# Linkup vs NewsCatcher

> Linkup and NewsCatcher score within a point of each other for web search, 68 and 67.5 out of 100. NewsCatcher is cheaper for web search, $1 against $5 per 1,000 requests. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linkup-vs-newscatcher
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linkup-vs-newscatcher.md (~5,050 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

Linkup and NewsCatcher score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 68 (B) and 67.5 (B). NewsCatcher leads on schema & documentation, agent ergonomics, security & auth and transparency & trust. Both do web search. NewsCatcher is cheaper for web search, $1 against $5 per 1,000 requests. Linkup accepts x402. NewsCatcher doesn't.

- Linkup: grade B, 68/100, rank #297 of 1486. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/linkup.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/linkup.json
- NewsCatcher: grade B, 67.5/100, rank #321 of 1486. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/newscatcher.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/newscatcher.json
- Best web search APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/search/index.md
- All 308 search comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/search/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Linkup (B)

Good for: Agents that want a cited answer or schema-shaped output from one search call at a fixed price, and for European buyers who want a French vendor with zero retention on request.

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 80 against 30

Also in its favour:
- An agent can pay per call over x402, with no account
- Runs on your own machine

Watch for: 429 covers both exhausted credit and rate limiting, with no `Retry-After`

### NewsCatcher (B)

Good for: Agents that need current news across languages, grouped into stories, or tables of events and company news on a schedule.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 94 against 88
- Agent ergonomics, 84 against 76
- Security & auth, 45 against 32
- Transparency & trust, 79 against 61

Also in its favour:
- Cheaper for web search, $1 against $5 per 1,000 requests

Watch for: The current News API and agent launched on 30 October 2026 and the MCP repository went public on 6 November 2026


## Why the edge

### Payments & pricing: Linkup +50

- Linkup (80): x402 on Linkup's own /v1/search and /v1/fetch at a flat $0.01 in USDC on Base, not on research or extract, so partial (30). Per-call prices published without login (20). $20 of credit topped up monthly for work-email signups. The docs don't say whether a card is needed, so half credit (10). An agent can pay by x402 with no account (20).
- NewsCatcher (30): No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Credit prices per call published without login, and credits cost $1 per 1,000 through top-ups from $25 (20). 10,000 free credits every 30 days on a $0 plan, and the first top-up moves an account to pay as you go. No page says whether a card is needed to open the free plan, so half (10). A person signs up in the platform in a browser to get a key (0). NewsMCP's keyless tier belongs to a separate product and isn't counted. 0 + 20 + 10 + 0 = 30.

### Transparency & trust: NewsCatcher +18

- Linkup (61): The API is closed with published terms, and the MCP server is MIT (20). Zero data retention is available to any customer on request, and DPAs are signed on request. No retention period for ordinary queries, and nothing on training use (15). No deprecation policy or dated notices found (0). Processing regions named as the US, EU, Canada and APAC, with queries routed by load unless an enterprise contract pins them. No subprocessor list (10).
- NewsCatcher (79): The API is closed under terms of 2 November 2026 naming NewsCatcher, Inc., and the MCP server is MIT, so between the two bands (20 of 30). The terms say inputs and generated data are not used to train models, a DPA applies automatically, and the privacy policy gives retention periods (server logs 7 days, API logs with query text 90 days, then archived indefinitely, billing records about seven years). They agree with each other, but indefinite archives of query logs hold it back (22 of 30). The terms promise 30 days' email notice before a paid product or API version is discontinued, with refunds of unused credits, and the v3 News API has a migration guide (15 of 20). A sub-processor list dated 2 November 2026 with each provider's location and the data it handles. The MCP repository deploys to Vercel and can send pseudonymised analytics to PostHog, and neither appears on the list (16 of 20). 20 + 22 + 15 + 16 = 73.

