{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "liner-mcp", "name": "Liner Search MCP", "vendor": "Liner", "vendorUrl": "https://liner.com", "kind": "mcp", "category": "search", "summary": "Liner Search MCP is a hosted server with web, scholarly, legal, finance, medical and business search tools and three agent tools for quick cited answers, search answers and deep research reports, over OAuth 2.1 or an API key.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/liner-mcp", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/liner-mcp.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/liner-mcp.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/liner-mcp.json", "dns": "liner-mcp.grade.anchorterminal.com", "transports": [ "streamable-http" ], "remoteUrl": "https://platform.liner.com/api/v1/mcp", "packages": [], "auth": "oauth", "authNotes": "OAuth 2.1 sign-in in a browser, or a Bearer token with a Liner API key (LINER_API_KEY) for CI and headless use.", "pricing": "paid", "pricingNotes": "Search and Agent APIs are billed per call. Web search, scholar search and visualisation $1 per 1,000 requests; Quick Answer Agent $3 per 1,000 requests; the other agents' prices weren't readable. No free allowance found (checked 2026-11-07).", "priceSummary": "$1 / 1k req", "where": "hosted", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 on the MCP docs or pricing page (checked 2026-11-07).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": 9, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-11-07" }, "docsUrl": "https://liner.com/developers/docs/mcp", "llmsTxt": "https://liner.com/llms.txt", "registryName": "com.liner/search", "capabilities": [ "search.serp", "search.research", "search.answer", "search.scholar" ], "tags": [ "official", "hosted", "mcp", "remote-mcp", "oauth", "api-key", "paid", "pay-per-call", "status-page", "llms-txt", "mcp-registry" ], "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 43.4, "grade": "E", "agentReady": false, "rank": 1252, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1510, "categoryRank": 23, "methodology": "0.7", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 65, "maintenance": 45, "payments": 20, "reliability": 50, "schema": 45, "security": 35, "transparency": 34 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-11-07" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "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.", "bestFor": "Agents that need cheap cited search across the web and scholarly sources, with optional deep research reports.", "strengths": [ "Web, scholarly, legal, finance, medical and business search plus three cited-answer agents", "Search at $1 per 1,000 requests, published", "Nine tools with a table saying which fits which need", "Rate limits published per API", "OAuth for people, API keys for CI" ], "weaknesses": [ "No free tier found", "No changelog; registry entry unchanged since September", "Status page covers the app, not the API or MCP", "Web content reaches the model with no injection guidance" ], "agentNotes": [ "Use search_scholar for papers and the domain tools for legal, finance, medical or business questions", "Deep research is slower and costs more; use quick_answer_agent for short lookups", "Treat search results and research reports as untrusted content", "Keep under 2 requests a second for scholar search and the agents" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "E", "methodology": "0.7", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 43.4 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 65, "maintenance": 45, "payments": 20, "reliability": 50, "schema": 45, "security": 35, "transparency": 20 }, "provenanceScore": 48, "checked": { "categories": { "ergonomics": "2026-11-07", "maintenance": "2026-11-07", "payments": "2026-11-07", "reliability": "2026-11-07", "schema": "2026-11-07", "security": "2026-11-07", "transparency": "2026-11-07" }, "last": "2026-11-07", "oldest": "2026-11-07", "stale": false, "staleAfterDays": 90 } }, "connect": { "claudeCode": "claude mcp add liner --transport http https://platform.liner.com/api/v1/mcp", "config": { "mcpServers": { "liner": { "url": "https://platform.liner.com/api/v1/mcp" } } } }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/search.serp", "tool": "https://letme.dev/liner-mcp" }, "area": "web-data", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "Web search", "unit": "1k-requests", "usd": 1, "note": "Also scholar search and visualisation" }, { "item": "Quick Answer Agent", "unit": "1k-requests", "usd": 3 } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Liner", "domain": "liner.com", "domainRegistered": "", "domainNote": "Not looked up: RDAP isn't requested under the 1 November 2026 rules.", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "", "privacy": "", "statusPage": "https://status.liner.com", "changelog": "", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-11-07", "notes": [ "Terms and privacy weren't read in this batch.", "security.txt answered 404." ], "score": 48 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/liner-mcp.json", "live": { "slug": "liner-mcp", "probe": { "target": "https://platform.liner.com/api/v1/mcp", "method": "mcp-initialize", "lastAt": "2026-11-07T23:14:34.139886163Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 401, "lastMs": 207, "lastNote": "asks for credentials", "authRequired": true, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 207, "p95ms24h": 420, "samples24h": 46, "samples30d": 46, "days": [ { "date": "2026-11-07", "probes": 46, "ok": 46 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.liner.com", "indicator": "none", "summary": "All Systems Operational", "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T23:08:03.305040872Z" }, "updatedAt": "2026-11-07T23:14:34.139886163Z" } }, "answer": "Valyu scores 69.3 (B) on agent readiness against Liner Search MCP's 43.4 (E), and leads in every scored category.", "b": { "slug": "valyu", "name": "Valyu", "vendor": "Valyu", "vendorUrl": "https://www.valyu.ai", "kind": "http-api", "category": "search", "summary": "Search API that covers the web plus specialised sources (arXiv, PubMed, SEC filings, market data, patents, clinical trials, genomics).", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/valyu", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/valyu.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/valyu.