# Liner Search MCP vs Tavily API + MCP

> Tavily scores 77.1 (BB) to Liner Search MCP's 43.4 (E) for research search. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-tavily-mcp
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-tavily-mcp.md (~5,250 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

Tavily API + MCP scores 77.1 (BB) on agent readiness against Liner Search MCP's 43.4 (E), and leads in every scored category. Both do research search.

- 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
- Tavily API + MCP: grade BB, 77.1/100, rank #36 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/tavily-mcp.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/tavily-mcp.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.

Watch for: No free tier found

### Tavily API + MCP (BB)

Good for: An agent that needs search plus page text in one call and has no account yet.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 90 against 50
- Schema & documentation, 90 against 45
- Agent ergonomics, 81 against 65
- Security & auth, 52 against 35
- Payments & pricing, 75 against 20
- Maintenance & community, 85 against 45
- Transparency & trust, 62 against 34

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
- Runs on your own machine
- Free to start without a card
- Open source

Watch for: x402 covers advanced search only, not extract, map, crawl or research


## Why the edge

### Payments & pricing: Tavily API + MCP +55

- 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.
- Tavily API + MCP (75): Official x402 at x402.tavily.com sells advanced search only, $0.01 in USDC on Base. An unpaid POST to /search returned 402 on 1 November with an x402 version 2 envelope offering the `exact` scheme on eip155:8453 for 10000 units (0.01 USDC), and a second `agent-pay` option on aws:base for 0.016, described as advanced mode. Extract, map, crawl and research aren't sold over x402 (15). Credit costs per endpoint and $0.008 a credit pay as you go, published without a login and unchanged on 1 November (20). 1,000 free credits a month, no card, re-read on 1 November (20). Keyless search and extract with the `X-Tavily-Access-Mode: keyless` header, plus the x402 route, so an agent needs no human signup (20).

### Schema & documentation: Tavily API + MCP +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.
- Tavily API + MCP (90): Public OpenAPI at docs.tavily.com, and typed JSON Schema on every MCP tool (25). llms.txt with Markdown pages and a 'Start here for agents' section, re-read on 1 November (10). Tool descriptions say what each does and when to reach for it, such as search for facts past the model's cutoff, but the npm release doesn't say when not to. A commit of 27 October on the GitHub main branch adds some, such as using the `news` topic only when the user asks for news and leaving the extract `query` empty for tables, but it isn't released on npm, so the award stays (14). Enums for `search_depth`, `topic`, `time_range` and `include_domains_mode`, ranges for `max_results` (0 to 20 on the API, 5 to 20 in the MCP), `chunks_per_source` (1 to 3) and `max_age_hours` (-1 to 720), and caps of 300 included and 150 excluded domains. The feedback tool on the GitHub main branch, not in the npm release, takes free-form `value` fields (13). Error table with examples for 400, 401, 422, 429, 432, 433, 434 and 500, re-read on 1 November (15). Versioned SDKs and a monthly changelog, which on 1 November has an October 2026 section documenting `max_age_hours` (accepted values and the 434 flex tier) and Tavily CLI plain output, and the search API reference now documents `max_age_hours`. `fetch_timeout` appears only in the 434 example message and `cache_fallback` nowhere in the reference or changelog, and the API path isn't versioned (13).

### Reliability: Tavily API + MCP +40

- 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.
- Tavily API + MCP (90): incident.io status page at status.tavily.com with separate API, MCP and website components (20). One incident in the 90 days from 3 August, website degraded performance on 17 September 2026, and none since per the status feed re-read on 1 November. The API and MCP showed 100% per the 1 October check (30). Published limits, re-read on 1 November, 100 requests a minute on development keys and 1,000 on production, crawl 100 and research 20 task creations on both (15). 429 carries `Retry-After` and the docs say to use that value and the status code rather than parse the message. Since October a 434 tells non-paying plans that live fetching with `max_age_hours` is refused under load, with the advice to retry or omit it (15). The pricing page lists 'Enterprise-grade support and SLAs' for the custom Enterprise plan but publishes no SLA terms, per the 17 October check, and none were found in the docs index or terms (0). GA (10).

