Search APIs for AI Agents · Reviewed 27 Oct 2026

Linkup

Web search API for AI applications.

free tier · linkup.so ↗

Paid against free › Search APIs for AI Agents › Linkup

Linkup at a glance

Overview

01

Summary

The useful answer before the supporting detail.

Linkup is a web search API rebuilt for AI systems, providing real-time, accurate web data to ground AI models and reduce hallucinations S1. It is used by AI teams building agents, RAG pipelines, and LLM applications that need reliable, up-to-date information S9. The service offers flexible pricing, enterprise-grade security, and integrations with popular frameworks, enabling developers to add web search to their stack with one API call S41 S77.

02

Product identity and positioning

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

  • Identity: Linkup is a web search API designed for AI applications S41.
  • Core purpose: It solves the problem of AI systems having frozen knowledge by providing real-time web data S1.
  • Intended users: AI teams and developers building agents, RAG pipelines, or LLM-powered applications S9.
  • Product scope: It is a search API, not a full platform, offering web search, fetch, and research endpoints S77.
  • Positioning: Linkup positions itself as the search infrastructure layer for AI, rebuilt from the ground up for how AI processes information S1.
  • Claimed distinction: It claims industry-leading accuracy and enterprise-grade controls, deployable in your stack or inside your own cloud S9.
03

Use cases and audiences

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

AudiencePractical use case
AI developersGround LLM-powered applications with real-time web data to reduce hallucinations S9.
Enterprise AI teamsEnable secure web search in a compliant way for mission-critical workflows S9 S1.
Agent buildersProvide agents with live web context mid-task to stay grounded in real-world knowledge S80.
RAG pipeline developersRetrieve fresh web data to augment retrieval-augmented generation systems S9.

Features

09

Features and capabilities

Core functions and evidence-backed product capabilities.

CapabilityWhat it does
Web Search APIProvides real-time web search results via a single API call, designed for AI applications S41.
Deep ResearchOffers asynchronous deep research capabilities for complex queries, with results in 1-10 minutes S77.
Custom IndexesAllows creation of fully customized data indexes tailored to internal data and taxonomy S9.
Enterprise DeploymentSupports deployment in isolated, secure environments, including private cloud or on-premises S9.
Access ControlManages roles, permissions, and access control across teams and departments S9.
Dedicated DashboardsProvides dashboards tailored to KPIs and operational workflows S9.
Premium SupportOffers dedicated technical and change management support S9.
10

Integrations and ecosystem

Connected products, exports, APIs, and workflow compatibility.

Integration or interfaceTypeWhat it enables
OpenAI SDK wrapperIntegrationAllows using Linkup with the OpenAI SDK S41.
LangChainIntegrationIntegrates with LangChain for building LLM applications S41.
CrewAIIntegrationWorks with CrewAI for agent-based workflows S41.
APIAPIProvides a web search API for AI applications S41.
Python clientSDKOffers a Python client for easy integration S41.

Pricing

11

Pricing and plans

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

Plan or offerVerified price and billingIncludedLimits
Search$0.005–$0.006 per request, pay as you go S77Fast, standard, and deep search S771–3 s latency S77
Fetch$0.001–$0.006 per request, pay as you go S77Not establishedUnder 2 s latency S77
Research$0.25–$2.50 per request, pay as you go S77Asynchronous deep research S771–10 min latency S77
EnterpriseContact sales, custom S77Zero data retention, private environment, custom indexes S77Not established
Free tier4,000 free queries S77Not establishedNot established

Competition

12

Competitive landscape

Domains competing for the same organic search demand.

Sampled competitors

CompetitorFirst-page appearancesSampled queriesAverage positionQueries observed
play.google.com415.3link up application
data.linkup.com111linkup
linkup.com111link up application
theirstack.com112linkup
linkupcareers.com112link up application
linkupapp.io113linkup
linkupconsultants.com114linkup
facebook.com115linkup
app.link.com115link up application
infotoday.com116linkup

Website intelligence — Collected evidence

Customers, testimonials, and first-party review claims

No supporting public-page evidence was collected for this category.

