# Brave Search API + MCP vs NewsCatcher

> NewsCatcher scores 67.5 (B) to Brave Search's 62.9 (B) for web search. NewsCatcher is cheaper for web search, $1 against $5 per 1,000 requests. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-newscatcher
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-newscatcher.md (~5,650 tokens)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (the key docs and every listing in one file, at most 16 MB, about 4 million tokens: 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)
- DNS: dig +short TXT <slug>.grade.anchorterminal.com (the grade as a DNS TXT record, for a sandbox with no HTTP where names still resolve; also top., best.<category>. and <a>.vs.<b>. under the zone, and the same under grade.letme.dev)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-11-07

NewsCatcher scores 67.5 (B) on agent readiness against Brave Search API + MCP's 62.9 (B), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Brave Search API + MCP leads on reliability and security & auth. Both do web search. NewsCatcher is cheaper for web search, $1 against $5 per 1,000 requests.

- Brave Search API + MCP: grade B, 62.9/100, rank #537 of 1486. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/brave-search-mcp.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/brave-search-mcp.json
- NewsCatcher: grade B, 67.5/100, rank #321 of 1486. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/newscatcher.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/newscatcher.json
- Best web search APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/search/index.md
- All 308 search comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/search/index.md

## 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:
- Reliability, 80 against 67
- Security & auth, 58 against 45

Also in its favour:
- 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

### NewsCatcher (B)

Good for: Agents that need current news across languages, grouped into stories, or tables of events and company news on a schedule.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 94 against 72
- Agent ergonomics, 84 against 72
- Payments & pricing, 30 against 20

Also in its favour:
- Cheaper for web search, $1 against $5 per 1,000 requests
- No incidents deducted, where Brave Search API + MCP loses 3 points for them

Watch for: The current News API and agent launched on 30 October 2026 and the MCP repository went public on 6 November 2026


## Why the edge

### Schema & documentation: NewsCatcher +22

- 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.
- NewsCatcher (94): OpenAPI 3.1 for the News API (version 1.3.9, 4 paths) and the agent (version 1.5.1, 33 paths), linked from llms.txt, and typed JSON Schema on every MCP tool through Pydantic (25). llms.txt, a Markdown copy of every page and a docs MCP server (10). MCP tool descriptions say when to use each and which tool to use instead, such as `list_articles` for older news; the REST reference explains each endpoint and the 'Choose an API' page compares them (17 of 20). Inputs are typed with enums for effort, mode and dimensions, length and range limits such as a 500-character query and limit 1 to 100, and required fields marked (13 of 15). Runnable examples in curl, Python and JavaScript, and an error table with retry advice for every status. The agent spec carries no response examples (14 of 15). Versioned APIs with a dated changelog, the latest entries on 4 November 2026, and separate changelogs for the v3 News API and CatchAll (15). 25 + 10 + 17 + 13 + 14 + 15 = 94.

### Reliability: Brave Search API + MCP +13

- 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.
- NewsCatcher (67): Read with the hosted lines, for the News API, the agent and the hosted MCP server. status.newscatcherapi.com (Hyperping) shows one News API component with 99.820% uptime from August to November 2026 and an incident history. The agent and the MCP server have no component of their own (20). In the 90 days from 8 August, one incident, on 1 September 2026, when the vendor wrote that for about four hours a higher-than-usual number of requests to the production News API timed out because of one client's queries. Read as one major (10). Rate limits published per plan, 1 request a second free and up to 10 on pay as you go, with exact limits from the free `GET /subscription` (15). 429 carries Retry-After with instructions to retry the same request, 503 carries Retry-After, and failed or refused requests are not charged. Agent runs and monitor creation have no idempotency keys (12 of 15). An uptime SLA exists only in signed Enterprise agreements; none is published (0). Generally available since 30 October 2026, with OAuth for the MCP server announced as coming soon (10). 20 + 10 + 15 + 12 + 0 + 10 = 67.

