# Arcmira vs Kagi Search API

> Arcmira scores 64.2 (B) to Kagi Search's 48.7 (D) for web search. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/arcmira-vs-kagi-search
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/arcmira-vs-kagi-search.md (~3,150 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/arcmira-vs-kagi-search.min.md (~830 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/arcmira-vs-kagi-search.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)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-10-30

Arcmira scores 64.2 (B) on agent readiness against Kagi Search API's 48.7 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Kagi Search API leads on transparency & trust. Both do web search.

- Arcmira: grade B, 64.2/100, rank #420 of 1227. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/arcmira.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/arcmira.json
- Kagi Search API: grade D, 48.7/100, rank #970 of 1227. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/kagi-search.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/kagi-search.json
- Best web search APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/search/index.md
- All 182 search comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/search/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Arcmira (B)

Good for: Agents answering what was said on YouTube shows and podcasts, who was mentioned or appeared where, which brands sponsor a show and how a name's mentions are trending, with timestamped source links, through one connection on a free monthly allowance.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 40 against 8
- Schema & documentation, 87 against 71
- Agent ergonomics, 91 against 75
- Payments & pricing, 55 against 20
- Maintenance & community, 84 against 41

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: No status page, incident history or SLA was found; the terms disclaim uninterrupted service and Enterprise lists priority support without an uptime commitment

### Kagi Search API (D)

Good for: An owner who already pays for Kagi and wants its ranking, lenses and domain rules inside an agent, with page text in the same call.

Ahead on:
- Transparency & trust, 70 against 61

Also in its favour:
- Runs on your own machine
- No incidents deducted, where Arcmira loses 3 points for them

Watch for: Public preview since 21 May 2026. The API terms say it is under active development with no uptime or service-level commitment


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Arcmira | Kagi Search API | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 40 | 8 | Arcmira +32 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 87 | 71 | Arcmira +16 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 91 | 75 | Arcmira +16 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 61 | 64 | Kagi Search API +3 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 55 | 20 | Arcmira +35 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 84 | 41 | Arcmira +43 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 61 | 70 | Kagi Search API +9 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -3 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **64.2 · B** | **48.7 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Arcmira | Kagi Search API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | MCP server | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Arcmira, Inc. | Kagi |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://mcp.arcmira.com/mcp` | `https://kagi.com/api/v1/search` |
| Transports | Streamable HTTP, HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Pay per use |
| Price for web search | $0.001 per credit | $12 per 1,000 requests |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under Arcmira's Terms of Service. The MCP server's source is public under an all-rights-reserved notice; the Claude Code plugin, the arcmira TypeScript SDK and CLI and the Python SDK are Apache-2.0, and the Famous rankings are CC BY 4.0 | Proprietary service under the Kagi API Terms of Service. The MCP server is MIT and the OpenAPI file states Apache-2.0 |
| Tools exposed | 4 | none |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| MCP registry | `io.github.arcmira/arcmira` | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-10-15 | 2026-08-21 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-10-13 | 2026-09-22 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-10-02 | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 78 stars | 535 stars |

## Verdicts

**Arcmira.** Four code-mode tools over a documented v1 API, OAuth 2.1 with four scopes, a read-only sign-up key from two API calls and no card, and a 1,000-credit free month. No status page, SLA or security.txt, breaking v1 changes shipped in October with same-day notice, the server is at 0.10.7, and the index covers the shows Arcmira transcribes.

**Kagi Search API.** A public OpenAPI file, typed filters and API keys that can be limited by product and IP address make the API simple to call, at $12 per 1,000 searches. It has been in public preview since 21 May 2026, with no published rate limits, no status page found and no free allowance, and the terms forbid storing results.

## Before you call either

### Arcmira

1. Call `arcmira_describe` once per session and write one program per question for `arcmira_execute_read`; return only the fields the answer needs, since output is cut at 12,000 characters and 3,000 per string.
2. Resolve names with `arcmira.resolve` (free) before any `about`, `by`, `entity_ids` or `channel` filter; a name in a filter fails with `id_required`. Plain keyword search needs no resolver call.
3. Check `arcmira.status()` or GET /v1/me for the plan, scopes and `usage.credits.available` before metered reads; on Free, media newer than 30 days and pages past the first fail with `freshness_requires_paid` and `pagination_gated`.
4. A Premium read of an untranscribed video starts a transcription that uses credits (300 per started 15 minutes) and may return `pending`; read the same video again later, which is never charged twice, and send `retry: true` only when the user asks.
5. Over HTTP send `Authorization: Bearer arc_sk_...`, an `Idempotency-Key` on every POST and PATCH, honour `Retry-After` on 429, and switch on `error.code`, following `unlock.url` on 402 and 403 rather than re-authenticating.
6. Use `arcmira_execute_write` only after listing the user's monitors; it creates, follows and pauses but never deletes, and a connection made before server 0.9.0 answers `insufficient_scope` until reconnected.

### Kagi Search API

1. Send `POST https://kagi.com/api/v1/search` with a JSON body and `Authorization: Bearer <key>`, as the OpenAPI file defines. Only `query` is required
2. Set `limit` to cap results returned. In the mixed `search` workflow the MCP tool applies the cap to each result category separately
3. Use `extract.count` (1 to 10) only when page text is needed. Extraction is billed at the Extract rate on top of the search
4. Do not store results. The API terms allow only the transient caching an application needs, and require deletion on termination
5. On 429 back off before retrying. The response covers both rate limiting and an exhausted usage limit, and no `Retry-After` header is documented

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Arcmira or Kagi Search API?

Arcmira scores 64.2 (B) on agent readiness against Kagi Search API's 48.7 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Kagi Search API leads on transparency & trust.

### Do Arcmira and Kagi Search API need an API key?

Arcmira takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Kagi Search API needs an API key.

### Can an agent call Arcmira and Kagi Search API without installing anything?

Yes. Arcmira has a hosted endpoint at https://mcp.arcmira.com/mcp and Kagi Search API at https://kagi.com/api/v1/search.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Arcmira or Kagi Search API

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

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Query this catalogue directly over MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key). How: https://www.anchorterminal.com/agents/#mcp