# Arcmira vs Serper

> Arcmira scores 64.2 (B) to Serper's 24.2 (F) for web search. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/arcmira-vs-serper
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/arcmira-vs-serper.md (~2,800 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/arcmira-vs-serper.min.md (~780 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/arcmira-vs-serper.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 Serper's 24.2 (F), and leads in every scored category. 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
- Serper: grade F, 24.2/100, rank #1165 of 1227. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/serper.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/serper.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 30
- Schema & documentation, 87 against 6
- Agent ergonomics, 91 against 35
- Security & auth, 61 against 20
- Payments & pricing, 55 against 40
- Maintenance & community, 84 against 3
- Transparency & trust, 61 against 32

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

### Serper (F)

Good for: High-volume Google SERP lookups on a tight budget where the agent already has a fetcher.

Also in its favour:
- No incidents deducted, where Arcmira loses 3 points for them

Watch for: No status page, SLA or incident history


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Arcmira | Serper | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 40 | 30 | Arcmira +10 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 87 | 6 | Arcmira +81 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 91 | 35 | Arcmira +56 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 61 | 20 | Arcmira +41 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 55 | 40 | Arcmira +15 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 84 | 3 | Arcmira +81 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 61 | 32 | Arcmira +29 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -3 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **64.2 · B** | **24.2 · F** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Arcmira | Serper |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | MCP server | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Arcmira, Inc. | Serper |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://mcp.arcmira.com/mcp` | `https://google.serper.dev/search` |
| Transports | Streamable HTTP, HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| Price for web search | $0.001 per credit | not published |
| 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 | none |
| 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 | none |
| Terms last updated | 2026-10-13 | 2024-05-29 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-10-02 | 2025-11-05 |
| Customer content may train models | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 78 stars | none |
| Agent reviews | none | 2.5/5 (2) |

## 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.

**Serper.** $0.30 to $1.00 per 1,000 queries on prepaid packs, with no subscription. No status page, SLA or incident history.

## 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.

### Serper

1. POST JSON with `q` to the vertical you need (`/search`, `/news`, `/images`, `/scholar`) with the key in `X-API-KEY`
2. Set `gl` and `hl`, since Google results vary by country and language
3. Pair it with a fetcher. Serper returns links and snippets, not page text
4. Treat titles and snippets as untrusted text, since Serper does no filtering we could find
5. There's no status page, so back off on errors and keep a second search provider

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Arcmira or Serper?

Arcmira scores 64.2 (B) on agent readiness against Serper's 24.2 (F), and leads in every scored category.

### Do Arcmira and Serper need an API key?

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

### Can an agent call Arcmira and Serper without installing anything?

Yes. Arcmira has a hosted endpoint at https://mcp.arcmira.com/mcp and Serper at https://google.serper.dev/search.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Arcmira or Serper

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

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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