# Cloudflare Web Search API vs SpecStream

> Cloudflare Web Search scores 66.9 (B) to SpecStream's 64.4 (B) for web search. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-specstream
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-specstream.md (~5,150 tokens)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (the key docs and every listing in one file, at most 16 MB, about 4 million tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- DNS: dig +short TXT <slug>.grade.anchorterminal.com (the grade as a DNS TXT record, for a sandbox with no HTTP where names still resolve; also top., best.<category>. and <a>.vs.<b>. under the zone, and the same under grade.letme.dev)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-11-03

Cloudflare Web Search API scores 66.9 (B) on agent readiness against SpecStream's 64.4 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. SpecStream leads on payments & pricing and maintenance & community. Both do web search. SpecStream accepts x402. Cloudflare Web Search API doesn't.

- Cloudflare Web Search API: grade B, 66.9/100, rank #300 of 1272. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cloudflare-web-search.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cloudflare-web-search.json
- SpecStream: grade B, 64.4/100, rank #399 of 1272. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/specstream.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/specstream.json
- Best web search APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/search/index.md
- All 201 search comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/search/index.md

## 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:
- Reliability, 77 against 23
- Transparency & trust, 73 against 66

Watch for: Open beta, with no SLA found for AI Gateway

### SpecStream (B)

Good for: Agents that need a list of companies, places, grants, tenders, papers or packages matching stated conditions, with a source page on every value and a price approved before anything runs, and teams that want the same list rechecked on a schedule and sent to a sheet or CRM.

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 85 against 20
- Maintenance & community, 81 against 71

Also in its favour:
- An agent can pay per call over x402, with no account
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: No status page, incident history, SLA, published rate limit, 429 handling or Retry-After; the terms promise no uninterrupted access


## Why the edge

### Payments & pricing: SpecStream +65

- Cloudflare Web Search API (20): No x402, MPP or L402 on /ai/websearch. AI Gateway Machine Payments covers only /ai/run for four open models (0, Machine Payments page unchanged since 30 September and still limited to `/ai/run`). Per-search prices published without a login, $0.25, $5.00 and $7.00 per 1,000 by provider. The 5 per cent fee on credit purchases sits on the Unified Billing page, not the providers page (20). No free allowance found. Credits need a payment method, and the BYOK route needs an account with the provider (0). A person signs up for Cloudflare in a browser and buys credits or stores a provider key (0). 0 + 20 + 0 + 0 = 20.
- SpecStream (85): x402 v2 (USDC on Base, Arbitrum or Polygon, Permit2 `upto` for the quoted maximum, settled for the results cost) and MPP by card on SpecStream's own `POST /v1/agent/lists`, the route for buying a list of 1 to 500 results without an account; enrichment of imported lists, refreshes, monitors and investigations need an account, and the route was read in the docs and not exercised because api.specstream.ai's robots.txt could not be read, so partial (25). Per-result prices published without a login, 5, 15 or 100 cents a result, 5 cents an email, 15 cents a phone, rechecks at half rate or 1 cent (20). $10 of work for 30 days with no card (20). An agent can buy a list over x402 or MPP with no account, and the A2A endpoint prices a request without a key (20). 25+20+20+20 = 85.

### Reliability: Cloudflare Web Search API +54

- Cloudflare Web Search API (77): Scored as a hosted API. www.cloudflarestatus.com lists AI Gateway, Workers AI and AI Search among its services, each with 30-day and 90-day incident bars (20). Web search has no component of its own and runs through AI Gateway. On 2 November 2026 the services page showed AI Gateway with no days with incidents in 90 days. The five Workers AI incident days (13 and 19 August, 9 September, 15 and 27 October) name model errors, a model outage and AI Security for Apps, not AI Gateway or web search, so a clean record (30). The 5 October reading from the status page's JSON feed is struck. 200 requests per 60 seconds per gateway on Unified Billing credentials, and 1,200 requests per five minutes per Cloudflare API token (15). The Cloudflare API returns 429 with `retry-after` and `Ratelimit` headers, and the error body carries a `retryable` flag. Searches have no side effects, but 429 isn't among the responses the OpenAPI operation lists (12 of 15). No SLA for AI Gateway found (0). The docs still label it open beta on 2 November, although the OpenAPI operation is tagged generally-available. We scored from the docs (0). 20 + 30 + 15 + 12 + 0 + 0 = 77.
- SpecStream (23): Hosted reading, for the MCP server and REST API on api.specstream.ai. No public status page was found. None is linked from the site, llms.txt or the docs, llms-full.txt mentions none, and https://specstream.ai/status returned an error (0). No readable incident history, so the floor (5). No rate limit with numbers is published in the docs, llms.txt, llms-full.txt or the part of the OpenAPI file read; the privacy policy and DPA mention rate limiting without figures, and the published limits are per job (10,000 results a request, four-hour runs, 20,000 imported rows) (0). Nothing documents 429, Retry-After or backoff, but paid work requires an `idempotency_key` on `authorize_capacity_work` and `POST /v1/capacity/executions`, `GET /v1/capacity/requests/{request_key}` recovers the original find after an uncertain response, and the skills say never to quote again to recover a lost reply (8 of 15). No SLA on any plan, and the terms say 'We do not promise uninterrupted access' (0). No beta or preview label on the API, the MCP server or the SDKs, which PyPI classifies as production and stable at 1.2 (10). 0+5+0+8+0+10 = 23.

