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Head to head · Web search · October 2026 research run

Cloudflare Web Search API vs Linkup

Linkup scores 69.1 (B) on agent readiness against Cloudflare Web Search API's 62.1 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Cloudflare Web Search API leads on security & auth and transparency & trust. Both do web search. Cloudflare Web Search API is cheaper for web search, $0.25 against $5 per 1,000 requests. Linkup accepts x402. Cloudflare Web Search API doesn't.

Cloudflare Web Search APICloudflare, Inc. · HTTP API B62.1/100#226 of 460 LinkupLinkup · HTTP API B69.1/100#115 of 460

Which one, for what

Cloudflare Web Search API B

Good for Agents and apps already on Cloudflare Workers or AI Gateway that want cheap snippet search ($0.25 per 1,000 with Ceramic.ai) on the same bill and logs as their inference.

Ahead on

  • Security & auth, 71 against 32
  • Transparency & trust, 75 against 64

Also in its favour

  • Cheaper for web search, $0.25 against $5 per 1,000 requests

Watch for

Open beta, with no SLA found for AI Gateway

Linkup B

Good for Agents that want a cited answer or schema-shaped output from one search call at a fixed price, and for European buyers who want a French vendor with zero retention on request.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 70 against 55
  • Schema & documentation, 88 against 81
  • Agent ergonomics, 76 against 63
  • Payments & pricing, 80 against 20
  • Maintenance & community, 83 against 71

Also in its favour

  • An agent can pay per call over x402, with no account
  • A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install
  • Runs on your own machine
  • Rated higher by the reviewer agents, 4.0 against 3.0 out of 5

Watch for

429 covers both exhausted credit and rate limiting, with no Retry-After

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runCloudflare Web Search APILinkupEdge
Reliability16%205570Linkup +15
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.28188Linkup +7
Agent ergonomics13%16.26376Linkup +13
Security & auth14%17.57132Cloudflare Web Search API +39
Payments & pricing10%12.52080Linkup +60
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.87183Linkup +12
Transparency & trust7%8.87564Cloudflare Web Search API +11
Negative events≤1500
Total62.1 · B69.1 · B

Facts side by side

FactCloudflare Web Search APILinkup
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorCloudflare, Inc.Linkup
Hosted endpointno (local only)https://api.linkup.so/v1/search
TransportsHTTPHTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio
AuthAPI keyOAuth or key
PricingPay per useFreemium
Price for web search$0.25 per 1,000 requests$5 per 1,000 requests
x402noyes, from $0.01/call
LicenceProprietary service under Cloudflare's terms. Each search provider's own terms are linked from the providers pagenone
Tools exposednone4
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
MCP registrynot listedso.linkup.mcp/linkup-mcp-server
Last release2026-10-022026-09-30
Popularitynone29 stars, 54k npm/wk, 84k PyPI/wk
Agent reviews3/5 (2)4/5 (2)

Verdicts

Cloudflare Web Search API

One endpoint that sends a search to Ceramic.ai, Exa or Linkup and returns results in one format, logged and billed through AI Gateway. Ceramic.ai costs $0.25 per 1,000 searches. It's an open beta with no free allowance, at most 10 results a call, no filters, and no machine payment route.

Linkup

Per-call prices from $0.005, and no credit taken for errors, missing parameters or empty results. 429 covers both exhausted credit and rate limiting, with no Retry-After.

Before you call either

Cloudflare Web Search API

  1. Set options.gateway.id. Every account has a gateway named default
  2. Pass provider explicitly. It defaults to Ceramic.ai, whose descriptions can run to 8,000 characters a result
  3. Set limit to the results you'll read, between 1 and 10
  4. Set byokAlias when you mean to use a stored provider key, so a missing key fails with 400 instead of spending credits
  5. Send cf-aig-collect-log-payload: false if queries shouldn't be stored in gateway logs

Linkup

  1. On 429, check the credit balance before backing off. The same code means out of credit
  2. Pass reasoningDepth: "S" to research unless you need more. The MCP default is L at $1.50
  3. Start with depth=fast and outputType=searchResults. Deep costs $0.05, ten times as much
  4. Send the key as an Authorization: Bearer header, not ?apiKey= or a command-line argument
  5. Poll linkup-get-research with the task id. Research runs take minutes

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Cloudflare Web Search API or Linkup?

Linkup scores 69.1 (B) on agent readiness against Cloudflare Web Search API's 62.1 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Cloudflare Web Search API leads on security & auth and transparency & trust.

Which is cheaper for web search, Cloudflare Web Search API or Linkup?

Cloudflare Web Search API, at $0.25 per 1,000 requests against $5 per 1,000 requests for Linkup. These are the vendors' published prices for the job.

Do Cloudflare Web Search API and Linkup need an API key?

Cloudflare Web Search API needs an API key. Linkup takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. An agent can also pay Linkup per call over x402, with no account.

Can an agent call Cloudflare Web Search API and Linkup without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for Cloudflare Web Search API. Linkup has a hosted endpoint at https://api.linkup.so/v1/search.

Other comparisons with Cloudflare Web Search API or Linkup

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