SERPHouse vs Tavily API + MCP

SERPHouse 23

Read for a closed service, with its repositories read as code. No changelog or dated API change was found. The newest release is MCP server 1.1.0 on 6 July 2026, 123 days before 6 November, and the last commit in its repository was on 22 July (10). No release or dated change in the 90 days from 8 August; the about page's 2026 entry (Forums, Place Details and Scraper APIs) is undated (0). No changelog; support by email. Issues weren't read, since the GitHub API refused us for its rate limit (5 of 25). Not in the official MCP registry, though the repository's server.json names io.github.SERPHouse/serphouse-mcp. Node.js SDK last changed 24 June 2026, PHP SDK 10 May 2024, and no Python SDK repository was found under the SERPHouse organisation (5 of 15). The MCP repository has an npm publish workflow and no tests (3 of 10). 10 + 0 + 5 + 5 + 3 = 23.

Tavily API + MCP 85

@tavily/core 0.7.14 on npm, published on 6 October 2026, and tavily-python bumped to 0.8.5 in the repository the same day (PyPI's pages and release feed returned nothing to us on 1 November, so its publication there is unchecked). No newer SDK release by 1 November, so this line drops to 20 after 5 November unless one lands (30). The tavily-mcp npm release is older, 0.2.22 on 5 August 2026. Version 0.2.23 was committed on 16 September and still isn't on npm on 1 November, though the MCP repository had dependency bumps on 15 and 26 October and new descriptions on 27 October. Eight @tavily/core releases on npm since 5 August, tavily-python version bumps in its repository, tavily-mcp 0.2.22, and August and October changelog entries in the last 90 days (20). Maintainers merge pull requests and dependency fixes within days. Ten issues were open on tavily-mcp on 4 October, the oldest from 14 July 2026, including OAuth failures (#203, #220), empty extracts on single-page sites (#204) and a missing isError on a 401 (#211), per the 4 October check, not re-read on 1 November (GitHub answered 403) (15). Listed in the official MCP registry as io.github.tavily-ai/tavily-mcp, though the entry is still at 0.2.15 from 26 January 2026 on 1 November (15). The MCP repo has no CI workflows and no git tags, though it has a test file and regular security bumps. tavily-python runs tests in CI (5).

SERPHouse 40

Read with the hosted lines. No status page is linked from the site or docs, and status.serphouse.com did not answer on 6 November 2026 (0). No readable incident history (5). Rate limits published, 60 requests a minute and 60 concurrent on every self-serve plan (15). 429 is documented as 'slow down', and a 200 can carry "status": "error" with 'Please try again', with no Retry-After or backoff guidance. Failed requests aren't charged (5 of 15). The pricing page lists a 99.99% uptime SLA on Basic and Regular and the docs a 99.95% one, but no SLA terms or credits were found in the terms (5 of 10). Generally available (10). 0 + 5 + 15 + 5 + 5 + 10 = 40.

Tavily API + MCP 90

incident.io status page at status.tavily.com with separate API, MCP and website components (20). One incident in the 90 days from 3 August, website degraded performance on 17 September 2026, and none since per the status feed re-read on 1 November. The API and MCP showed 100% per the 1 October check (30). Published limits, re-read on 1 November, 100 requests a minute on development keys and 1,000 on production, crawl 100 and research 20 task creations on both (15). 429 carries Retry-After and the docs say to use that value and the status code rather than parse the message. Since October a 434 tells non-paying plans that live fetching with max_age_hours is refused under load, with the advice to retry or omit it (15). The pricing page lists 'Enterprise-grade support and SLAs' for the custom Enterprise plan but publishes no SLA terms, per the 17 October check, and none were found in the docs index or terms (0). GA (10).

SERPHouse 11

One key per account, one account per user, no scopes or rotation found (10). The REST API documents api_token in the query string and the hosted MCP server takes the key only in its URL path, less 10 (0 of 30). Searches only read, with no read-only or restricted key (8 of 20). Results are third-party snippets and AI Overview text, with no prompt-injection guidance (0). An account tool shows plan and credit usage; no per-call log was found (3 of 15). No security.txt (404), disclosure policy, bug bounty or certification found (0 of 20). 0 + 8 + 0 + 3 + 0 = 11.

Tavily API + MCP 52

Revocable keys, separate development and production keys, and the Logs API filters by key, so several keys per account work. The hosted MCP adds OAuth but maps it to one dashboard key with no scopes (22). The MCP README and docs still lead with ?tavilyApiKey= in the URL on 1 November (minus 10). The five tools in the npm release all read. The GitHub main branch adds tavily_feedback, which posts scores to Tavily, the hosted server's tool list is unknown, and there's no read-only toolset (10). The home page says requests pass through 'security, privacy, and content validation layers that block PII leakage, prompt injection, and malicious sources'. That's a claim with no technical detail in the docs, plus a safe_search flag for adult content, per the 1 October check (7). The Logs API (filter by key and endpoint since August 2026) and include_usage give per-call visibility (13). SOC 2 and ISO 27001 named on the privacy page, per the 4 October check, and the MCP repo patches vulnerable dependencies about monthly (seven updates on 26 October). The trust centre is JavaScript-only for us (per the 1 October check, not re-read on 1 November), www.tavily.com/.well-known/security.txt returned 404 on 1 November, and no bug bounty found (10).

