{
  "data": {
    "a": {
      "slug": "perplexity-search-api",
      "name": "Perplexity Search API",
      "vendor": "Perplexity",
      "vendorUrl": "https://www.perplexity.ai/",
      "kind": "http-api",
      "category": "search",
      "summary": "Perplexity's Search API returns ranked web results with extracted page text as JSON from Perplexity's own index, through `POST /search`. The same key reaches the Agent API's web_search tool for cited answers, and a hosted MCP server wraps both.",
      "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/perplexity-search-api",
      "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/perplexity-search-api.md",
      "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/perplexity-search-api.min.md",
      "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/perplexity-search-api.json",
      "dns": "perplexity-search-api.grade.anchorterminal.com",
      "repo": "https://github.com/perplexityai/modelcontextprotocol",
      "license": "Proprietary service under the Perplexity API Terms of Service. The MCP server is MIT and the official SDKs Apache-2.0",
      "transports": [
        "streamable-http",
        "stdio"
      ],
      "remoteUrl": "https://api.perplexity.ai/mcp",
      "packages": [
        {
          "registry": "pypi",
          "name": "perplexityai"
        },
        {
          "registry": "npm",
          "name": "@perplexity-ai/perplexity_ai"
        },
        {
          "registry": "npm",
          "name": "@perplexity-ai/mcp-server"
        }
      ],
      "auth": "mixed",
      "authNotes": "Bearer Perplexity API key in the `Authorization` header. Keys belong to a project in the API console, are shown once, and can be generated and revoked through `/generate_auth_token` and `/revoke_auth_token`, with a rotation guide. No per-key scopes found. The hosted MCP server also accepts Sign in with Perplexity (OAuth), where the user picks the organisation to bill.",
      "pricing": "usage",
      "pricingNotes": "$5 per 1,000 successful Search API requests, or $1 with Fast Search, with up to five queries per request billed once. Invalid, rate-limited and failed requests are not billed. Agent API web_search is $2.50 per 1,000 calls plus model tokens. Prepaid credits with a card. No free allowance found.",
      "priceSummary": "$5 / 1k req",
      "where": "both",
      "x402": {
        "level": "no",
        "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the Search API docs, the pricing page, the OpenAPI description or llms.txt (checked 2026-11-06). An empty balance returns 402 Payment Required with no payment requirements, per the FAQ.",
        "endpoints": []
      },
      "toolCount": 4,
      "popularity": {
        "githubStars": null,
        "npmWeekly": null,
        "pypiWeekly": null,
        "asOf": "2026-11-06"
      },
      "docsUrl": "https://docs.perplexity.ai/docs/search/overview",
      "llmsTxt": "https://docs.perplexity.ai/llms.txt",
      "openapi": "https://docs.perplexity.ai/openapi.json",
      "registryName": "ai.perplexity/mcp-server",
      "capabilities": [
        "web.search",
        "search.answer",
        "search.research"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "hosted",
        "usage-priced",
        "prepaid",
        "card-required",
        "closed-source",
        "openapi",
        "llms-txt",
        "mcp",
        "remote-mcp",
        "mcp-registry",
        "python",
        "typescript",
        "status-page",
        "soc2"
      ],
      "lastRelease": "2026-10-23",
      "graded": true,
      "anchor": {
        "graded": true,
        "score": 70.2,
        "grade": "BB",
        "agentReady": true,
        "rank": 211,
        "ranked": true,
        "rankOf": 1510,
        "categoryRank": 5,
        "methodology": "0.7",
        "run": "2026-10-01",
        "scores": {
          "ergonomics": 85,
          "maintenance": 82,
          "payments": 25,
          "reliability": 80,
          "schema": 89,
          "security": 56,
          "transparency": 66
        },
        "pending": [
          "performance",
          "tasks"
        ],
        "assessment": {
          "confidence": "medium",
          "date": "2026-11-06"
        },
        "negative": 0,
        "verdict": "Raw ranked results with token-capped page text from Perplexity's own index, $5 per 1,000 requests or $1 with Fast Search, an OpenAPI description and a hosted MCP server with read-only annotations. Uptime is not guaranteed, there is no free allowance, keys carry no scopes, and no guidance on untrusted page text was found.",
        "bestFor": "Agents on any model that need raw ranked sources with extracted text at a low per-request price, and teams that want cited answers from the same key through the Agent API.",
        "strengths": [
          "OpenAPI 3.1 description of `POST /search` with enums and limits, llms.txt and a Markdown twin of every docs page",
          "`max_tokens`, `max_tokens_per_page` and `max_results` cap what reaches the model, and up to five queries share one billed request",
          "Per-request prices published without login, and invalid, rate-limited and failed requests are not billed",
          "Hosted MCP server with OAuth or a key; the local server is in the official registry under the verified ai.perplexity namespace",
          "security.txt valid to 31 December 2027, a SOC 2 Type II report and a SECURITY.md that takes private reports"
        ],
        "weaknesses": [
          "The FAQ says uptime and recovery time are not guaranteed, and the terms carry no SLA",
          "No free allowance and prepaid credits with a card; Stripe Projects still needs a $10 purchase",
          "Project keys have no scopes or spending limits, so any key can run every API on the account",
          "No guidance on treating returned snippets as untrusted text was found in the docs or the MCP server",
          "The DPA says Perplexity Search may follow different data terms, and no retention period for search queries is stated"
        ],
        "agentNotes": [
          "Set `max_tokens_per_page` and `max_tokens` before calling; extracted text otherwise fills the context, and the price does not change with size",
          "Skip results with an empty `snippet` and dedupe by `url` when sending a `query` array; each query costs one rate-limit unit",
          "Use `search_type: \"fast\"` for $1 per 1,000 when latency and cost matter more than depth",
          "On 429 wait for Retry-After, then back off; on 402 stop and ask the user to add credits",
          "Use the Search API for sources and the Agent API's web_search tool for a written answer with citations"
        ],
        "metrics": {
          "kind": "remote",
          "measured": false
        },
        "reviewCount": 0,
        "avgRating": 0,
        "history": [
          {
            "basis": "public evidence",
            "confidence": "medium",
            "grade": "BB",
            "methodology": "0.7",
            "pending": [
              "performance",
              "tasks"
            ],
            "run": "2026-10-01",
            "runLabel": "October 2026 research run",
            "score": 70.2
          }
        ],
        "editorialScores": {
          "ergonomics": 85,
          "maintenance": 82,
          "payments": 25,
          "reliability": 80,
          "schema": 89,
          "security": 56,
          "transparency": 51
        },
        "provenanceScore": 80,
        "checked": {
          "categories": {
            "ergonomics": "2026-11-06",
            "maintenance": "2026-11-06",
            "payments": "2026-11-06",
            "reliability": "2026-11-06",
            "schema": "2026-11-06",
            "security": "2026-11-06",
            "transparency": "2026-11-06"
          },
          "last": "2026-11-06",
          "oldest": "2026-11-06",
          "stale": false,
          "staleAfterDays": 90
        }
      },
      "connect": {
        "install": "pip install perplexityai",
        "http": "curl -X POST https://api.perplexity.ai/search \\\n  -H \"Authorization: Bearer $PERPLEXITY_API_KEY\" \\\n  -H \"Content-Type: application/json\" \\\n  -d '{\"query\": \"renewable energy technologies\", \"max_results\": 10, \"max_tokens\": 50000, \"max_tokens_per_page\": 4096}'",
        "claudeCode": "claude mcp add --transport http perplexity https://api.perplexity.ai/mcp",
        "config": {
          "mcpServers": {
            "perplexity": {
              "url": "https://api.perplexity.ai/mcp"
            }
          }
        }
      },
      "letme": {
        "capability": "https://letme.dev/web.search",
        "tool": "https://letme.dev/perplexity-search-api"
      },
      "sameCompany": [
        "perplexity-space",
        "pplx-decider",
        "pplx-decider-flash"
      ],
      "area": "web-data",
      "unitPrices": [
        {
          "item": "Search API request",
          "unit": "1k-requests",
          "usd": 5,
          "note": "Up to five queries in one request billed once; failed and rate-limited requests not billed"
        },
        {
          "item": "Search API request with Fast Search",
          "unit": "1k-requests",
          "usd": 1,
          "note": "`search_type: \"fast\"`"
        },
        {
          "item": "Agent API web_search call",
          "unit": "1k-calls",
          "usd": 2.5,
          "note": "Plus model tokens; $1.00 with Fast Search"
        },
        {
          "item": "Agent API fetch_url call",
          "unit": "1k-calls",
          "usd": 0.5,
          "note": "Plus model tokens"
        }
      ],
      "provenance": {
        "legalEntity": "Perplexity AI, Inc.",
        "domain": "perplexity.ai",
        "domainRegistered": "",
        "endpointOnVendorDomain": true,
        "terms": "https://www.perplexity.ai/hub/legal/perplexity-api-terms-of-service",
        "privacy": "https://www.perplexity.ai/hub/legal/privacy-notice",
        "statusPage": "https://status.perplexity.com/",
        "changelog": "https://docs.perplexity.ai/docs/resources/changelog",
        "securityTxt": "valid",
        "checked": "2026-11-06",
        "notes": [
          "The API Terms of Service (last updated 23 January 2026) name Perplexity AI, Inc. and California law. The Data Processing Addendum (last updated 13 August 2026) deletes personal data within 30 days of the service ending and notes that Perplexity Search may follow different data terms.",
          "www.perplexity.ai/.well-known/security.txt is valid until 31 December 2027 and links www.perplexity.ai/security.",
          "The status page moved to incident.io on 10 September 2026 and has Website, App, Computer and API components, with no separate Search component.",
          "docs.perplexity.ai/robots.txt allows the docs and carries Content-Signal ai-train=yes, search=yes, ai-input=yes. The terms have no clause on automated access to the website.",
          "The changelog dates entries by month only. Domain registration was not checked."
