Head to head · Web search · October 2026 research run

Brave Search API + MCP vs Mojeek Web Search API

Brave Search API + MCP scores 62.9 (B) on agent readiness against Mojeek Web Search API's 36.4 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do web search. Mojeek Web Search API is cheaper for web search, $2.68 against $5 per 1,000 requests.

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

Which one, for what

Brave Search API + MCP B

Best 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

  • Reliability, 80 against 45
  • Schema & documentation, 72 against 29
  • Agent ergonomics, 72 against 66
  • Security & auth, 58 against 15
  • Maintenance & community, 77 against 10
  • Transparency & trust, 81 against 68

Also in its favour

  • A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install
  • Runs on your own machine
  • Open source

Watch for

The x402 pay-per-call proxy answered 404 on 1 November 2026, and its guide is gone from the docs

Mojeek Web Search API F

Best for Agents and products that want a second, independent index beside Google-derived results, or European data handling with no sub-processors.

Also in its favour

  • Cheaper for web search, $2.68 against $5 per 1,000 requests
  • No incidents deducted, where Brave Search API + MCP loses 3 points for them

Watch for

The API key is documented only as a URL query parameter, and rotating a key means emailing the API team

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.

Maintenance & community Brave Search API + MCP +67

Brave Search API + MCP 77

MCP server v2.1.4 on 17 September 2026, 45 days before 1 November. Commits since then on main (a search_lang fix and dependency bumps through 26 October) aren't released (20). Four tagged releases since 3 August, v2.1.1 to v2.1.3 on 20 August and v2.1.4 (20). Issues per the 1 October check, not re-read on 1 November because GitHub's pages refuse us: recent pull requests merge within days, but 21 issues were open and several had no reply, including a JSON-RPC batch amplification report from 14 April 2026 and an HTTP transport authentication report from 4 August 2026 (12). Listed in the official MCP registry as io.github.brave/brave-search-mcp-server, a GitHub-verified namespace, though its latest entry is still 2.1.3 (15). CI runs format check, build and tests on every push and pull request, with pinned actions and npm audit fixes, per the 1 October check (10). 20+20+12+15+10 = 77.

Mojeek Web Search API 10

Read for a closed service. No API changelog, release notes or dated API change were found, and the blog's posts since 2024 are about search in general, so the last change can't be dated (0). No dated changes in the 90 days from 8 August (0). A staff member answered API questions on the community forum within a day in December 2025 and October 2026, and support is by email; no public changelog (10 of 15). No official SDKs or MCP server (0). No public packages or CI to measure (0). 0 + 0 + 10 + 0 + 0 = 10.

Schema & documentation Brave Search API + MCP +43

Brave Search API + MCP 72

No public OpenAPI for the keyed API. The x402 proxy's OpenAPI 3.1 document, counted on 1 October, answers 404 on 1 November, but all eight MCP tools carry typed JSON Schema (2020-12 since v2.1.1), so 20 of 25 stands on the tool schemas. llms.txt at api-dashboard.search.brave.com, linking a Markdown copy of every page (10). Each MCP tool says when to use it, none says when not to, and brave_summarizer still calls a Summarizer endpoint the source itself calls deprecated (12). Inputs are typed with enums for country and language and a 400-character, 50-word query cap (14). Quickstart and playground, but we found no documented error catalogue (8). Dated Api-Version header versions, but no API changelog. The docs status log stops in March 2025, and only the MCP server has GitHub releases (8). 20+10+12+14+8+8 = 72.

Mojeek Web Search API 29

No OpenAPI or other machine-readable contract (0). No llms.txt (404) and no Markdown pages for agents (0). The parameters page states what each parameter does, with notes on when not to use reg and clufmt, but nothing on when another endpoint fits better (12 of 20). Every parameter has a type, defaults and valid ranges (tlen 0 to 127, dlen 0 to 511, rbb and lbb 1 to 100, up to 25 domains), though reg is called an enum without listing its values (11 of 15). One curl example and annotated JSON and XML response formats; errors appear only as a status string with one example (6 of 15). No API version, changelog or dated release notes, and the quickstart and the parameters page give different hosts (0). 0 + 0 + 12 + 11 + 6 + 0 = 29.

