{
  "data": {
    "a": {
      "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",
      "transports": [
        "http",
        "streamable-http",
        "stdio"
      ],
      "remoteUrl": "https://serpapi.com/search",
      "packages": [
        {
          "registry": "npm",
          "name": "serpapi"
        },
        {
          "registry": "pypi",
          "name": "serpapi"
        }
      ],
      "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": "2026-09-22",
      "graded": true,
      "anchor": {
        "graded": true,
        "score": 62.6,
        "grade": "B",
        "agentReady": false,
        "rank": 216,
        "ranked": true,
        "rankOf": 452,
        "categoryRank": 8,
        "methodology": "0.3",
        "run": "2026-10-01",
        "scores": {
          "ergonomics": 88,
          "maintenance": 82,
          "payments": 30,
          "reliability": 60,
          "schema": 67,
          "security": 40,
          "transparency": 85
        },
        "pending": [
          "performance",
          "tasks"
        ],
        "assessment": {
          "confidence": "medium",
          "date": "2026-10-01"
        },
        "negative": 0,
        "verdict": "Over 100 engines behind one GET URL, with `json_restrictor` field selection and `output=md`. 25 incidents on the status feed from July to 1 October 2026, including an outage across all APIs on 10 September.",
        "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 and ISO 27001 listed on the security page, 31-day data retention stated twice",
          "Hosted MCP server in the official registry, with read-only tool annotations"
        ],
        "weaknesses": [
          "25 incidents on the status feed from July to 1 October 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 $25 for 1,000 searches, with no pay-per-call or machine payment",
          "No prompt-injection guidance for the snippets it returns"
        ],
        "agentNotes": [
          "Use the MCP with `Authorization: Bearer`, not the key-in-path URL the README leads with",
          "Read `serpapi://engines/\u003cengine\u003e` before calling a new engine, since `params` isn't typed",
          "Add `json_restrictor` or `output=md` to cut tokens, and `mode: compact` on the MCP",
          "A 429 means either the hourly limit or an empty balance. Check the account before retrying",
          "Repeat a search within the hour and the cached copy is free. Set `no_cache=true` only when freshness matters"
        ],
        "metrics": {
          "kind": "remote",
          "measured": false
        },
        "reviewCount": 2,
        "avgRating": 3.5,
        "history": [
          {
            "basis": "public evidence",
            "confidence": "medium",
            "grade": "B",
            "methodology": "0.3",
            "pending": [
              "performance",
              "tasks"
            ],
            "run": "2026-10-01",
            "runLabel": "October 2026 research run",
            "score": 62.6
          }
        ],
        "editorialScores": {
          "ergonomics": 88,
          "maintenance": 82,
          "payments": 30,
          "reliability": 60,
          "schema": 67,
          "security": 40,
          "transparency": 70
        },
        "provenanceScore": 100
      },
      "connect": {
        "http": "curl -G https://serpapi.com/search --data-urlencode \"q=coffee\" -d engine=google -d api_key=$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": 100
      },
      "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/serpapi.json",
      "live": {
        "slug": "serpapi",
        "probe": {
          "target": "https://serpapi.com/search",
          "method": "get",
          "lastAt": "2026-10-05T01:43:45.297822101Z",
          "lastOk": true,
          "lastStatus": 401,
          "lastMs": 123,
          "lastNote": "asks for credentials",
          "authRequired": true,
          "uptime24h": 100,
          "uptime30d": 100,
          "p50ms24h": 122,
          "p95ms24h": 161,
          "samples24h": 272,
          "samples30d": 1122,
          "days": [
            {
              "date": "2026-09-30",
              "probes": 35,
              "ok": 35
            },
            {
              "date": "2026-10-01",
              "probes": 276,
              "ok": 276
            },
            {
              "date": "2026-10-02",
              "probes": 248,
              "ok": 248
            },
            {
              "date": "2026-10-03",
              "probes": 271,
              "ok": 271
            },
            {
              "date": "2026-10-04",
              "probes": 272,
              "ok": 272
            },
            {
              "date": "2026-10-05",
              "probes": 20,
              "ok": 20
            }
          ]
        },
        "vendorStatus": {
          "page": "https://status.serpapi.com",
          "indicator": "minor",