### Security & auth: Brave Search API + MCP +13

- 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.
- NewsCatcher (45): API keys in the `x-api-key` header, several per account, revocable in the platform, with advice to keep one per application. A 403 for 'a key that may not use this API' suggests per-key API access, but no scopes are documented (20). The MCP server documents `?apiKey=` on the server URL for Claude.ai custom connectors, with a warning, so less 10 (10 of 30). The MCP repository's SECURITY.md says URL keys are rejected unless the operator enables them, which the hosted server does per the docs. Toolsets let an operator load only the read-only `news` tools, write tools carry destructiveHint, and the server tells the assistant to confirm large or hourly agent jobs (14 of 20). Results are third-party article text and summaries, and no prompt-injection guidance was found in the docs or the MCP server's instructions (0 of 15). Every response carries a Correlation-ID, `GET /subscription` shows usage and balance, and runs are listed in the platform. No per-call audit log for the customer was found (7 of 15). The security page and footer claim SOC 2 Type II and link a trust centre on Oneleet, which wasn't read. A vulnerability disclosure policy covers the MCP server. No security.txt (404) and no bug bounty found (14 of 20). 10 + 14 + 0 + 7 + 14 = 45.

### Agent ergonomics: NewsCatcher +12

- 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.
- NewsCatcher (84): 15 MCP tools in four toolsets, chosen per connection with `?tools=`, and tools return compact text rather than the full JSON. 15 for 11 to 30 tools plus 7 for toolsets (22 of 25). `limit`, `search_window`, effort, language, country, publisher, coverage and content-type filters, sorting, and paging on `/articles`; agent tables come back up to 200 rows at a time over MCP (20). Every status is documented with whether to retry; the agent returns stable `code` values, while the News API body has a `status_code` and a message meant for people (17 of 20). Every tool carries readOnlyHint and idempotentHint, writes carry destructiveHint, `start_research` has a free `dry_run`, and refused or failed calls aren't charged. No idempotency key for starting runs (17 of 20). Only `q` is required, with medium effort and a 7-day window as defaults. No official SDK for the current API was found; the docs show raw HTTP in three languages (8 of 15). 22 + 20 + 17 + 17 + 8 = 84.

### Payments & pricing: NewsCatcher +10

- Brave Search API + MCP (20): No machine payment on 1 November. The x402 proxy at search.agent.s.brave.app answers 404 on its root, llms.txt, OpenAPI file and the web search and LLM Context paths it sold on 1 October, the agent payments guide answers 404, and neither llms.txt nor brave.com/search/api mentions x402 (0). $5 per 1,000 searches and $4 per 1,000 Answers requests plus tokens, published without login (20). The $5 monthly credit needs a card on file, which brave.com says is to prevent abuse (0). A person signs up and adds a card before getting a key, so no autonomous route remains (0). 0+20+0+0 = 20.
- NewsCatcher (30): No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Credit prices per call published without login, and credits cost $1 per 1,000 through top-ups from $25 (20). 10,000 free credits every 30 days on a $0 plan, and the first top-up moves an account to pay as you go. No page says whether a card is needed to open the free plan, so half (10). A person signs up in the platform in a browser to get a key (0). NewsMCP's keyless tier belongs to a separate product and isn't counted. 0 + 20 + 10 + 0 = 30.

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Brave Search API + MCP | NewsCatcher | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 80 | 67 | Brave Search API + MCP +13 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 72 | 94 | NewsCatcher +22 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 72 | 84 | NewsCatcher +12 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 58 | 45 | Brave Search API + MCP +13 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 30 | NewsCatcher +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 77 | 76 | Brave Search API + MCP +1 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 81 | 79 | Brave Search API + MCP +2 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -3 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **62.9 · B** | **67.5 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Brave Search API + MCP | NewsCatcher |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Brave | NewsCatcher, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/web/search` | `https://mcp.newscatcherapi.com/mcp` |
| Transports | stdio, Streamable HTTP, HTTP | Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use |
| Price for web search | $5 per 1,000 requests | $1 per 1,000 requests |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT | none |
| Tools exposed | 8 | 15 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | `io.github.brave/brave-search-mcp-server` | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-09-17 | 2026-11-06 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-09-01 | 2026-11-02 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-08-25 | 2026-11-02 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | yes |
| Popularity | 1.4k stars, 22k npm/wk | none |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (2) | none |

## How the scores have moved

### Brave Search API + MCP

- -5.1 on 1 November 2026: product, correction, negative event, time
- -0.1 on 8 October 2026: checklist

### NewsCatcher

No score change since it was listed.

