{
  "data": {
    "a": {
      "slug": "brave-search-mcp",
      "name": "Brave Search API + MCP",
      "vendor": "Brave",
      "vendorUrl": "https://brave.com/search/api/",
      "kind": "http-api",
      "category": "search",
      "summary": "REST API over Brave's independent index with web, news, image, video and local search, an LLM Context endpoint with pre-extracted page content and an Answers endpoint with citations.",
      "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/brave-search-mcp",
      "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/brave-search-mcp.md",
      "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/brave-search-mcp.min.md",
      "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/brave-search-mcp.json",
      "repo": "https://github.com/brave/brave-search-mcp-server",
      "license": "MIT",
      "transports": [
        "stdio",
        "streamable-http",
        "http"
      ],
      "remoteUrl": "https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/web/search",
      "packages": [
        {
          "registry": "npm",
          "name": "@brave/brave-search-mcp-server"
        },
        {
          "registry": "oci",
          "name": "mcp/brave-search"
        }
      ],
      "auth": "mixed",
      "authNotes": "API key in the `X-Subscription-Token` header. The x402 proxy at search.agent.s.brave.app takes a signed payment instead of a key. An `Api-Version` header pins dated response versions. MCP server: BRAVE_API_KEY (or BRAVE_API_KEY_FILE) environment variable.",
      "pricing": "usage",
      "pricingNotes": "Search plan $5 per 1,000 requests with $5 free credit a month, 50 QPS. Answers plan $4 per 1,000 requests plus $5 per million tokens, $5 free credit a month, 2 QPS. A card is required for the free credit. Storing results needs an Enterprise plan with storage rights. Enterprise custom (https://brave.com/search/api/).",
      "priceSummary": "$5 / 1k req",
      "where": "both",
      "x402": {
        "level": "partial",
        "evidence": "Brave's docs link a pay-per-request proxy at search.agent.s.brave.app. Web, LLM Context, news, video, image and local paths cost $0.005 in USDC on Base. Answers, Suggest and Spellcheck aren't sold. An unpaid web search returned 402 with a PAYMENT-REQUIRED header on 2026-09-30 (https://api-dashboard.search.brave.com/documentation/guides/agent-payments)",
        "endpoints": [
          {
            "url": "https://search.agent.s.brave.app/res/v1/web/search",
            "priceUsd": 0.005,
            "network": "eip155:8453"
          },
          {
            "url": "https://search.agent.s.brave.app/res/v1/llm/context",
            "priceUsd": 0.005,
            "network": "eip155:8453"
          }
        ]
      },
      "toolCount": 8,
      "popularity": {
        "githubStars": 1400,
        "npmWeekly": 22398,
        "pypiWeekly": null,
        "asOf": "2026-09-30"
      },
      "docsUrl": "https://api-dashboard.search.brave.com/documentation",
      "llmsTxt": "https://api-dashboard.search.brave.com/llms.txt",
      "registryName": "io.github.brave/brave-search-mcp-server",
      "capabilities": [
        "web.search",
        "web.extract",
        "search.answer",
        "search.news",
        "search.images"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "official",
        "local",
        "open-source",
        "usage-priced",
        "hosted",
        "card-required",
        "x402",
        "llms-txt",
        "enterprise",
        "mcp"
      ],
      "lastRelease": "2026-09-17",
      "graded": true,
      "anchor": {
        "graded": true,
        "score": 68.1,
        "grade": "B",
        "agentReady": false,
        "rank": 132,
        "ranked": true,
        "rankOf": 452,
        "categoryRank": 5,
        "methodology": "0.3",
        "run": "2026-10-01",
        "scores": {
          "ergonomics": 72,
          "maintenance": 87,
          "payments": 70,
          "reliability": 55,
          "schema": 72,
          "security": 58,
          "transparency": 82
        },
        "pending": [
          "performance",
          "tasks"
        ],
        "assessment": {
          "confidence": "medium",
          "date": "2026-10-01"
        },
        "negative": 0,
        "verdict": "x402 proxy sells web, LLM Context, news, video, image and local search at $0.005 a call, and a failed search isn't charged. The status page marks the Search API \"not monitored\" and shows no incident history.",
        "strengths": [
          "x402 proxy sells web, LLM Context, news, video, image and local search at $0.005 a call, and a failed search isn't charged",