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: 3.8%
MonthSource
—All AI assistants

Website intelligence — Collected evidence

Site-stated AI capabilities

Page typeEvidenceSource
integrationsThe Web Search API for AI. Used by McKinsey, SNCF, Cohere, Legora, Polymarket, and Artisan AI. #1 on OpenAI's SimpleQA.https://www.linkup.so/
featuresLinkup powers real-time web access for LightOn's secure AI platform paradigmhttps://www.linkup.so/blog/linkup-powers-real-time-web-access-for-lighton-s-secure-ai-platform-paradigm
features> We're excited to announce a strategic partnership with LightOn, a European leader in secure AI for sensitive data.https://www.linkup.so/blog/linkup-powers-real-time-web-access-for-lighton-s-secure-ai-platform-paradigm
featuresWe're excited to announce a strategic partnership with LightOn, a European leader in secure AI for sensitive data. LightOn is integrating Linkup's web search technology into Paradigm, its generative AI platform, to complement its advanced internal document analysis capabilities with structured, real-time access to online information, within a fully secure technology stack.https://www.linkup.so/blog/linkup-powers-real-time-web-access-for-lighton-s-secure-ai-platform-paradigm
featuresWhile much of the market remains focused on language models, the real differentiator for enterprise AI is the quality and depth of context available to agents at runtime. LightOn has built deep expertise in the secure use of internal enterprise data. We provide the complementary layer: web access purpose-built for AI agents, delivering qualified, up-to-date sources in structured formats at speeds compatible with real-time use cases.https://www.linkup.so/blog/linkup-powers-real-time-web-access-for-lighton-s-secure-ai-platform-paradigm
featuresLightOn serves organizations in the public sector, defense, finance, healthcare, and other regulated industries - environments where data traceability, sovereignty, and security are non-negotiable. Being selected as the web search layer for these use cases confirms what we've always believed: AI-native search requires purpose-built infrastructure, not retrofitted general-purpose tools.https://www.linkup.so/blog/linkup-powers-real-time-web-access-for-lighton-s-secure-ai-platform-paradigm
featuresFounded in Paris in 2016, and the first European AI company listed on Euronext Growth, LightOn develops an enterprise AI platform designed to enable organizations to connect cutting-edge AI to their sensitive data. LightOn offers an integrated architecture built for large-scale production deployment, robust, efficient, and secure, allowing organizations to industrialize use cases in regulated environments. LightOn’s solutions are intended in particular for the finance, industrial, healthcare, defense, and public sectors.https://www.linkup.so/blog/linkup-powers-real-time-web-access-for-lighton-s-secure-ai-platform-paradigm
featuresGive your AI agents the context they need. Whether you're building in regulated industries or scaling agentic workflows, Linkup provides the real-time web search layer your AI systems are missing. Get started with our API or talk to our team to explore what Linkup can do for your platform.https://www.linkup.so/blog/linkup-powers-real-time-web-access-for-lighton-s-secure-ai-platform-paradigm
featuresBuild reliable, scalable AI systems with Linkup. Start for free or talk to our team about your use case.https://www.linkup.so/blog/linkup-powers-real-time-web-access-for-lighton-s-secure-ai-platform-paradigm
featuresBuild reliable, scalable AI systems with Linkup. Start for free or talk to our team about your use case.https://www.linkup.so/case-studies/h-company-agentic-platform-with-linkup
featuresWeb Search API for Enterprise AIhttps://www.linkup.so/product/enterprise
featuresFor enterprise AI teams who face real consequences when the model is wrong.https://www.linkup.so/product/enterprise
featuresEnsure secure access to the web for your AI products. Read the security docshttps://www.linkup.so/product/enterprise
featuresAI applications are complex. These answers cover the basics. Want to go deeper? Talk to our team.https://www.linkup.so/product/enterprise
featuresAny developer or AI team that needs high-quality, structured web data to ground their models in real-world knowledge: agents, RAG pipelines, or any LLM-powered application.https://www.linkup.so/product/enterprise
featuresBlackFin built a AI Driven strategy for deal sourcing & investment in analysis, leveraging Web search API. Their stack qualifie thousands of weekly LinkedIn signals, enrich their CRM, and generate automated news briefings.https://www.linkup.so/product/enterprise
featuresLinkup powers real-time web access for LightOn's secure AI platform paradigmhttps://www.linkup.so/blog/linkup-powers-real-time-web-access-for-lighton-s-secure-ai-platform-paradigm
features> We're excited to announce a strategic partnership with LightOn, a European leader in secure AI for sensitive data.https://www.linkup.so/blog/linkup-powers-real-time-web-access-for-lighton-s-secure-ai-platform-paradigm
featuresWe're excited to announce a strategic partnership with LightOn, a European leader in secure AI for sensitive data. LightOn is integrating Linkup's web search technology into Paradigm, its generative AI platform, to complement its advanced internal document analysis capabilities with structured, real-time access to online information, within a fully secure technology stack.https://www.linkup.so/blog/linkup-powers-real-time-web-access-for-lighton-s-secure-ai-platform-paradigm
featuresContext Is What Makes AI Agents Perform[](#db2a36dfa358)https://www.linkup.so/blog/linkup-powers-real-time-web-access-for-lighton-s-secure-ai-platform-paradigm

