# Linkup vs You.com APIs

> You.com APIs has a score of 76.9 (BB) against Linkup's 69.1 (B). Both do web search. The largest gap is security & auth, 21 points. Linkup accepts x402. You.com APIs doesn't. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linkup-vs-you-com-api
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linkup-vs-you-com-api.md (~1,650 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linkup-vs-you-com-api.min.md (~330 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linkup-vs-you-com-api.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

You.com APIs has a score of 76.9 (BB) against Linkup's 69.1 (B). Both do web search. The largest gap is security & auth, 21 points. Linkup accepts x402. You.com APIs 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
- You.com APIs: grade BB, 76.9/100, rank #24 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/you-com-api.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/you-com-api.json

## Which one, for what

Pick Linkup for schema & documentation (+6).

Pick You.com APIs for reliability (+15), agent ergonomics (+8), security & auth (+21), payments & pricing (+8).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Linkup | You.com APIs | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 70 | 85 | You.com APIs +15 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 88 | 82 | Linkup +6 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 76 | 84 | You.com APIs +8 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 32 | 53 | You.com APIs +21 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 80 | 88 | You.com APIs +8 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 83 | 82 | Linkup +1 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 64 | 63 | Linkup +1 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **69.1 · B** | **76.9 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Linkup | You.com APIs |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Linkup | You.com |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.linkup.so/v1/search` | `https://api.you.com/v1/search` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | yes, from $0.01/call | payer tooling only |
| Licence | none | none |
| Tools exposed | 4 | 6 |
| 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 | yes |
| MCP registry | `so.linkup.mcp/linkup-mcp-server` | `io.github.youdotcom-oss/mcp` |
| Last release | 2026-09-30 | 2026-09-22 |
| Popularity | 29 stars, 54k npm/wk, 84k PyPI/wk | 4.4k npm/wk, 92k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 4/5 (2) | 3.8/5 (8) |

## 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`.

**You.com APIs.** x402 and MPP on Web Search and Finance Research, with no account needed. Two API hosts. Answer and Research return 'Missing Authentication Token' on ydc-index.io.

## 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

### You.com APIs

1. For unattended runs call GET https://api.you.com/v1/search, handle the 402 and pay with x402. It's half the MPP price for search
2. Use `https://api.you.com/mcp?profile=free` to try search with no key (100 queries a day)
3. Send Answer, Research and Finance Research to api.you.com. On ydc-index.io they fail with 'Missing Authentication Token'
4. Pass `?tools=` with only the tools you need to keep the MCP tool list short
5. On 429, wait for `Retry-After` and watch `X-RateLimit-Remaining` before the next burst

## Other comparisons with Linkup or You.com APIs

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