Linkup vs Tavily (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Linkup 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 whether you care more about the free plan, where Linkup grades higher, or features, where Tavily does.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
They get the same grade on value for money, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Tavily
Web search, extract and crawl API built for AI agents
Which one is for you
Pick Linkup if
- Fits if an agent needs web search with sources attached
- Works for people who would rather pay per call than per month
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you want a fixed monthly bill, since spend follows usage
- Skip it if you have no work email, as the free credit asks for a professional one
- Watch out: zero data retention and the private environment are Enterprise only
- Watch out: the page says 4,000 free queries while the docs call it $20 of credit
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
| 2.4GPALinkupFair | 2.4GPATavilyFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CPay per call from a prepaid balance at about $0.005 a search, with no flat plan to compare with this category's $19 to $44. | 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 | B$20 of credit on sign-up, topped back up to $20 each month for eligible accounts, about 4,000 searches. One person could live on that. | C1,000 API credits a month with no card, resetting monthly. Requests stop when they run out. |
| Features | CSearch, sourced answers, fetch and research endpoints. Zero data retention is only on the Enterprise plan. | 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. It is an API with a key and code to write. | CNo store rating on record. It is an API key and code, or an agent connector. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, but it lists LangChain, LlamaIndex, CrewAI, Vercel AI SDK, Composio, Hugging Face and Agno. | BWeb only, but it lists LangChain, Claude and Databricks. |
| Best for | web search with sources for AI agents | 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: Linkup and Tavily. How we grade
Where they differ
At a glance
| Linkup | Tavily | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | Not published | $30 per month for 4,000 API credits |
| Free plan | New accounts with a professional email get $20 of credit, topped back up to $20 each month for eligible accounts. | 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 | Linkup | Tavily |
| Price read from | linkup.so | tavily.com |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Linkup
- There is no monthly plan: each successful call draws down a prepaid balance, so spend follows usage.
- The pricing page says 'Run 4,000 queries for free'; the docs describe it as $20 of credit, which covers 4,000 searches at $0.005.
- Zero-data retention is offered only on the Enterprise plan; SOC 2 Type II is stated to be on all plans.
- It is a general web search API, not an SEO tool: it has no rank tracking or keyword data.
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
Linkup
- Search endpoint
- Web search for agent tool calls. Flash, fast and standard depths cost $0.005 a call and deep costs $0.05 for raw results.
- Sourced answers and structured output
- The search endpoint can return a sourced answer or output shaped to a schema, at $0.001 to $0.005 more than raw results.
- Fetch endpoint
- Gets a URL's content as Markdown, from $0.001 per call without JavaScript rendering up to $0.01 with pro mode and rendering.
- Research endpoint
- Asynchronous deep research billed by reasoning depth: $0.25 for S, $0.50 for M, $1.50 for L and $2.50 for XL.
- Agent integrations
- Docs cover an MCP server and guides for LangChain, LlamaIndex, CrewAI, the Vercel AI SDK and Composio.
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
Linkup
Free credit$0
$20 of credit on sign-up with a professional email; docs say eligible accounts are topped back up to $20 monthly.
EnterpriseCustom
Custom pricing, private environment, SOC 2 Type II, zero-data retention, SLA and dedicated 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
Linkup
- Startups
$5,000 in free credits for startups
The pricing page invites startups to apply for $5,000 in free credits.
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, Linkup or Tavily?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Linkup publishes no starting price, and Tavily starts at $30 per month for 4,000 API credits.
Which has a free plan, Linkup or Tavily?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both Linkup 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.