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/valyu.json", "dns": "valyu.grade.anchorterminal.com", "transports": [ "http", "streamable-http" ], "remoteUrl": "https://api.valyu.ai/v1/search", "packages": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "valyu-js" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "valyu" } ], "auth": "mixed", "authNotes": "API key in the `x-api-key` header. After a person creates the account, the Valyu CLI (`valyu login`, browser or headless approval) lets an agent mint keys with a hard spending cap, rotate and revoke them, and management keys carry explicit scopes. The hosted MCP at mcp.valyu.ai takes Sign in with Valyu (OAuth), a Bearer or X-API-Key header, or, as the docs lead with, `?valyuApiKey=` in the URL.", "pricing": "freemium", "pricingNotes": "New accounts get $10 of credit ($20 with a company email), no card, valid 12 months. Pay as you go is 1,600 credits for a $10 top-up; Ridiculously Cheap $29 a month (5,000 credits), Comfortably Pro $99 (18,000), Serious Business $499 (100,000). No overage, and an empty balance returns 402. Search bills per result returned, 0.1 credits for web and news, 0.05 for arXiv, PubMed, bioRxiv and medRxiv, 1.92 for SEC filings and more for licensed data. Contents 0.2 credits a URL. DeepResearch 8 (instant) to 2,500 (max) credits a task (https://docs.valyu.ai/pricing, checked 2 November 2026).", "priceSummary": "$0.625 / 1k pages", "where": "hosted", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in llms.txt, the pricing page or the OpenAPI file (checked 2026-11-02).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": 6, "popularity": { "githubStars": 19, "npmWeekly": 6664, "pypiWeekly": 7097, "asOf": "2026-09-30" }, "docsUrl": "https://docs.valyu.ai", "llmsTxt": "https://docs.valyu.ai/llms.txt", "openapi": "https://docs.valyu.ai/api-reference/openapi.json", "capabilities": [ "web.search", "web.fetch", "web.extract", "search.answer", "search.research", "search.news" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "freemium", "mcp", "llms-txt", "openapi", "python", "typescript", "async-jobs", "enterprise" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-31", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 69.3, "grade": "B", "agentReady": false, "rank": 255, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1510, "categoryRank": 6, "methodology": "0.7", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 83, "maintenance": 80, "payments": 45, "reliability": 70, "schema": 90, "security": 44, "transparency": 78 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-11-02" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "Web plus academic, financial, patent and life-science sources behind one search call, billed per result with a per-query price cap. Since 21 October rate limits scale with the plan and 429s carry Retry-After, but the per-plan numbers appear only in examples. The MCP docs still put the API key in the URL.", "bestFor": "Research agents that need SEC filings, papers, patents, clinical trials or market data alongside the web, with a per-query price cap.", "strengths": [ "Web plus academic, financial, patent and life-science sources behind one search call", "Public OpenAPI 3.0.3 with 24 paths, tight parameter constraints and a 206 partial-success code", "Spend-capped, rotatable keys from the CLI, and scoped management keys", "429s carry Retry-After and a structured body, are never charged, and the SDKs retry them", "Queries deleted within 24 to 72 hours and not used for training, per the privacy policy" ], "weaknesses": [ "Per-plan rate limits are stated only in example responses, not in a table", "Web results use 0.1 credits each, about $0.625 per 1,000 at pay-as-you-go rates, so a 10-result search is about $0.006", "MCP docs give `?valyuApiKey=` in the URL query string for every client", "No prompt-injection guidance for the full page text it returns", "No idempotency keys for DeepResearch task creation" ], "agentNotes": [ "Set `max_price` and `max_num_results` on every search to bound cost", "Mint a spend-capped key with the Valyu CLI rather than reusing the account's main key", "On a 429, wait the `retry_after` seconds and retry; it's never charged. The SDKs retry twice by default", "Store each DeepResearch task id before retrying a failed create, so a retry doesn't start and bill a second task", "Call `valyu_search`. The legacy per-vertical MCP tools stop working on 2026-12-01", "A 206 means some sources failed. Check which before treating results as complete" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 2, "avgRating": 4.5, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "B", "methodology": "0.7", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 69.3 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 83, "maintenance": 80, "payments": 45, "reliability": 70, "schema": 90, "security": 44, "transparency": 65 }, "provenanceScore": 91, "checked": { "categories": { "ergonomics": "2026-11-02", "maintenance": "2026-11-02", "payments": "2026-11-02", "reliability": "2026-11-02", "schema": "2026-11-02", "security": "2026-11-02", "transparency": "2026-11-02" }, "last": "2026-11-02", "lastMoved": "2026-11-02", "oldest": "2026-11-02", "stale": false, "staleAfterDays": 90 } }, "connect": { "http": "curl -X POST https://api.valyu.ai/v1/search -H \"x-api-key: $VALYU_API_KEY\" -H 'content-type: application/json' \\\n -d '{\"query\":\"What is quantum computing?\",\"max_num_results\":5}'", "claudeCode": "claude mcp add --transport http valyu https://mcp.valyu.ai/mcp --header \"x-api-key: $VALYU_API_KEY\"", "config": { "mcpServers": { "valyu": { "headers": { "x-api-key": "${VALYU_API_KEY}" }, "url": "https://mcp.valyu.ai/mcp" } } } }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/web.search", "tool": "https://letme.dev/valyu" }, "area": "web-data", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "Web search, per 1,000 results retrieved", "unit": "1k-pages", "usd": 0.625, "note": "100 credits at pay-as-you-go rates (1,600 credits for $10); priced per result, not per query" }, { "item": "arXiv, PubMed, bioRxiv and medRxiv, per 1,000 results", "unit": "1k-pages", "usd": 0.3125, "note": "50 credits at pay-as-you-go rates" }, { "item": "Contents extraction", "unit": "1k-pages", "usd": 1.25, "note": "200 credits at pay-as-you-go rates; failed URLs free" }, { "item": "DeepResearch, standard mode", "unit": "call", "usd": 0.625, "note": "100 credits at pay-as-you-go rates; instant 8, fast 25, heavy 500, max 2,500 credits" }, { "item": "Ridiculously Cheap plan", "unit": "month", "usd": 29, "note": "5,000 credits" }, { "item": "Comfortably Pro plan", "unit": "month", "usd": 99, "note": "18,000 credits" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Valyu.Network Ltd", "domain": "valyu.ai", "domainRegistered": "2024-09-03", "domainNote": "The older valyu.network (registered 2022-09-17) redirects to valyu.ai, which is the current domain.", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://www.valyu.ai/terms", "privacy": "https://www.valyu.ai/privacy-policy", "statusPage": "https://status.valyu.ai", "changelog": "https://docs.valyu.ai/changelog/platform", "securityTxt": "valid", "checked": "2026-11-02", "score": 91 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/valyu.json", "live": { "slug": "valyu", "probe": { "target": "https://api.valyu.ai/v1/search", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-11-07T23:14:56.774217313Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 