{ "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 SerpApi's 63.5 (B), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. SerpApi leads on payments \u0026 pricing and transparency \u0026 trust.", "b": { "slug": "serpapi", "name": "SerpApi", "vendor": "SerpApi", "vendorUrl": "https://serpapi.com", "kind": "http-api", "category": "search", "summary": "Scrapes live results pages from Google, Bing, Baidu, DuckDuckGo, Yandex, Amazon, YouTube and about 20 other engines and returns them as parsed JSON or markdown.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/serpapi", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/serpapi.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/serpapi.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/serpapi.json", "dns": "serpapi.grade.anchorterminal.com", "transports": [ "http", "streamable-http", "stdio" ], "remoteUrl": "https://serpapi.com/search", "packages": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "serpapi" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "serpapi" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "google-search-results" } ], "auth": "api-key", "authNotes": "API key as the `api_key` query parameter on every request. The hosted MCP takes `Authorization: Bearer \u003ckey\u003e` or the key in the URL path (`/\u003ckey\u003e/mcp`) for clients that can't set headers.", "pricing": "freemium", "pricingNotes": "Free plan 250 searches a month (50 an hour). Starter $25 a month for 1,000 searches, Developer $75 for 5,000, Production $150 for 15,000, Big Data $275 for 30,000, Searcher $725 for 100,000, then Cloud tiers from $3,750 for 1M. Only successful searches count, cached and failed ones are free, and a response with 100 results is still one search. Ludicrous Speed doubles the price, Ludicrous Speed Max quadruples it (https://serpapi.com/pricing).", "priceSummary": "$25 / 1k req", "where": "both", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402 in llms.txt, pricing or integrations pages (checked 2026-09-30).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": 3, "popularity": { "githubStars": 175, "npmWeekly": 168618, "pypiWeekly": 104227, "asOf": "2026-09-30" }, "docsUrl": "https://serpapi.com/search-api", "llmsTxt": "https://serpapi.com/llms.txt", "registryName": "io.github.serpapi/serpapi-mcp", "capabilities": [ "web.search", "search.serp", "search.news", "search.images" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "freemium", "mcp", "llms-txt", "python", "typescript", "closed-source" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-30", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 63.5, "grade": "B", "agentReady": false, "rank": 512, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1510, "categoryRank": 16, "methodology": "0.7", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 88, "maintenance": 82, "payments": 30, "reliability": 65, "schema": 67, "security": 40, "transparency": 84 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-11-02" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "Over 100 engines behind one GET URL, with `json_restrictor` field selection and `output=md`. The status page posted an outage across all APIs on 10 September and a degradation of the main Google APIs from 6 October that was still open on 2 November.", "bestFor": "An agent that needs what a specific engine shows (Google verticals, Maps, Shopping, Flights, Scholar, YouTube, Amazon) parsed to JSON.", "strengths": [ "Over 100 engines behind one GET URL, with `json_restrictor` field selection and `output=md`", "Failed, errored and cached searches aren't billed, and the cache lasts 1 hour", "Terms promise a 99.95% SLA on all plans", "SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and ISO 27701 listed on the security page, 31-day data retention stated in the terms", "Hosted MCP server in the official registry, with read-only tool annotations" ], "weaknesses": [ "35 incidents on the status page between 4 August and 2 November 2026, including an outage across all APIs on 10 September", "REST auth is the `api_key` query parameter, with no header option documented", "No OpenAPI spec, and the MCP `search` tool takes a free-form `params` object", "Monthly plans only, from $25 for 1,000 searches, with no pay-per-call or machine payment", "No prompt-injection guidance for the snippets it returns" ], "agentNotes": [ "Use the MCP with `Authorization: Bearer`, not the key-in-path URL the README leads with", "Read `serpapi://engines/\u003cengine\u003e` before calling a new engine, since `params` isn't typed", "Add `json_restrictor` or `output=md` to cut tokens, and `mode: compact` on the MCP", "A 429 means either the hourly limit or an empty balance. Check the account before retrying", "Repeat a search within the hour and the cached copy is free. Set `no_cache=true` only when freshness matters" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 2, "avgRating": 3.5, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "B", "methodology": "0.7", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 63.5 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 88, "maintenance": 82, "payments": 30, "reliability": 65, "schema": 67, "security": 40, "transparency": 70 }, "provenanceScore": 98, "checked": { "categories": { "ergonomics": "2026-11-02", "maintenance": "2026-11-02", "payments": "2026-11-02", "reliability": "2026-11-02", "schema": "2026-11-02", "security": "2026-11-02", "transparency": "2026-11-02" }, "last": "2026-11-02", "lastMoved": "2026-11-02", "oldest": "2026-11-02", "stale": false, "staleAfterDays": 90 } }, "connect": { "http": "curl -G https://serpapi.com/search --data-urlencode \"q=coffee\" -d engine=google -d api_key=$SERPAPI_API_KEY", "claudeCode": "claude mcp add --transport http serpapi https://mcp.serpapi.com/mcp --header \"Authorization: Bearer $SERPAPI_API_KEY\"", "config": { "mcpServers": { "serpapi": { "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer ${SERPAPI_API_KEY}" }, "type": "http", "url": "https://mcp.serpapi.com/mcp" } } } }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/web.search", "tool": "https://letme.dev/serpapi" }, "area": "web-data", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "Starter plan, per 1,000 searches", "unit": "1k-requests", "usd": 25, "note": "1,000 searches for $25 a month" }, { "item": "Starter plan", "unit": "month", "usd": 25, "note": "1,000 searches" }, { "item": "Developer plan", "unit": "month", "usd": 75, "note": "5,000 searches" }, { "item": "Production plan", "unit": "month", "usd": 150, "note": "15,000 searches, includes Legal Shield" }, { "item": "Big Data plan", "unit": "month", "usd": 275, "note": "30,000 searches" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "SerpApi, LLC", "domain": "serpapi.com", "domainRegistered": "2016-07-27", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://serpapi.com/legal", "privacy": "https://serpapi.com/legal", "statusPage": "https://status.serpapi.com", "changelog": "https://serpapi.com/release-notes", "securityTxt": "valid", "checked": "2026-09-30", "notes": [ "Terms and privacy policy share one page. The entity is a Texas LLC at 1632 S 1st St, Austin" ], "score": 98 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/serpapi.json", "live": { "slug": "serpapi", "probe": { "target": "https://serpapi.com/search", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-11-07T22:56:20.649976215Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 401, "lastMs": 136, "lastNote": "asks for credentials", "authRequired": true, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 128, "p95ms24h": 206, "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": 241 }, { "date": "2026-11-07", "probes": 233, "ok": 233 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.serpapi.com", "indicator": "minor", "summary": "Partially Degraded Service", "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T22:57:44.221088639Z" }, "versions": [ { "registry": "mcp-registry", "name": "io.github.serpapi/serpapi-mcp", "version": "2.2.0", "seenAt": "2026-11-07T18:16:28.95801333Z" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "serpapi", "version": "2.2.1", "seenAt": "2026-11-07T00:04:52.187916313Z" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "google-search-results", "version": "2.4.2", "released": "2023-03-10", "seenAt": "2026-11-07T00:04:52.786371506Z" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "serpapi", "version": "1.2.0", "released": "2026-10-30", "seenAt": "2026-11-07T00:04:52.581829374Z" } ], "npmWeekly": 157770, "pypiWeekly": 111267, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://serpapi.com/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "valid", "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T16:01:55.994757327Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://serpapi.com/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T15:33:54.117469983Z" }, "domain": { "domain": "serpapi.com", "registered": "2016-07-27", "source": "https://rdap.verisign.com/com/v1/domain/serpapi.com", "checkedAt": "2026-11-01T14:27:22.977220583Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://serpapi.com/release-notes", "kind": "changelog", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:19:41.886949784Z", "changedAt": "2026-11-07T14:19:41.886949784Z", "fingerprint": "4c04e1177e9e" }, { "url": "https://serpapi.com/ebay-search-api", "kind": "deprecations", "status": 304, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:19:35.829778138Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-30T05:48:12.692533267Z", "fingerprint": "321bdf216d0c" }, { "url": "https://serpapi.com/pricing", "kind": "pricing", "status": 304, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:19:40.387016376Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "30dfa765089d" }, { "url": "https://serpapi.com/legal", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:19:37.855693364Z", "changedAt": "2026-11-07T14:19:37.855693364Z", "fingerprint": "a7a9d55bdb87" } ], "mcpTools": { "url": "https://mcp.serpapi.com/mcp", "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T01:47:41.410957591Z", "status": "ok", "protocol": "2026-07-28", "tools": [ { "name": "search_dashboard", "title": "SerpApi search (dashboard)", "description": "Interactive dashboard variant of `search`: returns summary metrics, a source breakdown chart, and a results table with a click-to-expand detail panel, all rendered in the conversation. Same params as `search`. Use for a richer visual overview of a query's results. Automatically selects an engine-specific dashboard when available (e.g. google_flights gets price intelligence charting).", "inputSchema": { "additionalProperties": false, "properties": { "params": { "anyOf": [ { "additionalProperties": true, "type": "object" }, { "type": "null" } ], "default": null } }, "type": "object" }, "annotations": { "destructiveHint": false, "idempotentHint": false, "openWorldHint": true, "readOnlyHint": true, "title": "SerpApi search (dashboard)" } }, { "name": "search_table", "title": "SerpApi search (table)", "description": "Interactive UI variant of `search`: returns organic results as a sortable, searchable table rendered in the conversation. Same params as `search`. Use when the host supports MCP Apps and the user wants to browse results visually rather than read JSON.", "inputSchema": { "additionalProperties": false, "properties": { "params": { "anyOf": [ { "additionalProperties": true, "type": "object" }, { "type": "null" } ], "default": null } }, "type": "object" }, "annotations": { "destructiveHint": false, "idempotentHint": false, "openWorldHint": true, "readOnlyHint": true, "title": "SerpApi search (table)" } }, { "name": "extract", "title": "SerpApi extract", "description": "Extract content from a public http(s) URL, discover site URLs, or crawl pages.\n\nAPI options go in params: url is required; params.mode is scrape (default), map, or crawl. See serpapi://engines/extract for all options.\n\nTop-level mode controls the response:\n- complete (default): full JSON.\n- compact: native Markdown by default.