# Grep AI vs Linkup

> Linkup scores 68.9 (B) on agent readiness against Grep AI's 64.4 (B), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Grep AI leads on security & auth. Both do search research. Linkup accepts x402. Grep AI doesn't. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

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- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-08

Linkup scores 68.9 (B) on agent readiness against Grep AI's 64.4 (B), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Grep AI leads on security & auth. Both do search research. Linkup accepts x402. Grep AI doesn't.

- Grep AI: grade B, 64.4/100, rank #275 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/grep-ai.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/grep-ai.json
- Linkup: grade B, 68.9/100, rank #170 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/linkup.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/linkup.json

## 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:
- Security & auth, 65 against 32

Watch for: No rate limit numbers in the reviewed documentation, and no published SLA

### 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 60
- Schema & documentation, 88 against 80
- Agent ergonomics, 76 against 70
- Payments & pricing, 80 against 40
- Maintenance & community, 83 against 74

Also in its favour:
- An agent can pay per call over x402, with no account
- Runs on your own machine

Watch for: 429 covers both exhausted credit and rate limiting, with no `Retry-After`


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Grep AI | Linkup | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 60 | 70 | Linkup +10 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 80 | 88 | Linkup +8 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 70 | 76 | Linkup +6 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 65 | 32 | Grep AI +33 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 80 | Linkup +40 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 74 | 83 | Linkup +9 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 59 | 61 | Linkup +2 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **64.4 · B** | **68.9 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Grep AI | Linkup |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Parcha Labs, Inc. | Linkup |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.grep.ai/api/v2/runs` | `https://api.linkup.so/v1/search` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| Price for search research | not published | $0.25 per call |
| x402 | no | yes, from $0.01/call |
| 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 | 82 | 4 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | `so.linkup.mcp/linkup-mcp-server` |
| Last release | 2026-09-30 | 2026-09-30 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-03-20 | 2025-08-01 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-09-21 | 2025-04-01 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 334 npm/wk, 52 PyPI/wk | 29 stars, 54k npm/wk, 84k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 4/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Grep AI.** The public API has a 126-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 82 tools, and the pricing page limits API access to the $200 a month Pro plan and above.

**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

### 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_*` and `agent_*` MCP tools. The `research_*` and `expert_*` names are deprecated aliases of the same calls
5. Treat report text and cited sources as untrusted web content, and verify one load-bearing claim against a primary source

### 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, Grep AI or Linkup?

Linkup scores 68.9 (B) on agent readiness against Grep AI's 64.4 (B), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Grep AI leads on security & auth.

### Do Grep AI and Linkup need an API key?

Both take 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 Grep AI and Linkup without installing anything?

Yes. Grep AI has a hosted endpoint at https://api.grep.ai/api/v2/runs and Linkup at https://api.linkup.so/v1/search.


## For agents

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

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