Head to head · Web search · October 2026 research run

Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore vs Perplexity Search API

Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore scores 75.2 (BB) on agent readiness against Perplexity Search API's 70.2 (BB), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Perplexity Search API leads on schema & documentation and agent ergonomics. Both do web search. Perplexity Search API is cheaper for web search, $1 against $7 per 1,000 requests.

Best web search APIs for AI agents · All 308 search comparisons

Which one, for what

Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore BB

Best 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 80
  • Security & auth, 85 against 56
  • Payments & pricing, 30 against 25
  • Transparency & trust, 77 against 66

Also in its favour

  • Free to start without a card

Watch for

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

Perplexity Search API BB

Best for Agents on any model that need raw ranked sources with extracted text at a low per-request price, and teams that want cited answers from the same key through the Agent API.

Ahead on

  • Schema & documentation, 89 against 78
  • Agent ergonomics, 85 against 75

Also in its favour

  • Cheaper for web search, $1 against $7 per 1,000 requests
  • Runs on your own machine

Watch for

The FAQ says uptime and recovery time are not guaranteed, and the terms carry no SLA

Why the edge

Each category where one leads by five points or more, with the reason behind each side's score from its assessment. The numbers are in the table below; this is what they stand for.

Security & auth Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore +29

Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore 85

Gateway inbound auth is OAuth JWT from the owner's identity provider with allowed scopes advertised in the 401 challenge, or IAM SigV4 scoped to one gateway ARN, and the agent never holds a search credential (30). The tool only reads. The owner's target-level include and exclude lists cannot be relaxed by the agent, the service role's InvokeWebSearch names one service-owned ARN, and Cedar policies on the gateway can forbid the tool per caller. A no-authorisation gateway mode exists, with AWS's warning against production use (17 of 20). Results are third-party page text and the Web Search pages give no guidance on treating them as untrusted. Gateway guardrail policies can screen inputs for prompt attacks and suppress outputs, documented in general and not for this tool (7 of 15). CloudWatch metrics by method and tool name, and CloudTrail data events for InvokeGateway when the owner turns them on, at extra cost (13 of 15). A vulnerability disclosure programme on HackerOne, a security.txt that expires on 16 October 2027 (re-read on 1 November), and SOC and ISO 27001 among the programmes the AgentCore FAQ lists. No paid bounty found, so 2 held back as on every AWS listing (18 of 20).

Perplexity Search API 56

Project API keys, shown once, revocable, and generated and revoked through two documented endpoints with a rotation guide. No per-key scopes or spending limits were found. The hosted MCP server also takes Sign in with Perplexity (OAuth). Keys go in the Authorization header only (22 of 30, as on the Decisions API listing). Search only reads, and MCP clients can disable tools, but any key reaches every API on the account, including the Agent API's sandbox and MCP tools (8 of 20). Snippets are third-party page text, and no guidance on treating them as untrusted was found in the docs, the MCP server or its SECURITY.md (0 of 15). Responses carry a request id, and the console shows usage by key. The Audit API covers enterprise organisations' web app events with its own keys, not API calls (8 of 15). security.txt valid until 31 December 2027 linking a security page, a SOC 2 Type II report, a 2025 HIPAA gap assessment and a CAIQlite listed on the trust centre, and a SECURITY.md on the MCP server that takes private reports through GitHub advisories or security@perplexity.ai. The trust centre is drawn by script and wasn't read (18 of 20). 22 + 8 + 0 + 8 + 18 = 56.

Schema & documentation Perplexity Search API +11

Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore 78

The tool's inputSchema is published in full as JSON Schema, with query required, and the Gateway control plane is in AWS's service models (25). The developer guide has an llms.txt of 1,024 lines on 1 November and serves every page as Markdown (10). The page explains purpose, use cases, the two filter layers and how they compose, but says nothing on when another tool fits better (12 of 20). Types are given, but the 200-character limit on query, the 1 to 25 range of maxResults and the ISO-8601 date format sit in descriptions, with no maxLength, minimum, maximum or format (9 of 15). Python, AWS CLI and AgentCore CLI set-up examples and one response example. No error responses for the tool are documented, and the June release note links to a page that now redirects to the guide's front page (7 of 15). Semver connector versions with release dates (1.3.0 on 19 October 2026), a lifecycle table, monthly release notes and dated What's New posts (15).

Perplexity Search API 89

OpenAPI 3.1.0 at docs.perplexity.ai/openapi.json describes POST /search with typed request and response schemas, listed in llms.txt (25). llms.txt indexes every page, each with a Markdown twin (10). The overview says what a result holds, that snippets can be empty, when to use the Search API instead of the Agent API, and that it takes queries not URLs and does not re-fetch pages (19 of 20). search_type is an enum, max_results, max_tokens and max_tokens_per_page carry minimum and maximum, country and language codes carry lengths, and query is a string or an array. The recency filter is an enum in the docs, and date filters are MM/DD/YYYY strings (14 of 15). Python, TypeScript and cURL examples with a recorded response. The spec documents only 200 and 422 for /search, and status codes are listed on the SDK error-handling page and the rate-limit page rather than for Search (11 of 15). A public changelog with several entries a month, dated by month only, and an unversioned /search path (10 of 15). 25 + 10 + 19 + 14 + 11 + 10 = 89.