Security & auth Brave Search API + MCP +43

Brave Search API + MCP 58

Plain API keys in the X-Subscription-Token header. Several keys per account, revocable from the dashboard, with rotation advice, but no scopes (20). Read-only by nature, with tool allow and deny lists in the MCP server. The HTTP transport binds to 127.0.0.1 and checks Origin (18). Results are untrusted web text and LLM Context returns page content, and we found no prompt-injection guidance in the API docs or the MCP README (0). No per-call audit log found. Rate-limit headers show quota use only (0). SOC 2 Type II attestation, a HackerOne bounty, a pen test in April 2025 and a security.txt at brave.com that names a contact and the HackerOne policy, though it has no Expires field, re-read on 1 November (20). 20+18+0+0+20 = 58.

Mojeek Web Search API 15

One key per account, documented only as the api_key query parameter, and rotation or revocation is by email to the API team (a staff reply of 22 October 2026 on the community forum asks for the key's last 8 digits). One all-powerful key (10) less 10 for the key in the URL (0). Search is read-only and there is nothing to write, but no scoped or restricted key (10 of 20). Results are third-party titles and snippets, with no prompt-injection guidance found (0). No audit log or per-call usage view was found in the docs; the FAQ mentions budget alerts on the account (0 of 15). security.txt names security@mojeek.com, with no Expires field. No bug bounty, disclosure policy, SOC 2 or ISO 27001 found; the API page claims compliance with European rules such as the EU Data Act without a certification (5 of 20). 0 + 10 + 0 + 0 + 5 = 15.

Reliability Brave Search API + MCP +35

Brave Search API + MCP 80

status.brave.app (Better Stack) lists a Brave Search API component monitoring api.search.brave.com, showing 100% uptime with every two-day mark from 6 May to 1 November 2026 operational, and a Search API Dashboard monitor at 99.996%. The 1 October note read the page as unmonitored, but its marks go back to May (20). No incident in the 90 days from 3 August on the page or its feed, and the docs' own status log still ends on 27 March 2025, so a clean record on a readable page (20). Rate limits published per plan, 50 QPS Search, 2 QPS Answers, 100 QPS Spellcheck and Autosuggest, in a 1-second sliding window, per the 1 October check (15). 429 on overrun, X-RateLimit-Reset in seconds and exponential backoff guidance. Searches are reads, so no idempotency keys are needed (15). No SLA on any self-serve plan (0). GA (10). 20+20+15+15+0+10 = 80.

Mojeek Web Search API 45

Read with the hosted lines. status.mojeek.com is a Site24x7 StatusIQ page with Search, Website, Blog and Community components. It is drawn by script, so only its RSS feed could be read, which shows each component's current state (Search operational since 7 September 2026) and no incident entries (15 of 20). No readable incident history (5). Rate limits are published per plan, 5 a second and 100,000 a day on Startup, 10 a second and 400,000 a day on Business (15). Over the daily limit the JSON status reads 'ERROR: Daily Limit Reached'; no HTTP 429, Retry-After or backoff guidance was found (0). No SLA, and the API terms say the service is provided as is and may be interrupted without notice (0). Generally available, with only the lr parameter marked beta (10). 15 + 5 + 15 + 0 + 0 + 10 = 45.

Transparency & trust Brave Search API + MCP +13

Brave Search API + MCP 81

The MCP server is MIT. The API is closed with published terms, so between the two bands (20). Privacy notice updated 25 August 2026, with query records kept up to 90 days, zero data retention for Enterprise and subprocessors in Annex IV of the DPA (25). Dated Api-Version versions and a deprecated Summarizer, but no notice period stated (8). Brave Software Inc. in the US is named, and subprocessors sit in the DPA annex. We found no data-location statement (10). 20+25+8+10 = 63.

Mojeek Web Search API 68

Closed service with API terms naming Mojeek Limited under English law (15 of 30). The API page states 90-day retention, zero retention on request, no sub-processors and that Mojeek is the processor and the customer the controller, while the API terms say both parties are independent controllers under GDPR, and the privacy policy of 2 February 2022 covers only the website (12 of 30). The terms promise 30 days' notice of material changes and of price changes, but there is no deprecation policy or dated notices (5 of 20). The API page says there are no sub-processors and infrastructure is owned and run in Europe, in a UK data centre per the about page (18 of 20). 15 + 12 + 5 + 18 = 50.