403, "lastMs": 281, "lastNote": "asks for credentials", "authRequired": true, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 286, "p95ms24h": 381, "samples24h": 244, "samples30d": 7959, "days": [ { "date": "2026-10-07", "probes": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-08", "probes": 268, "ok": 268 }, { "date": "2026-10-09", "probes": 250, "ok": 250 }, { "date": "2026-10-10", "probes": 247, "ok": 247 }, { "date": "2026-10-11", "probes": 247, "ok": 247 }, { "date": "2026-10-12", "probes": 247, "ok": 247 }, { "date": "2026-10-13", "probes": 248, "ok": 248 }, { "date": "2026-10-14", "probes": 249, "ok": 249 }, { "date": "2026-10-15", "probes": 253, "ok": 253 }, { "date": "2026-10-16", "probes": 252, "ok": 252 }, { "date": "2026-10-17", "probes": 253, "ok": 253 }, { "date": "2026-10-18", "probes": 256, "ok": 256 }, { "date": "2026-10-19", "probes": 255, "ok": 255 }, { "date": "2026-10-20", "probes": 252, "ok": 252 }, { "date": "2026-10-21", "probes": 253, "ok": 253 }, { "date": "2026-10-22", "probes": 253, "ok": 253 }, { "date": "2026-10-23", "probes": 248, "ok": 248 }, { "date": "2026-10-24", "probes": 251, "ok": 251 }, { "date": "2026-10-25", "probes": 250, "ok": 250 }, { "date": "2026-10-26", "probes": 252, "ok": 252 }, { "date": "2026-10-27", "probes": 249, "ok": 249 }, { "date": "2026-10-28", "probes": 250, "ok": 250 }, { "date": "2026-10-29", "probes": 249, "ok": 249 }, { "date": "2026-10-30", "probes": 249, "ok": 249 }, { "date": "2026-10-31", "probes": 251, "ok": 251 }, { "date": "2026-11-01", "probes": 249, "ok": 249 }, { "date": "2026-11-02", "probes": 250, "ok": 250 }, { "date": "2026-11-03", "probes": 248, "ok": 248 }, { "date": "2026-11-04", "probes": 246, "ok": 246 }, { "date": "2026-11-05", "probes": 185, "ok": 185 }, { "date": "2026-11-06", "probes": 241, "ok": 241 }, { "date": "2026-11-07", "probes": 236, "ok": 236 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.valyu.ai", "indicator": "unknown", "summary": "no machine-readable status found", "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T04:48:55.065232872Z" }, "versions": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "valyu-js", "version": "2.11.5", "seenAt": "2026-11-07T00:14:35.155580008Z" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "valyu", "version": "2.13.5", "released": "2026-10-31", "seenAt": "2026-11-07T00:14:35.917764913Z" } ], "npmWeekly": 6013, "pypiWeekly": 14783, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://valyu.ai/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "valid", "expires": "2027-03-10T00:00:00.000Z", "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T16:01:16.032637581Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://docs.valyu.ai/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T15:34:15.853486852Z" }, "domain": { "domain": "valyu.ai", "registered": "2024-09-03", "source": "https://rdap.identitydigital.services/rdap/domain/valyu.ai", "checkedAt": "2026-11-01T14:27:57.590260635Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://docs.valyu.ai/changelog/platform", "kind": "deprecations", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:08:35.441449201Z", "changedAt": "2026-11-01T06:43:18.880598886Z", "fingerprint": "095d75ad639e" }, { "url": "https://docs.valyu.ai/changelog/sdk-and-api", "kind": "deprecations", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:08:37.726398434Z", "changedAt": "2026-11-06T13:30:53.89149515Z", "fingerprint": "a94108ad2bfe" }, { "url": "https://docs.valyu.ai/integrations/mcp-server", "kind": "deprecations", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:08:39.77770063Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-26T03:15:57.946516331Z", "fingerprint": "cd0de6d39d4d" }, { "url": "https://docs.valyu.ai/pricing", "kind": "pricing", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:08:41.62547451Z", "changedAt": "2026-11-07T14:08:41.62547451Z", "fingerprint": "accce9c87195" }, { "url": "https://www.valyu.ai/pricing", "kind": "pricing", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-02T07:39:21.136800382Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-21T01:08:14.690082174Z", "fingerprint": "08da9832129c" }, { "url": "https://www.valyu.ai/privacy-policy", "kind": "privacy", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:36:25.121742772Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "b6b4aa4fc051" }, { "url": "https://www.valyu.ai/terms", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:36:27.480524852Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "fef72d613a0e" } ], "mcpTools": { "url": "https://mcp.valyu.ai/mcp", "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T01:48:56.488331497Z", "status": "auth", "note": "asks for credentials before listing its tools", "changedAt": "2026-11-07T01:48:56.488331497Z" }, "updatedAt": "2026-11-07T23:14:56.774217313Z" } }, "edges": [ { "by": 45, "category": "schema", "leads": "valyu", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "reasons": { "a": "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.", "b": "Valid OpenAPI 3.0.3 (info version 2.3.0) with 24 paths and 29 operations across Search, Contents, Answer, DeepResearch, Batches, Workflows and Datasources on 2 November, matching the endpoint pages in llms.txt (25). llms.txt with a 'Guidance for agents' section (10). The MCP tools carry one-line purposes such as 'Read one or more URLs as clean markdown', and the docs explain source presets, but say little about when not to use a tool (13). `search_type` is an enum, `max_num_results` runs 1 to 20, `relevance_threshold` 0 to 1, `source_biases` -5 to 5 and `instructions` caps at 500 characters, with only `query` required (14). 200, 206 partial success and 400 to 503 documented, with examples across the docs (13). Versioned paths (/v1) and two dated changelogs, the platform changelog to 31 October 2026 and the SDK and API changelog to 26 October (15). 25+10+13+14+13+15 = 90." }, "scores": { "a": 45, "b": 90 } }, { "by": 44, "category": "transparency", "leads": "valyu", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "reasons": { "a": "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.", "b": "Closed service with terms that name Valyu.Network Ltd, company 14436543 in England and Wales, per the 30 September check (15). The privacy policy (20 October 2025) says queries are deleted within 24 to 72 hours, security logs kept 90 days, performance logs 30 days and billing records 7 years, and that query data isn't used to train models. No DPA referenced (26). Dated notice for the legacy MCP tools, hidden now and removed on 1 December 2026, but no general deprecation policy (12). Processing in the UK, EU and US is disclosed. Subprocessors are named by category only (12). The privacy policy is unchanged on 2 November (last updated 20 October 2025), and the pricing page now lists zero data retention on request for Enterprise. 