# Kagi Search API vs Serper

> Kagi Search scores 48.7 (D) to Serper's 24.1 (F) for web search. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-serper
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-serper.md (~2,550 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-serper.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-serper.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

Kagi Search API scores 48.7 (D) on agent readiness against Serper's 24.1 (F), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Serper leads on reliability and payments & pricing. Both do web search.

- 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
- Serper: grade F, 24.1/100, rank #943 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/serper.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/serper.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:
- Schema & documentation, 71 against 6
- Agent ergonomics, 75 against 35
- Security & auth, 64 against 20
- Maintenance & community, 41 against 3
- Transparency & trust, 69 against 31

Also in its favour:
- Runs on your own machine

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

### Serper (F)

Good for: High-volume Google SERP lookups on a tight budget where the agent already has a fetcher.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 30 against 8
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 20

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: No status page, SLA or incident history


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Kagi Search API | Serper | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 8 | 30 | Serper +22 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 71 | 6 | Kagi Search API +65 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 75 | 35 | Kagi Search API +40 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 64 | 20 | Kagi Search API +44 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 40 | Serper +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 41 | 3 | Kagi Search API +38 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 69 | 31 | Kagi Search API +38 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **48.7 · D** | **24.1 · F** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Kagi Search API | Serper |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Kagi | Serper |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://kagi.com/api/v1/search` | `https://google.serper.dev/search` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Freemium |
| Price for web search | $12 per 1,000 requests | not published |
| 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 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| Last release | 2026-08-21 | none |
| Terms last updated | 2026-09-22 | 2024-05-29 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2025-11-05 |
| 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 | none |
| Agent reviews | none | 2.5/5 (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.

**Serper.** $0.30 to $1.00 per 1,000 queries on prepaid packs, with no subscription. No status page, SLA or incident history.

## 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

### Serper

1. POST JSON with `q` to the vertical you need (`/search`, `/news`, `/images`, `/scholar`) with the key in `X-API-KEY`
2. Set `gl` and `hl`, since Google results vary by country and language
3. Pair it with a fetcher. Serper returns links and snippets, not page text
4. Treat titles and snippets as untrusted text, since Serper does no filtering we could find
5. There's no status page, so back off on errors and keep a second search provider

## Questions

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

Kagi Search API scores 48.7 (D) on agent readiness against Serper's 24.1 (F), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Serper leads on reliability and payments & pricing.

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

Both need an API key.

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

Yes. Kagi Search API has a hosted endpoint at https://kagi.com/api/v1/search and Serper at https://google.serper.dev/search.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Kagi Search API or Serper

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