          "$5 per 1,000 searches at 50 QPS on the self-serve Search plan",
          "SOC 2 Type II, a HackerOne bounty and a valid security.txt",
          "Dated response versions through the `Api-Version` header",
          "MIT MCP server with five releases since July, tests in CI and a GitHub-verified registry entry"
        ],
        "weaknesses": [
          "The status page marks the Search API \"not monitored\" and shows no incident history",
          "A card is required even for the $5 monthly credit",
          "No public OpenAPI for the keyed API and no API changelog",
          "No SLA on self-serve plans, and Answers is limited to 2 QPS",
          "No prompt-injection guidance, though LLM Context returns raw page text"
        ],
        "agentNotes": [
          "Call /res/v1/llm/context when you need page text rather than links. It saves a separate fetch",
          "Treat \"No web results found\" from the MCP server as an empty result, not an outage",
          "On 429, wait for `X-RateLimit-Reset` seconds. There's no `Retry-After` header",
          "Skip `brave_summarizer`. The Summarizer is deprecated and the x402 proxy doesn't sell it",
          "Pin `Api-Version` to a date, since requests without it get the latest version"
        ],
        "metrics": {
          "kind": "local",
          "measured": false
        },
        "reviewCount": 2,
        "avgRating": 3.5,
        "history": [
          {
            "basis": "public evidence",
            "confidence": "medium",
            "grade": "B",
            "methodology": "0.3",
            "pending": [
              "performance",
              "tasks"
            ],
            "run": "2026-10-01",
            "runLabel": "October 2026 research run",
            "score": 68.1
          }
        ],
        "editorialScores": {
          "ergonomics": 72,
          "maintenance": 87,
          "payments": 70,
          "reliability": 55,
          "schema": 72,
          "security": 58,
          "transparency": 63
        },
        "provenanceScore": 100
      },
      "connect": {
        "http": "curl \"https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/web/search?q=brave+search\u0026count=5\" \\\n  -H \"Accept: application/json\" -H \"X-Subscription-Token: $BRAVE_API_KEY\"",
        "claudeCode": "claude mcp add brave-search -e BRAVE_API_KEY=${BRAVE_API_KEY} -- npx -y @brave/brave-search-mcp-server",
        "config": {
          "mcpServers": {
            "brave-search": {
              "args": [
                "-y",
                "@brave/brave-search-mcp-server"
              ],
              "command": "npx",
              "env": {
                "BRAVE_API_KEY": "${BRAVE_API_KEY}"
              }
            }
          }
        },
        "x402": "purl --max-amount 5000 'https://search.agent.s.brave.app/res/v1/web/search?q=rust'\n# unpaid requests get HTTP 402 with a PAYMENT-REQUIRED header, USDC on eip155:8453"
      },
      "letme": {
        "capability": "https://letme.dev/web.search",
        "tool": "https://letme.dev/brave-search-mcp"
      },
      "area": "web-data",
      "unitPrices": [
        {
          "item": "Search plan",
          "unit": "1k-requests",
          "usd": 5
        },
        {
          "item": "Answers plan",
          "unit": "1k-requests",
          "usd": 4,
          "note": "plus $5 per million tokens"
        },
        {
          "item": "x402 search, per call",
          "unit": "call",
          "usd": 0.005,
          "note": "USDC on Base, no account"
        }
      ],
      "provenance": {
        "legalEntity": "Brave Software, Inc.",
        "domain": "brave.com",
        "domainRegistered": "1995-09-18",
        "domainNote": "brave.com was registered in 1995, before Brave bought it.",
        "endpointOnVendorDomain": true,
        "terms": "https://api-dashboard.search.brave.com/terms-of-service",
        "privacy": "https://api-dashboard.search.brave.com/privacy-policy",
        "statusPage": "https://status.brave.app",
        "changelog": "https://github.com/brave/brave-search-mcp-server/releases",
        "securityTxt": "valid",
        "checked": "2026-10-01",
        "notes": [
          "The x402 proxy runs on search.agent.s.brave.app, not brave.com. Brave's API docs link it as official.",
          "status.brave.app lists the Brave Search API but marks it \"not monitored\" and shows no incident history. The API docs keep a separate status log whose last entry is 27 March 2025 (https://api-dashboard.search.brave.com/documentation/resources/status-updates/)."
