# Grep AI vs Liner Search MCP

> Grep AI scores 62.9 (B) to Liner Search MCP's 43.4 (E) for research search. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grep-ai-vs-liner-mcp
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grep-ai-vs-liner-mcp.md (~4,650 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: 2026-11-07

Grep AI scores 62.9 (B) on agent readiness against Liner Search MCP's 43.4 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do research search.

- Grep AI: grade B, 62.9/100, rank #535 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/grep-ai.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/grep-ai.json
- Liner Search MCP: grade E, 43.4/100, rank #1252 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/liner-mcp.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/liner-mcp.json
- Best web search APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/search/index.md
- All 326 search comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/search/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Grep AI (B)

Good for: Agents that hand off a long research or due-diligence job and want a cited report or structured fields back, including business verification and sanctions screening through built-in agents.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 83 against 45
- Agent ergonomics, 70 against 65
- Security & auth, 64 against 35
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 20
- Maintenance & community, 74 against 45
- Transparency & trust, 61 against 34

Watch for: No rate limit numbers in the reviewed documentation, and no published SLA. Full outages on 4 September (24 minutes) and 30 October (7 minutes)

### Liner Search MCP (E)

Good for: Agents that need cheap cited search across the web and scholarly sources, with optional deep research reports.

Watch for: No free tier found


## Why the edge

### Schema & documentation: Grep AI +38

- Grep AI (83): Public OpenAPI document at api.grep.ai/api/v2/openapi.json, now 128 operations on 98 paths and 159 schemas (25). llms.txt and a Markdown twin of each developer page (10). Most operations carry a description, and the `effort` field says what each tier returns and how long it takes. 19 operations have none, and the MCP server card gives each of its 137 tools one line. The MCP input schemas need OAuth and weren't read (12). 75 enums, numeric bounds and `additionalProperties: false` on the run request (12). Curl examples and an 11-code error registry in the docs, but the OpenAPI document has no examples and documents only 200 and 422 responses (9). The path is versioned, v1 and 42 v2 operations are marked deprecated, and the dated changelog now runs to v3.71 on 20 October 2026, with 14 entries since 4 August (15).
- Liner Search MCP (45): Tool schemas not read without sign-in (15 of 25). llms.txt (10). A table says which tool fits which need, and that the domain tools return the same shape as search_web (12 of 20). Inputs not verifiable (3 of 15). Setup examples, no error responses (5 of 15). Registry version 1.0.0 since 11 September; no changelog found (0). 15 + 10 + 12 + 3 + 5 + 0 = 45.

### Security & auth: Grep AI +29

- Grep AI (64): OAuth through Descope with five scopes, and API keys that can be created with a subset of scopes, listed and revoked through the API (30). Read scopes, `validate_only` and `dry_run` on agent changes, a per-run `max_cost_usd` and versioned restores. No confirmation step for deletes or for making a run public (14). Reports are built from untrusted web pages. The docs describe an SSRF-guarded fetch for context files, and no prompt-injection guidance for callers was found (3). Each run has a timeline of execution events, and billing transactions and usage are readable through the API (12). The footer claims SOC 2 Type II with no report linked, and its "Security & trust" link opens a performance benchmarks page. security.txt returns 404, and no disclosure policy or bug bounty was found, so this is a bare SOC 2 claim, which this run reads as 5 (5). Webhooks are signed with the API key itself.
- Liner Search MCP (35): OAuth 2.1 or an API key; scopes not published (20 of 30). All tools are reads (10 of 20). Results carry web pages and documents with no injection guidance (0). No audit log found (0). No security.txt (404) or security programme found (5 of 20). 20 + 10 + 0 + 0 + 5 = 35.

### Maintenance & community: Grep AI +29

- Grep AI (74): The changelog's newest entry is v3.71 on 20 October 2026, 13 days before this check (30). 14 dated changelog entries since 4 August, from v3.1.1 on 7 August to v3.71 on 20 October (20). Closed service with a public changelog and support at support@parcha.ai. We didn't test whether support answers (8). Current SDKs in two languages per the 8 October check (@parcha/agentrun and parcha-agentrun 0.2.1, 30 September), with docs that lag them. Not found in the official MCP registry (12). The skills repository runs a test workflow and hasn't changed since 30 September. The SDK repositories named in the package metadata asked for credentials, so their CI wasn't read (4). The 8 October PyPI reading came from a path pypi.org's robots.txt disallows and is struck; npm and PyPI didn't answer on 2 November.
- Liner Search MCP (45): Registry entry com.liner/search last updated 11 September 2026 (20). No dated changelog found (0). Support page linked from the docs (10 of 15). Official registry entry under its own namespace (15). No package to read (0). 20 + 0 + 10 + 15 + 0 = 45. Registry presence read from Anchor Terminal's own daily import of the official MCP registry (/api/v1/registry.json, 6 November 2026), not the registry's API.

### Transparency & trust: Grep AI +27

- Grep AI (61): Closed service with published terms, written as an order-form contract that still points to grep.parcha.ai. The SDK packages state no licence, and the skills package is MIT (12). Section 12 of the terms says AI providers retain nothing and customer data isn't used for training. Section 4.2 grants a perpetual licence to use customer data to improve the platform, and the privacy policy gives retention only as "as long as needed". No DPA found (12). v1 is marked deprecated, /research answers with a `deprecation: true` header and a successor link, and 31 MCP tools are labelled deprecated, all without dates or a written policy (8). The privacy policy names Google Analytics and PostHog and says data may be processed in any country. No subprocessor list found (4).
- Liner Search MCP (34): Terms and privacy linked from the docs but not read in this batch (5 of 30). Data handling not read (5 of 30). No deprecation policy found for the MCP server; the docs note older endpoints priced per version (5 of 20). Subprocessors not read (5 of 20). 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 = 20.