\n\nparams.output selects the format and overrides either default:\n- \"md\": return native Markdown unchanged in either response mode.\n- \"json\": return JSON, with filtering determined by the response mode.\n\nCompact JSON removes metadata. For scrape responses containing markdown, it also keeps only markdown and any error field. include_markdown=false or an explicit json_restrictor skips this extra filtering. Map/crawl and responses without markdown keep their remaining fields. Use complete with output=\"json\" for full JSON.\n\nCrawl max_pages defaults to 10 (maximum 100). Each successfully extracted, uncached page consumes one credit.\n\nExamples:\nFull scrape JSON: {\"params\":{\"url\":\"https://example.com\"},\"mode\":\"complete\"}\nScrape Markdown: {\"params\":{\"url\":\"https://example.com\"},\"mode\":\"compact\"}\nMap URLs as JSON: {\"params\":{\"url\":\"https://example.com\",\"mode\":\"map\"},\"mode\":\"complete\"}\nCrawl pages as Markdown: {\"params\":{\"url\":\"https://example.com\",\"mode\":\"crawl\",\"max_pages\":2},\"mode\":\"compact\"}\n", "inputSchema": { "additionalProperties": false, "properties": { "mode": { "default": "complete", "type": "string" }, "params": { "anyOf": [ { "additionalProperties": true, "type": "object" }, { "type": "null" } ], "default": null } }, "type": "object" }, "outputSchema": { "properties": { "result": { "type": "string" } }, "required": [ "result" ], "type": "object", "x-fastmcp-wrap-result": true }, "annotations": { "destructiveHint": false, "idempotentHint": false, "openWorldHint": true, "readOnlyHint": true, "title": "SerpApi extract" } }, { "name": "search", "title": "SerpApi search", "description": "Universal search tool supporting all SerpApi engines and result types.\n\n When to use:\n - Any query needing live, structured SERP data: web results, news, product listings, job postings, local businesses, flight/hotel prices, video results, images, stock/weather cards, knowledge graph entities.\n \n Engine discovery via MCP resources:\n - serpapi://engines lists all engines supported by this tool.\n - serpapi://engines/\u003cengine\u003e provides engine-specific parameters and supported options.\n - Example: serpapi://engines/google_news\n\n Input schema:\n params: JSON object containing SerpApi engine parameters.\n Common parameters:\n - q: Search query. Required for most engines.\n - engine: SerpApi engine name. Defaults to \"google_light\".\n - location: Optional geographic location for localized results.\n - output: Optional response format. Omit for JSON (default), or set to \"md\" for Markdown.\n \n Engine-specific parameters are available via MCP resources:\n - serpapi://engines lists all supported engines.\n - serpapi://engines/\u003cengine\u003e provides parameters and options for one engine.\n \n mode: Response mode. Defaults to \"complete\".\n - \"complete\": Return the full SerpApi response.\n - \"compact\": Remove metadata fields from JSON responses. Markdown is returned unchanged.\n \n Output schema:\n structuredContent.result contains the response string: serialized JSON or unchanged Markdown.\n The same string is included in text content. Tool failures preserve this wrapper and set isError to true.\n\n Guided search:\n Searches can request missing engine parameters from supporting clients using the engine catalog and engine-specific rules.\n Flights collect airports and dates, hotels collect the destination and stay dates, and directions collect missing endpoints.\n Other clients receive a missing-parameter error. Cancellation does not run a search.\n\n Examples:\n Weather: {\"params\": {\"q\": \"weather in London\", \"engine\": \"google\"}, \"mode\": \"complete\"}\n Stock: {\"params\": {\"q\": \"AAPL stock\", \"engine\": \"google\"}, \"mode\": \"complete\"}\n General: {\"params\": {\"q\": \"coffee shops\", \"engine\": \"google_light\", \"location\": \"Austin, TX\"}, \"mode\": \"complete\"}\n Compact: {\"params\": {\"q\": \"news\"}, \"mode\": \"compact\"}\n Markdown: {\"params\": {\"q\": \"news\", \"output\": \"md\"}}\n\n Supported engines include (not limited to):\n - google\n - google_light\n - google_flights\n - google_hotels\n - google_images\n - google_news\n - google_local\n - google_shopping\n - google_jobs\n - bing\n - yahoo\n - duckduckgo\n - youtube_search\n - baidu\n - ebay\n ", "inputSchema": { "additionalProperties": false, "properties": { "mode": { "default": "complete", "description": "Response mode (default: \"complete\")\n- \"complete\": Returns the full response\n- \"compact\": Removes metadata fields from JSON responses; Markdown is unchanged", "type": "string" }, "params": { "anyOf": [ { "additionalProperties": true, "type": "object" }, { "type": "null" } ], "default": null, "description": "Dictionary of SerpApi engine-specific parameters. Common parameters include:\n- q: Search query (required for most engines)\n- engine: Search engine to use (default: \"google_light\")\n- location: Geographic location filter\n- output: Response format; omit for JSON or set to \"md\" for Markdown" } }, "type": "object" }, "outputSchema": { "properties": { "result": { "type": "string" } }, "required": [ "result" ], "type": "object", "x-fastmcp-wrap-result": true }, "annotations": { "destructiveHint": false, "idempotentHint": false, "openWorldHint": true, "readOnlyHint": true, "title": "SerpApi search" } } ], "schemaTokens": 1917, "changedAt": "2026-11-07T01:47:41.410957591Z", "check": { "checker": "anchor-check/1.0", "totalTokens": 1917, "counts": { "error": 0, "note": 1, "warn": 4 }, "findings": [ { "rule": "TC07", "severity": "warn", "tool": "search", "message": "the description is about 720 tokens", "fix": "Keep the description to what a model needs to choose and call the tool; move the manual to a resource or the docs." }, { "rule": "TC11", "severity": "warn", "tool": "extract", "message": "none of its 2 parameters has a description", "fix": "Describe each one: format, units, an example, and what happens when it's left out." }, { "rule": "TC11", "severity": "warn", "tool": "search_dashboard", "message": "its one