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

> Brave Search scores 62.9 (B) to Mojeek Web Search's 36.4 (F) for web search. Mojeek Web Search is cheaper for web search, $2.68 against $5 per 1,000 requests. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-mojeek.md (~5,800 tokens) · this version ~3,030 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-mojeek.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-mojeek
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp · Updated: 2026-11-07
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)

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.

- Brave Search API + MCP: B 62.9, rank #537 of 1486 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/brave-search-mcp.min.md
- Mojeek Web Search API: F 36.4, rank #1365 of 1486 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/mojeek.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 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 A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install; Runs on your own machine; Open source.
- Mojeek Web Search API, good for Agents and products that want a second, independent index beside Google-derived results, or European data handling with no sub-processors. Also 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.

| Category | Brave Search API + MCP | Mojeek Web Search API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 80 | 45 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 72 | 29 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 72 | 66 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 58 | 15 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 20 | 20 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 77 | 10 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 81 | 68 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Brave Search API + MCP | Mojeek Web Search API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | Brave | Mojeek Limited |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/web/search` | no (local only) |
| Transports | stdio, Streamable HTTP, HTTP |  |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Price for web search | $5 per 1,000 requests | $2.68 per 1,000 requests |
| Licence | MIT | none |
| Tools exposed | 8 | 0 |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| MCP registry | `io.github.brave/brave-search-mcp-server` | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-09-17 | none |
| Terms last updated | 2026-09-01 | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-08-25 | 2022-02-02 |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |
| Popularity | 1.4k stars, 22k npm/wk | none |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (2) | none |

Why the edge:
- 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.)