        ],
        "score": 80
      },
      "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/perplexity-search-api.json",
      "live": {
        "slug": "perplexity-search-api",
        "probe": {
          "target": "https://api.perplexity.ai/mcp",
          "method": "get",
          "lastAt": "2026-11-07T22:56:14.148158353Z",
          "lastOk": true,
          "lastStatus": 401,
          "lastMs": 151,
          "lastNote": "asks for credentials",
          "authRequired": true,
          "uptime24h": 100,
          "uptime30d": 100,
          "p50ms24h": 166,
          "p95ms24h": 279,
          "samples24h": 244,
          "samples30d": 246,
          "days": [
            {
              "date": "2026-11-06",
              "probes": 13,
              "ok": 13
            },
            {
              "date": "2026-11-07",
              "probes": 233,
              "ok": 233
            }
          ]
        },
        "vendorStatus": {
          "page": "https://status.perplexity.com",
          "indicator": "none",
          "summary": "All Systems Operational",
          "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T22:57:38.131603448Z"
        },
        "versions": [
          {
            "registry": "mcp-registry",
            "name": "ai.perplexity/mcp-server",
            "version": "1.2.1",
            "seenAt": "2026-11-07T18:16:28.95801333Z"
          },
          {
            "registry": "npm",
            "name": "@perplexity-ai/mcp-server",
            "version": "1.3.0",
            "seenAt": "2026-11-06T23:55:31.394431614Z"
          },
          {
            "registry": "npm",
            "name": "@perplexity-ai/perplexity_ai",
            "version": "0.41.0",
            "seenAt": "2026-11-06T23:55:30.575713692Z"
          },
          {
            "registry": "pypi",
            "name": "perplexityai",
            "version": "0.46.1",
            "released": "2026-10-23",
            "seenAt": "2026-11-06T23:55:30.34668899Z"
          }
        ],
        "githubStars": 2612,
        "npmWeekly": 97298,
        "pypiWeekly": 401537,
        "securityTxt": {
          "url": "https://perplexity.ai/.well-known/security.txt",
          "state": "valid",
          "expires": "2027-12-31T00:00:00Z",
          "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T16:01:03.917430365Z"
        },
        "llmsTxt": {
          "url": "https://docs.perplexity.ai/llms.txt",
          "ok": true,
          "status": 200,
          "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T15:33:36.681222085Z"
        },
        "pages": [
          {
            "url": "https://docs.perplexity.ai/docs/resources/changelog",
            "kind": "changelog",
            "status": 200,
            "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:07:27.675707255Z",
            "changedAt": "2026-11-06T13:29:48.535494355Z",
            "fingerprint": "a52a171e1f1f"
          },
          {
            "url": "https://www.perplexity.ai/hub/legal/privacy-notice",
            "kind": "privacy",
            "status": 200,
            "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:32:54.875760985Z",
            "changedAt": "2026-11-06T13:53:25.792168971Z",
            "fingerprint": "29c9dd01613d"
          },
          {
            "url": "https://www.perplexity.ai/hub/legal/perplexity-api-terms-of-service",
            "kind": "terms",
            "status": 200,
            "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:32:50.897959644Z",
            "changedAt": "2026-11-06T13:53:22.592031411Z",
            "fingerprint": "6a7e4a95f45b"
          }
        ],
        "mcpTools": {
          "url": "https://api.perplexity.ai/mcp",
          "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T01:46:49.011542458Z",
          "status": "auth",
          "note": "asks for credentials before listing its tools",
          "changedAt": "2026-11-07T01:46:49.011542458Z"
        },
        "updatedAt": "2026-11-07T22:57:38.131603448Z"
      }
    },
    "answer": "Perplexity Search API scores 70.2 (BB) on agent readiness against SearchAPI.io's 50.1 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. SearchAPI.io leads on reliability and payments \u0026 pricing.",
    "b": {
      "slug": "searchapi-io",
      "name": "SearchAPI.io",
      "vendor": "SearchApi",
      "vendorUrl": "https://www.searchapi.io",
      "kind": "http-api",
      "category": "search",
      "summary": "SERP scraping API returning parsed JSON from Google and its verticals, Bing, Baidu, Yandex, DuckDuckGo, YouTube, Amazon, TikTok, ad libraries and travel sites, over 150 engine endpoints behind one GET URL.",
      "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/searchapi-io",
      "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/searchapi-io.md",
      "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/searchapi-io.min.md",
      "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/searchapi-io.json",
      "dns": "searchapi-io.grade.anchorterminal.com",
      "transports": [
        "http",
        "streamable-http"
      ],
      "remoteUrl": "https://www.searchapi.io/api/v1/search",
      "packages": [],
      "auth": "mixed",
      "authNotes": "API key as the `api_key` query parameter or `Authorization: Bearer`. The hosted MCP uses OAuth in the browser, or an `X-MCP-Token` header for programmatic clients.",
      "pricing": "freemium",
      "pricingNotes": "100 free requests on signup, no card. Developer $40 a month for 10,000 searches ($4 per 1,000), Production $100 for 35,000, BigData $250 for 100,000, Scale $500 for 250,000, Octo tiers from $900 for 500,000 down to $1 per 1,000 at 5M. Only successful (HTTP 200) searches are charged (https://www.searchapi.io/pricing).",
      "priceSummary": "$4 / 1k req",
      "where": "hosted",
      "x402": {
        "level": "no",
        "evidence": "No x402 on pricing, docs or MCP pages (checked 2026-09-30).",
        "endpoints": []
      },
      "toolCount": null,
      "popularity": {
        "githubStars": null,
        "npmWeekly": null,
        "pypiWeekly": null,
        "asOf": "2026-09-30"
      },
      "docsUrl": "https://www.searchapi.io/docs/google",
      "openapi": "https://www.searchapi.io/openapi/google.yaml",
      "registryName": "io.searchapi/mcp",
      "capabilities": [
        "web.search",
        "search.serp",
        "search.news",
        "search.images"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "hosted",
        "freemium",
        "no-card",
        "mcp",
        "closed-source"
      ],
      "graded": true,
      "anchor": {
        "graded": true,
        "score": 50.1,
        "grade": "D",
        "agentReady": false,
        "rank": 1075,
        "ranked": true,
        "rankOf": 1510,
        "categoryRank": 22,
        "methodology": "0.7",
        "run": "2026-10-01",
        "scores": {
          "ergonomics": 52,
          "maintenance": 0,
          "payments": 30,
          "reliability": 90,
          "schema": 59,
          "security": 28,
          "transparency": 62
        },
        "pending": [
          "performance",
          "tasks"
        ],
        "assessment": {
          "confidence": "medium",
          "date": "2026-11-04"
        },
        "negative": 0,
        "verdict": "A 99.9% SLA in the terms on every plan, no status-page incidents since 11 February 2026, and over 150 engine endpoints behind one URL. The MCP loads one tool per engine with no toolsets, there is no changelog or official SDK, and every account starts with a browser signup.",
        "bestFor": "Agents that need parsed results from many engines, especially shopping, ads, travel and social sources, at a low price per search.",
        "strengths": [
          "99.9% SLA in the terms on every plan, with a credit of the full monthly price",
          "No incidents on the status page since 11 February 2026",
          "Only HTTP 200 searches are billed",
          "$4 per 1,000 on the entry plan, falling to $1 at 5 million a month",
          "OpenAPI 3.0 for the Google engine with typed enums"
        ],
        "weaknesses": [
          "MCP loads one tool per engine with no toolsets",
          "API key accepted as `api_key` in the query string",
          "No changelog, no llms.txt and no official SDKs",
          "No x402 and no per-call option. Every account starts with a browser signup",
          "Returns SERP snippets only, and no prompt-injection guidance for scraped AI answers"
        ],
        "agentNotes": [
          "Send the key as `Authorization: Bearer`, not `api_key=` in the URL",
          "Connect the MCP through OAuth or the `X-MCP-Token` header. Never put the token in the MCP URL",
          "Call the REST API with `engine=` when context is tight. The MCP loads one tool definition per engine",
