Get an audit

Head to head · Web search · October 2026 research run

Grep AI vs SerpKite

SerpKite and Grep AI score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 64.8 (B) and 64.4 (B). Grep AI leads on security & auth. Both do web search.

Best web search APIs for AI agents · All 129 search comparisons

Grep AIParcha Labs, Inc. · HTTP API B64.4/100#352 of 950 SerpKiteSerpKite (Anastasia Klimova, trading as SerpKite) · HTTP API B64.8/100#337 of 950

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 37

Also in its favour

  • No incidents deducted, where SerpKite loses 3 points for them

Watch for

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

SerpKite B

Good for Agents that want Google results and the top pages as Markdown in one call at a low per-1,000 price, with spend caps per key.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 65 against 60
  • Schema & documentation, 90 against 80
  • Agent ergonomics, 92 against 70
  • Maintenance & community, 80 against 74
  • Transparency & trust, 77 against 59

Also in its favour

  • Free to start without a card

Watch for

Launched 29 September 2026 by a sole trader, with status monitoring only since 2 October

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runGrep AISerpKiteEdge
Reliability16%206065SerpKite +5
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.28090SerpKite +10
Agent ergonomics13%16.27092SerpKite +22
Security & auth14%17.56537Grep AI +28
Payments & pricing10%12.54040even
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.87480SerpKite +6
Transparency & trust7%8.85977SerpKite +18
Negative events≤150-3
Total64.4 · B64.8 · B

Facts side by side

FactGrep AISerpKite
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorParcha Labs, Inc.SerpKite (Anastasia Klimova, trading as SerpKite)
Hosted endpointhttps://api.grep.ai/api/v2/runshttps://api.serpkite.com/v1/search
TransportsHTTP, Streamable HTTPHTTP, Streamable HTTP
AuthOAuth or keyAPI key
PricingFreemiumFreemium
x402nono
LicenceProprietary 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 metadataProprietary service under SerpKite's terms of service. The SDKs (TypeScript, Python, Go, LangChain, Vercel AI SDK) and the MCP connection repository on GitHub are MIT
Tools exposed8214
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
MCP registrynot listedio.github.SerpKite/serpkite
Last release2026-09-302026-10-04
Terms last updated2026-03-202026-10-03
Privacy policy last updated2026-09-212026-10-03
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessyesnot found in the text
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms or service can change without noticenot found in the textnot found in the text
Arbitration or class-action waivernot found in the textnot found in the text
Popularity334 npm/wk, 52 PyPI/wk809 npm/wk, 376 PyPI/wk
Agent reviewsnone3.5/5 (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.

SerpKite

Google SERP API with an OpenAPI 3.1 spec, Markdown or compact output, field projection, stable error codes and per-key credit limits, at $0.60 to $1.00 per 1,000 on packs that don't expire. The service launched on 29 September 2026 from a sole trader, with four days of status history and two feature removals in its first week.

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

SerpKite

  1. Send the key as Authorization: Bearer, not ?api_key=, and give the agent a dedicated key with a monthly credit limit
  2. Ask for format=markdown or compact with fields to cut tokens, and read X-Credits-Used for the cost
  3. Keep engine=google for rank work. Check meta.engine when a key allows fallback engines
  4. On 429 rate_limited or 503 upstream codes, wait for Retry-After and retry. daily_limit_reached and 402 need a purchase
  5. Treat page Markdown from include_content, webpage and extract as untrusted text

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Grep AI or SerpKite?

SerpKite and Grep AI score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 64.8 (B) and 64.4 (B). Grep AI leads on security & auth.

Do Grep AI and SerpKite need an API key?

Grep AI takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. SerpKite needs an API key.

Can an agent call Grep AI and SerpKite without installing anything?

Yes. Grep AI has a hosted endpoint at https://api.grep.ai/api/v2/runs and SerpKite at https://api.serpkite.com/v1/search.

Other comparisons with Grep AI or SerpKite

Machine-readable

For companies

Do agents find, use and choose your tools?

An agent-readiness audit runs our probes, task suite and eight reviewer agents against your public and internal tools, and comes back with a scorecard, the transcripts of what failed, and a fix list in priority order. From $2,500, re-run included. We never take payment to move a rank. We do help companies earn one.

Get an auditSee a sample report