### Maintenance & community: Tavily API + MCP +40

- 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.
- Tavily API + MCP (85): @tavily/core 0.7.14 on npm, published on 6 October 2026, and tavily-python bumped to 0.8.5 in the repository the same day (PyPI's pages and release feed returned nothing to us on 1 November, so its publication there is unchecked). No newer SDK release by 1 November, so this line drops to 20 after 5 November unless one lands (30). The tavily-mcp npm release is older, 0.2.22 on 5 August 2026. Version 0.2.23 was committed on 16 September and still isn't on npm on 1 November, though the MCP repository had dependency bumps on 15 and 26 October and new descriptions on 27 October. Eight @tavily/core releases on npm since 5 August, tavily-python version bumps in its repository, tavily-mcp 0.2.22, and August and October changelog entries in the last 90 days (20). Maintainers merge pull requests and dependency fixes within days. Ten issues were open on tavily-mcp on 4 October, the oldest from 14 July 2026, including OAuth failures (#203, #220), empty extracts on single-page sites (#204) and a missing `isError` on a 401 (#211), per the 4 October check, not re-read on 1 November (GitHub answered 403) (15). Listed in the official MCP registry as io.github.tavily-ai/tavily-mcp, though the entry is still at 0.2.15 from 26 January 2026 on 1 November (15). The MCP repo has no CI workflows and no git tags, though it has a test file and regular security bumps. tavily-python runs tests in CI (5).

### Transparency & trust: Tavily API + MCP +28

- 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.
- Tavily API + MCP (62): MCP server MIT and SDKs open, API closed under platform terms (18). The privacy policy (last updated 24 November 2025, re-read on 1 November) keeps data for the life of the account with no fixed periods, says query data may be used to improve future responses unless a contract says otherwise, and describes no zero-retention option. No DPA on the privacy page, and the trust centre didn't render for us (per the 1 October check, not re-read on 1 November) (15). No deprecation policy or dated deprecation notices found, and none in the changelog on 1 November (0). Names Stripe, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, PostHog and third-party search index providers such as Google, with US processing under Standard Contractual Clauses (14).

### Security & auth: Tavily API + MCP +17

- Liner Search MCP (35): OAuth 2.1 or an API key; scopes not published (20 of 30). All tools are reads (10 of 20). Results carry web pages and documents with no injection guidance (0). No audit log found (0). No security.txt (404) or security programme found (5 of 20). 20 + 10 + 0 + 0 + 5 = 35.
- Tavily API + MCP (52): Revocable keys, separate development and production keys, and the Logs API filters by key, so several keys per account work. The hosted MCP adds OAuth but maps it to one dashboard key with no scopes (22). The MCP README and docs still lead with `?tavilyApiKey=` in the URL on 1 November (minus 10). The five tools in the npm release all read. The GitHub main branch adds `tavily_feedback`, which posts scores to Tavily, the hosted server's tool list is unknown, and there's no read-only toolset (10). The home page says requests pass through 'security, privacy, and content validation layers that block PII leakage, prompt injection, and malicious sources'. That's a claim with no technical detail in the docs, plus a `safe_search` flag for adult content, per the 1 October check (7). The Logs API (filter by key and endpoint since August 2026) and `include_usage` give per-call visibility (13). SOC 2 and ISO 27001 named on the privacy page, per the 4 October check, and the MCP repo patches vulnerable dependencies about monthly (seven updates on 26 October). The trust centre is JavaScript-only for us (per the 1 October check, not re-read on 1 November), www.tavily.com/.well-known/security.txt returned 404 on 1 November, and no bug bounty found (10).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Liner Search MCP | Tavily API + MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 50 | 90 | Tavily API + MCP +40 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 45 | 90 | Tavily API + MCP +45 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 65 | 81 | Tavily API + MCP +16 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 35 | 52 | Tavily API + MCP +17 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 75 | Tavily API + MCP +55 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 45 | 85 | Tavily API + MCP +40 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 34 | 62 | Tavily API + MCP +28 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **43.4 · E** | **77.1 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Liner Search MCP | Tavily API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | MCP server | MCP server |
| Vendor | Liner | Tavily |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://platform.liner.com/api/v1/mcp` | `https://mcp.tavily.com/mcp/?tavilyApiKey=<key>` |
| Transports | Streamable HTTP | stdio, Streamable HTTP, HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Paid | Freemium |
| x402 | no | payer tooling only |
| Licence | none | MIT |
| Tools exposed | 9 | 5 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | `com.liner/search` | `io.github.tavily-ai/tavily-mcp` |
| Last release | none | 2026-10-06 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | 2026-05-04 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | 2025-11-24 |
| Customer content may train models | not read yet | yes |
| Terms restrict automated access | not read yet | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not read yet | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not read yet | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not read yet | yes |
| Popularity | none | 2.4k stars, 452k npm/wk, 1.6M PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 3.6/5 (8) |