parameter, params, has no description", "fix": "Describe each one: format, units, an example, and what happens when it's left out." }, { "rule": "TC11", "severity": "warn", "tool": "search_table", "message": "its one parameter, params, has no description", "fix": "Describe each one: format, units, an example, and what happens when it's left out." }, { "rule": "TC24", "severity": "note", "message": "2 of 4 tools have no outputSchema", "fix": "Declare outputSchema for tools that return structured data, and return structuredContent that matches it." } ] } }, "updatedAt": "2026-11-07T22:57:44.221088639Z" } }, "edges": [ { "by": 22, "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": "No OpenAPI or similar spec for the REST API. The MCP server publishes per-engine parameter lists as resources (`serpapi://engines/\u003cengine\u003e`), which we count as a partial contract (10). llms.txt, `pricing.md` and Markdown twins of the docs pages, such as search-api.md (10). Each engine page describes every parameter, and the MCP tool says when to use it but not when not to (14). Parameters list allowed values on the engine pages, but the MCP `search` tool takes one free-form `params` object (7). Examples on every engine page, and a status-and-errors page documents 400, 401, 403, 404, 410, 429 and 5xx with a JSON `error` field (14). Dated release notes with several entries a week, though the API itself isn't versioned (12)." }, "scores": { "a": 89, "b": 67 } }, { "by": 18, "category": "transparency", "leads": "serpapi", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "reasons": { "a": "Closed service under terms naming Perplexity AI, Inc. and California law. The MCP server is MIT and the SDKs Apache-2.0 (18 of 30). The terms and DPA say Customer Content and personal data don't train Perplexity's models, the DPA deletes personal data within 30 days of the service ending, and the Privacy and Security page says retention varies by API and zero data retention is not the default. The DPA also says Perplexity Search may follow different data terms, which weren't found, and no retention period for search queries is stated (15 of 30). Sonar Chat Completions support ended on 27 September 2026 with a migration guide and requests reformulated rather than refused, and sonar-reasoning was removed on 15 December 2025 with a named replacement. Notices are dated by month and there is no standing notice period beyond the terms' 30 days for termination (10 of 20). A sub-processor list on the trust centre, which is drawn by script and wasn't read, ten business days' notice of new non-model subprocessors, and SCCs for EU and UK transfers. No data location is stated (8 of 20). 18 + 15 + 10 + 8 = 51.", "b": "The API is closed under one terms-and-privacy page, and the MCP server is MIT (18). The legal page and the security page agree that search data is deleted after 31 days, ZeroTrace mode (an enterprise parameter) stores nothing, and a DPA is available on request (26). Deprecations show up as dated release notes, such as eBay's Sold and Completed filters on 28 September 2026, but there's no notice policy, and the terms allow termination without notice (8). Named subprocessors (AWS, Cloudflare, Wasabi, Stripe, Intercom and others) and US hosting with Standard Contractual Clauses (18)." }, "scores": { "a": 66, "b": 84 } }, { "by": 16, "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": "One account key with no scopes found (10), documented as the `api_key` query parameter on every REST call, and the MCP README leads with the key in the URL path. The hosted MCP also accepts `Authorization: Bearer` (minus 10). Search is read-only and the MCP tool carries read-only annotations, but there's no least-privilege key (15). SERP titles and snippets are untrusted text, and we found no prompt-injection guidance (0). The Search Archive API returns any search from the last 31 days, and the security page says audit logs cover all critical parts of the service (10). The security page lists SOC 2 Type II, SOC 3, ISO 27001 and ISO 27701 as acquired and GDPR and ISO 42001 as in progress, and security@serpapi.com takes reports. serpapi.com/security.txt is valid (expires 1 January 2027), though the /.well-known/ path answers with the HTML security page. No bug bounty or public advisories found (15)." }, "scores": { "a": 56, "b": 40 } }, { "by": 15, "category": "reliability", "leads": "perplexity-search-api", "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": "Atlassian Statuspage at status.serpapi.com, with per-API components and incident history on its history pages and Atom feed (20). Between 4 August and 2 November the history lists 35 incidents active in the window. Two were wide failures that also list the general API component, each over an hour. From 7 to 9 August an outage across 37 Google and Google Light APIs, including Search, left 'a large number of requests' failing or timing out. On 10 September the vendor posted a 'service outage across all of our APIs', with degradation until 17 September. From 6 October a degradation of 15 Google and Google Light APIs, including Search, which the vendor called a 'partial service outage affecting multiple APIs', was still open on 2 November. Like the single-engine incidents, it hit part of the product and counts as minor. Two majors (5). Hourly throughput published per plan, 50 an hour free to 640,000 on Cloud 54M (15). 429 is documented as either the hourly limit or an empty search balance, with no Retry-After or backoff guidance found (5). The terms (updated 27 August 2026) promise a 99.95% SLA on all plans with credits up to 100% (10). GA (10). 