        ],
        "score": 100
      },
      "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/brave-search-mcp.json",
      "live": {
        "slug": "brave-search-mcp",
        "probe": {
          "target": "https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/web/search",
          "method": "get",
          "lastAt": "2026-10-04T23:48:05.752231641Z",
          "lastOk": true,
          "lastStatus": 422,
          "lastMs": 392,
          "authRequired": false,
          "uptime24h": 100,
          "uptime30d": 100,
          "p50ms24h": 395,
          "p95ms24h": 420,
          "samples24h": 272,
          "samples30d": 1100,
          "days": [
            {
              "date": "2026-09-30",
              "probes": 35,
              "ok": 35
            },
            {
              "date": "2026-10-01",
              "probes": 276,
              "ok": 276
            },
            {
              "date": "2026-10-02",
              "probes": 248,
              "ok": 248
            },
            {
              "date": "2026-10-03",
              "probes": 271,
              "ok": 271
            },
            {
              "date": "2026-10-04",
              "probes": 270,
              "ok": 270
            }
          ]
        },
        "vendorStatus": {
          "page": "https://status.brave.app",
          "indicator": "unknown",
          "summary": "no machine-readable status found",
          "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T21:39:52.323054222Z"
        },
        "versions": [
          {
            "registry": "github",
            "name": "brave/brave-search-mcp-server",
            "version": "v2.1.4",
            "released": "2026-09-17",
            "seenAt": "2026-10-04T16:22:44.217062681Z"
          },
          {
            "registry": "mcp-registry",
            "name": "io.github.brave/brave-search-mcp-server",
            "version": "2.1.3",
            "seenAt": "2026-10-04T23:42:40.113054682Z"
          },
          {
            "registry": "npm",
            "name": "@brave/brave-search-mcp-server",
            "version": "2.1.4",
            "seenAt": "2026-10-04T16:22:43.730484655Z"
          }
        ],
        "githubStars": 1484,
        "npmWeekly": 30874,
        "securityTxt": {
          "url": "https://brave.com/.well-known/security.txt",
          "state": "valid",
          "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:15:38.826160997Z"
        },
        "llmsTxt": {
          "url": "https://api-dashboard.search.brave.com/llms.txt",
          "ok": true,
          "status": 200,
          "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:17:21.910433141Z"
        },
        "domain": {
          "domain": "brave.com",
          "registered": "1995-09-18",
          "source": "https://rdap.verisign.com/com/v1/domain/brave.com",
          "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T13:07:28.958526087Z"
        },
        "pages": [
          {
            "url": "https://api-dashboard.search.brave.com/privacy-policy",
            "kind": "privacy",
            "status": 200,
            "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:41:09.246937639Z",
            "changedAt": "2026-09-30T13:09:37.196019706Z",
            "fingerprint": "8c41a50b5a60"
          },
          {
            "url": "https://api-dashboard.search.brave.com/terms-of-service",
            "kind": "terms",
            "status": 200,
            "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:41:11.393064605Z",
            "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z",
            "fingerprint": "e74eb26bd7c7"
          }
        ],
        "updatedAt": "2026-10-04T23:48:05.752231641Z"
      }
    },
    "b": {
      "slug": "valyu",
      "name": "Valyu",
      "vendor": "Valyu",
      "vendorUrl": "https://www.valyu.ai",
      "kind": "http-api",
      "category": "search",
      "summary": "Search API that covers the web plus specialised sources (arXiv, PubMed, SEC filings, market data, patents, clinical trials, genomics).",
      "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/valyu",
      "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/valyu.md",
      "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/valyu.min.md",
      "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/valyu.json",
      "transports": [
        "http",
        "streamable-http"
      ],
      "remoteUrl": "https://api.valyu.ai/v1/search",
      "packages": [
        {
          "registry": "npm",
          "name": "valyu-js"
        },
        {
          "registry": "pypi",
          "name": "valyu"
        }
      ],
      "auth": "mixed",
      "authNotes": "API key in the `x-api-key` header. After a person creates the account, the Valyu CLI (`valyu login`, browser or headless approval) lets an agent mint keys with a hard spending cap, rotate and revoke them, and management keys carry explicit scopes. The hosted MCP at mcp.valyu.ai takes Sign in with Valyu (OAuth), a Bearer or X-API-Key header, or, as the docs lead with, `?valyuApiKey=` in the URL.",