          "Page Google results with `page`. `num` is fixed at 10",
          "Pace bursts. One hour can use at most 20 per cent of the plan's monthly searches"
        ],
        "metrics": {
          "kind": "remote",
          "measured": false
        },
        "reviewCount": 2,
        "avgRating": 3,
        "history": [
          {
            "basis": "public evidence",
            "confidence": "medium",
            "grade": "D",
            "methodology": "0.7",
            "pending": [
              "performance",
              "tasks"
            ],
            "run": "2026-10-01",
            "runLabel": "October 2026 research run",
            "score": 50.1
          }
        ],
        "editorialScores": {
          "ergonomics": 52,
          "maintenance": 0,
          "payments": 30,
          "reliability": 90,
          "schema": 59,
          "security": 28,
          "transparency": 48
        },
        "provenanceScore": 76,
        "checked": {
          "categories": {
            "ergonomics": "2026-11-04",
            "maintenance": "2026-11-04",
            "payments": "2026-11-04",
            "reliability": "2026-11-04",
            "schema": "2026-11-04",
            "security": "2026-11-04",
            "transparency": "2026-11-04"
          },
          "last": "2026-11-04",
          "lastMoved": "2026-11-04",
          "oldest": "2026-11-04",
          "stale": false,
          "staleAfterDays": 90
        }
      },
      "connect": {
        "http": "curl -G https://www.searchapi.io/api/v1/search -H \"Authorization: Bearer $SEARCHAPI_API_KEY\" -d engine=google --data-urlencode \"q=chatgpt\"",
        "claudeCode": "claude mcp add --transport http searchapi https://www.searchapi.io/mcp"
      },
      "letme": {
        "capability": "https://letme.dev/web.search",
        "tool": "https://letme.dev/searchapi-io"
      },
      "area": "web-data",
      "unitPrices": [
        {
          "item": "Developer plan, per 1,000 searches",
          "unit": "1k-requests",
          "usd": 4,
          "note": "10,000 searches for $40 a month"
        },
        {
          "item": "Developer plan",
          "unit": "month",
          "usd": 40,
          "note": "10,000 searches"
        },
        {
          "item": "Production plan",
          "unit": "month",
          "usd": 100,
          "note": "35,000 searches, includes Legal Protection Guarantee"
        },
        {
          "item": "BigData plan",
          "unit": "month",
          "usd": 250,
          "note": "100,000 searches"
        },
        {
          "item": "Scale plan",
          "unit": "month",
          "usd": 500,
          "note": "250,000 searches"
        }
      ],
      "provenance": {
        "legalEntity": "SearchApi, LLC",
        "domain": "searchapi.io",
        "domainRegistered": "2017-12-13",
        "domainNote": "Registered in 2017 and transferred on 2022-05-26.",
        "endpointOnVendorDomain": true,
        "terms": "https://www.searchapi.io/legal/terms",
        "privacy": "https://www.searchapi.io/legal/privacy",
        "statusPage": "https://status.searchapi.io",
        "changelog": "",
        "securityTxt": "none",
        "checked": "2026-11-04",
        "notes": [
          "Terms and privacy policy both last updated 11 April 2026, re-read on 4 November 2026. The privacy policy links a DPA at https://www.searchapi.io/legal/dpa.",
          "security.txt answered 404 on 4 November 2026. The trust centre at security.searchapi.io answers robots.txt with an app page and wasn't read.",
          "www.searchapi.io robots.txt disallows only /api/. status.searchapi.io robots.txt disallows /incidents/ and other paths; the status page and its incident feed were read."
        ],
        "score": 76
      },
      "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/searchapi-io.json",
      "live": {
        "slug": "searchapi-io",
        "probe": {
          "target": "https://www.searchapi.io/api/v1/search",
          "method": "get",
          "lastAt": "2026-11-07T22:56:19.760514166Z",
          "lastOk": true,
          "lastStatus": 401,
          "lastMs": 127,
          "lastNote": "asks for credentials",
          "authRequired": true,
          "uptime24h": 100,
          "uptime30d": 99.99,
          "p50ms24h": 122,
          "p95ms24h": 305,
          "samples24h": 244,
          "samples30d": 7956,
          "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": 240
            },
            {
              "date": "2026-11-07",
              "probes": 233,
              "ok": 233
            }
          ]
        },
        "vendorStatus": {
          "page": "https://status.searchapi.io",
          "indicator": "unknown",
          "summary": "no machine-readable status found",
          "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T04:48:43.933227337Z"
        },
        "versions": [
          {
            "registry": "mcp-registry",
            "name": "io.searchapi/mcp",
            "version": "1.0.0",
            "seenAt": "2026-11-07T18:16:28.95801333Z"
          }
        ],
        "securityTxt": {
          "url": "https://searchapi.io/.well-known/security.txt",
          "state": "none",
          "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T16:00:53.387226681Z"
        },
        "domain": {
          "domain": "searchapi.io",
          "checkedAt": "2026-11-01T14:10:04.150088576Z"
        },
        "pages": [
          {
            "url": "https://www.searchapi.io/pricing",
            "kind": "pricing",
            "status": 200,
            "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:34:15.581235525Z",
            "changedAt": "2026-11-06T13:54:52.014727558Z",
            "fingerprint": "99f70dde64a7"
          },
          {
            "url": "https://www.searchapi.io/legal/privacy",
            "kind": "privacy",
            "status": 200,
            "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:34:10.737409674Z",
            "changedAt": "2026-11-06T13:54:45.290420043Z",
            "fingerprint": "b952c45bc222"
          },
          {
            "url": "https://www.searchapi.io/legal/terms",
            "kind": "terms",
            "status": 200,
            "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:34:13.471782829Z",
            "changedAt": "2026-11-06T13:54:49.642827792Z",
            "fingerprint": "1fb2f4a01b14"
          }
        ],
        "mcpTools": {
          "url": "https://www.searchapi.io/mcp",
          "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T01:47:39.86450682Z",
          "status": "auth",
          "note": "asks for credentials before listing its tools",
          "changedAt": "2026-11-07T01:47:39.86450682Z"
        },
        "updatedAt": "2026-11-07T22:56:19.760514166Z"
      }
    },
    "edges": [
      {
        "by": 82,
        "category": "maintenance",
        "leads": "perplexity-search-api",
        "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community",
        "reasons": {
          "a": "Read as a closed service with official SDKs and an open-source MCP server. perplexityai 0.46.1 on PyPI on 23 October 2026 and the MCP server's last commit on 21 October, with changelog entries into November 2026 (30). In the 90 days from 8 August, perplexityai 0.43.7 to 0.46.1 (six releases from 2 October), MCP server 1.2.1 (27 August) and 1.3.0 (25 September, Fast Search on perplexity_search), and Fast Search itself in September (20). A changelog with several entries a month, a community forum with a bug-report category, a GitHub discussion repository and api@perplexity.ai. MCP issue reply times weren't read (10 of 15). The MCP server is in the official registry under the domain-verified ai.perplexity namespace, and the Python and TypeScript SDKs are current (15). The MCP repository runs tests in CI and validates its plugin manifests. Its 1.4.0, prepared on 16 October, is not on npm, which still serves 1.3.0, and the registry's latest entry is 1.2.1 of 27 August (7 of 10). 30 + 20 + 10 + 15 + 7 = 82.",
          "b": "No changelog (/changelog answered 404 on 4 November 2026) and no dated API change found, so the last release can't be dated (0). No releases to count (0). No public issue tracker or changelog to judge replies by. A Discord server is linked from the footer and wasn't tested (0). The 15 for io.searchapi/mcp in the official MCP registry rested on a reading of the registry's JSON API, which this run doesn't use, and no ordinary registry page shows the entry, so the line falls to 0, as graphiti, linear-mcp and copilot-studio-mcp read it. No official SDKs were found; the footer links a GitHub organisation whose pages answered 403 (0, 15 before). No public packages or CI (0). 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 = 0."