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
Striking-distance keywordVolume 320 · https://app.linkup.so/
Important pagehttps://www.linkup.so/blog/best-web-search-for-open-webui-setup-guide-and-provider-comparison · 1 sampled keywords · best position 4
Competitor gap4 first-page appearances across link up application

Website intelligence — Collected evidence

Website evidence gaps

  • customers: no usable public page was collected; verify whether the site publishes this evidence.
  • reviews: no usable public page was collected; verify whether the site publishes this evidence.
  • changes: 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
DoolpaLinkup Review (2026) — Best Search API for AI Agents / DoolpaGrounded web searchthe LangChain ecosystem, builders praise the documentation, the unusually clean ... queries. Recurring complaints are real, though: Deep search is genuinely expensive at €50 ... , the Pay-as-you-go tier offers no SLA, and small free credits (€
Krain AILinkup / Krain AIGrounded web search4.4 (61 reviews) ... Linkup is a web search API optimized for LLMs, AI agents, and applications. Provides fast, accurate, factual web data retrieval from authoritative sources to ground AI responses and reduce hallucinations. Offers standard and deep search modes. Raised $10M seed from Gradient. Integrated with LiteLLM and major AI frameworks. ... #### Strengths ... Low fees 54% ... Good UX 41% Fast 36% Innovative 31% Active community 23% ... #### Could Improve ... Mobile app 44% Documentation 2
AIChiefLinkup Review – Cost, Use Cases & Alternatives 2026Grounded web searchYet, it may not satisfy those needing deep customization. The AIChief editorial team believes it is perfect for beginners. It offers a solid foundation for basic workflow needs. Ultimately, it is a good start but not a complete solution.
SkillPackLinkup — SkillPackGrounded web searchWhere to be skeptical Seed-stage — too early for ranking All benchmark claims self-reported (90.10% SimpleQA — unverified) Zero independent benchmark verification 43 GitHub stars on SDK No HN traction found

Customer proof

Proof typeNamed customer or sourceEvidence
Case studyPaul Plessingcustomer case study — What was left was Staan and Linkup. (Tech: Just because it's from Europe, it doesn't mean it's good. A case study of AI search infra - comparing staan.ai and linkup.so)

Independent mentions

  • Linkup — # Linkup AI Native The next generation web search engine, connecting your applications and AI agents to the internet. Est 2024/ Valuation $24.2M/ Raised $13.2M/ 15 Ref Customers LinkedIn 7K/ Website/ Web traffic 34K/ FTEs 23/ HQ Fresnes, France
  • Linkup / The Web Search API for AI — # Web Search API for AI Industry-leading accuracy, in your stack via one API call or deployed inside your own cloud. Trusted in production by leading AI labs and global financial institutions. ... full-text snippets from across the web. Fast,

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 ownershipCEO & Founder at Artisansource
Contact and supportZero Data Retention means queries and results are never written to persistent storage. For regulated industries - banking, insurance, legal, healthcare, government - this is not optional. It prevents a vendor breachsource
Legal and privacyYes. Linkup is SOC 2 Type II certified, GDPR compliant, Zero Data Retention for enterprise partners.source
Security and complianceData residency across the full sub-processor chainsource
Uptime and status page99.9% uptime, SLA-backedsource

Every trust signal above is backed by a collected page or a registration record.

17

Documentation and product updates

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

Resource or updateTypeWhat is availableDate or freshness
Linkup - OpenAI deep research API vs AI modelvs Linkup: 2026 guideGuideGuides, comparisons, pricing breakdowns, use cases, and how-to articles. ([source](https://www.linkup.so/blog/best-deep-research-api-in-2026-openai-AI modeland-linkup-compared))Not dated
Linkup - Best Web Search API 2026: Enterprise Buyer's GuideGuideGuides, comparisons, pricing breakdowns, use cases, and how-to articles. (source)Not dated
Linkup - Why LLM websearch is inaccurate (and how to fix it)GuideGuides, comparisons, pricing breakdowns, use cases, and how-to articles. (source)Not dated
Linkup - Web Search API for AI: Enterprise Buyer's Guide 2026GuideGuides, comparisons, pricing breakdowns, use cases, and how-to articles. (source)Not dated
Linkup - Best Tavily Alternative 2026: Web Search APIs ComparedSupportPublic contact and support channel. (source)Not dated

Not found in the collected public sources: public roadmap, changelog or release notes, status page, separate help center or knowledge base.

