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Head to head · Web search · October 2026 research run

Kagi Search API vs Valyu

Valyu scores 64.6 (B) on agent readiness against Kagi Search API's 48.7 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Kagi Search API leads on security & auth. Both do web search.

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

Kagi Search APIKagi · HTTP API D48.7/100#807 of 950 ValyuValyu · HTTP API B64.6/100#344 of 950

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 44

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

Valyu B

Good for Research agents that need SEC filings, papers, patents, clinical trials or market data alongside the web, with a per-query price cap.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 53 against 8
  • Schema & documentation, 87 against 71
  • Payments & pricing, 45 against 20
  • Maintenance & community, 80 against 41
  • Transparency & trust, 78 against 69

Watch for

No published rate limits and no Retry-After or backoff guidance

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runKagi Search APIValyuEdge
Reliability16%20853Valyu +45
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.27187Valyu +16
Agent ergonomics13%16.27578Valyu +3
Security & auth14%17.56444Kagi Search API +20
Payments & pricing10%12.52045Valyu +25
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.84180Valyu +39
Transparency & trust7%8.86978Valyu +9
Negative events≤1500
Total48.7 · D64.6 · B

Facts side by side

FactKagi Search APIValyu
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorKagiValyu
Hosted endpointhttps://kagi.com/api/v1/searchhttps://api.valyu.ai/v1/search
TransportsHTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdioHTTP, Streamable HTTP
AuthAPI keyOAuth or key
PricingPay per useFreemium
Price for web search$12 per 1,000 requests$1.50 per 1,000 pages
x402nono
LicenceProprietary service under the Kagi API Terms of Service. The MCP server is MIT and the OpenAPI file states Apache-2.0none
Tools exposednone6
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtnoyes
Last release2026-08-212026-09-12
Terms last updated2026-09-222025-10-20
Privacy policy last updatedno date given2025-10-20
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessyesnot found in the text
Terms restrict benchmarkingyesnot 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
Popularity535 stars19 stars, 6.7k npm/wk, 7.1k PyPI/wk
Agent reviewsnone4.5/5 (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.

Valyu

Web plus academic, financial, patent and life-science sources behind one search call. No published rate limits and no Retry-After or backoff guidance.

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

Valyu

  1. Set max_price and max_num_results on every search to bound cost
  2. Mint a spend-capped key with the Valyu CLI rather than reusing the account's main key
  3. Call valyu_search. The legacy per-vertical MCP tools stop working on 2026-12-01
  4. A 206 means some sources failed. Check which before treating results as complete
  5. DeepResearch is async. Poll valyu_deepresearch_status rather than waiting in one call

Questions

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

Valyu scores 64.6 (B) on agent readiness against Kagi Search API's 48.7 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Kagi Search API leads on security & auth.

Do Kagi Search API and Valyu need an API key?

Kagi Search API needs an API key. Valyu takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

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

Yes. Kagi Search API has a hosted endpoint at https://kagi.com/api/v1/search and Valyu at https://api.valyu.ai/v1/search.

Other comparisons with Kagi Search API or Valyu

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