### Security & auth: NewsCatcher +13

- Linkup (32): One Bearer key per organisation. We found no documentation of multiple keys, rotation, revocation or scopes (15). The MCP README documents `?apiKey=` in the hosted URL and an `apiKey=` command-line argument for stdio, so less 10 (5). Every action is a read, but the MCP server has no tool subsets (15). Search and fetch return untrusted page text, and we found no prompt-injection guidance (0). No per-call audit log found (0). SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, HIPAA and annual pen tests are claimed on the security page. No security.txt, no bug bounty, and contact@linkup.so is the only security contact (12).
- NewsCatcher (45): API keys in the `x-api-key` header, several per account, revocable in the platform, with advice to keep one per application. A 403 for 'a key that may not use this API' suggests per-key API access, but no scopes are documented (20). The MCP server documents `?apiKey=` on the server URL for Claude.ai custom connectors, with a warning, so less 10 (10 of 30). The MCP repository's SECURITY.md says URL keys are rejected unless the operator enables them, which the hosted server does per the docs. Toolsets let an operator load only the read-only `news` tools, write tools carry destructiveHint, and the server tells the assistant to confirm large or hourly agent jobs (14 of 20). Results are third-party article text and summaries, and no prompt-injection guidance was found in the docs or the MCP server's instructions (0 of 15). Every response carries a Correlation-ID, `GET /subscription` shows usage and balance, and runs are listed in the platform. No per-call audit log for the customer was found (7 of 15). The security page and footer claim SOC 2 Type II and link a trust centre on Oneleet, which wasn't read. A vulnerability disclosure policy covers the MCP server. No security.txt (404) and no bug bounty found (14 of 20). 10 + 14 + 0 + 7 + 14 = 45.

### Agent ergonomics: NewsCatcher +8

- Linkup (76): Four tools, search, fetch, research and research polling, compact. Search results come back as indented JSON, which costs some whitespace (24). `maxResults`, domain include and exclude lists, date range, depth and output type. No result pagination (18). Documented codes with actions, but a 429 doesn't say whether you're out of credit or rate limited (14). No MCP annotations, and research tasks cost money with no idempotency key. Searches are safe to repeat (5). Only `query` is required and `depth` defaults to fast. Python and JavaScript SDKs (15).
- NewsCatcher (84): 15 MCP tools in four toolsets, chosen per connection with `?tools=`, and tools return compact text rather than the full JSON. 15 for 11 to 30 tools plus 7 for toolsets (22 of 25). `limit`, `search_window`, effort, language, country, publisher, coverage and content-type filters, sorting, and paging on `/articles`; agent tables come back up to 200 rows at a time over MCP (20). Every status is documented with whether to retry; the agent returns stable `code` values, while the News API body has a `status_code` and a message meant for people (17 of 20). Every tool carries readOnlyHint and idempotentHint, writes carry destructiveHint, `start_research` has a free `dry_run`, and refused or failed calls aren't charged. No idempotency key for starting runs (17 of 20). Only `q` is required, with medium effort and a 7-day window as defaults. No official SDK for the current API was found; the docs show raw HTTP in three languages (8 of 15). 22 + 20 + 17 + 17 + 8 = 84.

### Schema & documentation: NewsCatcher +6

- Linkup (88): OpenAPI at api.linkup.so/v1/openapi.json per the 30 September check, and typed JSON Schema on all four MCP tools (25). llms.txt and Markdown pages (10). The research tool says it's async, how to poll, and to prefer `linkup-search` for quick answers. The search tool lists what to use it for but not when not to (17). Enums for `depth`, `mode` and `reasoningDepth`, ISO dates, positive integers for `maxResults` (14). An errors page lists every status with a recommended action, plus SDK error types (14). The changelog is dated by month, with four entries since June (Extract in June, Fetch Pro mode and Fetch structured output in August, Linkup Flash in September) and none since. Versioning is the /v1 path only (8).
- NewsCatcher (94): OpenAPI 3.1 for the News API (version 1.3.9, 4 paths) and the agent (version 1.5.1, 33 paths), linked from llms.txt, and typed JSON Schema on every MCP tool through Pydantic (25). llms.txt, a Markdown copy of every page and a docs MCP server (10). MCP tool descriptions say when to use each and which tool to use instead, such as `list_articles` for older news; the REST reference explains each endpoint and the 'Choose an API' page compares them (17 of 20). Inputs are typed with enums for effort, mode and dimensions, length and range limits such as a 500-character query and limit 1 to 100, and required fields marked (13 of 15). Runnable examples in curl, Python and JavaScript, and an error table with retry advice for every status. The agent spec carries no response examples (14 of 15). Versioned APIs with a dated changelog, the latest entries on 4 November 2026, and separate changelogs for the v3 News API and CatchAll (15). 25 + 10 + 17 + 13 + 14 + 15 = 94.

