Jina AI vs Tavily (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Jina AI and Tavily share a 2.4 GPA, both have a free plan and their prices can't be set side by side, so the choice depends on which features you need.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
They get the same grade on all five counts.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Jina AI
Reader, search, embeddings and reranker APIs for AI search
Tavily
Web search, extract and crawl API built for AI agents
Which one is for you
Pick Jina AI if
- Fits if you want page text for a model with a single URL prefix
- Works for people who also need embeddings or a reranker from the same key
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you want search without a key, since the search endpoint is blocked without one
- Watch out: the OCR option uses 40 times more tokens, and each search starts at 10,000
- Watch out: the free key lets you use up the 10 million tokens and then nothing renews
- Watch out: auto top-up is on offer, and the price may be charged in USD, EUR or another currency
Pick Tavily if
- Fits if an agent needs web search results it can read
- Works for people who prefer pay as you go to a monthly bill
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free: 1,000 credits, and requests stop until the month resets
- Watch out: an advanced search takes 2 credits, so 4,000 credits may mean 2,000 searches
- Pricey if you scale: 100,000 credits is $500 a month on the slider
- Watch out: it is a developer API only, with no desktop or mobile app
How we grade them
| 2.4GPAJina AIFair | 2.4GPATavilyFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CTokens are bought in top-ups, $50 for 1 billion tokens, with no monthly plan to line up against this category's $19 to $44 range. | C$30 a month for 4,000 credits, or $0.008 a credit pay as you go, in the middle of this category ($19 to $44.10). |
| Free plan and trial | C10 million free tokens on a new key, and the Reader works without a key at 20 requests a minute. The free tokens are a one-time grant, not a monthly one. | C1,000 API credits a month with no card, resetting monthly. Requests stop when they run out. |
| Features | BReader, web search, embeddings, a reranker and an MCP server. Nothing in the listing shows a gap in the core job. | BSearch, extract, crawl, map and a research endpoint, with request safeguards. Nothing in the listing shows a gap in the core job. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. You take an API key and call it from code, or put the Reader prefix before a URL. | CNo store rating on record. It is an API key and code, or an agent connector. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, but it is on AWS SageMaker, Azure and Google Cloud marketplaces and has an MCP server. | BWeb only, but it lists LangChain, Claude and Databricks. |
| Best for | reading web pages and search results as text for AI tools | web search and extraction for AI agents |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Jina AI and Tavily. How we grade
Where they differ
- Tavily also covers AI agents.
At a glance
| Jina AI | Tavily | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $50 for 1 billion tokens, one-time top-up | $30 per month for 4,000 API credits |
| Free plan | A new API key comes with 10 million free tokens. The Reader (r.jina.ai) also works with no key at 20 requests per minute. | Researcher plan: 1,000 API credits a month, no credit card required. Credits reset on the first of each month. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Jina AI | Tavily |
| Price read from | jina.ai | tavily.com |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Jina AI
- Token counts drive the bill: the jina-ocr-v1 option costs 40 times more tokens, and each search starts at 10,000 tokens.
- The search endpoint (s.jina.ai) is blocked without an API key.
- Tokens are bought as top-ups; the page notes an auto top-up, and the price may be charged in USD, EUR or other currencies.
- A new pricing model began on May 6, 2025; older auto-recharge settings keep the old price.
Tavily
- Cost depends on the call: advanced search takes 2 credits, so the entry plan's 4,000 credits may mean only 2,000 advanced searches.
- On the free plan, requests stop when the month's credits run out until they reset or you upgrade.
- It is a developer API with no desktop or mobile apps; use is through the dashboard, SDKs and HTTP calls.
- It is a general web search API, not an SEO tool: it has no rank tracking or keyword metrics.
Key features
Jina AI
- Reader
- Prefix a URL with r.jina.ai to get its content as LLM-friendly text. Options include a CSS selector, a token budget and a choice of browser engine.
- Web search
- s.jina.ai searches the web and returns results as LLM-friendly text. Every request costs a fixed number of tokens, starting at 10,000.
- Embeddings and reranker
- Embeddings turn text or images into vectors and a reranker reorders results; both are on the same key and token balance.
- MCP server
- mcp.jina.ai can be added as an MCP server so an LLM can call the APIs directly.
- Cloud marketplaces
- Embeddings and reranker models can be deployed through AWS SageMaker, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud, billed via those accounts.
Tavily
- Search
- Returns web results for a query. A basic search costs 1 credit and an advanced search costs 2 credits.
- Extract
- Pulls page content from given URLs. Every 5 successful basic extractions cost 1 credit, and failed extractions are not charged.
- Crawl and map
- Crawl extracts content across a whole site, and map lists the URLs a site contains without extracting them.
- Research endpoint
- An agent endpoint for in-depth web research, listed beside search and extract in the product menu.
- Request safeguards
- The homepage says requests pass through layers that block PII leakage, prompt injection and malicious sources.
- Agent connectors
- Docs cover an MCP server, a command-line tool and a plugin for Claude Code, plus Python and JavaScript SDKs.
Plans
Jina AI
Free key$0
10 million free tokens on a new key. Free-key rate limits: 500 RPM for Reader, 100 RPM for search.
Paid top-up$50
one-time top-up, used as you go
1 billion tokens at $0.050 per 1M tokens. Paid keys have the same rate limits as free keys.
Premium top-up$500
one-time top-up, used as you go
11 billion tokens at $0.045 per 1M. Premium key: 5,000 RPM Reader, 24-hour support.
Tavily
Researcher$0
1,000 API credits a month, email support, no card needed. Requests stop when credits run out.
Pay As You Go$0.008
per credit, billed as used
No monthly fee; pay per credit used and cancel anytime. Docs say it also covers usage past a plan's credit limit.
Project$30
per month for 4,000 API credits
Higher rate limits. The slider also offers 15,000 credits for $100, 38,000 for $220 and 100,000 for $500.
EnterpriseCustom
Custom credits and rate limits, enterprise support with SLAs, and enterprise security and privacy.
Ways to pay less
Jina AI
No public discounts listed.
Tavily
- Startups
100k free API credits for startups
The pricing page says startups in the program get 100,000 free API credits plus hands-on support from the team.
- Education
Free for students
The pricing page says Tavily offers its service at no cost to students.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Jina AI or Tavily?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Jina AI starts at $50 for 1 billion tokens, one-time top-up, and Tavily starts at $30 per month for 4,000 API credits.
Which has a free plan, Jina AI or Tavily?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both Jina AI and Tavily have a free plan.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.