        },
        "scores": {
          "a": 82,
          "b": 0
        }
      },
      {
        "by": 33,
        "category": "ergonomics",
        "leads": "perplexity-search-api",
        "name": "Agent ergonomics",
        "reasons": {
          "a": "`max_results` 1 to 20, `max_tokens` and `max_tokens_per_page` cap the extracted text, and results are title, url, snippet and two dates. The MCP server has four tools (23 of 25). Domain, language, recency, publication and update date filters and `country`, with up to five queries in one request. No pagination or offset (16 of 20). 429 bodies name the limit hit, the SDKs map status codes to typed errors, and 402 marks an empty balance. Search-specific error bodies beyond 422 validation are not documented (13 of 20). Searches only read, failed and rate-limited requests are not billed, and the MCP server sets readOnlyHint true, destructiveHint false and idempotentHint false on every tool (18 of 20). Only `query` is required. Official Python and TypeScript SDKs, a CLI and a Python Search SDK (15). 23 + 16 + 13 + 18 + 15 = 85.",
          "b": "The MCP exposes over 100 tools, one or more per engine, with no toolsets or filtering documented (5). `page`, `time_period`, location, country, language and safe search. Google's `num` has been fixed at 10 since September 2025 (18). Status codes are documented, but not how to recover from each (12). Searches are reads, and only HTTP 200 responses are billed, so retries are cheap. MCP annotations aren't visible (10). Two required parameters, `engine` and `q`. No official SDKs (7)."
        },
        "scores": {
          "a": 85,
          "b": 52
        }
      },
      {
        "by": 30,
        "category": "schema",
        "leads": "perplexity-search-api",
        "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation",
        "reasons": {
          "a": "OpenAPI 3.1.0 at docs.perplexity.ai/openapi.json describes `POST /search` with typed request and response schemas, listed in llms.txt (25). llms.txt indexes every page, each with a Markdown twin (10). The overview says what a result holds, that snippets can be empty, when to use the Search API instead of the Agent API, and that it takes queries not URLs and does not re-fetch pages (19 of 20). `search_type` is an enum, `max_results`, `max_tokens` and `max_tokens_per_page` carry minimum and maximum, country and language codes carry lengths, and `query` is a string or an array. The recency filter is an enum in the docs, and date filters are `MM/DD/YYYY` strings (14 of 15). Python, TypeScript and cURL examples with a recorded response. The spec documents only 200 and 422 for `/search`, and status codes are listed on the SDK error-handling page and the rate-limit page rather than for Search (11 of 15). A public changelog with several entries a month, dated by month only, and an unversioned `/search` path (10 of 15). 25 + 10 + 19 + 14 + 11 + 10 = 89.",
          "b": "OpenAPI 3.0 for the Google engine at /openapi/google.yaml with 25 typed parameters. We found no index of specs for the other engines, so 20 of 25. No llms.txt (404 on 4 November 2026) and no Markdown docs for agents (0). The API reference explains each parameter, and the MCP tool definitions aren't public (10). Enums for device, country, language, safe search and time period (14). Examples and a Postman collection, and the spec documents 400, 401, 403, 429 and 500 (12). /api/v1 in the path and no changelog anywhere we looked (3)."
        },
        "scores": {
          "a": 89,
          "b": 59
        }
      },
      {
        "by": 28,
        "category": "security",
        "leads": "perplexity-search-api",
        "name": "Security \u0026 auth",
        "reasons": {
          "a": "Project API keys, shown once, revocable, and generated and revoked through two documented endpoints with a rotation guide. No per-key scopes or spending limits were found. The hosted MCP server also takes Sign in with Perplexity (OAuth). Keys go in the Authorization header only (22 of 30, as on the Decisions API listing). Search only reads, and MCP clients can disable tools, but any key reaches every API on the account, including the Agent API's sandbox and MCP tools (8 of 20). Snippets are third-party page text, and no guidance on treating them as untrusted was found in the docs, the MCP server or its SECURITY.md (0 of 15). Responses carry a request `id`, and the console shows usage by key. The Audit API covers enterprise organisations' web app events with its own keys, not API calls (8 of 15). security.txt valid until 31 December 2027 linking a security page, a SOC 2 Type II report, a 2025 HIPAA gap assessment and a CAIQlite listed on the trust centre, and a SECURITY.md on the MCP server that takes private reports through GitHub advisories or security@perplexity.ai. The trust centre is drawn by script and wasn't read (18 of 20). 22 + 8 + 0 + 8 + 18 = 56.",
          "b": "API keys with a documented `api_key` query-string option, and OAuth with expiring, rotating tokens for the MCP. The MCP page, re-read on 4 November 2026, now tells clients to send the token in the `X-MCP-Token` header and not in a URL. The registry's `?token=` reading came from a JSON API this run doesn't use and is struck. The `api_key` query option stays documented in the API reference. 20 less 10 (10). Every action is a read, and there are no tool subsets (15). Results are third-party snippets and scraped AI answers, with no injection guidance (0). No per-call audit log found. The privacy policy says account logins are logged by IP (0). The trust centre at security.searchapi.io answers robots.txt with an app page, so it was left unread on 4 November 2026. No certifications, bounty or security.txt (404 on 4 November 2026) found. The partial 3 is kept pending the founder's rule on in-between values (3)."
        },
        "scores": {
          "a": 56,
          "b": 28
        }
      },
      {
        "by": 10,
        "category": "reliability",
        "leads": "searchapi-io",
        "name": "Reliability",
        "reasons": {
          "a": "Graded on the hosted lines, for `POST /search` and the hosted MCP server. status.perplexity.com, on incident.io since 10 September 2026, has an API component with an RSS feed and a JSON summary. There is no separate Search component (20). In the 90 days from 8 August the feed lists 'Investigating API issue' on 13 August, resolved with no detail, a usage-based billing issue on 3 September, and on 9 October elevated errors on the website, app and Computer, where the API 'remained operational throughout'. Minor only, with the caveat that history before the migration may be incomplete (20). The Search API is limited to 50 query units a second with a burst of 50 on every tier, and the other APIs publish QPS and token limits per tier (15). 429 carries Retry-After and an `error.type`, the SDKs retry 429 and 5xx twice honouring Retry-After, the Search best-practices page shows backoff, and failed or rate-limited searches are not billed. Searches have no side effects (15). The FAQ says Perplexity does not guarantee uptime, failure frequency or recovery time, and the terms carry no SLA (0). No beta label on the Search API, launched on 25 September 2025 (10). 20 + 20 + 15 + 15 + 0 + 10 = 80.",
          "b": "Honeybadger status page at status.searchapi.io with Landing Page and API components and monthly history (20). Re-read on 4 November 2026, it shows no incidents in September, October or November 2026, and its incident feed's newest entry is the 11 February 2026 partial outage, so the window from 6 August is clean (30). The hourly cap is published, 20 per cent of the plan's monthly searches in any hour (15). The OpenAPI file lists a 429 response with an error string, but no `Retry-After` or backoff guidance was found. The partial 5 is kept pending the founder's rule on in-between values (5). The terms of 11 April 2026 give a 99.9% SLA for all plans with a credit of 100% of the monthly price, and the pricing page lists it on every plan (10). GA (10). 20 + 30 + 15 + 5 + 10 + 10 = 90."
        },
        "scores": {
          "a": 80,
          "b": 90
        }
      },
      {
        "by": 5,
        "category": "payments",
        "leads": "searchapi-io",
        "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing",
        "reasons": {
          "a": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the docs, pricing page, OpenAPI or llms.txt (0). $5 per 1,000 successful requests, $1 with Fast Search, published without a login, with failed and rate-limited requests not billed (20). Usage is prepaid with a card on the billing page, and no free allowance was found. The console playground needs no key but is a page for a person, not an API allowance (0). A person signs up in the console. The Stripe Projects route provisions a project, key and credits from a terminal, but needs a person's Stripe account with a payment method and a $10 minimum purchase (5 of 20, as on the Decisions API listing). 0 + 20 + 0 + 5 = 25.",
          "b": "No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Monthly plans only, priced in public, from $40 for 10,000 searches to $5,000 for 5 million (10). 100 free requests with no card (20). A person has to sign up in a browser (0)."
