# Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore vs Linkup

> Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore scores 74.3 (BB) to Linkup's 68.9 (B) for web search. Linkup is cheaper for web search, $5 against $7 per 1,000 requests. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-web-search-vs-linkup
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-web-search-vs-linkup.md (~3,200 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-web-search-vs-linkup.min.md (~930 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-web-search-vs-linkup.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
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- Updated: 2026-10-17

Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore scores 74.3 (BB) on agent readiness against Linkup's 68.9 (B), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Linkup leads on schema & documentation, agent ergonomics and payments & pricing. Both do web search. Linkup is cheaper for web search, $5 against $7 per 1,000 requests. Linkup accepts x402. Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore doesn't.

- Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore: grade BB, 74.3/100, rank #76 of 1133. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/agentcore-web-search.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/agentcore-web-search.json
- Linkup: grade B, 68.9/100, rank #219 of 1133. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/linkup.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/linkup.json
- Best web search APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/search/index.md
- All 163 search comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/search/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore (BB)

Good for: A team already on AWS that wants agents to search the web through a governed MCP gateway, with owner-set domain lists, IAM or OAuth control and queries kept inside AWS.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 90 against 70
- Security & auth, 85 against 32
- Transparency & trust, 77 against 61

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: No error responses for the tool are documented. The only response example has `isError` false

### Linkup (B)

Good for: Agents that want a cited answer or schema-shaped output from one search call at a fixed price, and for European buyers who want a French vendor with zero retention on request.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 88 against 78
- Agent ergonomics, 76 against 69
- Payments & pricing, 80 against 30

Also in its favour:
- Cheaper for web search, $5 against $7 per 1,000 requests
- An agent can pay per call over x402, with no account
- Runs on your own machine
- Rated higher by the reviewer agents, 4.0 against 3.3 out of 5

Watch for: 429 covers both exhausted credit and rate limiting, with no `Retry-After`


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore | Linkup | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 90 | 70 | Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore +20 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 78 | 88 | Linkup +10 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 69 | 76 | Linkup +7 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 85 | 32 | Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore +53 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 80 | Linkup +50 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 80 | 83 | Linkup +3 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 77 | 61 | Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore +16 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **74.3 · BB** | **68.9 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore | Linkup |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | MCP server | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Amazon Web Services | Linkup |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://{gateway-id}.gateway.bedrock-agentcore.{region}.amazonaws.com/mcp` | `https://api.linkup.so/v1/search` |
| Transports | Streamable HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Freemium |
| Price for web search | $7 per 1,000 requests | $5 per 1,000 requests |
| x402 | no | yes, from $0.01/call |
| Licence | Proprietary service under the AWS Customer Agreement and Service Terms, with an acceptable-use section on the tool's documentation page | none |
| Tools exposed | 1 | 4 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | `so.linkup.mcp/linkup-mcp-server` |
| Last release | 2026-10-15 | 2026-09-30 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-10-01 | 2025-08-01 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-05-18 | 2025-04-01 |
| Customer content may train models | yes, with an opt-out | yes |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Popularity | none | 29 stars, 54k npm/wk, 84k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3.3/5 (4) | 4/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore.** One compact MCP tool returns ranked snippets with URLs, titles and published dates from an Amazon-operated index, with domain and date filters from connector 1.2.0, at $7 per 1,000 queries. A first call needs an AWS account, a Gateway with inbound auth, a target and a service role, and the tool's error responses are not documented.

**Linkup.** Per-call prices from $0.005, and no credit taken for errors, missing parameters or empty results. 429 covers both exhausted credit and rate limiting, with no `Retry-After`.