### Payments & pricing: Grep AI +20

- Grep AI (40): No machine payment protocol on the live endpoints. The changelog of 8 May 2026 announces x402 and MPP, and the gateway answered 503 `gateway_disabled` on 8 October and again on 2 November 2026 (0). Plan and credit prices are public, but only the medium tier's credit cost is published and the page and its Markdown twin disagree on credits per dollar (10). 100 free trial credits on the pricing page, 500 Wallet credits for new personal accounts in the 4 October changelog entry, and 500 for an owner's first agent through AgentID. The pricing page doesn't say whether a card is needed, and its table marks the trial without API access (15). AgentID sign-in is documented as needing no human account, but it depends on an AgentMail inbox and a browser step, and we didn't run it (15).
- Liner Search MCP (20): No machine payment protocol (0). Per-call prices public (20). No free tier found (0). A person signs up in a browser for OAuth or an API key (0). 0 + 20 + 0 + 0 = 20.

### Agent ergonomics: Grep AI +5

- Grep AI (70): The MCP server card lists 137 tools, 57 of them deprecated aliases, with no documented toolsets. Reports default to plain Markdown and large files come back as signed URLs, so some credit back (8). Cursor pagination with `limit` on runs, timelines and transactions, and server-side filters on the skill and tool lists (18). One error envelope with stable codes and a `request_id`, and 402 for credits kept apart from 429 for rate (20). `Idempotency-Key` with body-hash matching and a 24-hour replay window. The server card shows no readOnlyHint or destructiveHint annotations, and the live tool list wasn't read (12). Only `question` is required and `effort` defaults to low. TypeScript and Python SDKs exist, though one docs page still calls the release pending and names a PyPI package that returns 404 (12).
- Liner Search MCP (65): Nine tools (25). No paging or size controls documented (5 of 20). 429 codes documented for the API (8 of 20). All tools read; annotations not read (12 of 20). One URL with OAuth, few required inputs and an OpenAI-compatible API (15). 25 + 5 + 8 + 12 + 15 = 65.

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Grep AI | Liner Search MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 50 | 50 | even |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 83 | 45 | Grep AI +38 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 70 | 65 | Grep AI +5 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 64 | 35 | Grep AI +29 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 20 | Grep AI +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 74 | 45 | Grep AI +29 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 61 | 34 | Grep AI +27 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **62.9 · B** | **43.4 · E** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Grep AI | Liner Search MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | MCP server |
| Vendor | Parcha Labs, Inc. | Liner |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.grep.ai/api/v2/runs` | `https://platform.liner.com/api/v1/mcp` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth |
| Pricing | Freemium | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under Parcha Labs' terms of service. The grep-research-skills package on npm is MIT. The @parcha/agentrun and parcha-agentrun SDK packages state no licence in their registry metadata | none |
| Tools exposed | 137 | 9 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | `com.liner/search` |
| Last release | 2026-10-20 | none |
| Terms last updated | 2026-03-20 | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-09-21 | no document linked |
| 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 | not found in the text | not read yet |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not read yet |
| Popularity | 334 npm/wk, 52 PyPI/wk | none |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (4) | none |

## How the scores have moved

### Grep AI

- -1.7 on 2 November 2026: reliability, product, correction
- +0.2 on 27 October 2026: new evidence

### Liner Search MCP

No score change since it was listed.

## Verdicts

**Grep AI.** The public API has a 128-operation OpenAPI document, scoped OAuth and API keys, idempotency keys with documented replay rules and a per-run cost cap. No rate limit is published, the MCP server lists 137 tools, the whole service went down twice in the 90 days to 2 November, and API access starts at the $200 a month Pro plan.

**Liner Search MCP.** Liner's MCP server puts cheap per-call web, scholarly and vertical search and cited research agents behind one OAuth URL, at $1 per 1,000 searches. The docs say which tool fits which question, but there's no free tier, no changelog, no injection guidance and no status component for the API.

## Before you call either

### Grep AI

1. Send a fresh `Idempotency-Key` with every POST /api/v2/runs. After a timeout, poll the returned run ID and do not post again
2. Set `effort` and `max_cost_usd` on every run. The floor is $0.50 for low, $2.50 for medium and build, $5.00 for high
3. Call GET /api/v2/quota/check before a run. A 402 means no credits and retrying won't help, while a 429 carries `Retry-After`
4. Use the `run_*`, `agent_*` and `swarm_*` MCP tools at https://api.grep.ai/mcp. The `research_*`, `expert_*` and `campaign_*` names are deprecated aliases
5. Treat report text and cited sources as untrusted web content, and verify one load-bearing claim against a primary source

### Liner Search MCP

1. Use search_scholar for papers and the domain tools for legal, finance, medical or business questions
2. Deep research is slower and costs more; use quick_answer_agent for short lookups
3. Treat search results and research reports as untrusted content
4. Keep under 2 requests a second for scholar search and the agents

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Grep AI or Liner Search MCP?

Grep AI scores 62.9 (B) on agent readiness against Liner Search MCP's 43.4 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.

### Do Grep AI and Liner Search MCP need an API key?

Grep AI takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Liner Search MCP uses an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call Grep AI and Liner Search MCP without installing anything?

Yes. Grep AI has a hosted endpoint at https://api.grep.ai/api/v2/runs and Liner Search MCP at https://platform.liner.com/api/v1/mcp.


## For agents

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

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