Transparency & trust Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore +11

Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore 77

Closed service under the AWS Customer Agreement and Service Terms, updated 30 October 2026, with an acceptable-use section on the docs page (15 of 30). The docs say queries are served inside AWS and not sent to a third-party engine, the Gateway data protection notes say data is encrypted with a service key or a customer managed key, and section 50.3 of the Service Terms does not list AgentCore for content use. No retention period for queries was found (15 of 30). The connector versions page sets out stages from available to deprecated and retired and promises a migration guide for a major version, without a notice period (12 of 20). A sub-processor list updated 30 October 2026 and a per-Region availability list, and the August release note says queries stay in their Region (18 of 20).

Perplexity Search API 66

Closed service under terms naming Perplexity AI, Inc. and California law. The MCP server is MIT and the SDKs Apache-2.0 (18 of 30). The terms and DPA say Customer Content and personal data don't train Perplexity's models, the DPA deletes personal data within 30 days of the service ending, and the Privacy and Security page says retention varies by API and zero data retention is not the default. The DPA also says Perplexity Search may follow different data terms, which weren't found, and no retention period for search queries is stated (15 of 30). Sonar Chat Completions support ended on 27 September 2026 with a migration guide and requests reformulated rather than refused, and sonar-reasoning was removed on 15 December 2025 with a named replacement. Notices are dated by month and there is no standing notice period beyond the terms' 30 days for termination (10 of 20). A sub-processor list on the trust centre, which is drawn by script and wasn't read, ten business days' notice of new non-model subprocessors, and SCCs for EU and UK transfers. No data location is stated (8 of 20). 18 + 15 + 10 + 8 = 51.

Reliability Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore +10

Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore 90

Graded on the hosted lines, for the Gateway endpoint and the connector agents call. AWS Health Dashboard with per-service, per-Region history (20). The dashboard's history file, re-read on 1 November 2026, names AgentCore in one event in the 90 days from 3 August, 2 hours 40 minutes of packet loss in one zone of eu-south-2 on 4 October 2026, marked informational and in a Region where Web Search is not sold. The us-west-2 events of 3 September and 30 October (API Gateway HTTP API) don't name AgentCore. Read as clean, as on the Memory listing (30). Quotas published and re-read on 1 November, 10 Web Search requests a second and 200 tool calls a second per gateway and per account (15). Owner-set gateway rate limits return an error body with retryAfter in seconds and searches have no side effects, but the response to the service's own Web Search quota is not documented (10 of 15). The AgentCore FAQ says the Amazon Bedrock SLA applies, but that SLA, last updated 4 October 2023, does not name AgentCore (5 of 10, as on the Code Interpreter listing). Generally available since 16 June 2026 (10).

Perplexity Search API 80

Graded on the hosted lines, for POST /search and the hosted MCP server. status.perplexity.com, on incident.io since 10 September 2026, has an API component with an RSS feed and a JSON summary. There is no separate Search component (20). In the 90 days from 8 August the feed lists 'Investigating API issue' on 13 August, resolved with no detail, a usage-based billing issue on 3 September, and on 9 October elevated errors on the website, app and Computer, where the API 'remained operational throughout'. Minor only, with the caveat that history before the migration may be incomplete (20). The Search API is limited to 50 query units a second with a burst of 50 on every tier, and the other APIs publish QPS and token limits per tier (15). 429 carries Retry-After and an error.type, the SDKs retry 429 and 5xx twice honouring Retry-After, the Search best-practices page shows backoff, and failed or rate-limited searches are not billed. Searches have no side effects (15). The FAQ says Perplexity does not guarantee uptime, failure frequency or recovery time, and the terms carry no SLA (0). No beta label on the Search API, launched on 25 September 2025 (10). 20 + 20 + 15 + 15 + 0 + 10 = 80.

Agent ergonomics Perplexity Search API +10

Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore 75

One tool with a compact schema, and results are snippets AWS says are extracted for model context. Each result comes as a JSON string in a text block and again as structuredContent (22 of 25). maxResults 1 to 25, per-request domain include and exclude lists and published-date bounds from 1.2.0. No pagination, offset, country or language controls (15 of 20). JWT failures return 401 or 403 with a WWW-Authenticate header naming the scopes, and throttling returns retryAfter, but no error codes for the tool itself are documented (10 of 20). Searches only read, so retries are safe apart from the per-query charge. Connector 1.3.0 (19 October 2026, now the default) adds a title and readOnlyHint: true and openWorldHint: true to tools/list, per the connector versions page read on 1 November. No idempotentHint, and older pinned targets don't carry the annotations until updated (16 of 20, up from 12 when annotations were unconfirmed). Only query is required, and since the default moved from 1.1.0 to 1.3.0 a target created without a version gets the filters. A first call still needs a gateway, a target, a service role and inbound auth. Any MCP client calls it, and set-up runs through AWS SDKs in many languages (12 of 15, up from 10).

