three primary sources for this Web search: Brave, Google, and Bing. But 2025 saw significant change in this landscape: in August of last year, Microsoft shut down Bing’s public API; a few months later, Google took legal action against SerpApi, sending a clear signal that the days of free scraping are over. In short, Brave is one of just three Web search indexes at scale in the West, and it’s the only one commercially available in a reliable, independent Search API.https://brave.com/blog/search-api-growth/
integrationsThis leaves the Brave Search API as the only viable option for AI app makers. It also happens to be the best option:https://brave.com/blog/search-api-growth/
integrationsBuilt for AI: Endpoints like LLM context and news search are built specifically for AI use caseshttps://brave.com/blog/search-api-growth/
integrationsAI and LLMshttps://brave.com/learn/google-api-shutdown/
integrationsAll topics Ad Blocker AI and LLMs Browser Extensions Browser History Cell Phone Performance DMA and choice screens Earning as a Creator Fastest Browser Private Browser Private Search Engine Secure Browser VPNhttps://brave.com/learn/google-api-shutdown/
integrationsOn January 1, 2027 Google will be retiring its Custom Search JSON API, the long-standing way for developers to get Google search results as JSON. The API is already closed to new signups; after January 1, 2027 existing integrations will stop working as well. Google will point developers to one of three alternatives, including Agent Search under the Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform. But this is already a rebrand of the product (Vertex AI Search) that Google recommended only three months earlier.https://brave.com/learn/google-api-shutdown/
integrationsIf you’re confused, you’re not alone. A dev following Google’s path today will encounter three names for one product: “Agent Search” in the docs, “Vertex AI Search” in the console, and “Discovery Engine” in the API (and the URL slug is still generative-ai-app-builder, a fourth name). This highlights the instability of relying on a Big Tech company with the conflicting goals of owning both AI search and your AI development. For such critical infrastructure as AI and agent search, Google is putting many companies in a difficult and overly complex position.https://brave.com/learn/google-api-shutdown/
integrationsWhether you’re an app developer or looking to power your agents, if you need a drop-in alternative to the Google Search API, the Brave Search API covers the same use cases (such as site search, AI grounding, and full-Web search) with self-serve JSON endpoints and even cleaner data. It also includes a dedicated LLM Context endpoint built for agents and chatbots—no Google (and no Google scraping) required.https://brave.com/learn/google-api-shutdown/
reviews> “Brave … Browser has an awesome tool called Leo, which uses AI to summarize web pages.”https://brave.com/reviews/
reviews> “Brave Search—The best AI search engine for privacy.”https://brave.com/reviews/
reviews> Read the ZDNET articlehttps://brave.com/reviews/
reviews> Read the Search Engine Journal reviewhttps://brave.com/reviews/

These are first-party product claims, not independent measurements of AI-search visibility.

14

Marketing opportunities

Actions calculated directly from the collected evidence.

OpportunityRecommended actionEvidence
Competitor gapReview the sampled queries where reddit.com appears.2 first-page appearances across ad blocker browser, adults search engine

Website intelligence — Collected evidence

Website evidence gaps

  • pricing: no usable public page was collected; verify whether the site publishes this evidence.
  • customers: no usable public page was collected; verify whether the site publishes this evidence.
  • identity: no usable public page was collected; verify whether the site publishes this evidence.
  • technical: no usable public page was collected; verify whether the site publishes this evidence.

Trust and proof

15

Customers, proof, and reviews

Published proof, customer signals, and review evidence.

Independent reviews

PlatformPageHow it was foundNote
TrustpilotBrave Software Reviews / Read Customer Service Reviews of brave.comGrounded web searchLooking at 64 reviews, most reviewers were unhappy with their experience overall. Many people experienced frustrating performance issues, noting that the browser is frequently slow, freezes unexpectedly, and struggles significantly when handling multiple open tabs. Reviewers also reported troublesome technical bugs, including severe problems with the password manager deleting saved credentials and constant unexpected application crashes. Some reviewers were happy with the effective built-in ad b
ToolGPABrave reviews: rating, pros and consGrounded web searchcommenters who use it daily say the standard browser arrives cluttered with cryptocurrency features and other extras that they turn off or hide ... that do not work until its blocking is switched off, which one gives as the reason for going back to
brave.comReviews of Brave Browser, Search Engine & More / BraveGrounded web searchBrave is the fastest, most private browser on desktop and mobile. It’s better on Android, iOS, Linux, Mac, and Windows. But don’t take our word for it. Check out what press, creators, and—most importantly— our users say about Brave.

