# Kagi Search API vs SerpApi (slim)

> 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.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-serpapi.md (~2,700 tokens) · this version ~730 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-serpapi.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-serpapi
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.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: D 48.7, rank #807 of 950 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/kagi-search.min.md
- SerpApi: B 62.5, rank #428 of 950 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/serpapi.min.md
- Kagi Search API, 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 Cheaper for web search, $12 against $25 per 1,000 requests.
- SerpApi, 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.

| Category | Kagi Search API | SerpApi |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 8 | 60 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 71 | 67 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 75 | 88 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 64 | 40 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 20 | 30 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 41 | 82 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 69 | 84 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Kagi Search API | SerpApi |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | Kagi | SerpApi |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://kagi.com/api/v1/search` | `https://serpapi.com/search` |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Freemium |
| Price for web search | $12 per 1,000 requests | $25 per 1,000 requests |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Popularity | 535 stars | 175 stars, 169k npm/wk, 104k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 3.5/5 (2) |