{ "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": "2026-10-04T23:32:44.678066743Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 422, "lastMs": 399, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 395, "p95ms24h": 420, "samples24h": 272, "samples30d": 1097, "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": 267, "ok": 267 } ] }, "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": "2026-10-03T23:29:28.630222764Z" }, { "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": "2026-10-04T23:32:44.678066743Z" } }, "b": { "slug": "you-com-api", "name": "You.com APIs", "vendor": "You.com", "vendorUrl": "https://you.com", "kind": "http-api", "category": "search", "summary": "Web Search, Contents, Answer, Research and Finance Research APIs, plus a hosted MCP server with six tools.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/you-com-api", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/you-com-api.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/you-com-api.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/you-com-api.json", "transports": [ "http", "streamable-http", "stdio" ], "remoteUrl": "https://api.you.com/v1/search", "packages": [ { "registry": "pypi", "name": "youdotcom" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@youdotcom-oss/sdk" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@youdotcom-oss/mcp" } ], "auth": "mixed", "authNotes": "API key in the `X-API-Key` header (env `YDC_API_KEY`). The hosted MCP also takes a Bearer key or OAuth 2.1, and `?profile=free` needs no key. Web Search and Finance Research take x402 (`PAYMENT-SIGNATURE`) or MPP (`Authorization: Payment`) instead of a key.", "pricing": "freemium", "pricingNotes": "$100 free credit for new accounts, no card, then prepaid credits. Web Search $5 per 1,000 calls (up to 100 results a call), live page extraction $1 per 1,000 pages, Contents $1 per 1,000 pages, Answer $5 per 1,000. Research per 1,000 by effort, lite $12, standard $50, deep $100, exhaustive $450, frontier $1,200. Finance Research $110 (deep) or $500 (exhaustive) per 1,000. x402 prices match credit prices, MPP rounds Web Search up to $0.01 (https://you.com/docs/administration/billing).", "priceSummary": "$5 / 1k req", "where": "both", "x402": { "level": "partial", "evidence": "Official docs. GET /v1/search, /v1/agents/search and POST /v1/finance_research accept x402 in USDC on Base or Solana, and MPP in USDC on Tempo. An unpaid GET https://api.you.com/v1/search returned 402 with both PAYMENT-REQUIRED and WWW-Authenticate Payment headers on 2026-09-30. Contents, Answer and Research need a key (https://you.com/docs/administration/machine-payments.md)", "endpoints": [ { "url": "https://api.you.com/v1/search", "priceUsd": 0.005, "network": "eip155:8453" }, { "url": "https://api.you.com/v1/finance_research", "priceUsd": 0.11, "network": "eip155:8453" } ] }, "toolCount": 6, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": 4419, "pypiWeekly": 91673, "asOf": "2026-09-30" }, "docsUrl": "https://you.com/docs/welcome", "llmsTxt": "https://you.com/docs/llms.txt", "openapi": "https://you.com/docs/openapi.json", "registryName": "io.github.youdotcom-oss/mcp", "capabilities": [ "web.search", "web.fetch", "web.extract", "search.answer", "search.research", "search.news" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "freemium", "no-card", "free-tier", "mcp", "x402", "llms-txt", "openapi", "python", "typescript", "async-jobs", "enterprise" ], "lastRelease": "2026-09-22", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 76.9, "grade": "BB", "agentReady": true, "rank": 24, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 452, "categoryRank": 2, "methodology": "0.3", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 84, "maintenance": 82, "payments": 88, "reliability": 85, "schema": 82, "security": 53, "transparency": 63 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-01" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "x402 and MPP on Web Search and Finance Research, with no account needed. Two API hosts. Answer and Research return 'Missing Authentication Token' on ydc-index.io.", "strengths": [ "x402 and MPP on Web Search and Finance Research, with no account needed", "$100 free credit with no card, plus a keyless MCP profile for search (100 queries a day)", "Public OpenAPI, llms.txt and an error reference with guidance per code", "429 carries Retry-After, with documented backoff and rate-limit headers", "MCP tool allow-lists through `?tools=` or `X-Allowed-Tools`" ], "weaknesses": [ "Two API hosts. Answer and Research return 'Missing Authentication Token' on ydc-index.io", "No public changelog or deprecation notices", "Zero Data Retention only for Web Search and Answer, and only on enterprise agreements", "No prompt-injection guidance for the page text Search and Contents return", "Research runs cost $12 to $1,200 per 1,000 depending on effort" ], "agentNotes": [ "For unattended runs call GET https://api.you.com/v1/search, handle the 402 and pay with x402. It's half the MPP price for search", "Use `https://api.you.com/mcp?profile=free` to try search with no key (100 queries a day)", "Send Answer, Research and Finance Research to api.you.com. On ydc-index.io they fail with 'Missing Authentication Token'", "Pass `?tools=` with only the tools you need to keep the MCP tool list short", "On 429, wait for `Retry-After` and