        },
        "scores": {
          "a": 25,
          "b": 30
        }
      }
    ],
    "facts": [
      {
        "a": "HTTP API",
        "b": "HTTP API",
        "name": "Kind"
      },
      {
        "a": "Perplexity",
        "b": "SearchApi",
        "name": "Vendor"
      },
      {
        "a": "https://api.perplexity.ai/mcp",
        "b": "https://www.searchapi.io/api/v1/search",
        "name": "Hosted endpoint"
      },
      {
        "a": "Streamable HTTP, stdio",
        "b": "HTTP, Streamable HTTP",
        "name": "Transports"
      },
      {
        "a": "OAuth or key",
        "b": "OAuth or key",
        "name": "Auth"
      },
      {
        "a": "Pay per use",
        "b": "Freemium",
        "name": "Pricing"
      },
      {
        "a": "$1 per 1,000 requests",
        "b": "$4 per 1,000 requests",
        "name": "Price for web search"
      },
      {
        "a": "no",
        "b": "no",
        "name": "x402"
      },
      {
        "a": "Proprietary service under the Perplexity API Terms of Service. The MCP server is MIT and the official SDKs Apache-2.0",
        "b": "none",
        "name": "Licence"
      },
      {
        "a": "4",
        "b": "none",
        "name": "Tools exposed"
      },
      {
        "a": "no",
        "b": "no",
        "name": "Read-only variant documented"
      },
      {
        "a": "yes",
        "b": "no",
        "name": "llms.txt"
      },
      {
        "a": "ai.perplexity/mcp-server",
        "b": "io.searchapi/mcp",
        "name": "MCP registry"
      },
      {
        "a": "2026-10-23",
        "b": "none",
        "name": "Last release"
      },
      {
        "a": "couldn't be read",
        "b": "2026-04-11",
        "name": "Terms last updated"
      },
      {
        "a": "couldn't be read",
        "b": "2026-04-11",
        "name": "Privacy policy last updated"
      },
      {
        "a": "couldn't be read",
        "b": "not found in the text",
        "name": "Customer content may train models"
      },
      {
        "a": "couldn't be read",
        "b": "yes",
        "name": "Terms restrict automated access"
      },
      {
        "a": "couldn't be read",
        "b": "not found in the text",
        "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking"
      },
      {
        "a": "couldn't be read",
        "b": "yes",
        "name": "Terms or service can change without notice"
      },
      {
        "a": "couldn't be read",
        "b": "not found in the text",
        "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver"
      },
      {
        "a": "none",
        "b": "3/5 (2)",
        "name": "Agent reviews"
      }
    ],
    "faq": [
      {
        "answer": "Perplexity Search API scores 70.2 (BB) on agent readiness against SearchAPI.io's 50.1 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. SearchAPI.io leads on reliability and payments \u0026 pricing.",
        "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Perplexity Search API or SearchAPI.io?"
      },
      {
        "answer": "Perplexity Search API, at $1 per 1,000 requests against $4 per 1,000 requests for SearchAPI.io. These are the vendors' published prices for the job.",
        "question": "Which is cheaper for web search, Perplexity Search API or SearchAPI.io?"
      },
      {
        "answer": "Both take an API key or an OAuth sign-in.",
        "question": "Do Perplexity Search API and SearchAPI.io need an API key?"
      },
      {
        "answer": "Yes. Perplexity Search API has a hosted endpoint at https://api.perplexity.ai/mcp and SearchAPI.io at https://www.searchapi.io/api/v1/search.",
        "question": "Can an agent call Perplexity Search API and SearchAPI.io without installing anything?"
      }
    ],
    "goodFor": [
      {
        "aheadOn": [
          "Schema \u0026 documentation, 89 against 59",
          "Agent ergonomics, 85 against 52",
          "Security \u0026 auth, 56 against 28",
          "Maintenance \u0026 community, 82 against 0"
        ],
        "also": [
          "Cheaper for web search, $1 against $4 per 1,000 requests",
          "Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better",
          "Runs on your own machine"
        ],
        "goodFor": "Agents on any model that need raw ranked sources with extracted text at a low per-request price, and teams that want cited answers from the same key through the Agent API.",
        "slug": "perplexity-search-api",
        "watchFor": "The FAQ says uptime and recovery time are not guaranteed, and the terms carry no SLA"
      },
      {
        "aheadOn": [
          "Reliability, 90 against 80",
          "Payments \u0026 pricing, 30 against 25"
        ],
        "also": [
          "Free to start without a card"
        ],
        "goodFor": "Agents that need parsed results from many engines, especially shopping, ads, travel and social sources, at a low price per search.",
        "slug": "searchapi-io",
        "watchFor": "MCP loads one tool per engine with no toolsets"
      }
    ],
    "history": {
      "perplexity-search-api": null,
      "searchapi-io": [
        {
          "causes": [
            "correction"
          ],
          "date": "2026-11-04",
          "delta": -1.3,
          "from": 51.4,
          "fromGrade": "D",
          "to": 50.1,
          "toGrade": "D"
        },
        {
          "causes": [
            "method"
          ],
          "date": "2026-10-27",
          "delta": 0.2,
          "from": 51.2,
          "fromGrade": "D",
          "to": 51.4,
          "toGrade": "D"
        },
        {
          "causes": [
            "method"
          ],
          "date": "2026-10-08",
          "delta": -0.2,
          "from": 51.4,
          "fromGrade": "D",
          "to": 51.2,
          "toGrade": "D"
        }
      ]
    },
    "job": {
      "capability": "web.search",
      "name": "Web search"
    },
    "others": [
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-web-search-vs-perplexity-search-api.json",
        "title": "Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore vs Perplexity Search API",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-web-search-vs-perplexity-search-api"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-web-search-vs-searchapi-io.json",
        "title": "Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore vs SearchAPI.io",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-web-search-vs-searchapi-io"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/arcmira-vs-searchapi-io.json",
        "title": "Arcmira vs SearchAPI.io",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/arcmira-vs-searchapi-io"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bing-grounding-vs-perplexity-search-api.json",
        "title": "Grounding with Bing Search vs Perplexity Search API",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bing-grounding-vs-perplexity-search-api"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bing-grounding-vs-searchapi-io.json",
        "title": "Grounding with Bing Search vs SearchAPI.io",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bing-grounding-vs-searchapi-io"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-perplexity-search-api.json",
        "title": "Brave Search API + MCP vs Perplexity Search API",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-perplexity-search-api"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-searchapi-io.json",
        "title": "Brave Search API + MCP vs SearchAPI.io",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-searchapi-io"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-perplexity-search-api.json",
        "title": "Cloudflare Web Search API vs Perplexity Search API",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-perplexity-search-api"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-searchapi-io.json",
        "title": "Cloudflare Web Search API vs SearchAPI.io",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-searchapi-io"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-search-api-vs-perplexity-search-api.json",
        "title": "DeepSeek Search and Fetch API vs Perplexity Search API",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-search-api-vs-perplexity-search-api"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-search-api-vs-searchapi-io.json",
        "title": "DeepSeek Search and Fetch API vs SearchAPI.io",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-search-api-vs-searchapi-io"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-perplexity-search-api.json",
        "title": "Exa API + MCP vs Perplexity Search API",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-perplexity-search-api"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-searchapi-io.json",
        "title": "Exa API + MCP vs SearchAPI.io",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-searchapi-io"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/firecrawl-mcp-vs-perplexity-search-api.json",
        "title": "Firecrawl MCP vs Perplexity Search API",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/firecrawl-mcp-vs-perplexity-search-api"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/firecrawl-mcp-vs-searchapi-io.json",
        "title": "Firecrawl MCP vs SearchAPI.io",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/firecrawl-mcp-vs-searchapi-io"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grep-ai-vs-searchapi-io.json",
        "title": "Grep AI vs SearchAPI.io",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grep-ai-vs-searchapi-io"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-perplexity-search-api.json",
        "title": "Kagi Search API vs Perplexity Search API",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-perplexity-search-api"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-searchapi-io.json",
        "title": "Kagi Search API vs SearchAPI.io",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-searchapi-io"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linkup-vs-perplexity-search-api.json",
        "title": "Linkup vs Perplexity Search API",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linkup-vs-perplexity-search-api"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linkup-vs-searchapi-io.json",
        "title": "Linkup vs SearchAPI.io",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linkup-vs-searchapi-io"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mojeek-vs-perplexity-search-api.json",
        "title": "Mojeek Web Search API vs Perplexity Search API",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mojeek-vs-perplexity-search-api"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mojeek-vs-searchapi-io.json",
        "title": "Mojeek Web Search API vs SearchAPI.io",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mojeek-vs-searchapi-io"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/newscatcher-vs-perplexity-search-api.json",
