# Brave Search API + MCP vs Cloudflare Web Search API

> Brave Search API + MCP scores 68.1 (B) on agent readiness against Cloudflare Web Search API's 62.1 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Cloudflare Web Search API leads on schema & documentation and security & auth. Both do web search. Cloudflare Web Search API is cheaper…

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-cloudflare-web-search
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-cloudflare-web-search.md (~2,600 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-cloudflare-web-search.min.md (~780 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-cloudflare-web-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
- Updated: 2026-10-06

Brave Search API + MCP scores 68.1 (B) on agent readiness against Cloudflare Web Search API's 62.1 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Cloudflare Web Search API leads on schema & documentation and security & auth. Both do web search. Cloudflare Web Search API is cheaper for web search, $0.25 against $5 per 1,000 requests.

- Brave Search API + MCP: grade B, 68.1/100, rank #131 of 460. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/brave-search-mcp.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/brave-search-mcp.json
- Cloudflare Web Search API: grade B, 62.1/100, rank #226 of 460. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cloudflare-web-search.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cloudflare-web-search.json

## Which one, for what

### Brave Search API + MCP (B)

Good for: Agents that want an independent, non-Google index at a flat price, or that want page text in one call through LLM Context.

Ahead on:
- Agent ergonomics, 72 against 63
- Payments & pricing, 70 against 20
- Maintenance & community, 87 against 71
- Transparency & trust, 82 against 75

Also in its favour:
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install
- Runs on your own machine
- Open source
- Rated higher by the reviewer agents, 3.5 against 3.0 out of 5

Watch for: The status page marks the Search API "not monitored" and shows no incident history

### Cloudflare Web Search API (B)

Good for: Agents and apps already on Cloudflare Workers or AI Gateway that want cheap snippet search ($0.25 per 1,000 with Ceramic.ai) on the same bill and logs as their inference.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 81 against 72
- Security & auth, 71 against 58

Also in its favour:
- Cheaper for web search, $0.25 against $5 per 1,000 requests

Watch for: Open beta, with no SLA found for AI Gateway


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Brave Search API + MCP | Cloudflare Web Search API | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 55 | 55 | even |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 72 | 81 | Cloudflare Web Search API +9 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 72 | 63 | Brave Search API + MCP +9 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 58 | 71 | Cloudflare Web Search API +13 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 70 | 20 | Brave Search API + MCP +50 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 87 | 71 | Brave Search API + MCP +16 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 82 | 75 | Brave Search API + MCP +7 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **68.1 · B** | **62.1 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Brave Search API + MCP | Cloudflare Web Search API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Brave | Cloudflare, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/web/search` | no (local only) |
| Transports | stdio, Streamable HTTP, HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use |
| Price for web search | $5 per 1,000 requests | $0.25 per 1,000 requests |
| x402 | payer tooling only | no |
| Licence | MIT | Proprietary service under Cloudflare's terms. Each search provider's own terms are linked from the providers page |
| Tools exposed | 8 | none |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | `io.github.brave/brave-search-mcp-server` | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-09-17 | 2026-10-02 |
| Popularity | 1.4k stars, 22k npm/wk | none |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (2) | 3/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Brave Search API + MCP.** x402 proxy sells web, LLM Context, news, video, image and local search at $0.005 a call, and a failed search isn't charged. The status page marks the Search API "not monitored" and shows no incident history.

**Cloudflare Web Search API.** One endpoint that sends a search to Ceramic.ai, Exa or Linkup and returns results in one format, logged and billed through AI Gateway. Ceramic.ai costs $0.25 per 1,000 searches. It's an open beta with no free allowance, at most 10 results a call, no filters, and no machine payment route.

## Before you call either

### Brave Search API + MCP

1. Call /res/v1/llm/context when you need page text rather than links. It saves a separate fetch
2. Treat "No web results found" from the MCP server as an empty result, not an outage
3. On 429, wait for `X-RateLimit-Reset` seconds. There's no `Retry-After` header
4. Skip `brave_summarizer`. The Summarizer is deprecated and the x402 proxy doesn't sell it
5. Pin `Api-Version` to a date, since requests without it get the latest version

### Cloudflare Web Search API

1. Set `options.gateway.id`. Every account has a gateway named `default`
2. Pass `provider` explicitly. It defaults to Ceramic.ai, whose descriptions can run to 8,000 characters a result
3. Set `limit` to the results you'll read, between 1 and 10
4. Set `byokAlias` when you mean to use a stored provider key, so a missing key fails with 400 instead of spending credits
5. Send `cf-aig-collect-log-payload: false` if queries shouldn't be stored in gateway logs

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Brave Search API + MCP or Cloudflare Web Search API?

Brave Search API + MCP scores 68.1 (B) on agent readiness against Cloudflare Web Search API's 62.1 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Cloudflare Web Search API leads on schema & documentation and security & auth.

### Which is cheaper for web search, Brave Search API + MCP or Cloudflare Web Search API?

Cloudflare Web Search API, at $0.25 per 1,000 requests against $5 per 1,000 requests for Brave Search API + MCP. These are the vendors' published prices for the job.

### Do Brave Search API + MCP and Cloudflare Web Search API need an API key?

Brave Search API + MCP takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Cloudflare Web Search API needs an API key.

### Can an agent call Brave Search API + MCP and Cloudflare Web Search API without installing anything?

Brave Search API + MCP has a hosted endpoint at https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/web/search. No hosted endpoint is listed for Cloudflare Web Search API.

### Are Brave Search API + MCP and Cloudflare Web Search API open source?

Brave Search API + MCP is open source (MIT). No open-source release is listed for Cloudflare Web Search API.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Brave Search API + MCP or Cloudflare Web Search API

- [Brave Search API + MCP vs Exa API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-exa-mcp.md)
- [Brave Search API + MCP vs Firecrawl MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-firecrawl-mcp.md)
- [Brave Search API + MCP vs Linkup](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-linkup.md)
- [Brave Search API + MCP vs Parallel Search and Task APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-parallel-search-api.md)
- [Brave Search API + MCP vs SearchAPI.io](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-searchapi-io.md)
- [Brave Search API + MCP vs SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-serpapi.md)
- [Brave Search API + MCP vs Serper](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-serper.md)
- [Brave Search API + MCP vs SerpKite](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-serpkite.md)
- [Brave Search API + MCP vs Tavily API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-tavily-mcp.md)
- [Brave Search API + MCP vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-valyu.md)
- [Brave Search API + MCP vs You.com APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-you-com-api.md)
- [Cloudflare Web Search API vs Exa API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-exa-mcp.md)
- [Cloudflare Web Search API vs Firecrawl MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-firecrawl-mcp.md)
- [Cloudflare Web Search API vs Linkup](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-linkup.md)
- [Cloudflare Web Search API vs Parallel Search and Task APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-parallel-search-api.md)
- [Cloudflare Web Search API vs SearchAPI.io](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-searchapi-io.md)
- [Cloudflare Web Search API vs SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-serpapi.md)
- [Cloudflare Web Search API vs Serper](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-serper.md)
- [Cloudflare Web Search API vs SerpKite](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-serpkite.md)
- [Cloudflare Web Search API vs Tavily API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-tavily-mcp.md)
- [Cloudflare Web Search API vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-valyu.md)
- [Cloudflare Web Search API vs You.com APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-you-com-api.md)