15+26+12+12 = 65." }, "scores": { "a": 34, "b": 78 } }, { "by": 35, "category": "maintenance", "leads": "valyu", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "reasons": { "a": "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.", "b": "valyu-py 2.13.5 and valyu-js 2.11.5 on 31 October 2026, named in the platform changelog the same day (30). valyu-py tagged ten releases from 2.12.1 (12 August) to 2.13.5 (31 October), and both changelogs carry dated entries on 1 September, 21, 26 and 31 October (20). Public platform and API changelogs, both current. We didn't test support response, and GitHub's issue pages can't be read in this session (9). Current Python and TypeScript SDKs. The MCP server isn't in the official registry (15). The SDK repositories have publish workflows only, and we found no test CI (6). 30+20+9+15+6 = 80." }, "scores": { "a": 45, "b": 80 } }, { "by": 25, "category": "payments", "leads": "valyu", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "reasons": { "a": "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.", "b": "No x402, MPP or L402 in llms.txt, the pricing page or the OpenAPI file on 2 November, so there was no payment route to check live (0). Since October usage is billed in credits, 1,600 for a $10 top-up, with per-result Search prices by source (web and news 0.1 credits, arXiv and PubMed 0.05, SEC filings 1.92), Contents at 0.2 a URL and fixed DeepResearch prices by mode, all public (20). $10 of free credit ($20 with a company email), no card, valid 12 months (20). A person has to create the account, but after that an agent can log in through the CLI, headless if needed, and mint its own spend-capped keys. That's a programmatic key route after a human signup, so we gave part of the line (5). 0+20+20+5 = 45." }, "scores": { "a": 20, "b": 45 } }, { "by": 20, "category": "reliability", "leads": "valyu", "name": "Reliability", "reasons": { "a": "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.", "b": "Instatus page at status.valyu.ai with separate Search, Contents, Answer and DeepResearch components and an RSS history (20). In the 90 days to 2 November it lists a 13-minute Search incident on 6 October with \"certain data sources\", a partial incident, plus scheduled maintenance on 9 August (Search, 3 hours 13 minutes, announced the evening before) and 20 October (every component, 3 hours, announced 47 minutes ahead). Minor only (20). Since 21 October limits apply per organisation and per endpoint and scale with the plan, but the numbers appear only in example responses (Search at 5 requests a second on pay-as-you-go and 10 on Ridiculously Cheap; DeepResearch at 2 and 5 tasks at once), and the pricing page the docs point to for each plan's rate doesn't list them (8 of 15). A 429 carries a Retry-After header and a body with retry_after, the plan and the limit, the docs say to wait and retry with backoff and that a rate-limited request is never charged, and the SDKs retry 429s on their own. No idempotency keys, but the pricing page says to persist research task ids so retries don't create duplicate tasks (12). No SLA found (0). Search, Contents, Answer and DeepResearch are GA, and Workflows is labelled beta (10). 20+20+8+12+0+10 = 70." }, "scores": { "a": 50, "b": 70 } }, { "by": 18, "category": "ergonomics", "leads": "valyu", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "reasons": { "a": "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.", "b": "`max_num_results`, `response_length`, `fast_mode` and `max_price` size each response, and the MCP has six tools after folding eleven into one `valyu_search`. We couldn't read the hosted tool definitions, since the server isn't open source (22). Source include and exclude lists, per-source biases, dates, country and a relevance threshold. No pagination found (18). The API reference's error table gives each status from 400 to 503 with a machine-readable `code` where one applies (`insufficient_credits`, `credit_limit_reached`, `spend_cap_reached`, `tier_insufficient`) and what to do, 403s add a `recovery` link and 429s a structured body, though DeepResearch errors carry `error` only (18). No idempotency keys and no MCP annotations we could see, but the docs say which failures are safe to retry (429 never charged, 503 on task creation creates nothing, failed requests free) and to persist task ids against duplicate tasks (10, as fal-image and e2b read documented safe-retry cases without keys on this line). Only `query` is required, with Python and TypeScript SDKs plus a Rust SDK in alpha (15). 22+18+18+10+15 = 83." }, "scores": { "a": 65, "b": 83 } } ], "facts": [ { "a": "MCP server", "b": "HTTP API", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Liner", "b": "Valyu", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "https://platform.liner.com/api/v1/mcp", "b": "https://api.valyu.ai/v1/search", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "Streamable HTTP", "b": "HTTP, Streamable HTTP", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "OAuth", "b": "OAuth or key", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Paid", "b": "Freemium", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "9", "b": "6", "name": "Tools exposed" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "com.liner/search", "b": "not listed", "name": "MCP registry" }, { "a": "none", "b": "2026-10-31", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "no document linked", "b": "2025-10-20", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "no document linked", "b": "2025-10-20", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "not read yet", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "not read yet", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "not read yet", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "not read yet", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "not read yet", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "none", "b": "19 stars, 6.7k npm/wk, 7.1k PyPI/wk", "name": "Popularity" }, { "a": "none", "b": "4.5/5 (2)", "name": "Agent reviews" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "Valyu scores 69.3 (B) on agent readiness against Liner Search MCP's 43.4 (E), and leads in every scored category.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Liner Search MCP or Valyu?" }, { "answer": "Liner Search MCP uses an OAuth sign-in. Valyu takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.", "question": "Do Liner Search MCP and Valyu need an API key?" }, { "answer": "Yes. Liner Search MCP has a hosted endpoint at https://platform.liner.com/api/v1/mcp and Valyu at https://api.valyu.ai/v1/search.", "question": "Can an agent call Liner Search MCP and Valyu without installing anything?