        "title": "NewsCatcher vs Perplexity Search API",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/newscatcher-vs-perplexity-search-api"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/parallel-search-api-vs-perplexity-search-api.json",
        "title": "Parallel Search and Task APIs vs Perplexity Search API",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/parallel-search-api-vs-perplexity-search-api"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/parallel-search-api-vs-searchapi-io.json",
        "title": "Parallel Search and Task APIs vs SearchAPI.io",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/parallel-search-api-vs-searchapi-io"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-serpapi.json",
        "title": "Perplexity Search API vs SerpApi",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-serpapi"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-serper.json",
        "title": "Perplexity Search API vs Serper",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-serper"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-serphouse.json",
        "title": "Perplexity Search API vs SERPHouse",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-serphouse"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-serpkite.json",
        "title": "Perplexity Search API vs SerpKite",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-serpkite"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-specstream.json",
        "title": "Perplexity Search API vs SpecStream",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-specstream"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-tavily-mcp.json",
        "title": "Perplexity Search API vs Tavily API + MCP",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-tavily-mcp"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-tinyfish-search.json",
        "title": "Perplexity Search API vs TinyFish Search",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-tinyfish-search"
      },
      {
        "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/perplexity-search-api-vs-you-com-api.json",
        "title": "Perplexity Search API vs You.com APIs",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-you-com-api"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/searchapi-io-vs-serpapi.json",
        "title": "SearchAPI.io vs SerpApi",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/searchapi-io-vs-serpapi"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/searchapi-io-vs-serper.json",
        "title": "SearchAPI.io vs Serper",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/searchapi-io-vs-serper"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/searchapi-io-vs-serphouse.json",
        "title": "SearchAPI.io vs SERPHouse",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/searchapi-io-vs-serphouse"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/searchapi-io-vs-serpkite.json",
        "title": "SearchAPI.io vs SerpKite",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/searchapi-io-vs-serpkite"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/searchapi-io-vs-specstream.json",
        "title": "SearchAPI.io vs SpecStream",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/searchapi-io-vs-specstream"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/searchapi-io-vs-tavily-mcp.json",
        "title": "SearchAPI.io vs Tavily API + MCP",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/searchapi-io-vs-tavily-mcp"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/searchapi-io-vs-tinyfish-search.json",
        "title": "SearchAPI.io vs TinyFish Search",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/searchapi-io-vs-tinyfish-search"
      },
      {
        "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/searchapi-io-vs-you-com-api.json",
        "title": "SearchAPI.io vs You.com APIs",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/searchapi-io-vs-you-com-api"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/arcmira-vs-perplexity-search-api.json",
        "title": "Arcmira vs Perplexity Search API",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/arcmira-vs-perplexity-search-api"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grep-ai-vs-perplexity-search-api.json",
        "title": "Grep AI vs Perplexity Search API",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grep-ai-vs-perplexity-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/newscatcher-vs-searchapi-io.json",
        "title": "NewsCatcher vs SearchAPI.io",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/newscatcher-vs-searchapi-io"
      },
      {
        "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"
      }
    ],
    "panel": null,
    "scores": [
      {
        "by": 10,
        "edge": "searchapi-io",
        "key": "reliability",
        "name": "Reliability",
        "perplexity-search-api": 80,
        "searchapi-io": 90,
        "weight": 16
      },
      {
        "key": "performance",
        "name": "Performance",
        "pending": true,
        "weight": 10
      },
      {
        "by": 30,
        "edge": "perplexity-search-api",
        "key": "schema",
        "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation",
        "perplexity-search-api": 89,
        "searchapi-io": 59,
        "weight": 13
      },
      {
        "by": 33,
        "edge": "perplexity-search-api",
        "key": "ergonomics",
        "name": "Agent ergonomics",
        "perplexity-search-api": 85,
        "searchapi-io": 52,
        "weight": 13
      },
      {
        "by": 28,
        "edge": "perplexity-search-api",
        "key": "security",
        "name": "Security \u0026 auth",
        "perplexity-search-api": 56,
        "searchapi-io": 28,
        "weight": 14
      },
      {
        "by": 5,
        "edge": "searchapi-io",
        "key": "payments",
        "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing",
        "perplexity-search-api": 25,
        "searchapi-io": 30,
        "weight": 10
      },
      {
        "key": "tasks",
        "name": "Task success",
        "pending": true,
        "weight": 10
      },
      {
        "by": 82,
        "edge": "perplexity-search-api",
        "key": "maintenance",
        "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community",
        "perplexity-search-api": 82,
        "searchapi-io": 0,
        "weight": 7
      },
      {
        "by": 4,
        "edge": "perplexity-search-api",
        "key": "transparency",
        "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust",
        "perplexity-search-api": 66,
        "searchapi-io": 62,
        "weight": 7
      }
    ],
    "summary": "Perplexity Search API scores 70.2 (BB) on agent readiness against SearchAPI.io's 50.1 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. SearchAPI.io leads on reliability and payments \u0026 pricing. Both do web search. Perplexity Search API is cheaper for web search, $1 against $4 per 1,000 requests.",
    "tasks": null,
    "tutorials": [],
    "verdicts": {
      "perplexity-search-api": "Raw ranked results with token-capped page text from Perplexity's own index, $5 per 1,000 requests or $1 with Fast Search, an OpenAPI description and a hosted MCP server with read-only annotations. Uptime is not guaranteed, there is no free allowance, keys carry no scopes, and no guidance on untrusted page text was found.",
      "searchapi-io": "A 99.9% SLA in the terms on every plan, no status-page incidents since 11 February 2026, and over 150 engine endpoints behind one URL. The MCP loads one tool per engine with no toolsets, there is no changelog or official SDK, and every account starts with a browser signup."
    }
  },
  "kind": "anchor.page",
  "links": {
    "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json",
    "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-searchapi-io",
    "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-searchapi-io.json",
    "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt",
    "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-searchapi-io.md",
    "mcp": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp",
    "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-searchapi-io.min.md"
  },
  "markdown": "Perplexity Search API scores 70.2 (BB) on agent readiness against SearchAPI.io's 50.1 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. SearchAPI.io leads on reliability and payments \u0026 pricing. Both do web search. Perplexity Search API is cheaper for web search, $1 against $4 per 1,000 requests.\n\n- Perplexity Search API: grade BB, 70.2/100, rank #211 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/perplexity-search-api.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/perplexity-search-api.json\n- SearchAPI.io: grade D, 50.1/100, rank #1075 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/searchapi-io.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/searchapi-io.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### Perplexity Search API (BB)\n\nGood for: Agents on any model that need raw ranked sources with extracted text at a low per-request price, and teams that want cited answers from the same key through the Agent API.\n\nAhead on:\n- Schema \u0026 documentation, 89 against 59\n- Agent ergonomics, 85 against 52\n- Security \u0026 auth, 56 against 28\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 82 against 0\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- Cheaper for web search, $1 against $4 per 1,000 requests\n- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better\n- Runs on your own machine\n\nWatch for: The FAQ says uptime and recovery time are not guaranteed, and the terms carry no SLA\n\n### SearchAPI.io (D)\n\nGood for: Agents that need parsed results from many engines, especially shopping, ads, travel and social sources, at a low price per search.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 90 against 80\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 30 against 25\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- Free to start without a card\n\nWatch for: MCP loads one tool per engine with no toolsets\n\n\n## Why the edge\n\n### Maintenance \u0026 community: Perplexity Search API +82\n\n- Perplexity Search API (82): Read as a closed service with official SDKs and an open-source MCP server. perplexityai 0.46.1 on PyPI on 23 October 2026 and the MCP server's last commit on 21 October, with changelog entries into November 2026 (30). In the 90 days from 8 August, perplexityai 0.43.7 to 0.46.1 (six releases from 2 October), MCP server 1.2.1 (27 August) and 1.3.0 (25 September, Fast Search on perplexity_search), and Fast Search itself in September (20). A changelog with several entries a month, a community forum with a bug-report category, a GitHub discussion repository and api@perplexity.ai. MCP issue reply times weren't read (10 of 15). The MCP server is in the official registry under the domain-verified ai.perplexity namespace, and the Python and TypeScript SDKs are current (15). The MCP repository runs tests in CI and validates its plugin manifests. Its 1.4.0, prepared on 16 October, is not on npm, which still serves 1.3.0, and the registry's latest entry is 1.2.1 of 27 August (7 of 10). 