Linkup review (2026): is the free plan enough?
Pay-per-request web search and fetch API for AI agents
Black Friday: is there a Linkup sale?
Linkup report card
Fair · out of 4.0 · graded Nov 12, 2026
Best for web search with sources for AI agents
Linkup is a web search API for AI agents with sourced answers, a fetch endpoint and a research endpoint. There is no monthly plan, so you pay per call from a prepaid balance, and the free $20 credit needs a professional email.
Who Linkup is for
- Fits if an agent needs web search with sources attached
- Works for people who would rather pay per call than per month
Who Linkup is not for
- 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
Why Linkup gets a 2.4
Five grades, each with its reason. The GPA is their average: an A is 4 points, an F is none.
- CValue for moneyPay 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.
- BFree plan and trial$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.
- CFeaturesSearch, sourced answers, fetch and research endpoints. Zero data retention is only on the Enterprise plan.
- CEase of useNo store rating on record. It is an API with a key and code to write.
- BPlatforms and integrationsWeb only, but it lists LangChain, LlamaIndex, CrewAI, Vercel AI SDK, Composio, Hugging Face and Agno.
What these grades rest on. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Linkup's own pages on 12 November 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/linkup#review"><img src="https://toolgpa.com/badge/linkup.svg" alt="Linkup: 2.4 GPA on ToolGPA" width="196" height="56"></a>Where Linkup stands among SERP and SEO data APIs
Linkup's GPA of 2.4 is higher than 21 of the 48 other SERP and SEO data APIs we grade, and level with 17.
It stands best on free plan and trial (B, above 43 of 48) and worst on features (C, above 1).
Each grade against the category
Every bar is all 49 SERP and SEO data APIs we grade, cut by the letter each got. Linkup’s own letter is outlined.
- CValue for moneyAbove 2 of 48, level with 26
- BFree plan and trialAbove 43 of 48, level with 5
- CFeaturesAbove 1 of 48, level with 31
- CEase of useAbove 1 of 48, level with 45
- BPlatforms and integrationsAbove 12 of 48, level with 36
Keep Linkup, or make your own?
Keep it
To replace Linkup 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.
What you could not
- Search results fetched at scale from many countries without being blocked.
- A search engine with an AI model behind it.
- A library of papers and sources to search.
- An AI agent, with the models and the safeguards behind it.
- It plugs into other products, LangChain, LlamaIndex and CrewAI among them, and has an API.
What this rests on. Linkup’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 Linkup?
Linkup is an API that gives AI agents and applications web search, page fetching and asynchronous deep research. It bills each successful request against a prepaid account balance instead of selling monthly plans, and it publishes the per-request price of every endpoint and depth setting.
Worth knowing
- 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.
Key features
- 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.
Linkup pricing
As of Nov 12, 2026, Linkup has a free plan.
- Starts at
- Not published
- Free plan
- New accounts with a professional email get $20 of credit, topped back up to $20 each month for eligible accounts.
- Free trial
- None listed
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free credit | $0 | $20 of credit on sign-up with a professional email; docs say eligible accounts are topped back up to $20 monthly. |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom pricing, private environment, SOC 2 Type II, zero-data retention, SLA and dedicated support. |
Read from linkup.so on Nov 12, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Linkup before you buy.
Ways to pay less
- Startups$5,000 in free credits for startups
The pricing page invites startups to apply for $5,000 in free credits.
Stated on linkup.so
Works with
- LangChain
- LlamaIndex
- CrewAI
- Vercel AI SDK
- Composio
- Hugging Face
- Agno
Linkup alternatives
- Linkup vs Tavily
Free plan · from $30/mo
- Linkup vs Firecrawl
Free plan · from $16/mo
- Linkup vs Brave Search API
Free plan
- Linkup vs Serper
Free trial · from $50 one-time
- Linkup vs DataForSEO
Free trial · from $50
Common questions
Does Linkup have an Android app?
No Android app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 12, 2026. Linkup is listed for Web.
Does Linkup have an iPhone app?
No iPhone app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 12, 2026. Linkup is listed for Web.
Is Linkup open source?
Linkup is not described as open source on its own site, as read on Nov 12, 2026.
Does Linkup have an API?
Yes. Linkup 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 Nov 12, 2026.