Customer proof

No named customers, testimonials, or customer case studies were found.

Independent mentions

  • Brave is, and always has been, super scummy. / Hacker News — Brave is, and always has been, super scummy. / Hacker News ... Wasn't their entire original premise the Basic Attention Token? It was some kind of crypto that you'd buy and then the browser would block ads for you and instead pay a small amount to the website owners. Problem was if the website owner wasn't part of the program they'd just keep the tokens for themselves, something like that. ... The controversy came when it was found out they were inserting their own affiliate code into links. Tha
  • I migrated from Firefox to Brave years ago, and it's been incredible... — I migrated from Firefox to Brave years ago, and it's been incredible. It's easy to turn off the crypto stuff and turn on more advanced privacy protection. Then it's just a fast browser with awesome adblocking.
  • List of Brave Browser Controversies / Hacker News — of Brave Browser Controversies(reddit.com) / / --- / / 4 points by todsacerdoti 67 days ago/ hide/ past/ favorite/ 1 ... riskyingo 67 days ago – Thanks! Louis Rossmann complained that Brave did things, I asked in the comments: like? nobody replied.
  • The lack of proper adblocker on iOS is what convinced me to use the Brave browse... / Hacker News — The lack of proper adblocker on iOS is what convinced me to use the Brave browser instead of Firefox or Safari. An adblocker is included by default. ... use the webapp instead, without ads and stupid-ass "It's better in the app!" or "instead of taking a
  • Brave Search replaces Google as default search engine in the Brave browser / Hacker News — I’ve been using Brave search for several months now. I switched the day that it was announced. The quality is fairly good, but I’m having troubling telling whether it’s just my own halo effect or if the initial quality that experienced has started to slip a little as it indexes more widely or something. At first I was impressed with how little spam ended up in top results, but lately exact queries for Python functions or prominent API functions have lots of spammy content above the actual docume

External links were grounded in one live web search. Search snippets are leads, not independently scraped page content; rejected links remain available in Review evidence.

16

Company, security, and trust

Ownership, policies, security signals, and public trust evidence.

SignalFindingSource
Company and ownershipFounders & company leadershipsource
Contact and supportCell Phone Performancesource
Legal and privacyLearn more about cookie consent blocking.source
Security and compliancePrivate browser: The Brave browser blocks invasive ads & trackers on every webpage you visit (even video & streaming sites). It has a built-in VPN, encrypted video calls, and more. All in a single privacy super app.source
Uptime and status pageNot published on the collected pages.—
Domain registered1995-09-18—
Domain expires2029-09-17—

Not found on the collected pages: uptime and status page. This only means Scout did not find it on the pages it read; it says nothing about the company itself.

17

Documentation and product updates

Help resources, product guidance, and visible changes over time.

Not established in the collected sources.

Technical

18

Technical and delivery signals

Delivery model, platforms, API, data ownership, reliability claims and release activity.

SignalFindingSource
Delivery model (cloud, self-hosted, desktop, browser extension)The API is delivered as a cloud-based web service S1.S1
Platforms and appsAccessible via web API, with no specific platform restrictions S1.S1
API and extensibility (API, SDK, webhooks, MCP, plugins)Provides a public API and an MCP server for AI integration S1 S149.S1 S149
Data ownership and exportNot published on the collected pages.—
Performance and reliability claimsClaims an ever-growing index of billions of webpages S1.S1
Release activityNot published on the collected pages.—
19

Measured infrastructure

Domain, certificate, and hosting signals, measured directly.

SignalFinding
Domain registered1995-09-18 — NameCheap, Inc.
Domain expires2029-09-17
First archived2008-01-02 — web archive
TLS certificateAmazon, valid, expires 2027-03-06
Security headersHSTS, CSP, X-Content-Type-Options, X-Frame-Options, Referrer-Policy
Server headerAmazonS3
Mail handled byaspmx.l.google.com, alt2.aspmx.l.google.com
Nameserverschip.ns.cloudflare.com, kim.ns.cloudflare.com
20

Technical site audit

A bounded multi-page crawl with page-level issues and URLs.