20 + 5 + 15 + 5 + 10 + 10 = 65." }, "scores": { "a": 80, "b": 65 } }, { "by": 5, "category": "payments", "leads": "serpapi", "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 on the pricing page or llms.txt (0). Monthly plans are public with search counts, but there's no pay-per-search option (10). Free plan of 250 searches a month, no card (20). An account needs a browser signup (0)." }, "scores": { "a": 25, "b": 30 } } ], "facts": [ { "a": "HTTP API", "b": "HTTP API", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Perplexity", "b": "SerpApi", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "https://api.perplexity.ai/mcp", "b": "https://serpapi.com/search", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "Streamable HTTP, stdio", "b": "HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "OAuth or key", "b": "API key", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Pay per use", "b": "Freemium", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "$1 per 1,000 requests", "b": "$25 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": "3", "name": "Tools exposed" }, { "a": "no", "b": "yes", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "ai.perplexity/mcp-server", "b": "io.github.serpapi/serpapi-mcp", "name": "MCP registry" }, { "a": "2026-10-23", "b": "2026-10-30", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "2026-08-27", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "2026-08-27", "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": "not found in the text", "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": "175 stars, 169k npm/wk, 104k PyPI/wk", "name": "Popularity" }, { "a": "none", "b": "3.5/5 (2)", "name": "Agent reviews" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "Perplexity Search API scores 70.2 (BB) on agent readiness against SerpApi's 63.5 (B), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. SerpApi leads on payments \u0026 pricing and transparency \u0026 trust.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Perplexity Search API or SerpApi?" }, { "answer": "Perplexity Search API, at $1 per 1,000 requests against $25 per 1,000 requests for SerpApi. These are the vendors' published prices for the job.", "question": "Which is cheaper for web search, Perplexity Search API or SerpApi?" }, { "answer": "Perplexity Search API takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. SerpApi needs an API key.", "question": "Do Perplexity Search API and SerpApi need an API key?" }, { "answer": "Yes. Perplexity Search API has a hosted endpoint at https://api.perplexity.ai/mcp and SerpApi at https://serpapi.com/search.", "question": "Can an agent call Perplexity Search API and SerpApi without installing anything?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 80 against 65", "Schema \u0026 documentation, 89 against 67", "Security \u0026 auth, 56 against 40" ], "also": [ "Cheaper for web search, $1 against $25 per 1,000 requests", "Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better" ], "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": [ "Payments \u0026 pricing, 30 against 25", "Transparency \u0026 trust, 84 against 66" ], "also": null, "goodFor": "An agent that needs what a specific engine shows (Google verticals, Maps, Shopping, Flights, Scholar, YouTube, Amazon) parsed to JSON.", "slug": "serpapi", "watchFor": "35 incidents on the status page between 4 August and 2 November 2026, including an outage across all APIs on 10 September" } ], "history": { "perplexity-search-api": null, "serpapi": [ { "causes": [ "correction" ], "date": "2026-11-02", "delta": 1, "from": 62.5, "fromGrade": "B", "to": 63.5, "toGrade": "B" }, { "causes": [ "method" ], "date": "2026-10-08", "delta": -0.1, "from": 62.6, "fromGrade": "B", "to": 62.5, "toGrade": "B" } ] }, "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-serpapi.json", "title": "Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore vs SerpApi", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-web-search-vs-serpapi" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/arcmira-vs-serpapi.json", "title": "Arcmira vs SerpApi", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/arcmira-vs-serpapi" }, { "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-serpapi.json", "title": "Grounding with Bing Search vs SerpApi", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bing-grounding-vs-serpapi" }, { "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-serpapi.json", "title": "Brave Search API + MCP vs SerpApi", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-serpapi" }, { "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-serpapi.json", "title": "Cloudflare Web Search API vs SerpApi", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-serpapi" }, { "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-serpapi.json", "title": "DeepSeek Search and Fetch API vs SerpApi", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-search-api-vs-serpapi" }, { "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-serpapi.json", "title": "Exa API + MCP vs SerpApi", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-serpapi" }, { "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-serpapi.json", "title": "Firecrawl MCP vs SerpApi", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/firecrawl-mcp-vs-serpapi" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grep-ai-vs-serpapi.json", "title": "Grep AI vs SerpApi", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grep-ai-vs-serpapi" }, { "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-serpapi.json", "title": "Kagi Search API vs SerpApi", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-serpapi" }, { "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-serpapi.json", "title": "Linkup vs SerpApi", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linkup-vs-serpapi" }, { "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-serpapi.json", "title": "Mojeek Web Search API vs SerpApi", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mojeek-vs-serpapi" }, { "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-serpapi.json", "title": "Parallel Search and Task APIs vs SerpApi", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/parallel-search-api-vs-serpapi" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-searchapi-io.json", "title": "Perplexity Search API vs SearchAPI.io", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-searchapi-io" }, { "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/serpapi-vs-serper.json", "title": "SerpApi