          "summary": "Partially Degraded Service",
          "checkedAt": "2026-10-05T01:46:46.302822814Z"
        },
        "versions": [
          {
            "registry": "mcp-registry",
            "name": "io.github.serpapi/serpapi-mcp",
            "version": "2.0.0",
            "seenAt": "2026-10-04T23:42:40.113054682Z"
          },
          {
            "registry": "npm",
            "name": "serpapi",
            "version": "2.2.1",
            "seenAt": "2026-10-04T16:39:46.767306834Z"
          },
          {
            "registry": "pypi",
            "name": "serpapi",
            "version": "1.1.2",
            "released": "2026-09-22",
            "seenAt": "2026-10-04T16:39:47.563060356Z"
          }
        ],
        "npmWeekly": 179483,
        "pypiWeekly": 98760,
        "securityTxt": {
          "url": "https://serpapi.com/.well-known/security.txt",
          "state": "valid",
          "expires": "2027-01-01T00:00:00.000Z",
          "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:16:05.776295986Z"
        },
        "llmsTxt": {
          "url": "https://serpapi.com/llms.txt",
          "ok": true,
          "status": 200,
          "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:18:13.725747382Z"
        },
        "domain": {
          "domain": "serpapi.com",
          "registered": "2016-07-27",
          "source": "https://rdap.verisign.com/com/v1/domain/serpapi.com",
          "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T13:07:58.738158184Z"
        },
        "pages": [
          {
            "url": "https://serpapi.com/release-notes",
            "kind": "changelog",
            "status": 200,
            "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:47:46.72146268Z",
            "changedAt": "2026-10-04T15:47:46.72146268Z",
            "fingerprint": "c2f31ad37222"
          },
          {
            "url": "https://serpapi.com/pricing",
            "kind": "pricing",
            "status": 304,
            "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:47:44.749973052Z",
            "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z",
            "fingerprint": "30dfa765089d"
          },
          {
            "url": "https://serpapi.com/legal",
            "kind": "terms",
            "status": 200,
            "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:47:42.707883837Z",
            "changedAt": "2026-10-04T15:47:42.707883837Z",
            "fingerprint": "60e86363a7be"
          }
        ],
        "updatedAt": "2026-10-05T01:46:46.302822814Z"
      }
    },
    "b": {
      "slug": "valyu",
      "name": "Valyu",
      "vendor": "Valyu",
      "vendorUrl": "https://www.valyu.ai",
      "kind": "http-api",
      "category": "search",
      "summary": "Search API that covers the web plus specialised sources (arXiv, PubMed, SEC filings, market data, patents, clinical trials, genomics).",
      "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/valyu",
      "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/valyu.md",
      "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/valyu.min.md",
      "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/valyu.json",
      "transports": [
        "http",
        "streamable-http"
      ],
      "remoteUrl": "https://api.valyu.ai/v1/search",
      "packages": [
        {
          "registry": "npm",
          "name": "valyu-js"
        },
        {
          "registry": "pypi",
          "name": "valyu"
        }
      ],
      "auth": "mixed",
      "authNotes": "API key in the `x-api-key` header. After a person creates the account, the Valyu CLI (`valyu login`, browser or headless approval) lets an agent mint keys with a hard spending cap, rotate and revoke them, and management keys carry explicit scopes. The hosted MCP at mcp.valyu.ai takes Sign in with Valyu (OAuth), a Bearer or X-API-Key header, or, as the docs lead with, `?valyuApiKey=` in the URL.",
      "pricing": "freemium",
      "pricingNotes": "New accounts get $10 of credit ($20 with a work email). Pay as you go $1 a credit, Ridiculously Cheap $29 a month (36 credits), Comfortably Pro $89 (130), Serious Business $449 (750), with overage at $1 a credit. Search and Answer bill per 1,000 results retrieved, $0.50 open databases, $1.50 web, $8 financial data, $30 to $50 proprietary. Contents $0.001 a URL. Answer adds $12 per million tokens. DeepResearch $0.10 (fast) to $15 (max) a task (https://www.valyu.ai/pricing).",
      "priceSummary": "$1.50 / 1k pages",
      "where": "hosted",
      "x402": {
        "level": "no",
        "evidence": "No x402 in llms.txt, llms-full.txt or pricing docs (checked 2026-09-30).",
        "endpoints": []
      },
      "toolCount": 6,
      "popularity": {
        "githubStars": 19,
        "npmWeekly": 6664,
        "pypiWeekly": 7097,
        "asOf": "2026-09-30"
      },
      "docsUrl": "https://docs.valyu.ai",
      "llmsTxt": "https://docs.valyu.ai/llms.txt",