      "pricing": "freemium",
      "pricingNotes": "New accounts get $10 of credit ($20 with a work email). Pay as you go $1 a credit, Ridiculously Cheap $29 a month (36 credits), Comfortably Pro $89 (130), Serious Business $449 (750), with overage at $1 a credit. Search and Answer bill per 1,000 results retrieved, $0.50 open databases, $1.50 web, $8 financial data, $30 to $50 proprietary. Contents $0.001 a URL. Answer adds $12 per million tokens. DeepResearch $0.10 (fast) to $15 (max) a task (https://www.valyu.ai/pricing).",
      "priceSummary": "$1.50 / 1k pages",
      "where": "hosted",
      "x402": {
        "level": "no",
        "evidence": "No x402 in llms.txt, llms-full.txt or pricing docs (checked 2026-09-30).",
        "endpoints": []
      },
      "toolCount": 6,
      "popularity": {
        "githubStars": 19,
        "npmWeekly": 6664,
        "pypiWeekly": 7097,
        "asOf": "2026-09-30"
      },
      "docsUrl": "https://docs.valyu.ai",
      "llmsTxt": "https://docs.valyu.ai/llms.txt",
      "openapi": "https://docs.valyu.ai/api-reference/openapi.json",
      "capabilities": [
        "web.search",
        "web.fetch",
        "web.extract",
        "search.answer",
        "search.research",
        "search.news"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "hosted",
        "freemium",
        "mcp",
        "llms-txt",
        "openapi",
        "python",
        "typescript",
        "async-jobs",
        "enterprise"
      ],
      "lastRelease": "2026-09-12",
      "graded": true,
      "anchor": {
        "graded": true,
        "score": 64.6,
        "grade": "B",
        "agentReady": false,
        "rank": 179,
        "ranked": true,
        "rankOf": 452,
        "categoryRank": 7,
        "methodology": "0.3",
        "run": "2026-10-01",
        "scores": {
          "ergonomics": 78,
          "maintenance": 80,
          "payments": 45,
          "reliability": 53,
          "schema": 87,
          "security": 44,
          "transparency": 79
        },
        "pending": [
          "performance",
          "tasks"
        ],
        "assessment": {
          "confidence": "medium",
          "date": "2026-10-01"
        },
        "negative": 0,
        "verdict": "Web plus academic, financial, patent and life-science sources behind one search call. No published rate limits and no Retry-After or backoff guidance.",
        "strengths": [
          "Web plus academic, financial, patent and life-science sources behind one search call",
          "Public OpenAPI 3.0.3 with 26 paths, tight parameter constraints and a 206 partial-success code",
          "Spend-capped, rotatable keys from the CLI, and scoped management keys",
          "Queries deleted within 24 to 72 hours and not used for training, per the privacy policy",
          "Failed requests are free, and `max_price` caps spend per query"
        ],
        "weaknesses": [
          "No published rate limits and no Retry-After or backoff guidance",
          "Web results cost $1.50 per 1,000 results retrieved, so a 10-result search is $0.015",
          "MCP docs lead with `?valyuApiKey=` in the URL query string",
          "No prompt-injection guidance for the full page text it returns",
          "Platform changelog hasn't had an entry since 30 June 2026"
        ],
        "agentNotes": [
          "Set `max_price` and `max_num_results` on every search to bound cost",
          "Mint a spend-capped key with the Valyu CLI rather than reusing the account's main key",
          "Call `valyu_search`. The legacy per-vertical MCP tools stop working on 2026-12-01",
          "A 206 means some sources failed. Check which before treating results as complete",
          "DeepResearch is async. Poll `valyu_deepresearch_status` rather than waiting in one call"
        ],
        "metrics": {
          "kind": "remote",
          "measured": false
        },
        "reviewCount": 2,
        "avgRating": 4.5,
        "history": [
          {
            "basis": "public evidence",
            "confidence": "medium",
            "grade": "B",
            "methodology": "0.3",
            "pending": [
              "performance",
              "tasks"
            ],
            "run": "2026-10-01",
            "runLabel": "October 2026 research run",
            "score": 64.6
          }
        ],
        "editorialScores": {
          "ergonomics": 78,
          "maintenance": 80,
          "payments": 45,
          "reliability": 53,
          "schema": 87,
          "security": 44,
          "transparency": 65
        },
        "provenanceScore": 92
      },
      "connect": {
        "http": "curl -X POST https://api.valyu.ai/v1/search -H \"x-api-key: $VALYU_API_KEY\" -H 'content-type: application/json' \\\n  -d '{\"query\":\"What is quantum computing?\",\"max_num_results\":5}'",