vs Serper", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpapi-vs-serper" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpapi-vs-serphouse.json", "title": "SerpApi vs SERPHouse", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpapi-vs-serphouse" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpapi-vs-serpkite.json", "title": "SerpApi vs SerpKite", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpapi-vs-serpkite" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpapi-vs-specstream.json", "title": "SerpApi vs SpecStream", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpapi-vs-specstream" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpapi-vs-tavily-mcp.json", "title": "SerpApi vs Tavily API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpapi-vs-tavily-mcp" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpapi-vs-tinyfish-search.json", "title": "SerpApi vs TinyFish Search", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpapi-vs-tinyfish-search" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpapi-vs-valyu.json", "title": "SerpApi vs Valyu", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpapi-vs-valyu" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpapi-vs-you-com-api.json", "title": "SerpApi vs You.com APIs", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpapi-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-serpapi.json", "title": "NewsCatcher vs SerpApi", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/newscatcher-vs-serpapi" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-serpapi.json", "title": "Liner Search MCP vs SerpApi", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-serpapi" } ], "panel": null, "scores": [ { "by": 15, "edge": "perplexity-search-api", "key": "reliability", "name": "Reliability", "perplexity-search-api": 80, "serpapi": 65, "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 22, "edge": "perplexity-search-api", "key": "schema", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "perplexity-search-api": 89, "serpapi": 67, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 3, "edge": "serpapi", "key": "ergonomics", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "perplexity-search-api": 85, "serpapi": 88, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 16, "edge": "perplexity-search-api", "key": "security", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "perplexity-search-api": 56, "serpapi": 40, "weight": 14 }, { "by": 5, "edge": "serpapi", "key": "payments", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "perplexity-search-api": 25, "serpapi": 30, "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 0, "edge": "", "key": "maintenance", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "perplexity-search-api": 82, "serpapi": 82, "weight": 7 }, { "by": 18, "edge": "serpapi", "key": "transparency", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "perplexity-search-api": 66, "serpapi": 84, "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "Perplexity Search API scores 70.2 (BB) on agent readiness against SerpApi's 63.5 (B), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. SerpApi leads on payments \u0026 pricing and transparency \u0026 trust. Both do web search. Perplexity Search API is cheaper for web search, $1 against $25 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.", "serpapi": "Over 100 engines behind one GET URL, with `json_restrictor` field selection and `output=md`. The status page posted an outage across all APIs on 10 September and a degradation of the main Google APIs from 6 October that was still open on 2 November." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-serpapi", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-serpapi.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-serpapi.md", "mcp": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-serpapi.min.md" }, "markdown": "Perplexity Search API scores 70.2 (BB) on agent readiness against SerpApi's 63.5 (B), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. SerpApi leads on payments \u0026 pricing and transparency \u0026 trust. Both do web search. Perplexity Search API is cheaper for web search, $1 against $25 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- SerpApi: grade B, 63.5/100, rank #512 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/serpapi.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/serpapi.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- Reliability, 80 against 65\n- Schema \u0026 documentation, 89 against 67\n- Security \u0026 auth, 56 against 40\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- Cheaper for web search, $1 against $25 per 1,000 requests\n- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better\n\nWatch for: The FAQ says uptime and recovery time are not guaranteed, and the terms carry no SLA\n\n### SerpApi (B)\n\nGood for: An agent that needs what a specific engine shows (Google verticals, Maps, Shopping, Flights, Scholar, YouTube, Amazon) parsed to JSON.\n\nAhead on:\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 30 against 25\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 84 against 66\n\nWatch for: 35 incidents on the status page between 4 August and 2 November 2026, including an outage across all APIs on 10 September\n\n\n## Why the edge\n\n### Schema \u0026 documentation: Perplexity Search API +22\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- SerpApi (67): No OpenAPI or similar spec for the REST API. The MCP server publishes per-engine parameter lists as resources (`serpapi://engines/\u003cengine\u003e`), which we count as a partial contract (10). llms.txt, `pricing.md` and Markdown twins of the docs pages, such as search-api.md (10). Each engine page describes every parameter, and the MCP tool says when to use it but not when not to (14). Parameters list allowed values on the engine pages, but the MCP `search` tool takes one free-form `params` object (7). Examples on every engine page, and a status-and-errors page documents 400, 401, 403, 404, 410, 429 and 5xx with a JSON `error` field (14). Dated release notes with several entries a week, though the API itself isn't versioned (12).