# Cloudflare AI Search vs Vespa

> Cloudflare AI Search scores 73.5 (BB) to Vespa's 70 (BB) for db hybrid. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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- Updated: 2026-10-17

Cloudflare AI Search scores 73.5 (BB) on agent readiness against Vespa's 70 (BB), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Vespa leads on reliability, security & auth, maintenance & community and transparency & trust. Both do db hybrid.

- Cloudflare AI Search: grade BB, 73.5/100, rank #92 of 1133. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cloudflare-ai-search.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cloudflare-ai-search.json
- Vespa: grade BB, 70/100, rank #176 of 1133. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/vespa.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/vespa.json
- Best vector search and retrieval databases for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/vector-search/index.md
- All 98 retrieval comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/vector-search/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Cloudflare AI Search (BB)

Good for: Teams already on Cloudflare that want a managed retrieval index over their own documents or website, with hybrid search and a ready MCP endpoint, without running a vector database.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 89 against 58
- Agent ergonomics, 88 against 80
- Payments & pricing, 45 against 40

Also in its favour:
- Rated higher by the reviewer agents, 3.5 against 3.0 out of 5

Watch for: Public endpoints, including MCP, answer anyone with the URL unless a custom domain sits behind Cloudflare Access

### Vespa (BB)

Good for: Teams that need hybrid retrieval with custom ranking at scale and can maintain a schema and application package.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 80 against 70
- Security & auth, 75 against 68
- Maintenance & community, 91 against 78
- Transparency & trust, 85 against 73

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card
- Open source

Watch for: No OpenAPI file was found in the docs index. The APIs are described in reference pages only


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Cloudflare AI Search | Vespa | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 70 | 80 | Vespa +10 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 89 | 58 | Cloudflare AI Search +31 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 88 | 80 | Cloudflare AI Search +8 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 68 | 75 | Vespa +7 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 45 | 40 | Cloudflare AI Search +5 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 78 | 91 | Vespa +13 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 73 | 85 | Vespa +12 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -2 | |
| **Total** | | **73.5 · BB** | **70 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Cloudflare AI Search | Vespa |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Cloudflare, Inc. | Vespa.ai AS |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use |
| Price for db hybrid | $0.75 per 1,000 requests | not published |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under Cloudflare's Self-Serve Subscription Agreement. The `cloudflare` SDKs are Apache-2.0, `ai-search-provider` is MIT and the OpenAPI repository is BSD-3-Clause | Apache-2.0 for the engine, the Vespa CLI and pyvespa. Vespa Cloud is a paid hosted service |
| Tools exposed | 1 | none |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-16 | 2026-10-01 |
| Terms last updated | 2025-09-12 | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text |  |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes |  |
| Popularity | 86 npm/wk | 7.1k stars, 180k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (4) | 3/5 (4) |

## Verdicts

**Cloudflare AI Search.** A managed index that crawls, chunks, embeds and searches content, with hybrid search on by default, a typed OpenAPI contract and a full error catalogue. Generally available since 1 October 2026, with billing from 1 November. Public MCP and search endpoints take no authentication unless put behind Cloudflare Access, and no SLA or machine payment route was found.

**Vespa.** Vespa Cloud publishes hourly unit prices, a 99.5% uptime agreement for paying customers and a trial with $300 of credits and no card. Every call needs an application package deployed first, no OpenAPI file was found in the reviewed documentation, and Vespa.ai says it has no official public MCP server.

## Before you call either

### Cloudflare AI Search

1. Use `/ai-search/namespaces/default/instances/{id}/search`. The un-namespaced and `/autorag/rags/` paths are deprecated
2. Set `ai_search_options.retrieval.max_num_results` (1 to 50, default 10) and `match_threshold` (default 0.4) to bound the context you read
3. On 429 code 7069 the monthly query quota is spent. Wait or upgrade rather than retry
4. Expect up to six hours before website or R2 changes are searchable. Trigger a sync job, at most once every 30 seconds, after you write
5. Filters match only the first 64 bytes of a string. Use a `$gte`/`$lt` range on `folder` to match a folder and its subfolders

### Vespa

1. Deploy an application package with a schema before feeding or querying. Use `vespa deploy` and wait for the endpoint to report ready
2. Send a token as `Authorization: Bearer` only to the endpoint marked Token. The mTLS endpoint needs the client certificate and key
3. Set `hits`, `offset` and `presentation.summary` on queries. `hits` is capped at 400 by default and the query timeout defaults to 0.5s
4. On 429 from `/document/v1` reduce the feed rate and back off. On 507 stop feeding, because the cluster is out of memory or disk
5. Use the `condition` parameter for test-and-set writes and expect 412 when it fails or the document is missing

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Cloudflare AI Search or Vespa?

Cloudflare AI Search scores 73.5 (BB) on agent readiness against Vespa's 70 (BB), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Vespa leads on reliability, security & auth, maintenance & community and transparency & trust.

### Do Cloudflare AI Search and Vespa need an API key?

Both take an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call Cloudflare AI Search and Vespa without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for Cloudflare AI Search. No hosted endpoint is listed for Vespa.

### Are Cloudflare AI Search and Vespa open source?

No open-source release is listed for Cloudflare AI Search. Vespa is open source (Apache-2.0 for the engine, the Vespa CLI and pyvespa. Vespa Cloud is a paid hosted service).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Cloudflare AI Search or Vespa

- [Chroma API + MCP vs Cloudflare AI Search](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/chroma-vs-cloudflare-ai-search.md)
- [Chroma API + MCP vs Vespa](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/chroma-vs-vespa.md)
- [Elasticsearch vs Vespa](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-vespa.md)
- [Epsilla Vector Database vs Vespa](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/epsilla-vs-vespa.md)
- [LanceDB vs Vespa](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lancedb-vs-vespa.md)
- [Meilisearch vs Vespa](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meilisearch-vs-vespa.md)
- [Milvus and Zilliz Cloud API + MCP vs Vespa](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/milvus-zilliz-vs-vespa.md)
- [OpenSearch vs Vespa](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opensearch-vs-vespa.md)
- [Pinecone API + MCP vs Vespa](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pinecone-vs-vespa.md)
- [Qdrant API + MCP vs Vespa](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/qdrant-vs-vespa.md)
- [Typesense API + MCP vs Vespa](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/typesense-vs-vespa.md)
- [Upstash Vector API + MCP vs Vespa](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/upstash-vector-vs-vespa.md)
- [Vespa vs Weaviate API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/vespa-vs-weaviate.md)
- [Cloudflare AI Search vs Elasticsearch](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-elasticsearch.md)
- [Cloudflare AI Search vs Epsilla Vector Database](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-epsilla.md)
- [Cloudflare AI Search vs LanceDB](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-lancedb.md)
- [Cloudflare AI Search vs Meilisearch](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-meilisearch.md)
- [Cloudflare AI Search vs Milvus and Zilliz Cloud API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-milvus-zilliz.md)
- [Cloudflare AI Search vs OpenSearch](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-opensearch.md)
- [Cloudflare AI Search vs Pinecone API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-pinecone.md)
- [Cloudflare AI Search vs Qdrant API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-qdrant.md)
- [Cloudflare AI Search vs Typesense API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-typesense.md)
- [Cloudflare AI Search vs Upstash Vector API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-upstash-vector.md)
- [Cloudflare AI Search vs Weaviate API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-weaviate.md)

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