Scout — Bounded technical crawl

  • Pages crawled: 15 of 15 maximum
  • Technical health: 98/100
  • Critical issues: 0
  • Warnings: 1
  • Notices: 11

Issues

SeverityIssueValueAffected URL
noticeMeta description length should be reviewed206https://brave.com/
noticeImages are missing alt text1https://brave.com/
noticeMeta description length should be reviewed185https://brave.com/download/
noticeImages are missing alt text1https://brave.com/download/
noticeImages are missing alt text6https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.brave.browser&referrer=utm_source%3Dbrave.com
warningPage should have one primary H17https://apps.apple.com/us/app/brave-browser-search-engine/id1052879175?uo=4
noticeMeta description length should be reviewed190https://brave.com/shields/
noticeMeta description length should be reviewed234https://brave.com/premium/
noticeMeta description length should be reviewed201https://brave.com/compare/
noticeMeta description length should be reviewed198https://brave.com/search/
noticeMeta description length should be reviewed196https://brave.com/search/api/
noticeMeta description length should be reviewed178https://brave.com/search/api/use-cases/

Crawled pages

StatusTitleH1sWordsResponseURL
200The browser that puts you first \Brave1182487 ms
200Brave Browser Download \Brave1578101 ms
200Brave Private Web Browser, VPN - Apps on Google Play11167235 mshttps://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.brave.browser&referrer=utm_source%3Dbrave.com
200‎Brave Browser & Search Engine App - App Store75226266 mshttps://apps.apple.com/us/app/brave-browser-search-engine/id1052879175?uo=4
200Brave Shields - Blocking Ads, Trackers & more \Brave1122689 ms
200Brave VPN: The secure, fast VPN, right in your browser \Brave1237494 ms
200Privacy Protection & Security Features \Brave1185015 ms
200Brave premium \Brave179384 ms
200Brave Origin \Brave1169275 ms
200Brave Leo AI \Brave1146279 ms
200Brave Browser Features \Brave1105114 ms
200See how Brave stacks up against the competition. \Brave11479100 ms
200What is Brave Search? \Brave1193091 ms
200Brave Search API \Brave1634816 ms
200Use cases \Brave1278383 ms

This is a bounded Scout crawl. Core Web Vitals and Lighthouse scores are not claimed unless a dedicated performance audit is connected.

21

Search Console and Analytics

First-party search and behavioral data connection state.

Modeled acquisition channels

ChannelEstimated share
direct95.9%
search1.9%
search organic1.9%
search paid0.0%
social0.2%
social organic0.2%
social paid0.0%
referrals0.6%
paid referrals0.2%
mail0.6%
gen ai0.5%
affiliate0.0%
other0.0%

First-party connections

IntegrationStatusData available after connection
Google Search ConsoleNot connectedClicks, impressions, CTR, average position, queries, pages, countries, and devices
Google AnalyticsNot connectedOrganic sessions, engagement, landing pages, conversions, geography, and devices

No first-party Search Console or Analytics numbers are shown until the site owner authorizes the corresponding Google account. Scout traffic model values above are modeled estimates, not private analytics totals.

Limits and method

22

Limitations and open questions

Known constraints and missing evidence from the collected pages.

The collected pages do not mention specific competitors by name, but they position the API as cheaper than Microsoft Bing S1. Evidence gaps include lack of detailed documentation, SDKs, or code samples beyond basic API calls, and no information on data retention for non-enterprise plans. Open questions remain about the exact scope of the free tier and any rate limits beyond those listed.

23

Sources, method, and limitations

Evidence inventory, collection method, provider use, and constraints.

This report is based on 15 collected pages from brave.com, including the About, Features, Privacy, and Search API pages, plus blog posts and a VPN explainer. The evidence catalog includes 15 pages, with 8 rendered via browser rendering. External proof search was used but did not verify any additional claims. Limitations: some pages are marketing-oriented, and pricing details were taken from an authoritative pricing table on the Search API page.

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