        "claudeCode": "claude mcp add --transport http valyu https://mcp.valyu.ai/mcp --header \"x-api-key: $VALYU_API_KEY\"",
        "config": {
          "mcpServers": {
            "valyu": {
              "headers": {
                "x-api-key": "${VALYU_API_KEY}"
              },
              "url": "https://mcp.valyu.ai/mcp"
            }
          }
        }
      },
      "letme": {
        "capability": "https://letme.dev/web.search",
        "tool": "https://letme.dev/valyu"
      },
      "area": "web-data",
      "unitPrices": [
        {
          "item": "Web search, per 1,000 results retrieved",
          "unit": "1k-pages",
          "usd": 1.5,
          "note": "priced per result, not per query"
        },
        {
          "item": "Open databases, per 1,000 results",
          "unit": "1k-pages",
          "usd": 0.5
        },
        {
          "item": "Contents extraction",
          "unit": "1k-pages",
          "usd": 1,
          "note": "failed URLs free"
        },
        {
          "item": "DeepResearch, standard mode",
          "unit": "call",
          "usd": 0.5,
          "note": "fast $0.10, heavy $2.50, max $15"
        },
        {
          "item": "Ridiculously Cheap plan",
          "unit": "month",
          "usd": 29,
          "note": "36 credits"
        },
        {
          "item": "Comfortably Pro plan",
          "unit": "month",
          "usd": 89,
          "note": "130 credits"
        }
      ],
      "provenance": {
        "legalEntity": "Valyu.Network Ltd",
        "domain": "valyu.ai",
        "domainRegistered": "2024-09-03",
        "domainNote": "The older valyu.network (registered 2022-09-17) redirects to valyu.ai, which is the current domain.",
        "endpointOnVendorDomain": true,
        "terms": "https://www.valyu.ai/terms",
        "privacy": "https://www.valyu.ai/privacy-policy",
        "statusPage": "https://status.valyu.ai",
        "changelog": "https://docs.valyu.ai/changelog/platform",
        "securityTxt": "valid",
        "checked": "2026-09-30",
        "score": 92
      },
      "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/valyu.json",
      "live": {
        "slug": "valyu",
        "probe": {
          "target": "https://api.valyu.ai/v1/search",
          "method": "get",
          "lastAt": "2026-10-04T23:48:17.658504236Z",
          "lastOk": true,
          "lastStatus": 403,
          "lastMs": 254,
          "lastNote": "asks for credentials",
          "authRequired": true,
          "uptime24h": 100,
          "uptime30d": 100,
          "p50ms24h": 255,
          "p95ms24h": 298,
          "samples24h": 272,
          "samples30d": 1100,
          "days": [
            {
              "date": "2026-09-30",
              "probes": 35,
              "ok": 35
            },
            {
              "date": "2026-10-01",
              "probes": 276,
              "ok": 276
            },
            {
              "date": "2026-10-02",
              "probes": 248,
              "ok": 248
            },
            {
              "date": "2026-10-03",
              "probes": 271,
              "ok": 271
            },
            {
              "date": "2026-10-04",
              "probes": 270,
              "ok": 270
            }
          ]
        },
        "vendorStatus": {
          "page": "https://status.valyu.ai",
          "indicator": "unknown",
          "summary": "no machine-readable status found",
          "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T21:40:32.877674349Z"
        },
        "versions": [
          {
            "registry": "npm",
            "name": "valyu-js",
            "version": "2.10.2",
            "seenAt": "2026-10-04T16:43:06.25727822Z"
          },
          {
            "registry": "pypi",
            "name": "valyu",
            "version": "2.12.2",
            "released": "2026-09-12",
            "seenAt": "2026-10-04T16:43:06.660133856Z"
          }
        ],
        "npmWeekly": 5834,
        "pypiWeekly": 6252,
        "securityTxt": {
          "url": "https://valyu.ai/.well-known/security.txt",
          "state": "valid",
          "expires": "2027-03-10T00:00:00.000Z",
          "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:15:53.26675194Z"
        },
        "llmsTxt": {
          "url": "https://docs.valyu.ai/llms.txt",
          "ok": true,
          "status": 200,
          "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:18:20.325375271Z"
        },
        "domain": {
          "domain": "valyu.ai",
          "registered": "2024-09-03",
          "source": "https://rdap.identitydigital.services/rdap/domain/valyu.ai",
          "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T13:06:17.130036603Z"
        },
        "pages": [
          {
            "url": "https://docs.valyu.ai/changelog/platform",
            "kind": "changelog",