\n\n### Transparency \u0026 trust: SerpApi +18\n\n- Perplexity Search API (66): Closed service under terms naming Perplexity AI, Inc. and California law. The MCP server is MIT and the SDKs Apache-2.0 (18 of 30). The terms and DPA say Customer Content and personal data don't train Perplexity's models, the DPA deletes personal data within 30 days of the service ending, and the Privacy and Security page says retention varies by API and zero data retention is not the default. The DPA also says Perplexity Search may follow different data terms, which weren't found, and no retention period for search queries is stated (15 of 30). Sonar Chat Completions support ended on 27 September 2026 with a migration guide and requests reformulated rather than refused, and sonar-reasoning was removed on 15 December 2025 with a named replacement. Notices are dated by month and there is no standing notice period beyond the terms' 30 days for termination (10 of 20). A sub-processor list on the trust centre, which is drawn by script and wasn't read, ten business days' notice of new non-model subprocessors, and SCCs for EU and UK transfers. No data location is stated (8 of 20). 18 + 15 + 10 + 8 = 51.\n- SerpApi (84): The API is closed under one terms-and-privacy page, and the MCP server is MIT (18). The legal page and the security page agree that search data is deleted after 31 days, ZeroTrace mode (an enterprise parameter) stores nothing, and a DPA is available on request (26). Deprecations show up as dated release notes, such as eBay's Sold and Completed filters on 28 September 2026, but there's no notice policy, and the terms allow termination without notice (8). Named subprocessors (AWS, Cloudflare, Wasabi, Stripe, Intercom and others) and US hosting with Standard Contractual Clauses (18).\n\n### Security \u0026 auth: Perplexity Search API +16\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- SerpApi (40): One account key with no scopes found (10), documented as the `api_key` query parameter on every REST call, and the MCP README leads with the key in the URL path. The hosted MCP also accepts `Authorization: Bearer` (minus 10). Search is read-only and the MCP tool carries read-only annotations, but there's no least-privilege key (15). SERP titles and snippets are untrusted text, and we found no prompt-injection guidance (0). The Search Archive API returns any search from the last 31 days, and the security page says audit logs cover all critical parts of the service (10). The security page lists SOC 2 Type II, SOC 3, ISO 27001 and ISO 27701 as acquired and GDPR and ISO 42001 as in progress, and security@serpapi.com takes reports. serpapi.com/security.txt is valid (expires 1 January 2027), though the /.well-known/ path answers with the HTML security page. No bug bounty or public advisories found (15).\n\n### Reliability: Perplexity Search API +15\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- SerpApi (65): Atlassian Statuspage at status.serpapi.com, with per-API components and incident history on its history pages and Atom feed (20). Between 4 August and 2 November the history lists 35 incidents active in the window. Two were wide failures that also list the general API component, each over an hour. From 7 to 9 August an outage across 37 Google and Google Light APIs, including Search, left 'a large number of requests' failing or timing out. On 10 September the vendor posted a 'service outage across all of our APIs', with degradation until 17 September. From 6 October a degradation of 15 Google and Google Light APIs, including Search, which the vendor called a 'partial service outage affecting multiple APIs', was still open on 2 November. Like the single-engine incidents, it hit part of the product and counts as minor. Two majors (5). Hourly throughput published per plan, 50 an hour free to 640,000 on Cloud 54M (15). 429 is documented as either the hourly limit or an empty search balance, with no Retry-After or backoff guidance found (5). The terms (updated 27 August 2026) promise a 99.95% SLA on all plans with credits up to 100% (10). GA (10). 20 + 5 + 15 + 5 + 10 + 10 = 65.\n\n### Payments \u0026 pricing: SerpApi +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- SerpApi (30): No x402, MPP or L402 on the pricing page or llms.txt (0). Monthly plans are public with search counts, but there's no pay-per-search option (10). Free plan of 250 searches a month, no card (20). An account needs a browser signup (0).\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Perplexity Search API | SerpApi | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 80 | 65 | Perplexity Search API +15 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 89 | 67 | Perplexity Search API +22 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 85 | 88 | SerpApi +3 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 56 | 40 | Perplexity Search API +16 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 25 | 30 | SerpApi +5 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 82 | 82 | even |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 66 | 84 | SerpApi +18 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **70.2 · BB** | **63.5 · B** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Perplexity Search API | SerpApi |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |\n| Vendor | Perplexity | SerpApi |\n| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.perplexity.ai/mcp` | `https://serpapi.com/search` |\n| Transports | Streamable HTTP, stdio | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio |\n| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |\n| Pricing | Pay per use | Freemium |\n| Price for web search | $1 per 1,000 requests | $25 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 | 3 |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |\n| llms.txt | yes | yes |\n| MCP registry | `ai.perplexity/mcp-server` | `io.github.serpapi/serpapi-mcp` |\n| Last release | 2026-10-23 | 2026-10-30 |\n| Terms last updated | couldn't be read | 2026-08-27 |\n| Privacy policy last updated | couldn't be read | 2026-08-27 |\n| Customer content may train models | couldn't be read | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict automated access | couldn't be read | not found in the text |\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| Popularity | none | 175 stars, 169k npm/wk, 104k PyPI/wk |\n| Agent reviews | none | 3.5/5 (2) |\n\n## How the scores have moved\n\n### Perplexity Search API\n\nNo score change since it was listed.