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": null, "also": null, "goodFor": "Agents that need cheap cited search across the web and scholarly sources, with optional deep research reports.", "slug": "liner-mcp", "watchFor": "No free tier found" }, { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 70 against 50", "Schema \u0026 documentation, 90 against 45", "Agent ergonomics, 83 against 65", "Security \u0026 auth, 44 against 35", "Payments \u0026 pricing, 45 against 20", "Maintenance \u0026 community, 80 against 45", "Transparency \u0026 trust, 78 against 34" ], "also": null, "goodFor": "Research agents that need SEC filings, papers, patents, clinical trials or market data alongside the web, with a per-query price cap.", "slug": "valyu", "watchFor": "Per-plan rate limits are stated only in example responses, not in a table" } ], "history": { "liner-mcp": null, "valyu": [ { "causes": [ "product", "evidence" ], "date": "2026-11-02", "delta": 4.7, "from": 64.6, "fromGrade": "B", "to": 69.3, "toGrade": "B" }, { "causes": [ "method" ], "date": "2026-10-08", "delta": 0, "from": 64.6, "fromGrade": "B", "to": 64.6, "toGrade": "B" } ] }, "job": { "capability": "search.research", "name": "Research search" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-web-search-vs-valyu.json", "title": "Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore vs Valyu", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-web-search-vs-valyu" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bing-grounding-vs-valyu.json", "title": "Grounding with Bing Search vs Valyu", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bing-grounding-vs-valyu" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-valyu.json", "title": "Brave Search API + MCP vs Valyu", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-valyu" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-valyu.json", "title": "Cloudflare Web Search API vs Valyu", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-valyu" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-search-api-vs-valyu.json", "title": "DeepSeek Search and Fetch API vs Valyu", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-search-api-vs-valyu" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-valyu.json", "title": "Exa API + MCP vs Valyu", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-valyu" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/firecrawl-mcp-vs-valyu.json", "title": "Firecrawl MCP vs Valyu", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/firecrawl-mcp-vs-valyu" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-valyu.json", "title": "Kagi Search API vs Valyu", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-valyu" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linkup-vs-valyu.json", "title": "Linkup vs Valyu", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linkup-vs-valyu" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mojeek-vs-valyu.json", "title": "Mojeek Web Search API vs Valyu", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mojeek-vs-valyu" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/parallel-search-api-vs-valyu.json", "title": "Parallel Search and Task APIs vs Valyu", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/parallel-search-api-vs-valyu" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-valyu.json", "title": "Perplexity Search API vs Valyu", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-valyu" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/searchapi-io-vs-valyu.json", "title": "SearchAPI.io vs Valyu", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/searchapi-io-vs-valyu" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpapi-vs-valyu.json", "title": "SerpApi vs Valyu", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpapi-vs-valyu" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serper-vs-valyu.json", "title": "Serper vs Valyu", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serper-vs-valyu" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serphouse-vs-valyu.json", "title": "SERPHouse vs Valyu", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serphouse-vs-valyu" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpkite-vs-valyu.json", "title": "SerpKite vs Valyu", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpkite-vs-valyu" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/tavily-mcp-vs-valyu.json", "title": "Tavily API + MCP vs Valyu", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/tavily-mcp-vs-valyu" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/tinyfish-search-vs-valyu.json", "title": "TinyFish Search vs Valyu", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/tinyfish-search-vs-valyu" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/valyu-vs-you-com-api.json", "title": "Valyu vs You.com APIs", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/valyu-vs-you-com-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/arcmira-vs-liner-mcp.json", "title": "Arcmira vs Liner Search MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/arcmira-vs-liner-mcp" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/arcmira-vs-valyu.json", "title": "Arcmira vs Valyu", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/arcmira-vs-valyu" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-liner-mcp.json", "title": "Exa API + MCP vs Liner Search MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-liner-mcp" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grep-ai-vs-liner-mcp.json", "title": "Grep AI vs Liner Search MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grep-ai-vs-liner-mcp" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grep-ai-vs-valyu.json", "title": "Grep AI vs Valyu", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grep-ai-vs-valyu" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-linkup.json", "title": "Liner Search MCP vs Linkup", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-linkup" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-newscatcher.json", "title": "Liner Search MCP vs NewsCatcher", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-newscatcher" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-parallel-search-api.json", "title": "Liner Search MCP vs Parallel Search and Task APIs", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-parallel-search-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-perplexity-search-api.json", "title": "Liner Search MCP vs Perplexity Search API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-perplexity-search-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-specstream.json", "title": "Liner Search MCP vs SpecStream", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-specstream" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-tavily-mcp.json", "title": "Liner Search MCP vs Tavily API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-tavily-mcp" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-tinyfish-search.json", "title": "Liner Search MCP vs TinyFish Search", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-tinyfish-search" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-you-com-api.json", "title": "Liner Search MCP vs You.com