# Brave Search API + MCP vs Cloudflare Web Search API (slim)

> 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…

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-cloudflare-web-search.md (~2,600 tokens) · this version ~780 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-cloudflare-web-search.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-cloudflare-web-search
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.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: B 68.1, rank #131 of 460 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/brave-search-mcp.min.md
- Cloudflare Web Search API: B 62.1, rank #226 of 460 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cloudflare-web-search.min.md
- Brave Search API + MCP, 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 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.
- Cloudflare Web Search API, 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 Cheaper for web search, $0.25 against $5 per 1,000 requests.

| Category | Brave Search API + MCP | Cloudflare Web Search API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 55 | 55 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 72 | 81 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 72 | 63 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 58 | 71 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 70 | 20 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 87 | 71 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 82 | 75 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Brave Search API + MCP | Cloudflare Web Search 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 |
| 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 |
| 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) |