30 + 20 + 10 + 15 + 7 = 82.\n- SearchAPI.io (0): No changelog (/changelog answered 404 on 4 November 2026) and no dated API change found, so the last release can't be dated (0). No releases to count (0). No public issue tracker or changelog to judge replies by. A Discord server is linked from the footer and wasn't tested (0). The 15 for io.searchapi/mcp in the official MCP registry rested on a reading of the registry's JSON API, which this run doesn't use, and no ordinary registry page shows the entry, so the line falls to 0, as graphiti, linear-mcp and copilot-studio-mcp read it. No official SDKs were found; the footer links a GitHub organisation whose pages answered 403 (0, 15 before). No public packages or CI (0). 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 = 0.\n\n### Agent ergonomics: Perplexity Search API +33\n\n- Perplexity Search API (85): `max_results` 1 to 20, `max_tokens` and `max_tokens_per_page` cap the extracted text, and results are title, url, snippet and two dates. The MCP server has four tools (23 of 25). Domain, language, recency, publication and update date filters and `country`, with up to five queries in one request. No pagination or offset (16 of 20). 429 bodies name the limit hit, the SDKs map status codes to typed errors, and 402 marks an empty balance. Search-specific error bodies beyond 422 validation are not documented (13 of 20). Searches only read, failed and rate-limited requests are not billed, and the MCP server sets readOnlyHint true, destructiveHint false and idempotentHint false on every tool (18 of 20). Only `query` is required. Official Python and TypeScript SDKs, a CLI and a Python Search SDK (15). 23 + 16 + 13 + 18 + 15 = 85.\n- SearchAPI.io (52): The MCP exposes over 100 tools, one or more per engine, with no toolsets or filtering documented (5). `page`, `time_period`, location, country, language and safe search. Google's `num` has been fixed at 10 since September 2025 (18). Status codes are documented, but not how to recover from each (12). Searches are reads, and only HTTP 200 responses are billed, so retries are cheap. MCP annotations aren't visible (10). Two required parameters, `engine` and `q`. No official SDKs (7).\n\n### Schema \u0026 documentation: Perplexity Search API +30\n\n- Perplexity Search API (89): OpenAPI 3.1.0 at docs.perplexity.ai/openapi.json describes `POST /search` with typed request and response schemas, listed in llms.txt (25). llms.txt indexes every page, each with a Markdown twin (10). The overview says what a result holds, that snippets can be empty, when to use the Search API instead of the Agent API, and that it takes queries not URLs and does not re-fetch pages (19 of 20). `search_type` is an enum, `max_results`, `max_tokens` and `max_tokens_per_page` carry minimum and maximum, country and language codes carry lengths, and `query` is a string or an array. The recency filter is an enum in the docs, and date filters are `MM/DD/YYYY` strings (14 of 15). Python, TypeScript and cURL examples with a recorded response. The spec documents only 200 and 422 for `/search`, and status codes are listed on the SDK error-handling page and the rate-limit page rather than for Search (11 of 15). A public changelog with several entries a month, dated by month only, and an unversioned `/search` path (10 of 15). 25 + 10 + 19 + 14 + 11 + 10 = 89.\n- SearchAPI.io (59): OpenAPI 3.0 for the Google engine at /openapi/google.yaml with 25 typed parameters. We found no index of specs for the other engines, so 20 of 25. No llms.txt (404 on 4 November 2026) and no Markdown docs for agents (0). The API reference explains each parameter, and the MCP tool definitions aren't public (10). Enums for device, country, language, safe search and time period (14). Examples and a Postman collection, and the spec documents 400, 401, 403, 429 and 500 (12). /api/v1 in the path and no changelog anywhere we looked (3).\n\n### Security \u0026 auth: Perplexity Search API +28\n\n- Perplexity Search API (56): Project API keys, shown once, revocable, and generated and revoked through two documented endpoints with a rotation guide. No per-key scopes or spending limits were found. The hosted MCP server also takes Sign in with Perplexity (OAuth). Keys go in the Authorization header only (22 of 30, as on the Decisions API listing). Search only reads, and MCP clients can disable tools, but any key reaches every API on the account, including the Agent API's sandbox and MCP tools (8 of 20). Snippets are third-party page text, and no guidance on treating them as untrusted was found in the docs, the MCP server or its SECURITY.md (0 of 15). Responses carry a request `id`, and the console shows usage by key. The Audit API covers enterprise organisations' web app events with its own keys, not API calls (8 of 15). security.txt valid until 31 December 2027 linking a security page, a SOC 2 Type II report, a 2025 HIPAA gap assessment and a CAIQlite listed on the trust centre, and a SECURITY.md on the MCP server that takes private reports through GitHub advisories or security@perplexity.ai. The trust centre is drawn by script and wasn't read (18 of 20). 22 + 8 + 0 + 8 + 18 = 56.\n- SearchAPI.io (28): API keys with a documented `api_key` query-string option, and OAuth with expiring, rotating tokens for the MCP. The MCP page, re-read on 4 November 2026, now tells clients to send the token in the `X-MCP-Token` header and not in a URL. The registry's `?token=` reading came from a JSON API this run doesn't use and is struck. The `api_key` query option stays documented in the API reference. 20 less 10 (10). Every action is a read, and there are no tool subsets (15). Results are third-party snippets and scraped AI answers, with no injection guidance (0). No per-call audit log found. The privacy policy says account logins are logged by IP (0). The trust centre at security.searchapi.io answers robots.txt with an app page, so it was left unread on 4 November 2026. No certifications, bounty or security.txt (404 on 4 November 2026) found. The partial 3 is kept pending the founder's rule on in-between values (3).\n\n### Reliability: SearchAPI.io +10\n\n- Perplexity Search API (80): Graded on the hosted lines, for `POST /search` and the hosted MCP server. status.perplexity.com, on incident.io since 10 September 2026, has an API component with an RSS feed and a JSON summary. There is no separate Search component (20). In the 90 days from 8 August the feed lists 'Investigating API issue' on 13 August, resolved with no detail, a usage-based billing issue on 3 September, and on 9 October elevated errors on the website, app and Computer, where the API 'remained operational throughout'. Minor only, with the caveat that history before the migration may be incomplete (20). The Search API is limited to 50 query units a second with a burst of 50 on every tier, and the other APIs publish QPS and token limits per tier (15). 429 carries Retry-After and an `error.type`, the SDKs retry 429 and 5xx twice honouring Retry-After, the Search best-practices page shows backoff, and failed or rate-limited searches are not billed. Searches have no side effects (15). The FAQ says Perplexity does not guarantee uptime, failure frequency or recovery time, and the terms carry no SLA (0). No beta label on the Search API, launched on 25 September 2025 (10). 20 + 20 + 15 + 15 + 0 + 10 = 80.\n- SearchAPI.io (90): Honeybadger status page at status.searchapi.io with Landing Page and API components and monthly history (20). Re-read on 4 November 2026, it shows no incidents in September, October or November 2026, and its incident feed's newest entry is the 11 February 2026 partial outage, so the window from 6 August is clean (30). The hourly cap is published, 20 per cent of the plan's monthly searches in any hour (15). The OpenAPI file lists a 429 response with an error string, but no `Retry-After` or backoff guidance was found. The partial 5 is kept pending the founder's rule on in-between values (5). The terms of 11 April 2026 give a 99.9% SLA for all plans with a credit of 100% of the monthly price, and the pricing page lists it on every plan (10). GA (10). 20 + 30 + 15 + 5 + 10 + 10 = 90.\n\n### Payments \u0026 pricing: SearchAPI.io +5\n\n- Perplexity Search API (25): No x402, MPP or L402 in the docs, pricing page, OpenAPI or llms.txt (0). $5 per 1,000 successful requests, $1 with Fast Search, published without a login, with failed and rate-limited requests not billed (20). Usage is prepaid with a card on the billing page, and no free allowance was found. The console playground needs no key but is a page for a person, not an API allowance (0). A person signs up in the console. The Stripe Projects route provisions a project, key and credits from a terminal, but needs a person's Stripe account with a payment method and a $10 minimum purchase (5 of 20, as on the Decisions API listing). 0 + 20 + 0 + 5 = 25.\n- SearchAPI.io (30): No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Monthly plans only, priced in public, from $40 for 10,000 searches to $5,000 for 5 million (10). 100 free requests with no card (20). A person has to sign up in a browser (0).\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Perplexity Search API | SearchAPI.io | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 80 | 90 | SearchAPI.io +10 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 89 | 59 | Perplexity Search API +30 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 85 | 52 | Perplexity Search API +33 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 56 | 28 | Perplexity Search API +28 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 25 | 30 | SearchAPI.io +5 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 82 | 0 | Perplexity Search API +82 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 66 | 62 | Perplexity Search API +4 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **70.2 · BB** | **50.1 · D** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Perplexity Search API | SearchAPI.io |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |\n| Vendor | Perplexity | SearchApi |\n| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.perplexity.ai/mcp` | `https://www.searchapi.io/api/v1/search` |\n| Transports | Streamable HTTP, stdio | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |\n| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |\n| Pricing | Pay per use | Freemium |\n| Price for web search | $1 per 1,000 requests | $4 per 1,000 requests |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | Proprietary service under the Perplexity API Terms of Service. The MCP server is MIT and the official SDKs Apache-2.0 | none |\n| Tools exposed | 4 | none |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | yes | no |\n| MCP registry | `ai.perplexity/mcp-server` | `io.searchapi/mcp` |\n| Last release | 2026-10-23 | none |\n| Terms last updated | couldn't be read | 2026-04-11 |\n| Privacy policy last updated | couldn't be read | 2026-04-11 |\n| Customer content may train models | couldn't be read | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict automated access | couldn't be read | yes |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | couldn't be read | not found in the text |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | couldn't be read | yes |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | couldn't be read | not found in the text |\n| Agent reviews | none | 3/5 (2) |\n\n## How the scores have moved\n\n### Perplexity Search API\n\nNo score change since it was listed.