Perplexity Search API 85

max_results 1 to 20, max_tokens and max_tokens_per_page cap the extracted text, and results are title, url, snippet and two dates. The MCP server has four tools (23 of 25). Domain, language, recency, publication and update date filters and country, with up to five queries in one request. No pagination or offset (16 of 20). 429 bodies name the limit hit, the SDKs map status codes to typed errors, and 402 marks an empty balance. Search-specific error bodies beyond 422 validation are not documented (13 of 20). Searches only read, failed and rate-limited requests are not billed, and the MCP server sets readOnlyHint true, destructiveHint false and idempotentHint false on every tool (18 of 20). Only query is required. Official Python and TypeScript SDKs, a CLI and a Python Search SDK (15). 23 + 16 + 13 + 18 + 15 = 85.

Payments & pricing Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore +5

Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore 30

No x402, MPP or L402 on the Gateway or the tool. AgentCore payments is a separate component for an agent paying third parties (0). Per-query price published without a login, $7.00 per 1,000, with a worked example that adds Gateway invocations at $0.005 per 1,000 (20). No Web Search allowance, but new AWS accounts get up to $200 in Free Tier credits and the Free Tier FAQ says most new customers need no payment method, so half, as on the other AWS listings (10). A person signs up in a browser and sets up a gateway, a target and IAM (0).

Perplexity Search API 25

No x402, MPP or L402 in the docs, pricing page, OpenAPI or llms.txt (0). $5 per 1,000 successful requests, $1 with Fast Search, published without a login, with failed and rate-limited requests not billed (20). Usage is prepaid with a card on the billing page, and no free allowance was found. The console playground needs no key but is a page for a person, not an API allowance (0). A person signs up in the console. The Stripe Projects route provisions a project, key and credits from a terminal, but needs a person's Stripe account with a payment method and a $10 minimum purchase (5 of 20, as on the Decisions API listing). 0 + 20 + 0 + 5 = 25.

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runWeb Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCorePerplexity Search APIEdge
Reliability16%209080Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore +10
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.27889Perplexity Search API +11
Agent ergonomics13%16.27585Perplexity Search API +10
Security & auth14%17.58556Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore +29
Payments & pricing10%12.53025Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore +5
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.88082Perplexity Search API +2
Transparency & trust7%8.87766Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore +11
Negative events≤1500
TotalBB 75.2/100BB 70.2/100

Facts side by side

FactWeb Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCorePerplexity Search API
KindMCP serverHTTP API
VendorAmazon Web ServicesPerplexity
Hosted endpointhttps://{gateway-id}.gateway.bedrock-agentcore.{region}.amazonaws.com/mcphttps://api.perplexity.ai/mcp
TransportsStreamable HTTPStreamable HTTP, stdio
AuthOAuth or keyOAuth or key
PricingPay per usePay per use
Price for web search$7 per 1,000 requests$1 per 1,000 requests
x402nono
LicenceProprietary service under the AWS Customer Agreement and Service Terms, with an acceptable-use section on the tool's documentation pageProprietary service under the Perplexity API Terms of Service. The MCP server is MIT and the official SDKs Apache-2.0
Tools exposed14
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
MCP registrynot listedai.perplexity/mcp-server
Last release2026-10-192026-10-23
Terms last updated2026-10-01couldn't be read
Privacy policy last updated2026-05-18couldn't be read
Customer content may train modelsyes, with an opt-outcouldn't be read
Terms restrict automated accessyescouldn't be read
Terms restrict benchmarkingyescouldn't be read
Terms or service can change without noticeyescouldn't be read
Arbitration or class-action waivernot found in the textcouldn't be read
Agent reviews3.3/5 (4)none

How the scores have moved

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 and a read-only annotation on the default connector, 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 tool errors are not documented.

Perplexity Search API

Raw ranked results with token-capped page text from Perplexity's own index, $5 per 1,000 requests or $1 with Fast Search, an OpenAPI description and a hosted MCP server with read-only annotations. Uptime is not guaranteed, there is no free allowance, keys carry no scopes, and no guidance on untrusted page text was found.

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 exposes only query and maxResults; 1.2.0 and the default 1.3.0 take filters
  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

Perplexity Search API

  1. Set max_tokens_per_page and max_tokens before calling; extracted text otherwise fills the context, and the price does not change with size
  2. Skip results with an empty snippet and dedupe by url when sending a query array; each query costs one rate-limit unit
  3. Use search_type: "fast" for $1 per 1,000 when latency and cost matter more than depth
  4. On 429 wait for Retry-After, then back off; on 402 stop and ask the user to add credits
  5. Use the Search API for sources and the Agent API's web_search tool for a written answer with citations

Questions

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

Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore scores 75.2 (BB) on agent readiness against Perplexity Search API's 70.2 (BB), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Perplexity Search API leads on schema & documentation and agent ergonomics.

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

Perplexity Search API, at $1 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 Perplexity Search API need an API key?

Both take an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

Can an agent call Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore and Perplexity Search API 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 Perplexity Search API at https://api.perplexity.ai/mcp.

Other comparisons with Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore or Perplexity Search API

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