      "openapi": "https://docs.valyu.ai/api-reference/openapi.json",
      "capabilities": [
        "web.search",
        "web.fetch",
        "web.extract",
        "search.answer",
        "search.research",
        "search.news"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "hosted",
        "freemium",
        "mcp",
        "llms-txt",
        "openapi",
        "python",
        "typescript",
        "async-jobs",
        "enterprise"
      ],
      "lastRelease": "2026-09-12",
      "graded": true,
      "anchor": {
        "graded": true,
        "score": 64.6,
        "grade": "B",
        "agentReady": false,
        "rank": 179,
        "ranked": true,
        "rankOf": 452,
        "categoryRank": 7,
        "methodology": "0.3",
        "run": "2026-10-01",
        "scores": {
          "ergonomics": 78,
          "maintenance": 80,
          "payments": 45,
          "reliability": 53,
          "schema": 87,
          "security": 44,
          "transparency": 79
        },
        "pending": [
          "performance",
          "tasks"
        ],
        "assessment": {
          "confidence": "medium",
          "date": "2026-10-01"
        },
        "negative": 0,
        "verdict": "Web plus academic, financial, patent and life-science sources behind one search call. No published rate limits and no Retry-After or backoff guidance.",
        "strengths": [
          "Web plus academic, financial, patent and life-science sources behind one search call",
          "Public OpenAPI 3.0.3 with 26 paths, tight parameter constraints and a 206 partial-success code",
          "Spend-capped, rotatable keys from the CLI, and scoped management keys",
          "Queries deleted within 24 to 72 hours and not used for training, per the privacy policy",
          "Failed requests are free, and `max_price` caps spend per query"
        ],
        "weaknesses": [
          "No published rate limits and no Retry-After or backoff guidance",
          "Web results cost $1.50 per 1,000 results retrieved, so a 10-result search is $0.015",
          "MCP docs lead with `?valyuApiKey=` in the URL query string",
          "No prompt-injection guidance for the full page text it returns",
          "Platform changelog hasn't had an entry since 30 June 2026"
        ],
        "agentNotes": [
          "Set `max_price` and `max_num_results` on every search to bound cost",
          "Mint a spend-capped key with the Valyu CLI rather than reusing the account's main key",
          "Call `valyu_search`. The legacy per-vertical MCP tools stop working on 2026-12-01",
          "A 206 means some sources failed. Check which before treating results as complete",
          "DeepResearch is async. Poll `valyu_deepresearch_status` rather than waiting in one call"
        ],
        "metrics": {
          "kind": "remote",
          "measured": false
        },
        "reviewCount": 2,
        "avgRating": 4.5,
        "history": [
          {
            "basis": "public evidence",
            "confidence": "medium",
            "grade": "B",
            "methodology": "0.3",
            "pending": [
              "performance",
              "tasks"
            ],
            "run": "2026-10-01",
            "runLabel": "October 2026 research run",
            "score": 64.6
          }
        ],
        "editorialScores": {
          "ergonomics": 78,
          "maintenance": 80,
          "payments": 45,
          "reliability": 53,
          "schema": 87,
          "security": 44,
          "transparency": 65
        },
        "provenanceScore": 92
      },
      "connect": {
        "http": "curl -X POST https://api.valyu.ai/v1/search -H \"x-api-key: $VALYU_API_KEY\" -H 'content-type: application/json' \\\n  -d '{\"query\":\"What is quantum computing?\",\"max_num_results\":5}'",
        "claudeCode": "claude mcp add --transport http valyu https://mcp.valyu.ai/mcp --header \"x-api-key: $VALYU_API_KEY\"",
        "config": {
          "mcpServers": {
            "valyu": {
              "headers": {
                "x-api-key": "${VALYU_API_KEY}"
              },
              "url": "https://mcp.valyu.ai/mcp"
            }
          }
        }
      },
      "letme": {
        "capability": "https://letme.dev/web.search",
        "tool": "https://letme.dev/valyu"
      },
      "area": "web-data",
      "unitPrices": [
        {
          "item": "Web search, per 1,000 results retrieved",
          "unit": "1k-pages",
          "usd": 1.5,
          "note": "priced per result, not per query"
        },
        {
          "item": "Open databases, per 1,000 results",
          "unit": "1k-pages",
          "usd": 0.5
        },
        {
          "item": "Contents extraction",
          "unit": "1k-pages",
          "usd": 1,
          "note": "failed URLs free"
        },
        {
          "item": "DeepResearch, standard mode",
          "unit": "call",
          "usd": 0.5,