SERPHouse 40

No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Per-1,000 prices for SERP, autocomplete and top-100 requests published without login (20). Free trial of 4,000 credits for 7 days, 'No Credit Card Required' (20). A person signs up in a browser and confirms an email (0). 0 + 20 + 20 + 0 = 40.

Tavily API + MCP 75

Official x402 at x402.tavily.com sells advanced search only, $0.01 in USDC on Base. An unpaid POST to /search returned 402 on 1 November with an x402 version 2 envelope offering the exact scheme on eip155:8453 for 10000 units (0.01 USDC), and a second agent-pay option on aws:base for 0.016, described as advanced mode. Extract, map, crawl and research aren't sold over x402 (15). Credit costs per endpoint and $0.008 a credit pay as you go, published without a login and unchanged on 1 November (20). 1,000 free credits a month, no card, re-read on 1 November (20). Keyless search and extract with the X-Tavily-Access-Mode: keyless header, plus the x402 route, so an agent needs no human signup (20).

SERPHouse 66

No OpenAPI or similar contract for the REST API. The MCP server's tools carry typed Zod schemas, published in the source and a static server card (18 of 25). llms.txt at the site and the docs, and every docs page as Markdown (10). MCP tool descriptions say which tool to use for what, such as serphouse_google_web when device or num_result is needed, while the docs pages lead with marketing lines such as 'Unlock captivating Google video content' (12 of 20). Enums for device, SERP type, engine and video duration, defaults and 37 described parameters (11 of 15). A status code table and request examples per engine, with a generic error body (12 of 15). No changelog or API versioning; only the MCP server has tags (3 of 15). 18 + 10 + 12 + 11 + 12 + 3 = 66.

Tavily API + MCP 90

Public OpenAPI at docs.tavily.com, and typed JSON Schema on every MCP tool (25). llms.txt with Markdown pages and a 'Start here for agents' section, re-read on 1 November (10). Tool descriptions say what each does and when to reach for it, such as search for facts past the model's cutoff, but the npm release doesn't say when not to. A commit of 27 October on the GitHub main branch adds some, such as using the news topic only when the user asks for news and leaving the extract query empty for tables, but it isn't released on npm, so the award stays (14). Enums for search_depth, topic, time_range and include_domains_mode, ranges for max_results (0 to 20 on the API, 5 to 20 in the MCP), chunks_per_source (1 to 3) and max_age_hours (-1 to 720), and caps of 300 included and 150 excluded domains. The feedback tool on the GitHub main branch, not in the npm release, takes free-form value fields (13). Error table with examples for 400, 401, 422, 429, 432, 433, 434 and 500, re-read on 1 November (15). Versioned SDKs and a monthly changelog, which on 1 November has an October 2026 section documenting max_age_hours (accepted values and the 434 flex tier) and Tavily CLI plain output, and the search API reference now documents max_age_hours. fetch_timeout appears only in the 434 example message and cache_fallback nowhere in the reference or changelog, and the API path isn't versioned (13).

SERPHouse 64

23 MCP tools with no toolsets or filtering (15 of 25). num_result, max_pages, paging, device, location, language, date and video filters (16 of 20). Status codes are tabulated, but a 200 can also mean an error and the body carries only 'Please try again' (10 of 20). Searches only read and failed requests aren't charged, but the MCP tools carry no readOnlyHint or other annotations (10 of 20). serphouse_search needs only q and defaults to the US; most other tools need loc or loc_id. Official Node.js, PHP and Python SDKs are documented (13 of 15). 15 + 16 + 10 + 10 + 13 = 64.

Tavily API + MCP 81

Five tools in the published tavily-mcp 0.2.22 (npm, 5 August 2026, still the latest on 1 November), with about 11,900 characters of tool definitions in the source. The unreleased 0.2.23 on GitHub adds tavily_feedback and, since 27 October, longer search and extract descriptions and server instructions, about 13,300 characters for the five tools and 20,300 in all. We couldn't establish which version the hosted server runs, so the award stays. No tool filter found. Raw content, images and answers are opt-in, which keeps API responses small (18). max_results, domain include and exclude lists, time_range, start and end dates, country, and crawl depth, breadth and limit (20). 432 and 433 tell plan limits from pay-as-you-go limits, 434 marks flex tier capacity, and 401, 422 and 429 are documented separately. Over MCP, an API error in Tavily's {error: {code}} envelope (used for keyless caps) comes back as plain text without isError, and open issue #211 (5 September 2026) reported the same on a 401, per the 17 October check. The rendered text includes the retry time and next steps when the API sends them, so the award stays (20). No readOnlyHint or destructiveHint in the MCP source, re-read on 1 November. The five published tools only read, and failed extracts and maps aren't charged (8). Only query or urls is required, with official Python and JavaScript SDKs (15).