APIs", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-you-com-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/specstream-vs-valyu.json", "title": "SpecStream vs Valyu", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/specstream-vs-valyu" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fetch-reference-server-vs-valyu.json", "title": "Fetch (MCP reference server) vs Valyu", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fetch-reference-server-vs-valyu" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/newscatcher-vs-valyu.json", "title": "NewsCatcher vs Valyu", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/newscatcher-vs-valyu" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-searchapi-io.json", "title": "Liner Search MCP vs SearchAPI.io", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-searchapi-io" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-serpapi.json", "title": "Liner Search MCP vs SerpApi", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-serpapi" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-serper.json", "title": "Liner Search MCP vs Serper", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-serper" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-serphouse.json", "title": "Liner Search MCP vs SERPHouse", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-serphouse" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-serpkite.json", "title": "Liner Search MCP vs SerpKite", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-serpkite" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bing-grounding-vs-liner-mcp.json", "title": "Grounding with Bing Search vs Liner Search MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bing-grounding-vs-liner-mcp" } ], "panel": null, "scores": [ { "by": 20, "edge": "valyu", "key": "reliability", "liner-mcp": 50, "name": "Reliability", "valyu": 70, "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 45, "edge": "valyu", "key": "schema", "liner-mcp": 45, "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "valyu": 90, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 18, "edge": "valyu", "key": "ergonomics", "liner-mcp": 65, "name": "Agent ergonomics", "valyu": 83, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 9, "edge": "valyu", "key": "security", "liner-mcp": 35, "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "valyu": 44, "weight": 14 }, { "by": 25, "edge": "valyu", "key": "payments", "liner-mcp": 20, "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "valyu": 45, "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 35, "edge": "valyu", "key": "maintenance", "liner-mcp": 45, "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "valyu": 80, "weight": 7 }, { "by": 44, "edge": "valyu", "key": "transparency", "liner-mcp": 34, "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "valyu": 78, "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "Valyu scores 69.3 (B) on agent readiness against Liner Search MCP's 43.4 (E), and leads in every scored category. Both do research search.", "tasks": null, "tutorials": [], "verdicts": { "liner-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.", "valyu": "Web plus academic, financial, patent and life-science sources behind one search call, billed per result with a per-query price cap. Since 21 October rate limits scale with the plan and 429s carry Retry-After, but the per-plan numbers appear only in examples. The MCP docs still put the API key in the URL." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-valyu", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-valyu.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-valyu.md", "mcp": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-valyu.min.md" }, "markdown": "Valyu scores 69.3 (B) on agent readiness against Liner Search MCP's 43.4 (E), and leads in every scored category. Both do research search.\n\n- 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\n- Valyu: grade B, 69.3/100, rank #255 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/valyu.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/valyu.json\n- Best web search APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/search/index.md\n- All 326 search comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/search/index.md\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### Liner Search MCP (E)\n\nGood for: Agents that need cheap cited search across the web and scholarly sources, with optional deep research reports.\n\nWatch for: No free tier found\n\n### Valyu (B)\n\nGood for: Research agents that need SEC filings, papers, patents, clinical trials or market data alongside the web, with a per-query price cap.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 70 against 50\n- Schema \u0026 documentation, 90 against 45\n- Agent ergonomics, 83 against 65\n- Security \u0026 auth, 44 against 35\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 45 against 20\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 80 against 45\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 78 against 34\n\nWatch for: Per-plan rate limits are stated only in example responses, not in a table\n\n\n## Why the edge\n\n### Schema \u0026 documentation: Valyu +45\n\n- 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.\n- Valyu (90): Valid OpenAPI 3.0.3 (info version 2.3.0) with 24 paths and 29 operations across Search, Contents, Answer, DeepResearch, Batches, Workflows and Datasources on 2 November, matching the endpoint pages in llms.txt (25). llms.txt with a 'Guidance for agents' section (10). The MCP tools carry one-line purposes such as 'Read one or more URLs as clean markdown', and the docs explain source presets, but say little about when not to use a tool (13). `search_type` is an enum, `max_num_results` runs 1 to 20, `relevance_threshold` 0 to 1, `source_biases` -5 to 5 and `instructions` caps at 500 characters, with only `query` required (14). 200, 206 partial success and 400 to 503 documented, with examples across the docs (13). Versioned paths (/v1) and two dated changelogs, the platform changelog to 31 October 2026 and the SDK and API changelog to 26 October (15). 25+10+13+14+13+15 = 90.\n\n### Transparency \u0026 trust: Valyu +44\n\n- 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.\n- Valyu (78): Closed service with terms that name Valyu.Network Ltd, company 14436543 in England and Wales, per the 30 September check (15). The privacy policy (20 October 2025) says queries are deleted within 24 to 72 hours, security logs kept 90 days, performance logs 30 days and billing records 7 years, and that query data isn't used to train models. No DPA referenced (26). Dated notice for the legacy MCP tools, hidden now and removed on 1 December 2026, but no general deprecation policy (12). Processing in the UK, EU and US is disclosed. Subprocessors are named by category only (12). The privacy policy is unchanged on 2 November (last updated 20 October 2025), and the pricing page now lists zero data retention on request for Enterprise. 