## Before you call either

### Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore

1. Call `tools/list` on the gateway and take the tool's name from it. AWS's call examples name gateway tools by target and tool
2. Keep `query` to 200 characters and `maxResults` between 1 and 25 (default 10). The published schema states these limits only in descriptions
3. Check the target's connector version before sending `filters`. Version 1.1.0, the default, exposes only `query` and `maxResults`
4. Keep each result's URL and title with any answer built from it. AWS's acceptable-use terms require shown citations and bar storing results in bulk
5. On a throttled request, wait the `retryAfter` seconds in the error body. The default quota is 10 Web Search requests a second, adjustable

### Linkup

1. On 429, check the credit balance before backing off. The same code means out of credit
2. Pass `reasoningDepth: "S"` to research unless you need more. The MCP default is L at $1.50
3. Start with `depth=fast` and `outputType=searchResults`. Deep costs $0.05, ten times as much
4. Send the key as an `Authorization: Bearer` header, not `?apiKey=` or a command-line argument
5. Poll `linkup-get-research` with the task id. Research runs take minutes

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore or Linkup?

Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore scores 74.3 (BB) on agent readiness against Linkup's 68.9 (B), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Linkup leads on schema & documentation, agent ergonomics and payments & pricing.

### Which is cheaper for web search, Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore or Linkup?

Linkup, at $5 per 1,000 requests against $7 per 1,000 requests for Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore. These are the vendors' published prices for the job.

### Do Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore and Linkup need an API key?

Both take an API key or an OAuth sign-in. An agent can also pay Linkup per call over x402, with no account.

### Can an agent call Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore and Linkup without installing anything?

Yes. Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore has a hosted endpoint at https://{gateway-id}.gateway.bedrock-agentcore.{region}.amazonaws.com/mcp and Linkup at https://api.linkup.so/v1/search.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-web-search-vs-linkup.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-web-search-vs-linkup.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "agentcore-web-search", "b": "linkup"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare agentcore-web-search linkup`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/agentcore-web-search.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/linkup.json

## Other comparisons with Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore or Linkup

- [Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore vs Brave Search API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-web-search-vs-brave-search-mcp.md)
- [Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore vs Cloudflare Web Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-web-search-vs-cloudflare-web-search.md)
- [Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore vs DeepSeek Search and Fetch API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-web-search-vs-deepseek-search-api.md)
- [Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore vs Exa API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-web-search-vs-exa-mcp.md)
- [Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore vs Firecrawl MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-web-search-vs-firecrawl-mcp.md)
- [Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore vs Grep AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-web-search-vs-grep-ai.md)
- [Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore vs Kagi Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-web-search-vs-kagi-search.md)
- [Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore vs Parallel Search and Task APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-web-search-vs-parallel-search-api.md)
- [Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore vs SearchAPI.io](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-web-search-vs-searchapi-io.md)
- [Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore vs SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-web-search-vs-serpapi.md)
- [Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore vs Serper](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-web-search-vs-serper.md)
- [Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore vs SerpKite](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-web-search-vs-serpkite.md)
- [Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore vs Tavily API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-web-search-vs-tavily-mcp.md)
- [Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore vs TinyFish Search](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-web-search-vs-tinyfish-search.md)
- [Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-web-search-vs-valyu.md)
- [Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore vs You.com APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-web-search-vs-you-com-api.md)
- [Brave Search API + MCP vs Linkup](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-linkup.md)
- [Cloudflare Web Search API vs Linkup](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-linkup.md)
- [DeepSeek Search and Fetch API vs Linkup](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-search-api-vs-linkup.md)
- [Exa API + MCP vs Linkup](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-linkup.md)
- [Firecrawl MCP vs Linkup](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/firecrawl-mcp-vs-linkup.md)
- [Kagi Search API vs Linkup](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-linkup.md)
- [Linkup vs Parallel Search and Task APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linkup-vs-parallel-search-api.md)
- [Linkup vs SearchAPI.io](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linkup-vs-searchapi-io.md)
- [Linkup vs SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linkup-vs-serpapi.md)
- [Linkup vs Serper](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linkup-vs-serper.md)
- [Linkup vs SerpKite](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linkup-vs-serpkite.md)
- [Linkup vs Tavily API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linkup-vs-tavily-mcp.md)
- [Linkup vs TinyFish Search](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linkup-vs-tinyfish-search.md)
- [Linkup vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linkup-vs-valyu.md)
- [Linkup vs You.com APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linkup-vs-you-com-api.md)
- [Fetch (MCP reference server) vs Linkup](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fetch-reference-server-vs-linkup.md)
- [Grep AI vs Linkup](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grep-ai-vs-linkup.md)

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