# Kagi Search API vs SerpApi

> SerpApi scores 62.5 (B) to Kagi Search's 48.7 (D) for web search. Kagi Search is cheaper for web search, $12 against $25 per 1,000 requests. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-serpapi
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-serpapi.md (~2,700 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-serpapi.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-serpapi.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-09

SerpApi scores 62.5 (B) on agent readiness against Kagi Search API's 48.7 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Kagi Search API leads on security & auth. Both do web search. Kagi Search API is cheaper for web search, $12 against $25 per 1,000 requests.

- Kagi Search API: grade D, 48.7/100, rank #807 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/kagi-search.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/kagi-search.json
- SerpApi: grade B, 62.5/100, rank #428 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/serpapi.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/serpapi.json
- Best web search APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/search/index.md
- All 129 search comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/search/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Kagi Search API (D)

Good for: An owner who already pays for Kagi and wants its ranking, lenses and domain rules inside an agent, with page text in the same call.

Ahead on:
- Security & auth, 64 against 40

Also in its favour:
- Cheaper for web search, $12 against $25 per 1,000 requests

Watch for: Public preview since 21 May 2026. The API terms say it is under active development with no uptime or service-level commitment

### SerpApi (B)

Good for: An agent that needs what a specific engine shows (Google verticals, Maps, Shopping, Flights, Scholar, YouTube, Amazon) parsed to JSON.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 60 against 8
- Agent ergonomics, 88 against 75
- Payments & pricing, 30 against 20
- Maintenance & community, 82 against 41
- Transparency & trust, 84 against 69

Watch for: 25 incidents on the status feed from July to 1 October 2026, including an outage across all APIs on 10 September


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Kagi Search API | SerpApi | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 8 | 60 | SerpApi +52 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 71 | 67 | Kagi Search API +4 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 75 | 88 | SerpApi +13 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 64 | 40 | Kagi Search API +24 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 30 | SerpApi +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 41 | 82 | SerpApi +41 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 69 | 84 | SerpApi +15 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **48.7 · D** | **62.5 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Kagi Search API | SerpApi |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Kagi | SerpApi |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://kagi.com/api/v1/search` | `https://serpapi.com/search` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Freemium |
| Price for web search | $12 per 1,000 requests | $25 per 1,000 requests |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under the Kagi API Terms of Service. The MCP server is MIT and the OpenAPI file states Apache-2.0 | none |
| Tools exposed | none | 3 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | `io.github.serpapi/serpapi-mcp` |
| Last release | 2026-08-21 | 2026-09-22 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-09-22 | 2026-08-27 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2026-08-27 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 535 stars | 175 stars, 169k npm/wk, 104k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 3.5/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Kagi Search API.** A public OpenAPI file, typed filters and API keys that can be limited by product and IP address make the API simple to call, at $12 per 1,000 searches. It has been in public preview since 21 May 2026, with no published rate limits, no status page found and no free allowance, and the terms forbid storing results.

**SerpApi.** Over 100 engines behind one GET URL, with `json_restrictor` field selection and `output=md`. 25 incidents on the status feed from July to 1 October 2026, including an outage across all APIs on 10 September.

## Before you call either

### Kagi Search API

1. Send `POST https://kagi.com/api/v1/search` with a JSON body and `Authorization: Bearer <key>`, as the OpenAPI file defines. Only `query` is required
2. Set `limit` to cap results returned. In the mixed `search` workflow the MCP tool applies the cap to each result category separately
3. Use `extract.count` (1 to 10) only when page text is needed. Extraction is billed at the Extract rate on top of the search
4. Do not store results. The API terms allow only the transient caching an application needs, and require deletion on termination
5. On 429 back off before retrying. The response covers both rate limiting and an exhausted usage limit, and no `Retry-After` header is documented

### SerpApi

1. Use the MCP with `Authorization: Bearer`, not the key-in-path URL the README leads with
2. Read `serpapi://engines/<engine>` before calling a new engine, since `params` isn't typed
3. Add `json_restrictor` or `output=md` to cut tokens, and `mode: compact` on the MCP
4. A 429 means either the hourly limit or an empty balance. Check the account before retrying
5. Repeat a search within the hour and the cached copy is free. Set `no_cache=true` only when freshness matters

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Kagi Search API or SerpApi?

SerpApi scores 62.5 (B) on agent readiness against Kagi Search API's 48.7 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Kagi Search API leads on security & auth.

### Which is cheaper for web search, Kagi Search API or SerpApi?

Kagi Search API, at $12 per 1,000 requests against $25 per 1,000 requests for SerpApi. These are the vendors' published prices for the job.

### Do Kagi Search API and SerpApi need an API key?

Both need an API key.

### Can an agent call Kagi Search API and SerpApi without installing anything?

Yes. Kagi Search API has a hosted endpoint at https://kagi.com/api/v1/search and SerpApi at https://serpapi.com/search.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Kagi Search API or SerpApi

- [Brave Search API + MCP vs Kagi Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-kagi-search.md)
- [Brave Search API + MCP vs SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-serpapi.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 SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-serpapi.md)
- [Exa API + MCP vs Kagi Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-kagi-search.md)
- [Exa API + MCP vs SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-serpapi.md)
- [Firecrawl MCP vs Kagi Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/firecrawl-mcp-vs-kagi-search.md)
- [Firecrawl MCP vs SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/firecrawl-mcp-vs-serpapi.md)
- [Grep AI vs Kagi Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grep-ai-vs-kagi-search.md)
- [Grep AI vs SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grep-ai-vs-serpapi.md)
- [Kagi Search API vs Linkup](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-linkup.md)
- [Kagi Search API vs Parallel Search and Task APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-parallel-search-api.md)
- [Kagi Search API vs SearchAPI.io](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-searchapi-io.md)
- [Kagi Search API vs Serper](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-serper.md)
- [Kagi Search API vs SerpKite](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-serpkite.md)
- [Kagi Search API vs Tavily API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-tavily-mcp.md)
- [Kagi Search API vs TinyFish Search](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-tinyfish-search.md)
- [Kagi Search API vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-valyu.md)
- [Kagi Search API vs You.com APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-you-com-api.md)
- [Linkup vs SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linkup-vs-serpapi.md)
- [Parallel Search and Task APIs vs SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/parallel-search-api-vs-serpapi.md)
- [SearchAPI.io vs SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/searchapi-io-vs-serpapi.md)
- [SerpApi vs Serper](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpapi-vs-serper.md)
- [SerpApi vs SerpKite](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpapi-vs-serpkite.md)
- [SerpApi vs Tavily API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpapi-vs-tavily-mcp.md)
- [SerpApi vs TinyFish Search](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpapi-vs-tinyfish-search.md)
- [SerpApi vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpapi-vs-valyu.md)
- [SerpApi vs You.com APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpapi-vs-you-com-api.md)
- [Fetch (MCP reference server) vs Kagi Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fetch-reference-server-vs-kagi-search.md)