          "note": "fast $0.10, heavy $2.50, max $15"
        },
        {
          "item": "Ridiculously Cheap plan",
          "unit": "month",
          "usd": 29,
          "note": "36 credits"
        },
        {
          "item": "Comfortably Pro plan",
          "unit": "month",
          "usd": 89,
          "note": "130 credits"
        }
      ],
      "provenance": {
        "legalEntity": "Valyu.Network Ltd",
        "domain": "valyu.ai",
        "domainRegistered": "2024-09-03",
        "domainNote": "The older valyu.network (registered 2022-09-17) redirects to valyu.ai, which is the current domain.",
        "endpointOnVendorDomain": true,
        "terms": "https://www.valyu.ai/terms",
        "privacy": "https://www.valyu.ai/privacy-policy",
        "statusPage": "https://status.valyu.ai",
        "changelog": "https://docs.valyu.ai/changelog/platform",
        "securityTxt": "valid",
        "checked": "2026-09-30",
        "score": 92
      },
      "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/valyu.json",
      "live": {
        "slug": "valyu",
        "probe": {
          "target": "https://api.valyu.ai/v1/search",
          "method": "get",
          "lastAt": "2026-10-05T01:43:47.533815475Z",
          "lastOk": true,
          "lastStatus": 403,
          "lastMs": 259,
          "lastNote": "asks for credentials",
          "authRequired": true,
          "uptime24h": 100,
          "uptime30d": 100,
          "p50ms24h": 255,
          "p95ms24h": 299,
          "samples24h": 272,
          "samples30d": 1122,
          "days": [
            {
              "date": "2026-09-30",
              "probes": 35,
              "ok": 35
            },
            {
              "date": "2026-10-01",
              "probes": 276,
              "ok": 276
            },
            {
              "date": "2026-10-02",
              "probes": 248,
              "ok": 248
            },
            {
              "date": "2026-10-03",
              "probes": 271,
              "ok": 271
            },
            {
              "date": "2026-10-04",
              "probes": 272,
              "ok": 272
            },
            {
              "date": "2026-10-05",
              "probes": 20,
              "ok": 20
            }
          ]
        },
        "vendorStatus": {
          "page": "https://status.valyu.ai",
          "indicator": "unknown",
          "summary": "no machine-readable status found",
          "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T21:40:32.877674349Z"
        },
        "versions": [
          {
            "registry": "npm",
            "name": "valyu-js",
            "version": "2.10.2",
            "seenAt": "2026-10-04T16:43:06.25727822Z"
          },
          {
            "registry": "pypi",
            "name": "valyu",
            "version": "2.12.2",
            "released": "2026-09-12",
            "seenAt": "2026-10-04T16:43:06.660133856Z"
          }
        ],
        "npmWeekly": 5834,
        "pypiWeekly": 6252,
        "securityTxt": {
          "url": "https://valyu.ai/.well-known/security.txt",
          "state": "valid",
          "expires": "2027-03-10T00:00:00.000Z",
          "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:15:53.26675194Z"
        },
        "llmsTxt": {
          "url": "https://docs.valyu.ai/llms.txt",
          "ok": true,
          "status": 200,
          "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:18:20.325375271Z"
        },
        "domain": {
          "domain": "valyu.ai",
          "registered": "2024-09-03",
          "source": "https://rdap.identitydigital.services/rdap/domain/valyu.ai",
          "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T13:06:17.130036603Z"
        },
        "pages": [
          {
            "url": "https://docs.valyu.ai/changelog/platform",
            "kind": "changelog",
            "status": 200,
            "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:44:13.134113487Z",
            "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z",
            "fingerprint": "35bc7870472f"
          },
          {
            "url": "https://docs.valyu.ai/integrations/mcp-server",
            "kind": "deprecations",
            "status": 200,
            "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:44:15.393398291Z",
            "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z",
            "fingerprint": "63cfb3d58b79"
          },
          {
            "url": "https://www.valyu.ai/pricing",
            "kind": "pricing",
            "status": 200,
