# Liner Search MCP vs SerpKite

> SerpKite scores 67.6 (B) to Liner Search MCP's 43.4 (E) for search serp. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-serpkite
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-serpkite.md (~4,800 tokens)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (the key docs and every listing in one file, at most 16 MB, about 4 million tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- DNS: dig +short TXT <slug>.grade.anchorterminal.com (the grade as a DNS TXT record, for a sandbox with no HTTP where names still resolve; also top., best.<category>. and <a>.vs.<b>. under the zone, and the same under grade.letme.dev)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-11-07

SerpKite scores 67.6 (B) on agent readiness against Liner Search MCP's 43.4 (E), and leads in every scored category. Both do search serp.

- Liner Search MCP: grade E, 43.4/100, rank #1252 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/liner-mcp.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/liner-mcp.json
- SerpKite: grade B, 67.6/100, rank #314 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/serpkite.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/serpkite.json
- Best web search APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/search/index.md
- All 326 search comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/search/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Liner Search MCP (E)

Good for: Agents that need cheap cited search across the web and scholarly sources, with optional deep research reports.

Also in its favour:
- No incidents deducted, where SerpKite loses 3 points for them

Watch for: No free tier found

### SerpKite (B)

Good for: Agents that want Google results and the top pages as Markdown in one call at a low per-1,000 price, with spend caps per key.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 75 against 50
- Schema & documentation, 90 against 45
- Agent ergonomics, 97 against 65
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 20
- Maintenance & community, 80 against 45
- Transparency & trust, 77 against 34

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

Watch for: Launched 29 September 2026 by a sole trader, with status monitoring only since 2 October


## Why the edge

### Schema & documentation: SerpKite +45

- Liner Search MCP (45): Tool schemas not read without sign-in (15 of 25). llms.txt (10). A table says which tool fits which need, and that the domain tools return the same shape as search_web (12 of 20). Inputs not verifiable (3 of 15). Setup examples, no error responses (5 of 15). Registry version 1.0.0 since 11 September; no changelog found (0). 15 + 10 + 12 + 3 + 5 + 0 = 45.
- SerpKite (90): Public OpenAPI 3.1 spec (version 1.12.7 on 2 November 2026, 41 paths and 47 operations) at serpkite.com/openapi/serp-api.yaml (25). llms.txt, llms-full.txt and a Markdown twin of every docs page (10). Endpoint descriptions state purpose and when to use them, and the guides cover which tool to pick. The MCP tool definitions aren't public and `tools/list` needs a key, so we read the MCP docs table and the matching descriptions in the MIT AI SDK package, which state purpose and some when-to-use lines but not when not to (12). Typed parameters with 64 enums in the spec, documented ranges and strict validation that rejects unknown parameters with a 400 naming the replacement. We couldn't confirm the MCP JSON Schemas (13). curl, TypeScript, Python and Go examples on each page, and an errors page with 14 codes and what to do about each (15). Versioned `/v1` paths and a dated API changelog (15).

### Transparency & trust: SerpKite +43

- Liner Search MCP (34): Terms and privacy linked from the docs but not read in this batch (5 of 30). Data handling not read (5 of 30). No deprecation policy found for the MCP server; the docs note older endpoints priced per version (5 of 20). Subprocessors not read (5 of 20). 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 = 20.
- SerpKite (77): Closed API under terms that name the operator, an Ontario address and governing law, with the SDKs and the MCP connection repository MIT (18). The privacy policy, DPA page, retention doc and security page agree that query text of successful requests isn't logged, usage metadata lasts 31 days and batch results 24 hours. On 26 October failed and empty requests began keeping their query for 24 hours, and the changelog says the privacy policy, terms and DPA were updated the same day (27). The terms promise 30 days' notice before removing an endpoint, with exceptions for changes forced by a third party. AI Overview, AI Mode and Lens were removed in the first week without notice under that exception, and the reviews limit of 16 October came the same way, while a batch price change for 23 November 2026 was announced ahead (14). Subprocessors named with purpose and location, including Contabo in Germany, Cloudflare, Paddle, Resend, PostHog EU and Better Stack, with 30 days' notice of changes (20).

### Maintenance & community: SerpKite +35

- Liner Search MCP (45): Registry entry com.liner/search last updated 11 September 2026 (20). No dated changelog found (0). Support page linked from the docs (10 of 15). Official registry entry under its own namespace (15). No package to read (0). 20 + 0 + 10 + 15 + 0 = 45. Registry presence read from Anchor Terminal's own daily import of the official MCP registry (/api/v1/registry.json, 6 November 2026), not the registry's API.
- SerpKite (80): Closed service read with the API lines. The newest API changelog entries are dated 1 November 2026 (API 1.12.7) (30). 31 dated changelog entries from 9 October to 1 November, among them API 1.6.0 to 1.12.7 and SDKs 0.8.0 and 0.8.1 (20). Public changelog, support@serpkite.com and a Discord link. The SDK repositories are mirrors of a private monorepo and we couldn't see issues or replies (8). In the official MCP registry under the GitHub-verified namespace io.github.SerpKite, per the 5 October check, with current official SDKs in three languages (15). The SDK repositories run typecheck, tests and build in CI, but we couldn't see run results (7). 30+20+8+15+7 = 80.