## 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.

**NewsCatcher.** One key and one credit balance cover a ranked news search, a background research agent and a hosted MCP server with toolsets and annotated tools, under OpenAPI 3.1 specs and a dated changelog. The current API launched on 30 October 2026, the MCP server accepts the key in its URL, and no SLA is published below Enterprise.

## 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

### NewsCatcher

1. Send the key in the `x-api-key` header, and use a separate key for the MCP server so it can be revoked alone
2. Call `start_research` with `dry_run` first, since agent runs cost 1,000 to 6,000 credits
3. Use `effort=low` for quick lookups; the default `medium` costs five times as much
4. Use `/articles` or `list_articles` for news older than 30 days or exact counts; `/search` covers 30 days only
5. On 429 or 503 wait for Retry-After, and quote the Correlation-ID header to support

## Questions

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

NewsCatcher scores 67.5 (B) on agent readiness against Brave Search API + MCP's 62.9 (B), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Brave Search API + MCP leads on reliability and security & auth.

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

NewsCatcher, at $1 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 NewsCatcher need an API key?

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

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

Yes. Brave Search API + MCP has a hosted endpoint at https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/web/search and NewsCatcher at https://mcp.newscatcherapi.com/mcp.

### Are Brave Search API + MCP and NewsCatcher open source?

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


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Brave Search API + MCP or NewsCatcher

- [Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore vs Brave Search API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-web-search-vs-brave-search-mcp.md)
- [Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore vs NewsCatcher](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-web-search-vs-newscatcher.md)
- [Arcmira vs Brave Search API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/arcmira-vs-brave-search-mcp.md)
- [Grounding with Bing Search vs Brave Search API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bing-grounding-vs-brave-search-mcp.md)
- [Grounding with Bing Search vs NewsCatcher](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bing-grounding-vs-newscatcher.md)
- [Brave Search API + MCP vs Cloudflare Web Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-cloudflare-web-search.md)
- [Brave Search API + MCP vs DeepSeek Search and Fetch API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-deepseek-search-api.md)
- [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 Kagi Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-kagi-search.md)
- [Brave Search API + MCP vs Linkup](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-linkup.md)
- [Brave Search API + MCP vs Mojeek Web Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-mojeek.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 Perplexity Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-perplexity-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 SERPHouse](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-serphouse.md)
- [Brave Search API + MCP vs SerpKite](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-serpkite.md)
- [Brave Search API + MCP vs SpecStream](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-specstream.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 TinyFish Search](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-tinyfish-search.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 NewsCatcher](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-newscatcher.md)
- [DeepSeek Search and Fetch API vs NewsCatcher](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-search-api-vs-newscatcher.md)
- [Exa API + MCP vs NewsCatcher](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-newscatcher.md)
- [Kagi Search API vs NewsCatcher](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-newscatcher.md)
- [Linkup vs NewsCatcher](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linkup-vs-newscatcher.md)
- [Mojeek Web Search API vs NewsCatcher](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mojeek-vs-newscatcher.md)
- [NewsCatcher vs Parallel Search and Task APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/newscatcher-vs-parallel-search-api.md)
- [NewsCatcher vs Perplexity Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/newscatcher-vs-perplexity-search-api.md)
- [NewsCatcher vs TinyFish Search](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/newscatcher-vs-tinyfish-search.md)
- [Arcmira vs NewsCatcher](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/arcmira-vs-newscatcher.md)
- [Grep AI vs NewsCatcher](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grep-ai-vs-newscatcher.md)
- [NewsCatcher vs SpecStream](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/newscatcher-vs-specstream.md)
- [NewsCatcher vs SearchAPI.io](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/newscatcher-vs-searchapi-io.md)
- [NewsCatcher vs SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/newscatcher-vs-serpapi.md)
- [NewsCatcher vs Serper](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/newscatcher-vs-serper.md)
- [NewsCatcher vs SERPHouse](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/newscatcher-vs-serphouse.md)
- [NewsCatcher vs SerpKite](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/newscatcher-vs-serpkite.md)
- [NewsCatcher vs Tavily API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/newscatcher-vs-tavily-mcp.md)
- [NewsCatcher vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/newscatcher-vs-valyu.md)
- [NewsCatcher vs You.com APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/newscatcher-vs-you-com-api.md)
- [Brave Search API + MCP vs Grep AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-grep-ai.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