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  "markdown": "Valyu has a score of 64.6 (B) against SerpApi's 62.6 (B). Both do web search. The largest gap is schema \u0026 documentation, 20 points.\n\n- SerpApi: grade B, 62.6/100, rank #216 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/serpapi.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/serpapi.json\n- Valyu: grade B, 64.6/100, rank #179 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/valyu.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/valyu.json\n\n## Which one, for what\n\nPick SerpApi for reliability (+7), agent ergonomics (+10), transparency \u0026 trust (+6).\n\nPick Valyu for schema \u0026 documentation (+20), payments \u0026 pricing (+15).\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | SerpApi | Valyu | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 60 | 53 | SerpApi +7 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 67 | 87 | Valyu +20 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 88 | 78 | SerpApi +10 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 40 | 44 | Valyu +4 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 45 | Valyu +15 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 82 | 80 | SerpApi +2 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 85 | 79 | SerpApi +6 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **62.6 · B** | **64.6 · B** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | SerpApi | Valyu |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |\n| Vendor | SerpApi | Valyu |\n| Hosted endpoint | `https://serpapi.com/search` | `https://api.valyu.ai/v1/search` |\n| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |\n| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |\n| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | none | none |\n| Tools exposed | 3 | 6 |\n| Context cost (tools/list) | n/a | n/a |\n| p95 latency | not measured yet | not measured yet |\n| Availability (30d) | not measured yet | not measured yet |\n| Read-only variant documented | yes | no |\n| llms.txt | yes | yes |\n| MCP registry | `io.github.serpapi/serpapi-mcp` | not listed |\n| Last release | 2026-09-22 | 2026-09-12 |\n| Popularity | 175 stars, 169k npm/wk, 104k PyPI/wk | 19 stars, 6.7k npm/wk, 7.1k PyPI/wk |\n| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (2) | 4.5/5 (2) |\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**SerpApi.** Over 100 engines behind one GET URL, with `json_restrictor` field selection and `output=md`. 25 incidents on the status feed from July to 1 October 2026, including an outage across all APIs on 10 September.\n\n**Valyu.** Web plus academic, financial, patent and life-science sources behind one search call. No published rate limits and no Retry-After or backoff guidance.\n\n## Before you call either\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### Valyu\n\n1. Set `max_price` and `max_num_results` on every search to bound cost\n2. Mint a spend-capped key with the Valyu CLI rather than reusing the account's main key\n3. Call `valyu_search`. The legacy per-vertical MCP tools stop working on 2026-12-01\n4. A 206 means some sources failed. Check which before treating results as complete\n5. DeepResearch is async. Poll `valyu_deepresearch_status` rather than waiting in one call\n\n## Other comparisons with SerpApi or Valyu\n\n- [Brave Search API + MCP vs SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-serpapi.md)\n- [Brave Search API + MCP vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-valyu.md)\n- [Exa API + MCP vs SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-serpapi.md)\n- [Exa API + MCP vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-valyu.md)\n- [Firecrawl MCP vs SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/firecrawl-mcp-vs-serpapi.md)\n- [Firecrawl MCP vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/firecrawl-mcp-vs-valyu.md)\n- [Linkup vs SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linkup-vs-serpapi.md)\n- [Linkup vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linkup-vs-valyu.md)\n- [Parallel Search and Task APIs vs SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/parallel-search-api-vs-serpapi.md)\n- [Parallel Search and Task APIs vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/parallel-search-api-vs-valyu.md)\n- [SearchAPI.io vs SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/searchapi-io-vs-serpapi.md)\n- [SearchAPI.io vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/searchapi-io-vs-valyu.md)\n- [SerpApi vs Serper](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpapi-vs-serper.md)\n- [SerpApi vs Tavily API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpapi-vs-tavily-mcp.md)\n- [SerpApi vs You.com APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpapi-vs-you-com-api.md)\n- [Serper vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serper-vs-valyu.md)\n- [Tavily API + MCP vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/tavily-mcp-vs-valyu.md)\n- [Valyu vs You.com APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/valyu-vs-you-com-api.md)\n- [Fetch (MCP reference server) vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fetch-reference-server-vs-valyu.md)\n",
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