15+26+12+12 = 65.\n\n### Maintenance \u0026 community: Valyu +35\n\n- 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.\n- Valyu (80): valyu-py 2.13.5 and valyu-js 2.11.5 on 31 October 2026, named in the platform changelog the same day (30). valyu-py tagged ten releases from 2.12.1 (12 August) to 2.13.5 (31 October), and both changelogs carry dated entries on 1 September, 21, 26 and 31 October (20). Public platform and API changelogs, both current. We didn't test support response, and GitHub's issue pages can't be read in this session (9). Current Python and TypeScript SDKs. The MCP server isn't in the official registry (15). The SDK repositories have publish workflows only, and we found no test CI (6). 30+20+9+15+6 = 80.\n\n### Payments \u0026 pricing: Valyu +25\n\n- 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.\n- Valyu (45): No x402, MPP or L402 in llms.txt, the pricing page or the OpenAPI file on 2 November, so there was no payment route to check live (0). Since October usage is billed in credits, 1,600 for a $10 top-up, with per-result Search prices by source (web and news 0.1 credits, arXiv and PubMed 0.05, SEC filings 1.92), Contents at 0.2 a URL and fixed DeepResearch prices by mode, all public (20). $10 of free credit ($20 with a company email), no card, valid 12 months (20). A person has to create the account, but after that an agent can log in through the CLI, headless if needed, and mint its own spend-capped keys. That's a programmatic key route after a human signup, so we gave part of the line (5). 0+20+20+5 = 45.\n\n### Reliability: Valyu +20\n\n- 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.\n- Valyu (70): Instatus page at status.valyu.ai with separate Search, Contents, Answer and DeepResearch components and an RSS history (20). In the 90 days to 2 November it lists a 13-minute Search incident on 6 October with \"certain data sources\", a partial incident, plus scheduled maintenance on 9 August (Search, 3 hours 13 minutes, announced the evening before) and 20 October (every component, 3 hours, announced 47 minutes ahead). Minor only (20). Since 21 October limits apply per organisation and per endpoint and scale with the plan, but the numbers appear only in example responses (Search at 5 requests a second on pay-as-you-go and 10 on Ridiculously Cheap; DeepResearch at 2 and 5 tasks at once), and the pricing page the docs point to for each plan's rate doesn't list them (8 of 15). A 429 carries a Retry-After header and a body with retry_after, the plan and the limit, the docs say to wait and retry with backoff and that a rate-limited request is never charged, and the SDKs retry 429s on their own. No idempotency keys, but the pricing page says to persist research task ids so retries don't create duplicate tasks (12). No SLA found (0). Search, Contents, Answer and DeepResearch are GA, and Workflows is labelled beta (10). 20+20+8+12+0+10 = 70.\n\n### Agent ergonomics: Valyu +18\n\n- 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.\n- Valyu (83): `max_num_results`, `response_length`, `fast_mode` and `max_price` size each response, and the MCP has six tools after folding eleven into one `valyu_search`. We couldn't read the hosted tool definitions, since the server isn't open source (22). Source include and exclude lists, per-source biases, dates, country and a relevance threshold. No pagination found (18). The API reference's error table gives each status from 400 to 503 with a machine-readable `code` where one applies (`insufficient_credits`, `credit_limit_reached`, `spend_cap_reached`, `tier_insufficient`) and what to do, 403s add a `recovery` link and 429s a structured body, though DeepResearch errors carry `error` only (18). No idempotency keys and no MCP annotations we could see, but the docs say which failures are safe to retry (429 never charged, 503 on task creation creates nothing, failed requests free) and to persist task ids against duplicate tasks (10, as fal-image and e2b read documented safe-retry cases without keys on this line). Only `query` is required, with Python and TypeScript SDKs plus a Rust SDK in alpha (15). 22+18+18+10+15 = 83.\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Liner Search MCP | Valyu | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 50 | 70 | Valyu +20 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 45 | 90 | Valyu +45 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 65 | 83 | Valyu +18 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 35 | 44 | Valyu +9 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 45 | Valyu +25 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 45 | 80 | Valyu +35 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 34 | 78 | Valyu +44 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **43.4 · E** | **69.3 · B** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Liner Search MCP | Valyu |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | MCP server | HTTP API |\n| Vendor | Liner | Valyu |\n| Hosted endpoint | `https://platform.liner.com/api/v1/mcp` | `https://api.valyu.ai/v1/search` |\n| Transports | Streamable HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |\n| Auth | OAuth | OAuth or key |\n| Pricing | Paid | Freemium |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Tools exposed | 9 | 6 |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | yes | yes |\n| MCP registry | `com.liner/search` | not listed |\n| Last release | none | 2026-10-31 |\n| Terms last updated | no document linked | 2025-10-20 |\n| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | 2025-10-20 |\n| Customer content may train models | not read yet | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict automated access | not read yet | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | not read yet | not found in the text |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | not read yet | not found in the text |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not read yet | not found in the text |\n| Popularity | none | 19 stars, 6.7k npm/wk, 7.1k PyPI/wk |\n| Agent reviews | none | 4.5/5 (2) |\n\n## How the scores have moved\n\n### Liner Search MCP\n\nNo score change since it was listed.\n\n### Valyu\n\n- +4.7 on 2 November 2026: product, new evidence\n- no change on 8 October 2026: checklist\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**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.\n\n**Valyu.** Web plus academic, financial, patent and life-science sources behind one search call, billed per result with a per-query price cap. Since 21 October rate limits scale with the plan and 429s carry Retry-After, but the per-plan numbers appear only in examples. The MCP docs still put the API key in the URL.