### Agent ergonomics: SerpKite +32

- Liner Search MCP (65): Nine tools (25). No paging or size controls documented (5 of 20). 429 codes documented for the API (8 of 20). All tools read; annotations not read (12 of 20). One URL with OAuth, few required inputs and an OpenAI-compatible API (15). 25 + 5 + 8 + 12 + 15 = 65.
- SerpKite (97): `format=markdown` or `compact`, `fields` projection, `num` and an `X-Tokens-Estimate` header size REST responses. The MCP server now has 23 tools with no toolsets or read-only subset we could find (22). `page`, `num` up to 100, country, language, location, time, domain include, exclude and boost, date bounds, `highlights` and `max_tokens` on extract (20). Stable error codes with a retry column, and errors are never billed (20). Searches are read-only, failed and empty calls are refunded, and batch creation takes `Idempotency-Key`. Since 9 October 2026 the changelog says every MCP tool carries `readOnlyHint`, `destructiveHint`, `idempotentHint` and `openWorldHint`, with all read-only except `crawl`, and on 2 November the MCP page says every tool is read-only except `crawl` and `research`, which start paid tasks, and none is destructive (20). Only `q` or `url` is required, and official SDKs exist for TypeScript, Python and Go with retries built in (15). 22+20+20+20+15 = 97.

### Reliability: SerpKite +25

- Liner Search MCP (50): incident.io status page at status.liner.com with components for liner.com and app.liner.com only, none for the API or MCP (15). 100% uptime shown since August (20, no incidents shown). Rate limits published per API with numbers (Scholar Search 2 requests a second, agents 2 a second) (15). 429 with a code for concurrency limits, no Retry-After or backoff guidance found (0 of 15). No SLA found (0). Not labelled beta (0 of 10; 'limits may be adjusted over time', GA not stated). 15 + 20 + 15 + 0 + 0 + 0 = 50.
- SerpKite (75): Hosted API, read with the hosted lines. Better Stack status page at status.serpkite.com with four monitors (api.serpkite.com/healthz, dashboard API, dashboard, website) and daily bars (20). Monitoring began on 2 October 2026, so the record covers 31 days of the 90 from 4 August. The page's own figures give 99.978 per cent uptime over 30 days for the API health monitor and 99.971 for the dashboard API, the 5 October check saw 29 to 41 minutes of downtime on each monitor on 2 October and 19 seconds on 3 October, and the feed has never carried an incident post. No outage reached an hour. A readable record shorter than 90 days with nothing major scores 15, as this run settled for short records. Rate limits published per key, 5 to 100 requests a second by pack (15). 429 `rate_limited` with Retry-After, backoff guidance for 429 and 503, and `Idempotency-Key` on batch creation (15). The terms say self-serve plans have no uptime guarantee and an enterprise SLA sits in a separate agreement we couldn't read (0). v1 API with no beta or preview label (10). 20+15+15+15+0+10 = 75.

### Payments & pricing: SerpKite +20

- Liner Search MCP (20): No machine payment protocol (0). Per-call prices public (20). No free tier found (0). A person signs up in a browser for OAuth or an API key (0). 0 + 20 + 0 + 0 = 20.
- SerpKite (40): No x402, MPP or L402 in llms.txt, the OpenAPI spec or the pricing page (0). Per-pack and per-credit prices published without a login, $1.00 to $0.60 per 1,000 (20). Free credits on signup and 1,000 a month with no card, per the quickstart and home page (20). A person signs in by email, GitHub or Google in a browser (0).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Liner Search MCP | SerpKite | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 50 | 75 | SerpKite +25 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 45 | 90 | SerpKite +45 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 65 | 97 | SerpKite +32 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 35 | 37 | SerpKite +2 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 40 | SerpKite +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 45 | 80 | SerpKite +35 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 34 | 77 | SerpKite +43 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -3 | |
| **Total** | | **43.4 · E** | **67.6 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Liner Search MCP | SerpKite |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | MCP server | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Liner | SerpKite (Anastasia Klimova, trading as SerpKite) |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://platform.liner.com/api/v1/mcp` | `https://api.serpkite.com/v1/search` |
| Transports | Streamable HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth | API key |
| Pricing | Paid | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | none | Proprietary service under SerpKite's terms of service. The SDKs (TypeScript, Python, Go, LangChain, Vercel AI SDK) and the MCP connection repository on GitHub are MIT |
| Tools exposed | 9 | 23 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | `com.liner/search` | `io.github.SerpKite/serpkite` |
| Last release | none | 2026-11-01 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | 2026-10-03 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | 2026-10-03 |
| Customer content may train models | not read yet | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not read yet | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not read yet | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not read yet | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not read yet | not found in the text |
| Popularity | none | 809 npm/wk, 376 PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 3.5/5 (2) |

## How the scores have moved

### Liner Search MCP

No score change since it was listed.