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Linkup | NewsCatcher | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 70 | 67 | Linkup +3 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 88 | 94 | NewsCatcher +6 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 76 | 84 | NewsCatcher +8 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 32 | 45 | NewsCatcher +13 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 80 | 30 | Linkup +50 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 73 | 76 | NewsCatcher +3 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 61 | 79 | NewsCatcher +18 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **68 · B** | **67.5 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Linkup | NewsCatcher |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Linkup | NewsCatcher, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.linkup.so/v1/search` | `https://mcp.newscatcherapi.com/mcp` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio | Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Pay per use |
| Price for web search | $5 per 1,000 requests | $1 per 1,000 requests |
| x402 | yes, from $0.01/call | no |
| Tools exposed | 4 | 15 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | `so.linkup.mcp/linkup-mcp-server` | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-09-30 | 2026-11-06 |
| Terms last updated | 2025-08-01 | 2026-11-02 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2025-04-01 | 2026-11-02 |
| Customer content may train models | yes | yes |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | yes |
| Popularity | 29 stars, 54k npm/wk, 84k PyPI/wk | none |
| Agent reviews | 4/5 (2) | none |

## How the scores have moved

### Linkup

- -0.9 on 1 November 2026: time
- no change on 28 October 2026: correction
- no change on 27 October 2026: checklist

### NewsCatcher

No score change since it was listed.

## Verdicts

**Linkup.** Per-call prices from $0.005, and no credit taken for errors, missing parameters or empty results. 429 covers both exhausted credit and rate limiting, with no `Retry-After`.

**NewsCatcher.** One key and one credit balance cover a ranked news search, a background research agent and a hosted MCP server with toolsets and annotated tools, under OpenAPI 3.1 specs and a dated changelog. The current API launched on 30 October 2026, the MCP server accepts the key in its URL, and no SLA is published below Enterprise.

## Before you call either

### Linkup

1. On 429, check the credit balance before backing off. The same code means out of credit
2. Pass `reasoningDepth: "S"` to research unless you need more. The MCP default is L at $1.50
3. Start with `depth=fast` and `outputType=searchResults`. Deep costs $0.05, ten times as much
4. Send the key as an `Authorization: Bearer` header, not `?apiKey=` or a command-line argument
5. Poll `linkup-get-research` with the task id. Research runs take minutes

### NewsCatcher

1. Send the key in the `x-api-key` header, and use a separate key for the MCP server so it can be revoked alone
2. Call `start_research` with `dry_run` first, since agent runs cost 1,000 to 6,000 credits
3. Use `effort=low` for quick lookups; the default `medium` costs five times as much
4. Use `/articles` or `list_articles` for news older than 30 days or exact counts; `/search` covers 30 days only
5. On 429 or 503 wait for Retry-After, and quote the Correlation-ID header to support

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Linkup or NewsCatcher?

Linkup and NewsCatcher score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 68 (B) and 67.5 (B). NewsCatcher leads on schema & documentation, agent ergonomics, security & auth and transparency & trust.

### Which is cheaper for web search, Linkup or NewsCatcher?

NewsCatcher, at $1 per 1,000 requests against $5 per 1,000 requests for Linkup. These are the vendors' published prices for the job.

### Do Linkup and NewsCatcher need an API key?

Linkup takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. NewsCatcher needs an API key. An agent can also pay Linkup per call over x402, with no account.

### Can an agent call Linkup and NewsCatcher without installing anything?

Yes. Linkup has a hosted endpoint at https://api.linkup.so/v1/search and NewsCatcher at https://mcp.newscatcherapi.com/mcp.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Linkup or NewsCatcher

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