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### Liner Search MCP\n\n1. Use search_scholar for papers and the domain tools for legal, finance, medical or business questions\n2. Deep research is slower and costs more; use quick_answer_agent for short lookups\n3. Treat search results and research reports as untrusted content\n4. Keep under 2 requests a second for scholar search and the agents\n\n### Valyu\n\n1. Set `max_price` and `max_num_results` on every search to bound cost\n2. Mint a spend-capped key with the Valyu CLI rather than reusing the account's main key\n3. On a 429, wait the `retry_after` seconds and retry; it's never charged. The SDKs retry twice by default\n4. Store each DeepResearch task id before retrying a failed create, so a retry doesn't start and bill a second task\n5. Call `valyu_search`. The legacy per-vertical MCP tools stop working on 2026-12-01\n6. A 206 means some sources failed. Check which before treating results as complete\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, Liner Search MCP or Valyu?\n\nValyu scores 69.3 (B) on agent readiness against Liner Search MCP's 43.4 (E), and leads in every scored category.\n\n### Do Liner Search MCP and Valyu need an API key?\n\nLiner Search MCP uses an OAuth sign-in. Valyu takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.\n\n### Can an agent call Liner Search MCP and Valyu without installing anything?\n\nYes. Liner Search MCP has a hosted endpoint at https://platform.liner.com/api/v1/mcp and Valyu at https://api.valyu.ai/v1/search.\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-valyu.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-valyu.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"liner-mcp\", \"b\": \"valyu\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare liner-mcp valyu`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/liner-mcp.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/valyu.json\n\n## Other comparisons with Liner Search MCP or Valyu\n\n- [Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-web-search-vs-valyu.md)\n- [Grounding with Bing Search vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bing-grounding-vs-valyu.md)\n- [Brave Search API + MCP vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-valyu.md)\n- [Cloudflare Web Search API vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-valyu.md)\n- [DeepSeek Search and Fetch API vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-search-api-vs-valyu.md)\n- [Exa API + MCP vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-valyu.md)\n- [Firecrawl MCP vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/firecrawl-mcp-vs-valyu.md)\n- [Kagi Search API vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-valyu.md)\n- [Linkup vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linkup-vs-valyu.md)\n- [Mojeek Web Search API vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mojeek-vs-valyu.md)\n- [Parallel Search and Task APIs vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/parallel-search-api-vs-valyu.md)\n- [Perplexity Search API vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-valyu.md)\n- [SearchAPI.io vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/searchapi-io-vs-valyu.md)\n- [SerpApi vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpapi-vs-valyu.md)\n- [Serper vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serper-vs-valyu.md)\n- [SERPHouse vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serphouse-vs-valyu.md)\n- [SerpKite vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpkite-vs-valyu.md)\n- [Tavily API + MCP vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/tavily-mcp-vs-valyu.md)\n- [TinyFish Search vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/tinyfish-search-vs-valyu.md)\n- [Valyu vs You.com APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/valyu-vs-you-com-api.md)\n- [Arcmira vs Liner Search MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/arcmira-vs-liner-mcp.md)\n- [Arcmira vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/arcmira-vs-valyu.md)\n- [Exa API + MCP vs Liner Search MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-liner-mcp.md)\n- [Grep AI vs Liner Search MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grep-ai-vs-liner-mcp.md)\n- [Grep AI vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grep-ai-vs-valyu.md)\n- [Liner Search MCP vs Linkup](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-linkup.md)\n- [Liner Search MCP vs NewsCatcher](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-newscatcher.md)\n- [Liner Search MCP vs Parallel Search and Task APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-parallel-search-api.md)\n- [Liner Search MCP vs Perplexity Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-perplexity-search-api.md)\n- [Liner Search MCP vs SpecStream](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-specstream.md)\n- [Liner Search MCP vs Tavily API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-tavily-mcp.md)\n- [Liner Search MCP vs TinyFish Search](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-tinyfish-search.md)\n- [Liner Search MCP vs You.com APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-you-com-api.md)\n- [SpecStream vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/specstream-vs-valyu.md)\n- [Fetch (MCP reference server) vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fetch-reference-server-vs-valyu.md)\n- [NewsCatcher vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/newscatcher-vs-valyu.md)\n- [Liner Search MCP vs SearchAPI.io](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-searchapi-io.md)\n- [Liner Search MCP vs SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-serpapi.md)\n- [Liner Search MCP vs Serper](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-serper.md)\n- [Liner Search MCP vs SERPHouse](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-serphouse.md)\n- [Liner Search MCP vs SerpKite](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-serpkite.md)\n- [Grounding with Bing Search vs Liner Search MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bing-grounding-vs-liner-mcp.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "attributionRequired": true, "credit": "CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link the page or API address you took it from (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-11-07", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": 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Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "Liner Search MCP E 43.4", "Valyu B 69.3", "scores" ], "h1": "Liner Search MCP vs Valyu", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/default.png", "path": "/compare/liner-mcp-vs-valyu", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "Liner Search MCP vs Valyu for AI agents in 2026: scores and prices", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-11-07", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-valyu" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 4700, "slim": 2630 }, "version": 1 }