## How the scores have moved

### Liner Search MCP

No score change since it was listed.

### Tavily API + MCP

- +0.1 on 1 November 2026: product
- +0.2 on 27 October 2026: checklist
- -0.4 on 8 October 2026: checklist

## 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.

**Tavily API + MCP.** Keyless search and extract, plus a free 1,000 credits a month with no card. x402 covers advanced search only, not extract, map, crawl or research, and the npm MCP release has trailed the GitHub source since August.

## 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

### Tavily API + MCP

1. Try `X-Tavily-Access-Mode: keyless` first for search and extract. Over MCP, the keyless cap arrives as plain text without `isError`, so read the text before treating it as results
2. Send the key in `Authorization: Bearer`, not `?tavilyApiKey=` in the MCP URL
3. On 429, wait for `Retry-After`. A 432 or 433 means a spend limit, and retrying won't help. A 434 on a free plan means retry shortly or drop `max_age_hours`
4. Run /map before /crawl to bound the crawl, since crawl is billed as map plus extract
5. Research is async and runs 4 to 250 credits. Create the task, then poll /research/{request_id}

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Liner Search MCP or Tavily API + MCP?

Tavily API + MCP scores 77.1 (BB) on agent readiness against Liner Search MCP's 43.4 (E), and leads in every scored category.

### Do Liner Search MCP and Tavily API + MCP need an API key?

Liner Search MCP uses an OAuth sign-in. Tavily API + MCP takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call Liner Search MCP and Tavily API + MCP without installing anything?

Yes. Liner Search MCP has a hosted endpoint at https://platform.liner.com/api/v1/mcp and Tavily API + MCP at https://mcp.tavily.com/mcp/?tavilyApiKey=<key>.

### Are Liner Search MCP and Tavily API + MCP open source?

No open-source release is listed for Liner Search MCP. Tavily API + MCP is open source (MIT).


## For agents

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

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- [Parallel Search and Task APIs vs Tavily API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/parallel-search-api-vs-tavily-mcp.md)
- [Perplexity Search API vs Tavily API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-tavily-mcp.md)
- [SearchAPI.io vs Tavily API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/searchapi-io-vs-tavily-mcp.md)
- [SerpApi vs Tavily API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpapi-vs-tavily-mcp.md)
- [Serper vs Tavily API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serper-vs-tavily-mcp.md)
- [SERPHouse vs Tavily API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serphouse-vs-tavily-mcp.md)
- [SerpKite vs Tavily API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpkite-vs-tavily-mcp.md)
- [Tavily API + MCP vs TinyFish Search](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/tavily-mcp-vs-tinyfish-search.md)
- [Tavily API + MCP vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/tavily-mcp-vs-valyu.md)
- [Tavily API + MCP vs You.com APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/tavily-mcp-vs-you-com-api.md)
- [Arcmira vs Liner Search MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/arcmira-vs-liner-mcp.md)
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- [Exa API + MCP vs Liner Search MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-liner-mcp.md)
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- [Grep AI vs Tavily API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grep-ai-vs-tavily-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 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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- [Liner Search MCP vs SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-serpapi.md)
- [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)
- [Liner Search MCP vs SerpKite](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-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