Parallel Search and Task APIs vs Valyu

Parallel Search and Task APIs

Fast-mode search at $1 per 1,000 with 10 excerpted results, and Extract at $1 per 1,000 URLs. Search defaults to advanced mode at $5 per 1,000 when mode is left out.

Valyu

Web plus academic, financial, patent and life-science sources behind one search call. No published rate limits and no Retry-After or backoff guidance.

Parallel Search and Task APIs

1. Pass mode: "fast" on every search. Without it you pay the advanced rate
2. Create Task runs with max_retries=0 and check for an existing run before retrying
3. Give an objective plus two or three short search_queries. That's what ranks the excerpts
4. On 402, check available balance rather than total. Running tasks reserve credit
5. Prefer natural-language source guidance to domain filters. The docs say filters can cut result quality

Valyu

1. Set max_price and max_num_results on every search to bound cost
2. Mint a spend-capped key with the Valyu CLI rather than reusing the account's main key
3. Call valyu_search. The legacy per-vertical MCP tools stop working on 2026-12-01
4. A 206 means some sources failed. Check which before treating results as complete
5. DeepResearch is async. Poll valyu_deepresearch_status rather than waiting in one call