### SerpKite

- +2.8 on 2 November 2026: product, time

## Verdicts

**Liner Search MCP.** Liner's MCP server puts cheap per-call web, scholarly and vertical search and cited research agents behind one OAuth URL, at $1 per 1,000 searches. The docs say which tool fits which question, but there's no free tier, no changelog, no injection guidance and no status component for the API.

**SerpKite.** Google SERP API with an OpenAPI 3.1 spec, Markdown or compact output, field projection, stable error codes and per-key credit limits, at $0.60 to $1.00 per 1,000 on packs that don't expire. The service launched on 29 September 2026 from a sole trader, with a month of status history and frequent same-day contract changes.

## Before you call either

### Liner Search MCP

1. Use search_scholar for papers and the domain tools for legal, finance, medical or business questions
2. Deep research is slower and costs more; use quick_answer_agent for short lookups
3. Treat search results and research reports as untrusted content
4. Keep under 2 requests a second for scholar search and the agents

### SerpKite

1. Send the key as `Authorization: Bearer`, not `?api_key=`, and give the agent a dedicated key with a monthly credit limit
2. Ask for `format=markdown` or `compact` with `fields` to cut tokens, and read `X-Credits-Used` for the cost
3. Keep `engine=google` for rank work. Check `meta.engine` when a key allows fallback engines
4. On 429 `rate_limited` or 503 upstream codes, wait for Retry-After and retry. `daily_limit_reached`, `account_restricted` (403) and 402 need a purchase
5. Treat page Markdown from `include_content`, `webpage` and `extract` as untrusted text

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Liner Search MCP or SerpKite?

SerpKite scores 67.6 (B) on agent readiness against Liner Search MCP's 43.4 (E), and leads in every scored category.

### Do Liner Search MCP and SerpKite need an API key?

Liner Search MCP uses an OAuth sign-in. SerpKite needs an API key.

### Can an agent call Liner Search MCP and SerpKite without installing anything?

Yes. Liner Search MCP has a hosted endpoint at https://platform.liner.com/api/v1/mcp and SerpKite at https://api.serpkite.com/v1/search.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Liner Search MCP or SerpKite

- [Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore vs SerpKite](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-web-search-vs-serpkite.md)
- [Arcmira vs SerpKite](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/arcmira-vs-serpkite.md)
- [Grounding with Bing Search vs SerpKite](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bing-grounding-vs-serpkite.md)
- [Brave Search API + MCP vs SerpKite](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-serpkite.md)
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- [DeepSeek Search and Fetch API vs SerpKite](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-search-api-vs-serpkite.md)
- [Exa API + MCP vs SerpKite](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-serpkite.md)
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- [Mojeek Web Search API vs SerpKite](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mojeek-vs-serpkite.md)
- [Parallel Search and Task APIs vs SerpKite](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/parallel-search-api-vs-serpkite.md)
- [Perplexity Search API vs SerpKite](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-serpkite.md)
- [SearchAPI.io vs SerpKite](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/searchapi-io-vs-serpkite.md)
- [SerpApi vs SerpKite](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpapi-vs-serpkite.md)
- [Serper vs SerpKite](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serper-vs-serpkite.md)
- [SerpKite vs SpecStream](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpkite-vs-specstream.md)
- [SerpKite vs Tavily API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpkite-vs-tavily-mcp.md)
- [SerpKite vs TinyFish Search](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpkite-vs-tinyfish-search.md)
- [SerpKite vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpkite-vs-valyu.md)
- [SerpKite vs You.com APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpkite-vs-you-com-api.md)
- [Arcmira vs Liner Search MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/arcmira-vs-liner-mcp.md)
- [Exa API + MCP vs Liner Search MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-liner-mcp.md)
- [Grep AI vs Liner Search MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grep-ai-vs-liner-mcp.md)
- [Liner Search MCP vs Linkup](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-linkup.md)
- [Liner Search MCP vs NewsCatcher](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-newscatcher.md)
- [Liner Search MCP vs Parallel Search and Task APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-parallel-search-api.md)
- [Liner Search MCP vs Perplexity Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-perplexity-search-api.md)
- [Liner Search MCP vs SpecStream](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-specstream.md)
- [Liner Search MCP vs Tavily API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-tavily-mcp.md)
- [Liner Search MCP vs TinyFish Search](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-tinyfish-search.md)
- [Liner Search MCP vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-valyu.md)
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- [Fetch (MCP reference server) vs SerpKite](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fetch-reference-server-vs-serpkite.md)
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- [Liner Search MCP vs Serper](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-serper.md)
- [Liner Search MCP vs SERPHouse](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-serphouse.md)
- [SERPHouse vs SerpKite](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serphouse-vs-serpkite.md)
- [Grounding with Bing Search vs Liner Search MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bing-grounding-vs-liner-mcp.md)

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Query this catalogue directly over MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key). How: https://www.anchorterminal.com/agents/#mcp