watch `X-RateLimit-Remaining` before the next burst" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 8, "avgRating": 3.8, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "BB", "methodology": "0.3", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 76.9 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 84, "maintenance": 82, "payments": 88, "reliability": 85, "schema": 82, "security": 53, "transparency": 45 }, "provenanceScore": 80 }, "connect": { "http": "curl -X POST https://ydc-index.io/v1/search \\\n -H \"X-API-Key: $YDC_API_KEY\" -H \"Content-Type: application/json\" \\\n -d '{\"query\":\"latest AI news\",\"count\":5}'", "claudeCode": "claude mcp add --transport http you-com https://api.you.com/mcp --header \"Authorization: Bearer ${YDC_API_KEY}\"", "config": { "mcpServers": { "you-com": { "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer ${YDC_API_KEY}" }, "url": "https://api.you.com/mcp" } } }, "x402": "curl -si 'https://api.you.com/v1/search?query=test'\n# HTTP/2 402 with PAYMENT-REQUIRED (x402, 5000 base units of USDC) and WWW-Authenticate: Payment (MPP on Tempo)\n# retry with PAYMENT-SIGNATURE: \u003cbase64 signed authorization\u003e" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/web.search", "tool": "https://letme.dev/you-com-api" }, "area": "web-data", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "Web Search", "unit": "1k-requests", "usd": 5, "note": "up to 100 results a call" }, { "item": "Contents", "unit": "1k-pages", "usd": 1 }, { "item": "Answer", "unit": "1k-requests", "usd": 5 }, { "item": "Research, standard effort", "unit": "1k-requests", "usd": 50 }, { "item": "Web Search over x402", "unit": "call", "usd": 0.005, "note": "MPP charges $0.01" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "SuSea, Inc., d/b/a you.com", "domain": "you.com", "domainRegistered": "1998-11-25", "domainNote": "you.com was registered in 1998, long before the company launched.", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://you.com/terms", "privacy": "https://you.com/privacy", "statusPage": "https://status.you.com", "changelog": "", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-10-01", "notes": [ "Web Search and Contents are documented on ydc-index.io, a separate domain. api.you.com also serves /v1/search.", "status.you.com is a Rootly page with Search/Index, Live News and AI Search components. It returned 403 on 30 September and loaded on 1 October.", "trust.you.com links a vulnerability disclosure page and a subprocessor list, but renders only with JavaScript." ], "score": 80 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/you-com-api.json", "live": { "slug": "you-com-api", "probe": { "target": "https://api.you.com/v1/search", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-10-04T23:32:56.96375829Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 402, "lastMs": 776, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 99.26, "uptime30d": 99.82, "p50ms24h": 810, "p95ms24h": 3578, "samples24h": 272, "samples30d": 1097, "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": 267, "ok": 265 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.you.com", "indicator": "unknown", "summary": "no machine-readable status found", "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T21:40:34.73831686Z" }, "versions": [ { "registry": "mcp-registry", "name": "io.github.youdotcom-oss/mcp", "version": "4.0.3", "seenAt": "2026-10-03T23:29:28.630222764Z" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@youdotcom-oss/mcp", "version": "4.0.3", "seenAt": "2026-10-04T16:44:32.728399136Z" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@youdotcom-oss/sdk", "version": "0.13.1", "seenAt": "2026-10-04T16:44:31.782719214Z" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "youdotcom", "version": "3.5.0", "released": "2026-09-22", "seenAt": "2026-10-04T16:44:31.595022024Z" } ], "npmWeekly": 5016, "pypiWeekly": 114022, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://you.com/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "none", "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:15:39.421151299Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://you.com/docs/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:18:22.755690727Z" }, "domain": { "domain": "you.com", "registered": "1998-11-25", "source": "https://rdap.verisign.com/com/v1/domain/you.com", "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T13:10:43.715973858Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://you.com/privacy", "kind": "privacy", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:53:04.964952624Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-02T15:29:08.544804959Z", "fingerprint": "b84ad4cf0729" }, { "url": "https://you.com/terms", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:53:07.180454259Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-02T15:29:11.109355049Z", "fingerprint": "662298a7f244" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-04T23:32:56.96375829Z" } }, "summary": "You.com APIs has a score of 76.9 (BB) against Brave Search API + MCP's 68.1 (B). Both do web search. The largest gap is reliability, 30 points." }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-you-com-api", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-you-com-api.