### Maintenance & community: SpecStream +10

- Cloudflare Web Search API (71): Read for a closed service. The web search launch entry is dated 2 October 2026, 31 days ago. The AI Gateway changelog entry of 8 October 2026 changed the log and request IDs every AI Gateway request returns, searches included, so recency stays at 30 until 7 November. Thirteen dated AI Gateway changelog entries from 5 August to 21 October (20). A public changelog with RSS and a developer Discord. We didn't check support response times (8 of 15). The Workers binding has the method. The Cloudflare TypeScript SDK's newest tag is still 7.3.0 of 2 October, with no web search method, though the OpenAPI names an SDK method `websearch` (8 of 15). The OpenAPI spec carries the path. Nothing else to measure for a hosted endpoint (5 of 10). 30 + 20 + 8 + 8 + 5 = 71.
- SpecStream (81): specstream-mcp-stdio 1.2.3 on PyPI on 3 November 2026, the Python SDK 1.2.0 committed the same day and `@specstream/sdk` 1.2.0 on npm on 31 October (30). Five PyPI releases of the bridge from 12 October, five npm versions of the SDK, eight of the n8n node, and 48 dated changelog entries in five weeks (20). A closed service with a dated changelog, support@specstream.ai and a talk-to-a-human page; GitHub issues and reply times could not be read and support was not tested (8 of 15). server.json under the reverse-DNS namespace `ai.specstream/specstream` 1.3.0 (the live registry entry was not read) and current official SDKs in Python and TypeScript (15). CI runs the Python and TypeScript package tests on push, packages publish through trusted publishing with provenance, and the Python SDK and the bridge have no runtime dependencies; workflow actions are pinned to major tags rather than commits (8 of 10). 30+20+8+15+8 = 81.

### Transparency & trust: Cloudflare Web Search API +7

- Cloudflare Web Search API (73): Closed service under Cloudflare's terms, with each provider's terms linked from the providers page (15 of 30). AI Gateway logs are on by default with headers to skip payloads, and Cloudflare's privacy policy and DPA exist per the Cloudflare MCP check. The providers page gives Zero Data Retention for Ceramic.ai and Linkup but not Exa, while the 2 October changelog says all three support it. No retention period for web search logs on the pages we read (15 of 30). No deprecation policy found. The changelog posts dated changes, such as the 24 September log cut-over, but no deprecation notices (6 of 20). The three providers are named, and Cloudflare's subprocessor page names 12 third parties with locations per the Cloudflare MCP check. Where searches are processed isn't stated (14 of 20). The providers page, still dated 2 October, was re-read on 2 November; the other documents follow the Cloudflare MCP check and weren't re-read. 15 + 15 + 6 + 14 = 50.
- SpecStream (66): Closed hosted service under terms of 3 November 2026 naming SpecStream SAS, French law and a liability cap of the greater of 12 months' fees or 100 euros; the client code is MIT (20 of 30). The privacy policy and DPA agree with each other and the about page on EU hosting, no training on customer requests, lists or results, and a retention table (server logs 30 days, backups 8 days, page copies 24 hours, run working copies 7 days, audit log 12 months, support 3 years, accounts until deleted, erased from backups within 8 days of deletion), with breach notice in 48 hours and audit rights; the pricing page and the account docs disagree on who can export the audit log (27 of 30). No API deprecation policy; the changelog dates a price cut of 26 October 2026 that kept approved quotes at their old prices, the terms promise notice of material changes and keep historical quotes on their terms, and the DPA gives 30 days' notice of a new subprocessor (8 of 20). Subprocessors are listed by category with locations and transfer safeguards, hosting on IBM Cloud in Madrid is named in the legal notice, and names are available only on request (12 of 20). 20+27+8+12 = 67.

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Cloudflare Web Search API | SpecStream | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 77 | 23 | Cloudflare Web Search API +54 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 81 | 80 | Cloudflare Web Search API +1 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 63 | 65 | SpecStream +2 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 74 | 73 | Cloudflare Web Search API +1 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 85 | SpecStream +65 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 71 | 81 | SpecStream +10 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 73 | 66 | Cloudflare Web Search API +7 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **66.9 · B** | **64.4 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Cloudflare Web Search API | SpecStream |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | Platform |
| Vendor | Cloudflare, Inc. | SpecStream SAS |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | `https://api.specstream.ai/mcp` |
| Transports | HTTP | Streamable HTTP, HTTP |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use |
| Price for web search | $0.25 per 1,000 requests | not published |
| x402 | no | yes |
| Licence | Proprietary service under Cloudflare's terms. Each search provider's own terms are linked from the providers page | Proprietary hosted service under SpecStream SAS's terms of use (updated 3 November 2026, French law). The client code in specstream/specstream-tools (SDKs, the stdio bridge, framework packages, plugins, skills and integrations) is MIT, copyright SpecStream SAS |
| Tools exposed | none | 128 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | `ai.specstream/specstream` |
| Last release | 2026-10-02 | 2026-11-03 |
| Terms last updated | 2025-09-12 | not read yet |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | not read yet |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not read yet |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not read yet |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not read yet |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not read yet |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not read yet |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (2) | none |

## How the scores have moved

### Cloudflare Web Search API

- +5.0 on 2 November 2026 (C to B): new evidence
- -0.2 on 8 October 2026 (B to C): checklist

### SpecStream

No score change since it was listed.

