# Linkup vs SearchAPI.io

> Linkup has a score of 69.1 (B) against SearchAPI.io's 51.4 (D). Both do web search. The largest gap is maintenance & community, 68 points. Linkup accepts x402. SearchAPI.io doesn't. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linkup-vs-searchapi-io
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linkup-vs-searchapi-io.md (~1,600 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linkup-vs-searchapi-io.min.md (~330 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linkup-vs-searchapi-io.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-05

Linkup has a score of 69.1 (B) against SearchAPI.io's 51.4 (D). Both do web search. The largest gap is maintenance & community, 68 points. Linkup accepts x402. SearchAPI.io doesn't.

- Linkup: grade B, 69.1/100, rank #116 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/linkup.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/linkup.json
- SearchAPI.io: grade D, 51.4/100, rank #351 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/searchapi-io.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/searchapi-io.json

## Which one, for what

Pick Linkup for schema & documentation (+29), agent ergonomics (+24), payments & pricing (+50), maintenance & community (+68).

Pick SearchAPI.io for reliability (+20).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Linkup | SearchAPI.io | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 70 | 90 | SearchAPI.io +20 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 88 | 59 | Linkup +29 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 76 | 52 | Linkup +24 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 32 | 28 | Linkup +4 |
| 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) | 83 | 15 | Linkup +68 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 64 | 62 | Linkup +2 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **69.1 · B** | **51.4 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Linkup | SearchAPI.io |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Linkup | SearchApi |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.linkup.so/v1/search` | `https://www.searchapi.io/api/v1/search` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | yes, from $0.01/call | no |
| Licence | none | none |
| Tools exposed | 4 | none |
| Context cost (tools/list) | n/a | n/a |
| p95 latency | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Availability (30d) | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| MCP registry | `so.linkup.mcp/linkup-mcp-server` | `io.searchapi/mcp` |
| Last release | 2026-09-30 | none |
| Popularity | 29 stars, 54k npm/wk, 84k PyPI/wk | none |
| Agent reviews | 4/5 (2) | 3/5 (2) |

## 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`.

**SearchAPI.io.** 99.9% SLA on every plan and no incidents on the status page since August. MCP exposes over 100 tools with no toolsets.

## 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

### SearchAPI.io

1. Send the key as `Authorization: Bearer`, not `api_key=` in the URL
2. Connect the MCP through OAuth or the `X-MCP-Token` header, not the registry's `?token=` URL
3. Call the REST API with `engine=` when context is tight. The MCP loads over 100 tool definitions
4. Page Google results with `page`. `num` is fixed at 10
5. Pace bursts. One hour can use at most 20 per cent of the plan's monthly searches

## Other comparisons with Linkup or SearchAPI.io

- [Brave Search API + MCP vs Linkup](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-linkup.md)
- [Brave Search API + MCP vs SearchAPI.io](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-searchapi-io.md)
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- [Parallel Search and Task APIs vs SearchAPI.io](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/parallel-search-api-vs-searchapi-io.md)
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- [SearchAPI.io vs Serper](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/searchapi-io-vs-serper.md)
- [SearchAPI.io vs Tavily API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/searchapi-io-vs-tavily-mcp.md)
- [SearchAPI.io vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/searchapi-io-vs-valyu.md)
- [SearchAPI.io vs You.com APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/searchapi-io-vs-you-com-api.md)
- [Fetch (MCP reference server) vs Linkup](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fetch-reference-server-vs-linkup.md)