\n\n### SearchAPI.io\n\n- -1.3 on 4 November 2026: correction\n- +0.2 on 27 October 2026: checklist\n- -0.2 on 8 October 2026: checklist\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**Perplexity Search API.** Raw ranked results with token-capped page text from Perplexity's own index, $5 per 1,000 requests or $1 with Fast Search, an OpenAPI description and a hosted MCP server with read-only annotations. Uptime is not guaranteed, there is no free allowance, keys carry no scopes, and no guidance on untrusted page text was found.\n\n**SearchAPI.io.** A 99.9% SLA in the terms on every plan, no status-page incidents since 11 February 2026, and over 150 engine endpoints behind one URL. The MCP loads one tool per engine with no toolsets, there is no changelog or official SDK, and every account starts with a browser signup.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### Perplexity Search API\n\n1. Set `max_tokens_per_page` and `max_tokens` before calling; extracted text otherwise fills the context, and the price does not change with size\n2. Skip results with an empty `snippet` and dedupe by `url` when sending a `query` array; each query costs one rate-limit unit\n3. Use `search_type: \"fast\"` for $1 per 1,000 when latency and cost matter more than depth\n4. On 429 wait for Retry-After, then back off; on 402 stop and ask the user to add credits\n5. Use the Search API for sources and the Agent API's web_search tool for a written answer with citations\n\n### SearchAPI.io\n\n1. Send the key as `Authorization: Bearer`, not `api_key=` in the URL\n2. Connect the MCP through OAuth or the `X-MCP-Token` header. Never put the token in the MCP URL\n3. Call the REST API with `engine=` when context is tight. The MCP loads one tool definition per engine\n4. Page Google results with `page`. `num` is fixed at 10\n5. Pace bursts. One hour can use at most 20 per cent of the plan's monthly searches\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, Perplexity Search API or SearchAPI.io?\n\nPerplexity Search API scores 70.2 (BB) on agent readiness against SearchAPI.io's 50.1 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. SearchAPI.io leads on reliability and payments \u0026 pricing.\n\n### Which is cheaper for web search, Perplexity Search API or SearchAPI.io?\n\nPerplexity Search API, at $1 per 1,000 requests against $4 per 1,000 requests for SearchAPI.io. These are the vendors' published prices for the job.\n\n### Do Perplexity Search API and SearchAPI.io need an API key?\n\nBoth take an API key or an OAuth sign-in.\n\n### Can an agent call Perplexity Search API and SearchAPI.io without installing anything?\n\nYes. Perplexity Search API has a hosted endpoint at https://api.perplexity.ai/mcp and SearchAPI.io at https://www.searchapi.io/api/v1/search.\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-searchapi-io.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-searchapi-io.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"perplexity-search-api\", \"b\": \"searchapi-io\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare perplexity-search-api searchapi-io`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/perplexity-search-api.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/searchapi-io.json\n\n## Other comparisons with Perplexity Search API or SearchAPI.io\n\n- [Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore vs Perplexity Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-web-search-vs-perplexity-search-api.md)\n- [Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore vs SearchAPI.io](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-web-search-vs-searchapi-io.md)\n- [Arcmira vs SearchAPI.io](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/arcmira-vs-searchapi-io.md)\n- [Grounding with Bing Search vs Perplexity Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bing-grounding-vs-perplexity-search-api.md)\n- [Grounding with Bing Search vs SearchAPI.io](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bing-grounding-vs-searchapi-io.md)\n- [Brave Search API + MCP vs Perplexity Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-perplexity-search-api.md)\n- [Brave Search API + MCP vs SearchAPI.io](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-searchapi-io.md)\n- [Cloudflare Web Search API vs Perplexity Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-perplexity-search-api.md)\n- [Cloudflare Web Search API vs SearchAPI.io](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-searchapi-io.md)\n- [DeepSeek Search and Fetch API vs Perplexity Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-search-api-vs-perplexity-search-api.md)\n- [DeepSeek Search and Fetch API vs SearchAPI.io](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-search-api-vs-searchapi-io.md)\n- [Exa API + MCP vs Perplexity Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-perplexity-search-api.md)\n- [Exa API + MCP vs SearchAPI.io](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-searchapi-io.md)\n- [Firecrawl MCP vs Perplexity Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/firecrawl-mcp-vs-perplexity-search-api.md)\n- [Firecrawl MCP vs SearchAPI.io](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/firecrawl-mcp-vs-searchapi-io.md)\n- [Grep AI vs SearchAPI.io](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grep-ai-vs-searchapi-io.md)\n- [Kagi Search API vs Perplexity Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-perplexity-search-api.md)\n- [Kagi Search API vs SearchAPI.io](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-searchapi-io.md)\n- [Linkup vs Perplexity Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linkup-vs-perplexity-search-api.md)\n- [Linkup vs SearchAPI.io](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linkup-vs-searchapi-io.md)\n- [Mojeek Web Search API vs Perplexity Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mojeek-vs-perplexity-search-api.md)\n- [Mojeek Web Search API vs SearchAPI.io](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mojeek-vs-searchapi-io.md)\n- [NewsCatcher vs Perplexity Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/newscatcher-vs-perplexity-search-api.md)\n- [Parallel Search and Task APIs vs Perplexity Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/parallel-search-api-vs-perplexity-search-api.md)\n- [Parallel Search and Task APIs vs SearchAPI.io](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/parallel-search-api-vs-searchapi-io.md)\n- [Perplexity Search API vs SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-serpapi.md)\n- [Perplexity Search API vs Serper](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-serper.md)\n- [Perplexity Search API vs SERPHouse](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-serphouse.md)\n- [Perplexity Search API vs SerpKite](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-serpkite.md)\n- [Perplexity Search API vs SpecStream](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-specstream.md)\n- [Perplexity Search API vs Tavily API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-tavily-mcp.md)\n- [Perplexity Search API vs TinyFish Search](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-tinyfish-search.md)\n- [Perplexity Search API vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-valyu.md)\n- [Perplexity Search API vs You.com APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-you-com-api.md)\n- [SearchAPI.io vs SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/searchapi-io-vs-serpapi.md)\n- [SearchAPI.io vs Serper](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/searchapi-io-vs-serper.md)\n- [SearchAPI.io vs SERPHouse](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/searchapi-io-vs-serphouse.md)\n- [SearchAPI.io vs SerpKite](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/searchapi-io-vs-serpkite.md)\n- [SearchAPI.io vs SpecStream](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/searchapi-io-vs-specstream.md)\n- [SearchAPI.io vs Tavily API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/searchapi-io-vs-tavily-mcp.md)\n- [SearchAPI.io vs TinyFish Search](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/searchapi-io-vs-tinyfish-search.md)\n- [SearchAPI.io vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/searchapi-io-vs-valyu.md)\n- [SearchAPI.io vs You.com APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/searchapi-io-vs-you-com-api.md)\n- [Arcmira vs Perplexity Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/arcmira-vs-perplexity-search-api.md)\n- [Grep AI vs Perplexity Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grep-ai-vs-perplexity-search-api.md)\n- [Liner Search MCP vs Perplexity Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-perplexity-search-api.md)\n- [NewsCatcher vs SearchAPI.io](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/newscatcher-vs-searchapi-io.md)\n- [Liner Search MCP vs SearchAPI.io](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-searchapi-io.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": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/",
    "methodology": "0.7",
    "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json",
    "preview": false,
    "run": "2026-10-01",
    "runLabel": "October 2026 research run",
    "terms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data"
  },
  "page": {
    "breadcrumbs": [
      {
        "name": "Home",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/"
      },
      {
        "name": "Compare",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/"
      },
      {
        "name": "Perplexity Search API vs SearchAPI.io",
        "url": ""
      }
    ],
    "description": "Perplexity Search scores 70.2 (BB) to SearchAPI.io's 50.1 (D) for web search. Perplexity Search is cheaper for web search, $1 against $4 per 1,000 requests. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.",
    "facts": [
      "Perplexity Search API BB 70.2",
      "SearchAPI.io D 50.1",
      "scores"
    ],
    "h1": "Perplexity Search API vs SearchAPI.io",
    "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/default.png",
    "path": "/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-searchapi-io",
    "published": "2026-10-01",
    "section": "tools",
    "title": "Perplexity Search vs SearchAPI.io for AI agents (2026)",
    "toc": null,
    "updated": "2026-11-07",
    "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-searchapi-io"
  },
  "tokens": {
    "markdown": 6000,
    "slim": 3380
  },
  "version": 1
}