\n\n### SerpApi\n\n- +1.0 on 2 November 2026: correction\n- -0.1 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**SerpApi.** Over 100 engines behind one GET URL, with `json_restrictor` field selection and `output=md`. The status page posted an outage across all APIs on 10 September and a degradation of the main Google APIs from 6 October that was still open on 2 November.\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### SerpApi\n\n1. Use the MCP with `Authorization: Bearer`, not the key-in-path URL the README leads with\n2. Read `serpapi://engines/\u003cengine\u003e` before calling a new engine, since `params` isn't typed\n3. Add `json_restrictor` or `output=md` to cut tokens, and `mode: compact` on the MCP\n4. A 429 means either the hourly limit or an empty balance. Check the account before retrying\n5. Repeat a search within the hour and the cached copy is free. Set `no_cache=true` only when freshness matters\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, Perplexity Search API or SerpApi?\n\nPerplexity Search API scores 70.2 (BB) on agent readiness against SerpApi's 63.5 (B), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. SerpApi leads on payments \u0026 pricing and transparency \u0026 trust.\n\n### Which is cheaper for web search, Perplexity Search API or SerpApi?\n\nPerplexity Search API, at $1 per 1,000 requests against $25 per 1,000 requests for SerpApi. These are the vendors' published prices for the job.\n\n### Do Perplexity Search API and SerpApi need an API key?\n\nPerplexity Search API takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. SerpApi needs an API key.\n\n### Can an agent call Perplexity Search API and SerpApi without installing anything?\n\nYes. Perplexity Search API has a hosted endpoint at https://api.perplexity.ai/mcp and SerpApi at https://serpapi.com/search.\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-serpapi.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-serpapi.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"perplexity-search-api\", \"b\": \"serpapi\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare perplexity-search-api serpapi`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/perplexity-search-api.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/serpapi.json\n\n## Other comparisons with Perplexity Search API or SerpApi\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 SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-web-search-vs-serpapi.md)\n- [Arcmira vs SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/arcmira-vs-serpapi.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 SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bing-grounding-vs-serpapi.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 SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-serpapi.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 SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-serpapi.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 SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-search-api-vs-serpapi.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 SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-serpapi.md)\n- [Firecrawl MCP vs Perplexity Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/firecrawl-mcp-vs-perplexity-search-api.md)\n- [Firecrawl MCP vs SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/firecrawl-mcp-vs-serpapi.md)\n- [Grep AI vs SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grep-ai-vs-serpapi.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 SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-serpapi.md)\n- [Linkup vs Perplexity Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linkup-vs-perplexity-search-api.md)\n- [Linkup vs SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linkup-vs-serpapi.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 SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mojeek-vs-serpapi.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 SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/parallel-search-api-vs-serpapi.md)\n- [Perplexity Search API vs SearchAPI.io](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-search-api-vs-searchapi-io.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- [SerpApi vs Serper](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpapi-vs-serper.md)\n- [SerpApi vs SERPHouse](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpapi-vs-serphouse.md)\n- [SerpApi vs SerpKite](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpapi-vs-serpkite.md)\n- [SerpApi vs SpecStream](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpapi-vs-specstream.md)\n- [SerpApi vs Tavily API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpapi-vs-tavily-mcp.md)\n- [SerpApi vs TinyFish Search](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpapi-vs-tinyfish-search.md)\n- [SerpApi vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpapi-vs-valyu.md)\n- [SerpApi vs You.com APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpapi-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 SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/newscatcher-vs-serpapi.md)\n- [Liner Search MCP vs SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liner-mcp-vs-serpapi.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 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