            "status": 200,
            "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:44:13.134113487Z",
            "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z",
            "fingerprint": "35bc7870472f"
          },
          {
            "url": "https://docs.valyu.ai/integrations/mcp-server",
            "kind": "deprecations",
            "status": 200,
            "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:44:15.393398291Z",
            "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z",
            "fingerprint": "63cfb3d58b79"
          },
          {
            "url": "https://www.valyu.ai/pricing",
            "kind": "pricing",
            "status": 200,
            "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:52:40.095871164Z",
            "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z",
            "fingerprint": "456a079afccb"
          },
          {
            "url": "https://www.valyu.ai/privacy-policy",
            "kind": "privacy",
            "status": 200,
            "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:52:42.542352214Z",
            "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z",
            "fingerprint": "b6b4aa4fc051"
          },
          {
            "url": "https://www.valyu.ai/terms",
            "kind": "terms",
            "status": 200,
            "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:52:44.302811956Z",
            "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z",
            "fingerprint": "fef72d613a0e"
          }
        ],
        "updatedAt": "2026-10-04T23:48:17.658504236Z"
      }
    },
    "summary": "Brave Search API + MCP has a score of 68.1 (B) against Valyu's 64.6 (B). Both do web search. The largest gap is payments \u0026 pricing, 25 points."
  },
  "kind": "anchor.page",
  "links": {
    "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json",
    "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-valyu",
    "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-valyu.json",
    "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt",
    "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-valyu.md",
    "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-valyu.min.md"
  },
  "markdown": "Brave Search API + MCP has a score of 68.1 (B) against Valyu's 64.6 (B). Both do web search. The largest gap is payments \u0026 pricing, 25 points.\n\n- Brave Search API + MCP: grade B, 68.1/100, rank #132 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/brave-search-mcp.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/brave-search-mcp.json\n- Valyu: grade B, 64.6/100, rank #179 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/valyu.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/valyu.json\n\n## Which one, for what\n\nPick Brave Search API + MCP for security \u0026 auth (+14), payments \u0026 pricing (+25), maintenance \u0026 community (+7).\n\nPick Valyu for schema \u0026 documentation (+15), agent ergonomics (+6).\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Brave Search API + MCP | Valyu | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 55 | 53 | Brave Search API + MCP +2 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 72 | 87 | Valyu +15 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 72 | 78 | Valyu +6 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 58 | 44 | Brave Search API + MCP +14 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 70 | 45 | Brave Search API + MCP +25 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 87 | 80 | Brave Search API + MCP +7 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 82 | 79 | Brave Search API + MCP +3 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **68.1 · B** | **64.6 · B** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Brave Search API + MCP | Valyu |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |\n| Vendor | Brave | Valyu |\n| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/web/search` | `https://api.valyu.ai/v1/search` |\n| Transports | stdio, Streamable HTTP, HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |\n| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |\n| Pricing | Pay per use | Freemium |\n| x402 | payer tooling only | no |\n| Licence | MIT | none |\n| Tools exposed | 8 | 6 |\n| Context cost (tools/list) | n/a | n/a |\n| p95 latency | not measured yet | not measured yet |\n| Availability (30d) | not measured yet | not measured yet |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | yes | yes |\n| MCP registry | `io.github.brave/brave-search-mcp-server` | not listed |\n| Last release | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-12 |\n| Popularity | 1.4k stars, 22k npm/wk | 19 stars, 6.7k npm/wk, 7.1k PyPI/wk |\n| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (2) | 4.5/5 (2) |\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**Brave Search API + MCP.