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)Deployable in your stack or inside your own cloud S9.S9
Platforms and appsWeb-based API S41.S41
API and extensibility (API, SDK, webhooks, MCP, plugins)Provides a web search API and Python client S41.S41
Data ownership and exportRun the full indexing layer inside your own infrastructure for maximum control S41.S41
Performance and reliability claims99.9% uptime, SLA-backed S41.S41
Release activityNot published on the collected pages.—
19

Measured infrastructure

Domain, certificate, and hosting signals, measured directly.

SignalFinding
First archived2024-05-01 — web archive
TLS certificateLet's Encrypt, valid, expires 2026-12-08
Security headersHSTS
Headers not servedCSP, X-Content-Type-Options, X-Frame-Options, Referrer-Policy
Server headerVercel
Mail handled bysmtp.google.com
Nameserversns200.anycast.me, dns200.anycast.me

Not measurable: rdap: no RDAP server published for .so. A gap here means the lookup was unavailable, not that the finding is negative.

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: 7
  • Notices: 1

Issues

SeverityIssueValueAffected URL
noticeMeta description length should be reviewed45https://www.linkup.so/pricing
warningTitle length should be reviewed69https://www.linkup.so/case-studies/blackfin-case-study
warningTitle length should be reviewed72https://www.linkup.so/case-studies/sales-enablement-enriched-pipeline-real-time-intent
warningPage should have one primary H12https://www.linkup.so/contact
warningDuplicate title in audit sample2https://www.linkup.so/
warningDuplicate title in audit sample2https://www.linkup.so/
warningDuplicate meta description in audit sample2https://www.linkup.so/
warningDuplicate meta description in audit sample2https://www.linkup.so/

Crawled pages

StatusTitleH1sWordsResponseURL
200Linkup \The Web Search API for AI164974 ms
200Linkup \The Web Search API for AI164933 ms
200Linkup - Pricing123444 mshttps://www.linkup.so/pricing
200Linkup - Automated Deal Sourcing and Investment Intelligence at Scale11100212 mshttps://www.linkup.so/case-studies/blackfin-case-study
200Linkup - Legal AI Case Study1856204 mshttps://www.linkup.so/case-studies/delivers-up-to-date-web-data-legal-ai
200Linkup - How Artisan leverage Linkup web search API for sales enablement11195163 mshttps://www.linkup.so/case-studies/sales-enablement-enriched-pipeline-real-time-intent
200Linkup - Contact2175170 mshttps://www.linkup.so/contact
200Linkup - Linkup has achieved SOTA performance1131628 mshttps://www.linkup.so/blog/linkup-establishes-sota-performance-on-simpleqa
200Linkup - Benchmarks1645211 mshttps://www.linkup.so/benchmarks
200Linkup - Enterprise155422 mshttps://www.linkup.so/product/enterprise
200Linkup - Blog1328141 mshttps://www.linkup.so/blog
200Linkup - Case Studies1226185 mshttps://www.linkup.so/case-studies
200Linkup - About128029 mshttps://www.linkup.so/about
200Linkup - Careers1252529 mshttps://www.linkup.so/careers
200Linkup - Terms of Use15685347 mshttps://www.linkup.so/terms-of-use

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
direct43.4%
search28.6%
search organic23.2%
search paid5.4%
social16.1%
social organic12.4%
social paid3.6%
referrals6.4%
paid referrals1.8%
mail0.0%
gen ai3.8%
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 do compare Linkup to other providers in blog posts S116 S124. Evidence gaps include lack of detailed customer counts, specific security certifications beyond SOC 2, and detailed uptime history. Open questions remain about the exact pricing for enterprise plans and the full scope of integrations.

23

Sources, method, and limitations

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

This report is based on 15 collected pages from linkup.so, including the homepage, pricing, enterprise, about, case studies, and blog posts. The evidence catalog includes 15 static pages and 8 rendered pages. External proof search was enabled but only one request was made. The report relies on first-party evidence from the collected pages; external search results were not used to verify claims.

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