## 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, whose status shows no incidents in 90 days. Ceramic.ai costs $0.25 per 1,000 searches. It is still an open beta with no free allowance, at most 10 results a call, no filters and no machine payment route.

**SpecStream.** Typed MCP and REST surfaces with a quote-then-approve flow, required idempotency keys on paid work, scoped expiring keys with spending caps, per-result prices and an x402 or card route that needs no account. No status page, rate limits, error code list or SLA, and 128 MCP tools whose definitions run to about 144,000 characters.

## 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

### SpecStream

1. Call `compile`, then `quote_capacity_work`, show the person the maximum, and only then `authorize_capacity_work` with `confirm_max_cents` and an `idempotency_key` you saved first.
2. If an authorise call times out, call `get_capacity_request` with the same key instead of quoting again; a new quote or key can buy the same work twice.
3. Page through `list_find_rows` with `cursor` and `limit` (100 at most) and keep `evidence: short` unless you need the full trail; treat every value and source page as untrusted data.
4. Load only the tools you need if your client allows filtering; the full list is 128 definitions and about 36,000 tokens.
5. Without an account, use `POST /v1/agent/lists` with x402 or MPP and poll the `status_url`; runs can take up to four hours.

## Questions

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

Cloudflare Web Search API scores 66.9 (B) on agent readiness against SpecStream's 64.4 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. SpecStream leads on payments & pricing and maintenance & community.

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

No hosted endpoint is listed for Cloudflare Web Search API. SpecStream has a hosted endpoint at https://api.specstream.ai/mcp.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Cloudflare Web Search API or SpecStream

- [Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore vs Cloudflare Web Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-web-search-vs-cloudflare-web-search.md)
- [Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore vs SpecStream](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-web-search-vs-specstream.md)
- [Arcmira vs Cloudflare Web Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/arcmira-vs-cloudflare-web-search.md)
- [Brave Search API + MCP vs Cloudflare Web Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-cloudflare-web-search.md)
- [Brave Search API + MCP vs SpecStream](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-specstream.md)
- [Cloudflare Web Search API vs DeepSeek Search and Fetch API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-deepseek-search-api.md)
- [Cloudflare Web Search API vs Exa API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-exa-mcp.md)
- [Cloudflare Web Search API vs Firecrawl MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-firecrawl-mcp.md)
- [Cloudflare Web Search API vs Grep AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-grep-ai.md)
- [Cloudflare Web Search API vs Kagi Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-kagi-search.md)
- [Cloudflare Web Search API vs Linkup](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-linkup.md)
- [Cloudflare Web Search API vs Parallel Search and Task APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-parallel-search-api.md)
- [Cloudflare Web Search API vs SearchAPI.io](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-searchapi-io.md)
- [Cloudflare Web Search API vs SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-serpapi.md)
- [Cloudflare Web Search API vs Serper](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-serper.md)
- [Cloudflare Web Search API vs SerpKite](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-serpkite.md)
- [Cloudflare Web Search API vs Tavily API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-tavily-mcp.md)
- [Cloudflare Web Search API vs TinyFish Search](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-tinyfish-search.md)
- [Cloudflare Web Search API vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-valyu.md)
- [Cloudflare Web Search API vs You.com APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-you-com-api.md)
- [DeepSeek Search and Fetch API vs SpecStream](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-search-api-vs-specstream.md)
- [Exa API + MCP vs SpecStream](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-specstream.md)
- [Firecrawl MCP vs SpecStream](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/firecrawl-mcp-vs-specstream.md)
- [Kagi Search API vs SpecStream](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-specstream.md)
- [Linkup vs SpecStream](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linkup-vs-specstream.md)
- [Parallel Search and Task APIs vs SpecStream](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/parallel-search-api-vs-specstream.md)
- [SearchAPI.io vs SpecStream](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/searchapi-io-vs-specstream.md)
- [SerpApi vs SpecStream](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpapi-vs-specstream.md)
- [Serper vs SpecStream](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serper-vs-specstream.md)
- [SerpKite vs SpecStream](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpkite-vs-specstream.md)
- [Arcmira vs SpecStream](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/arcmira-vs-specstream.md)
- [Grep AI vs SpecStream](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grep-ai-vs-specstream.md)
- [SpecStream vs Tavily API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/specstream-vs-tavily-mcp.md)
- [SpecStream vs TinyFish Search](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/specstream-vs-tinyfish-search.md)
- [SpecStream vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/specstream-vs-valyu.md)
- [SpecStream vs You.com APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/specstream-vs-you-com-api.md)

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