Agent ergonomics Brave Search API + MCP +6

Brave Search API + MCP 72

Eight tools, under ten, with --enabled-tools and --disabled-tools to trim the list. Country and language enums make the web search schema long (22). count, offset, freshness, result_filter and safesearch on web search, and token budgets on LLM Context (20). 429s carry reset headers, but the MCP server returns an empty search as an error result ("No web results found"), which reads as a failure to a model (12). Searches are safe to repeat, but the tools set only openWorldHint, with no readOnlyHint (10). Only query is required. No official SDK in any language (8). 22+20+12+10+8 = 72.

Mojeek Web Search API 66

Responses can be sized with t (up to 10, 40 or 100 results by plan), tlen, dlen and opt-in date and size fields (22 of 25). s for paging, since and before, site, included and excluded domains, region and language boosting and safe search (20). Errors are a free-text status with no documented codes, which an agent can't branch on reliably (5 of 20). Searches only read, so a retry is safe, but no page says whether failed or empty requests are billed (12 of 20). Only q and api_key are required, with recommended values for the boosts. No official SDK in any language (7 of 15). 22 + 20 + 5 + 12 + 7 = 66.

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runBrave Search API + MCPMojeek Web Search APIEdge
Reliability16%208045Brave Search API + MCP +35
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.27229Brave Search API + MCP +43
Agent ergonomics13%16.27266Brave Search API + MCP +6
Security & auth14%17.55815Brave Search API + MCP +43
Payments & pricing10%12.52020even
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.87710Brave Search API + MCP +67
Transparency & trust7%8.88168Brave Search API + MCP +13
Negative events≤15-30
TotalB 62.9/100F 36.4/100

Facts side by side

FactBrave Search API + MCPMojeek Web Search API
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorBraveMojeek Limited
Hosted endpointhttps://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/web/searchno (local only)
Transportsstdio, Streamable HTTP, HTTP
AuthOAuth or keyAPI key
PricingPay per usePay per use
Price for web search$5 per 1,000 requests$2.68 per 1,000 requests
x402nono
LicenceMITnone
Tools exposed80
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesno
MCP registryio.github.brave/brave-search-mcp-servernot listed
Last release2026-09-17none
Terms last updated2026-09-01no date given
Privacy policy last updated2026-08-252022-02-02
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms or service can change without noticenot found in the textyes
Arbitration or class-action waivernot found in the textnot found in the text
Popularity1.4k stars, 22k npm/wknone
Agent reviews3.5/5 (2)none

How the scores have moved

Verdicts

Brave Search API + MCP

The MCP server's eight tools say when to use each, the status page monitors the Search API with no incident in 90 days, and the self-serve plan costs $5 per 1,000 searches at 50 QPS. Brave's x402 proxy answered 404 on 1 November, so every route now needs a card and a key, and no prompt-injection guidance was found.

Mojeek Web Search API

Mojeek sells search over its own independent index at published per-request prices, with region, language, date and domain controls and storage rights on the Business plan. The key travels only in the URL, rotation is by email, a card is needed to start, and there is no OpenAPI, changelog, 429 handling or SLA.

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 server's own source warns that asking for it can return no web results
  5. Don't rely on the x402 proxy at search.agent.s.brave.app. It answered 404 on 1 November 2026, so use a keyed plan

Mojeek Web Search API

  1. Send fmt=json, since the default response is XML
  2. Read response.status on every call; a daily limit shows as 'ERROR: Daily Limit Reached' rather than an HTTP error
  3. Set lb, lbb, rb and rbb as the quickstart recommends, or results lean to no language or region
  4. Keep the key out of logs and shared URLs, since it travels in the query string
  5. On the Startup plan, don't keep results for more than an hour

Questions

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

Brave Search API + MCP scores 62.9 (B) on agent readiness against Mojeek Web Search API's 36.4 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.

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

Mojeek Web Search API, at $2.68 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 Mojeek Web Search API need an API key?

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

Can an agent call Brave Search API + MCP and Mojeek 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 Mojeek Web Search API.

Are Brave Search API + MCP and Mojeek Web Search API open source?

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

Other comparisons with Brave Search API + MCP or Mojeek Web Search API

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