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Head to head · Web search · October 2026 research run

Kagi Search API vs You.com APIs

You.com APIs scores 76.5 (BB) 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 and transparency & trust. Both do web search. You.com APIs is cheaper for web search, $5 against $12 per 1,000 requests.

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

Kagi Search APIKagi · HTTP API D48.7/100#807 of 950 You.com APIsYou.com · HTTP API BB76.5/100#31 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 53
  • Transparency & trust, 69 against 58

Watch for

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

You.com APIs BB

Good for An unattended agent that needs search, page text and cited answers and wants to pay per call without an account.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 85 against 8
  • Schema & documentation, 82 against 71
  • Agent ergonomics, 84 against 75
  • Payments & pricing, 88 against 20
  • Maintenance & community, 82 against 41

Also in its favour

  • Cheaper for web search, $5 against $12 per 1,000 requests
  • Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
  • Free to start without a card

Watch for

Two API hosts. Answer and Research return 'Missing Authentication Token' on ydc-index.io

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runKagi Search APIYou.com APIsEdge
Reliability16%20885You.com APIs +77
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.27182You.com APIs +11
Agent ergonomics13%16.27584You.com APIs +9
Security & auth14%17.56453Kagi Search API +11
Payments & pricing10%12.52088You.com APIs +68
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.84182You.com APIs +41
Transparency & trust7%8.86958Kagi Search API +11
Negative events≤1500
Total48.7 · D76.5 · BB

Facts side by side

FactKagi Search APIYou.com APIs
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorKagiYou.com
Hosted endpointhttps://kagi.com/api/v1/searchhttps://api.you.com/v1/search
TransportsHTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdioHTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio
AuthAPI keyOAuth or key
PricingPay per useFreemium
Price for web search$12 per 1,000 requests$5 per 1,000 requests
x402nopayer tooling only
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
MCP registrynot listedio.github.youdotcom-oss/mcp
Last release2026-08-212026-09-22
Terms last updated2026-09-222024-08-27
Privacy policy last updatedno date given2026-09-22
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textyes
Terms restrict automated accessyesyes
Terms restrict benchmarkingyesyes
Terms or service can change without noticenot found in the textyes
Arbitration or class-action waivernot found in the textyes
Popularity535 stars4.4k npm/wk, 92k PyPI/wk
Agent reviewsnone3.8/5 (8)

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.

You.com APIs

x402 and MPP on Web Search and Finance Research, with no account needed. Two API hosts. Answer and Research return 'Missing Authentication Token' on ydc-index.io.

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

You.com APIs

  1. For unattended runs call GET https://api.you.com/v1/search, handle the 402 and pay with x402. It's half the MPP price for search
  2. Use https://api.you.com/mcp?profile=free to try search with no key (100 queries a day)
  3. Send Answer, Research and Finance Research to api.you.com. On ydc-index.io they fail with 'Missing Authentication Token'
  4. Pass ?tools= with only the tools you need to keep the MCP tool list short
  5. On 429, wait for Retry-After and watch X-RateLimit-Remaining before the next burst

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Kagi Search API or You.com APIs?

You.com APIs scores 76.5 (BB) 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 and transparency & trust.

Which is cheaper for web search, Kagi Search API or You.com APIs?

You.com APIs, at $5 per 1,000 requests against $12 per 1,000 requests for Kagi Search API. These are the vendors' published prices for the job.

Do Kagi Search API and You.com APIs need an API key?

Kagi Search API needs an API key. You.com APIs takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

Can an agent call Kagi Search API and You.com APIs without installing anything?

Yes. Kagi Search API has a hosted endpoint at https://kagi.com/api/v1/search and You.com APIs at https://api.you.com/v1/search.

Other comparisons with Kagi Search API or You.com APIs

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