Brave Search API review (2026): is the free plan enough?
Web search API from Brave's own index, built for AI agents and apps
Brave Search API report card
Fair · out of 4.0 · graded Oct 23, 2026
Best for web results from an independent index
Brave Search API returns results from Brave's own index, with news, images, video, places and an LLM Context endpoint for AI models, and $5 of free credit a month. It never falls back to Google or Bing, so it can't tell you how you rank there, and Search costs $5 per 1,000 past the free credit.
Who Brave Search API is for
- Fits if you're grounding an AI chatbot in current web results without scraping Google
- Works for apps moving off Google's Custom Search JSON API
Who Brave Search API is not for
- Skip it if you need Google or Bing rankings, as results come only from Brave's index
- Watch out: a credit card is needed to sign up, even for the free monthly credit
- Watch out: storing results or training models on them needs a plan with storage rights
- Tight if you need volume, at 50 requests a second on Search and 2 on Answers before Enterprise
- Pricey if you use Answers, at $4 per 1,000 queries plus $5 per million tokens each way
Why Brave Search API gets a 2.2
Five grades, each with its reason. The GPA is their average: an A is 4 points, an F is none.
- CValue for moneyNo subscription: Search is $5 per 1,000 requests from prepaid credits, after $5 of free credit a month. That's the dear end of what this category charges per search, and Answers adds token charges on top.
- CFree plan and trial$5 of free credit every month on each plan, about 1,000 searches, but a credit card is needed to sign up.
- CFeaturesWeb, news, image, video and places search from Brave's own index, an LLM Context endpoint, cited Answers and Goggles to rerank results. The listing's own gap: it can't show what ranks on Google or Bing.
- CEase of useJudged on how fast a developer gets a first result: one key for every search type, and an Answers interface that works with the OpenAI SDK. No rating on record, and a card is asked for at sign-up.
- BPlatforms and integrationsWeb, with an API and the OpenAI SDK, Amazon Bedrock and OpenClaw. No desktop or phone app, so B is the top.
What these grades rest on. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Brave's own pages on 23 October 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. How we review and grade.
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<a href="https://toolgpa.com/tools/brave-search-api#review"><img src="https://toolgpa.com/badge/brave-search-api.svg" alt="Brave Search API: 2.2 GPA on ToolGPA" width="196" height="56"></a>Where Brave Search API stands among SERP and SEO data APIs
Brave Search API's GPA of 2.2 is higher than 7 of the 38 other SERP and SEO data APIs we grade, and level with 8.
It stands best on platforms and integrations (B, above 9 of 38) and worst on ease of use (C, above 0).
Each grade against the category
Every bar is all 39 SERP and SEO data APIs we grade, cut by the letter each got. Brave Search API’s own letter is outlined.
- CValue for moneyAbove 1 of 38, level with 19
- CFree plan and trialAbove 2 of 38, level with 32
- CFeaturesAbove 1 of 38, level with 24
- CEase of useAbove 0 of 38, level with 36
- BPlatforms and integrationsAbove 9 of 38, level with 29
Keep Brave Search API, or make your own?
Keep it
To replace Brave Search API you would be making search results fetched at scale from many countries without being blocked. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one.
That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 23 of the 38 other SERP and SEO data APIs grade higher.
What you could not
- Search results fetched at scale from many countries without being blocked.
- It plugs into other products, OpenAI SDK, Amazon Bedrock and OpenClaw among them, and has an API.
- AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself.
- What a company asks for before it lets staff use something: SOC 2.
What this rests on. Brave Search API’s listing: what it does, where it runs, what it plugs into and what it costs. It is a judgement about the kind of software this is. We have not built a replacement for it, and making your own means looking after it too. How we decide, and every tool’s verdict.
What is Brave Search API?
Brave Search API returns results from Brave's own web index, with no fallback to Google or Bing. One key covers web, news, image, video and place search, an LLM Context endpoint that returns extracted page text for AI models, and an Answers endpoint that writes cited answers. It is paid for with prepaid credits used as you go, with $5 of free credit each month on each plan.
Worth knowing
- Usage is billed from prepaid credits: Search is $5 per 1,000 requests, and Answers $4 per 1,000 queries plus $5 per million input and output tokens.
- Spellcheck and Autosuggest cost $5 per 10,000 requests, and storing results or training models on them needs a plan with storage rights.
- Results come only from Brave's index, so it does not report what ranks on Google or Bing.
- Capacity is 50 requests per second on Search and 2 on Answers; more needs an Enterprise agreement.
Key features
- Brave's own index
- Every result comes from Brave's crawler and ranking, informed by opt-in signals from Brave users, with no fallback to Google or Bing for any query.
- LLM Context endpoint
- Returns ranked, extracted page content for a model to answer from, sized from 1k to about 33k tokens, with a relevance threshold and a URL and timestamp per source.
- Web, news, image, video and places
- The Search plan covers human-readable web results plus news, images, videos and location-aware places with map data, under one API key.
- Goggles and richer results
- Goggles rerank results and limit them to chosen sites; up to five extra snippets per result and schema-enriched results with added metadata.
- Answers endpoint
- Writes answers grounded on one or several searches, with citations and streaming, through an interface compatible with the OpenAI SDK.
- Privacy and security
- Brave says queries are never shared or used for training, retention is zero by design, and the service is SOC 2 Type II attested.
Brave Search API pricing
As of Oct 23, 2026, Brave Search API has a free plan.
- Starts at
- Not published
- Free plan
- $5 of free credit every month on each prepaid plan (Search, Answers, Spellcheck and Autosuggest), applied automatically. A credit card is needed to sign up.
- Free trial
- None listed
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free monthly credits | $0 | $5 of credit a month on each of Search, Answers, Spellcheck and Autosuggest; usage beyond it is drawn from prepaid credits. |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom terms, capacity and endpoints, full-funnel zero data retention, NDAs, invoicing and enterprise support. Sold through sales. |
Read from api-dashboard.search.brave.com on Oct 23, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Brave Search API before you buy.
Works with
- OpenAI SDK
- Amazon Bedrock
- OpenClaw
Brave Search API alternatives
- Brave Search API vs SerpApi
Free plan · from $25/mo
- Brave Search API vs Serper
Free trial · from $50 one-time
- Brave Search API vs SearchApi
Free trial · from $40/mo
- Brave Search API vs DataForSEO
Free trial · from $50
Common questions
Does Brave Search API have an Android app?
No Android app was listed when its pages were read on Oct 23, 2026. Brave Search API is listed for Web.
Does Brave Search API have an iPhone app?
No iPhone app was listed when its pages were read on Oct 23, 2026. Brave Search API is listed for Web.
Is Brave Search API open source?
Brave Search API is not described as open source on its own site, as read on Oct 23, 2026.
Does Brave Search API have an API?
Yes. Brave Search API offers a public API, according to its own site.
Sources for this page
The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 23, 2026.