** x402 proxy sells web, LLM Context, news, video, image and local search at $0.005 a call, and a failed search isn't charged. The status page marks the Search API \"not monitored\" and shows no incident history.\n\n**Valyu.** Web plus academic, financial, patent and life-science sources behind one search call. No published rate limits and no Retry-After or backoff guidance.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### Brave Search API + MCP\n\n1. Call /res/v1/llm/context when you need page text rather than links. It saves a separate fetch\n2. Treat \"No web results found\" from the MCP server as an empty result, not an outage\n3. On 429, wait for `X-RateLimit-Reset` seconds. There's no `Retry-After` header\n4. Skip `brave_summarizer`. The Summarizer is deprecated and the x402 proxy doesn't sell it\n5. Pin `Api-Version` to a date, since requests without it get the latest version\n\n### Valyu\n\n1. Set `max_price` and `max_num_results` on every search to bound cost\n2. Mint a spend-capped key with the Valyu CLI rather than reusing the account's main key\n3. Call `valyu_search`. The legacy per-vertical MCP tools stop working on 2026-12-01\n4. A 206 means some sources failed. Check which before treating results as complete\n5. DeepResearch is async. Poll `valyu_deepresearch_status` rather than waiting in one call\n\n## Other comparisons with Brave Search API + MCP or Valyu\n\n- [Brave Search API + MCP vs Exa API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-exa-mcp.md)\n- [Brave Search API + MCP vs Firecrawl MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-firecrawl-mcp.md)\n- [Brave Search API + MCP vs Linkup](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-linkup.md)\n- [Brave Search API + MCP vs Parallel Search and Task APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-parallel-search-api.md)\n- [Brave Search API + MCP vs SearchAPI.io](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-searchapi-io.md)\n- [Brave Search API + MCP vs SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-serpapi.md)\n- [Brave Search API + MCP vs Serper](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-serper.md)\n- [Brave Search API + MCP vs Tavily API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-tavily-mcp.md)\n- [Brave Search API + MCP vs You.com APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-you-com-api.md)\n- [Exa API + MCP vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-valyu.md)\n- [Firecrawl MCP vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/firecrawl-mcp-vs-valyu.md)\n- [Linkup vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linkup-vs-valyu.md)\n- [Parallel Search and Task APIs vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/parallel-search-api-vs-valyu.md)\n- [SearchAPI.io vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/searchapi-io-vs-valyu.md)\n- [SerpApi vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpapi-vs-valyu.md)\n- [Serper vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serper-vs-valyu.md)\n- [Tavily API + MCP vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/tavily-mcp-vs-valyu.md)\n- [Valyu vs You.com APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/valyu-vs-you-com-api.md)\n- [Fetch (MCP reference server) vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fetch-reference-server-vs-valyu.md)\n",
  "meta": {
    "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)",
    "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/",
    "generatedAt": "2026-10-04",
    "license": "CC-BY-4.0",
    "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/",
    "methodology": "0.3",
    "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json",
    "preview": false,
    "run": "2026-10-01",
    "runLabel": "October 2026 research run"
  },
  "page": {
    "breadcrumbs": [
      {
        "name": "Home",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/"
      },
      {
        "name": "Compare",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/"
      },
      {
        "name": "Brave Search API + MCP vs Valyu",
        "url": ""
      }
    ],
    "description": "Brave Search API + MCP has a score of 68.1 (B) against Valyu's 64.6 (B). Both do web search. The largest gap is payments \u0026 pricing, 25 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.",
    "facts": [
      "Brave Search API + MCP B 68.1",
      "Valyu B 64.6",
      "scores"
    ],
    "h1": "Brave Search API + MCP vs Valyu",
    "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-brave-search-mcp-vs-valyu.png",
    "path": "/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-valyu",
    "published": "2026-10-01",
    "section": "tools",
    "title": "Brave Search API + MCP vs Valyu for AI agents, B 68.1 vs B 64.6",
    "toc": null,
    "updated": "2026-10-04",
    "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-valyu"
  },
  "tokens": {
    "markdown": 1650,
    "slim": 330
  },
  "version": 1
}