# Brave Search API + MCP vs NewsCatcher (slim)

> 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.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-newscatcher.md (~5,650 tokens) · this version ~2,930 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-newscatcher.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-newscatcher
- 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)

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: B 62.9, rank #537 of 1486 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/brave-search-mcp.min.md
- NewsCatcher: B 67.5, rank #321 of 1486 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/newscatcher.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 67; Security & auth, 58 against 45. Also Runs on your own machine; Open source.
- NewsCatcher, 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 Cheaper for web search, $1 against $5 per 1,000 requests; No incidents deducted, where Brave Search API + MCP loses 3 points for them.

| Category | Brave Search API + MCP | NewsCatcher |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 80 | 67 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 72 | 94 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 72 | 84 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 58 | 45 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 20 | 30 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 77 | 76 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 81 | 79 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Brave Search API + MCP | NewsCatcher |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 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 |
| Price for web search | $5 per 1,000 requests | $1 per 1,000 requests |
| Licence | MIT | none |
| Tools exposed | 8 | 15 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | 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 |
| 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 |

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.)