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-you-com-api.md", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-you-com-api.min.md" }, "markdown": "You.com APIs has a score of 76.9 (BB) against Brave Search API + MCP's 68.1 (B). Both do web search. The largest gap is reliability, 30 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- You.com APIs: grade BB, 76.9/100, rank #24 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/you-com-api.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/you-com-api.json\n\n## Which one, for what\n\nPick Brave Search API + MCP for security \u0026 auth (+5), maintenance \u0026 community (+5), transparency \u0026 trust (+19).\n\nPick You.com APIs for reliability (+30), schema \u0026 documentation (+10), agent ergonomics (+12), payments \u0026 pricing (+18).\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Brave Search API + MCP | You.com APIs | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 55 | 85 | You.com APIs +30 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 72 | 82 | You.com APIs +10 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 72 | 84 | You.com APIs +12 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 58 | 53 | Brave Search API + MCP +5 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 70 | 88 | You.com APIs +18 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 87 | 82 | Brave Search API + MCP +5 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 82 | 63 | Brave Search API + MCP +19 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **68.1 · B** | **76.9 · BB** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Brave Search API + MCP | You.com APIs |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |\n| Vendor | Brave | You.com |\n| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/web/search` | `https://api.you.com/v1/search` |\n| Transports | stdio, Streamable HTTP, HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio |\n| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |\n| Pricing | Pay per use | Freemium |\n| x402 | payer tooling only | payer tooling only |\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` | `io.github.youdotcom-oss/mcp` |\n| Last release | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-22 |\n| Popularity | 1.4k stars, 22k npm/wk | 4.4k npm/wk, 92k PyPI/wk |\n| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (2) | 3.8/5 (8) |\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**You.com APIs.** x402 and MPP on Web Search and Finance Research, with no account needed. Two API hosts. Answer and Research return 'Missing Authentication Token' on ydc-index.io.\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### You.com APIs\n\n1. For unattended runs call GET https://api.you.com/v1/search, handle the 402 and pay with x402. It's half the MPP price for search\n2. Use `https://api.you.com/mcp?profile=free` to try search with no key (100 queries a day)\n3. Send Answer, Research and Finance Research to api.you.com. On ydc-index.io they fail with 'Missing Authentication Token'\n4. Pass `?tools=` with only the tools you need to keep the MCP tool list short\n5. On 429, wait for `Retry-After` and watch `X-RateLimit-Remaining` before the next burst\n\n## Other comparisons with Brave Search API + MCP or You.com APIs\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 Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-valyu.md)\n- [Exa API + MCP vs You.com APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-you-com-api.md)\n- [Firecrawl MCP vs You.com APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/firecrawl-mcp-vs-you-com-api.md)\n- [Linkup vs You.com APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linkup-vs-you-com-api.md)\n- [Parallel Search and Task APIs vs You.com APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/parallel-search-api-vs-you-com-api.md)\n- [SearchAPI.io vs You.com APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/searchapi-io-vs-you-com-api.md)\n- [SerpApi vs You.com APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpapi-vs-you-com-api.md)\n- [Serper vs You.com APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serper-vs-you-com-api.md)\n- [Tavily API + MCP vs You.com APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/tavily-mcp-vs-you-com-api.md)\n- [Valyu vs You.com APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/valyu-vs-you-com-api.md)\n- [Fetch (MCP reference server) vs You.com APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fetch-reference-server-vs-you-com-api.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 You.com APIs", "url": "" } ], "description": "You.com APIs has a score of 76.9 (BB) against Brave Search API + MCP's 68.1 (B). Both do web search. The largest gap is reliability, 30 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "Brave Search API + MCP B 68.1", "You.com APIs BB 76.9", "scores" ], "h1": "Brave Search API + MCP vs You.com APIs", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-brave-search-mcp-vs-you-com-api.png", "path": "/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-you-com-api", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "Brave Search API + MCP vs You.com APIs for AI agents | Anchor Terminal", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-04", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-you-com-api" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 1750, "slim": 380 }, "version": 1 }