# Brave Search API + MCP vs Perplexity Search API (slim)

> Perplexity Search scores 70.2 (BB) to Brave Search's 62.9 (B) for web search. Perplexity Search 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-perplexity-search-api.md (~5,850 tokens) · this version ~3,030 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-perplexity-search-api.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-perplexity-search-api
- 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)

Perplexity Search API scores 70.2 (BB) on agent readiness against Brave Search API + MCP's 62.9 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Brave Search API + MCP leads on transparency & trust. Both do web search. Perplexity Search API is cheaper for web search, $1 against $5 per 1,000 requests.

- Brave Search API + MCP: B 62.9, rank #539 of 1510 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/brave-search-mcp.min.md
- Perplexity Search API: BB 70.2, rank #211 of 1510 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/perplexity-search-api.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 Transparency & trust, 81 against 66. Also Open source.
- Perplexity Search API, good for Agents on any model that need raw ranked sources with extracted text at a low per-request price, and teams that want cited answers from the same key through the Agent API. Ahead on Schema & documentation, 89 against 72; Agent ergonomics, 85 against 72; Payments & pricing, 25 against 20; Maintenance & community, 82 against 77. Also Cheaper for web search, $1 against $5 per 1,000 requests; Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better; No incidents deducted, where Brave Search API + MCP loses 3 points for them.

| Category | Brave Search API + MCP | Perplexity Search API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 80 | 80 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 72 | 89 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 72 | 85 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 58 | 56 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 20 | 25 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 77 | 82 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 81 | 66 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Brave Search API + MCP | Perplexity Search API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | Brave | Perplexity |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/web/search` | `https://api.perplexity.ai/mcp` |
| Transports | stdio, Streamable HTTP, HTTP | Streamable HTTP, stdio |
| Price for web search | $5 per 1,000 requests | $1 per 1,000 requests |
| Licence | MIT | Proprietary service under the Perplexity API Terms of Service. The MCP server is MIT and the official SDKs Apache-2.0 |
| Tools exposed | 8 | 4 |
| MCP registry | `io.github.brave/brave-search-mcp-server` | `ai.perplexity/mcp-server` |
| Last release | 2026-09-17 | 2026-10-23 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-09-01 | couldn't be read |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-08-25 | couldn't be read |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Popularity | 1.4k stars, 22k npm/wk | none |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (2) | none |

Why the edge:
- Schema & documentation, Perplexity Search API +17: 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.); Perplexity Search API 89 (OpenAPI 3.1.0 at docs.perplexity.ai/openapi.json describes `POST /search` with typed request and response schemas, listed in llms.txt (25). llms.txt indexes every page, each with a Markdown twin (10). The overview says what a result holds, that snippets can be empty, when to use the Search API instead of the Agent API, and that it takes queries not URLs and does not re-fetch pages (19 of 20). `search_type` is an enum, `max_results`, `max_tokens` and `max_tokens_per_page` carry minimum and maximum, country and language codes carry lengths, and `query` is a string or an array. The recency filter is an enum in the docs, and date filters are `MM/DD/YYYY` strings (14 of 15). Python, TypeScript and cURL examples with a recorded response. The spec documents only 200 and 422 for `/search`, and status codes are listed on the SDK error-handling page and the rate-limit page rather than for Search (11 of 15). A public changelog with several entries a month, dated by month only, and an unversioned `/search` path (10 of 15). 25 + 10 + 19 + 14 + 11 + 10 = 89.)
- Transparency & trust, Brave Search API + MCP +15: 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.); Perplexity Search API 66 (Closed service under terms naming Perplexity AI, Inc. and California law. The MCP server is MIT and the SDKs Apache-2.0 (18 of 30). The terms and DPA say Customer Content and personal data don't train Perplexity's models, the DPA deletes personal data within 30 days of the service ending, and the Privacy and Security page says retention varies by API and zero data retention is not the default. The DPA also says Perplexity Search may follow different data terms, which weren't found, and no retention period for search queries is stated (15 of 30). Sonar Chat Completions support ended on 27 September 2026 with a migration guide and requests reformulated rather than refused, and sonar-reasoning was removed on 15 December 2025 with a named replacement. Notices are dated by month and there is no standing notice period beyond the terms' 30 days for termination (10 of 20). A sub-processor list on the trust centre, which is drawn by script and wasn't read, ten business days' notice of new non-model subprocessors, and SCCs for EU and UK transfers. No data location is stated (8 of 20). 18 + 15 + 10 + 8 = 51.)
- Agent ergonomics, Perplexity Search API +13: 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.); Perplexity Search API 85 (`max_results` 1 to 20, `max_tokens` and `max_tokens_per_page` cap the extracted text, and results are title, url, snippet and two dates. The MCP server has four tools (23 of 25). Domain, language, recency, publication and update date filters and `country`, with up to five queries in one request. No pagination or offset (16 of 20). 429 bodies name the limit hit, the SDKs map status codes to typed errors, and 402 marks an empty balance. Search-specific error bodies beyond 422 validation are not documented (13 of 20). Searches only read, failed and rate-limited requests are not billed, and the MCP server sets readOnlyHint true, destructiveHint false and idempotentHint false on every tool (18 of 20). Only `query` is required. Official Python and TypeScript SDKs, a CLI and a Python Search SDK (15). 23 + 16 + 13 + 18 + 15 = 85.)
- Payments & pricing, Perplexity Search API +5: 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.); Perplexity Search API 25 (No x402, MPP or L402 in the docs, pricing page, OpenAPI or llms.txt (0). $5 per 1,000 successful requests, $1 with Fast Search, published without a login, with failed and rate-limited requests not billed (20). Usage is prepaid with a card on the billing page, and no free allowance was found. The console playground needs no key but is a page for a person, not an API allowance (0). A person signs up in the console. The Stripe Projects route provisions a project, key and credits from a terminal, but needs a person's Stripe account with a payment method and a $10 minimum purchase (5 of 20, as on the Decisions API listing). 0 + 20 + 0 + 5 = 25.)
- Maintenance & community, Perplexity Search API +5: 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.); Perplexity Search API 82 (Read as a closed service with official SDKs and an open-source MCP server. perplexityai 0.46.1 on PyPI on 23 October 2026 and the MCP server's last commit on 21 October, with changelog entries into November 2026 (30). In the 90 days from 8 August, perplexityai 0.43.7 to 0.46.1 (six releases from 2 October), MCP server 1.2.1 (27 August) and 1.3.0 (25 September, Fast Search on perplexity_search), and Fast Search itself in September (20). A changelog with several entries a month, a community forum with a bug-report category, a GitHub discussion repository and api@perplexity.ai. MCP issue reply times weren't read (10 of 15). The MCP server is in the official registry under the domain-verified ai.perplexity namespace, and the Python and TypeScript SDKs are current (15). The MCP repository runs tests in CI and validates its plugin manifests. Its 1.4.0, prepared on 16 October, is not on npm, which still serves 1.3.0, and the registry's latest entry is 1.2.1 of 27 August (7 of 10). 30 + 20 + 10 + 15 + 7 = 82.)