# SerpKite vs You.com APIs

> You.com APIs scores 76.9 (BB) on agent readiness against SerpKite's 64.8 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. SerpKite leads on schema & documentation, agent ergonomics and transparency & trust. Both do web search. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by…

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpkite-vs-you-com-api
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpkite-vs-you-com-api.md (~2,350 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpkite-vs-you-com-api.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpkite-vs-you-com-api.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-06

You.com APIs scores 76.9 (BB) on agent readiness against SerpKite's 64.8 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. SerpKite leads on schema & documentation, agent ergonomics and transparency & trust. Both do web search.

- SerpKite: grade B, 64.8/100, rank #179 of 460. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/serpkite.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/serpkite.json
- You.com APIs: grade BB, 76.9/100, rank #20 of 460. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/you-com-api.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/you-com-api.json

## Which one, for what

### SerpKite (B)

Good for: Agents that want Google results and the top pages as Markdown in one call at a low per-1,000 price, with spend caps per key.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 90 against 82
- Agent ergonomics, 92 against 84
- Transparency & trust, 77 against 63

Watch for: Launched 29 September 2026 by a sole trader, with status monitoring only since 2 October

### You.com APIs (BB)

Good for: An unattended agent that needs search, page text and cited answers and wants to pay per call without an account.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 85 against 65
- Security & auth, 53 against 37
- Payments & pricing, 88 against 40

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
- Runs on your own machine
- No incidents deducted, where SerpKite loses 3 points for them

Watch for: Two API hosts. Answer and Research return 'Missing Authentication Token' on ydc-index.io


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | SerpKite | You.com APIs | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 65 | 85 | You.com APIs +20 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 90 | 82 | SerpKite +8 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 92 | 84 | SerpKite +8 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 37 | 53 | You.com APIs +16 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 88 | You.com APIs +48 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 80 | 82 | You.com APIs +2 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 77 | 63 | SerpKite +14 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -3 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **64.8 · B** | **76.9 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | SerpKite | You.com APIs |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | SerpKite (Anastasia Klimova, trading as SerpKite) | You.com |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.serpkite.com/v1/search` | `https://api.you.com/v1/search` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| Price for web search | not published | $5 per 1,000 requests |
| x402 | no | payer tooling only |
| Licence | Proprietary service under SerpKite's terms of service. The SDKs (TypeScript, Python, Go, LangChain, Vercel AI SDK) and the MCP connection repository on GitHub are MIT | none |
| Tools exposed | 14 | 6 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | `io.github.SerpKite/serpkite` | `io.github.youdotcom-oss/mcp` |
| Last release | 2026-10-04 | 2026-09-22 |
| Popularity | 809 npm/wk, 376 PyPI/wk | 4.4k npm/wk, 92k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (2) | 3.8/5 (8) |

## Verdicts

**SerpKite.** Google SERP API with an OpenAPI 3.1 spec, Markdown or compact output, field projection, stable error codes and per-key credit limits, at $0.60 to $1.00 per 1,000 on packs that don't expire. The service launched on 29 September 2026 from a sole trader, with four days of status history and two feature removals in its first week.

**You.com APIs.** x402 and MPP on Web Search and Finance Research, with no account needed. Two API hosts. Answer and Research return 'Missing Authentication Token' on ydc-index.io.

## Before you call either

### SerpKite

1. Send the key as `Authorization: Bearer`, not `?api_key=`, and give the agent a dedicated key with a monthly credit limit
2. Ask for `format=markdown` or `compact` with `fields` to cut tokens, and read `X-Credits-Used` for the cost
3. Keep `engine=google` for rank work. Check `meta.engine` when a key allows fallback engines
4. On 429 `rate_limited` or 503 upstream codes, wait for Retry-After and retry. `daily_limit_reached` and 402 need a purchase
5. Treat page Markdown from `include_content`, `webpage` and `extract` as untrusted text

### You.com APIs

1. For unattended runs call GET https://api.you.com/v1/search, handle the 402 and pay with x402. It's half the MPP price for search
2. Use `https://api.you.com/mcp?profile=free` to try search with no key (100 queries a day)
3. Send Answer, Research and Finance Research to api.you.com. On ydc-index.io they fail with 'Missing Authentication Token'
4. Pass `?tools=` with only the tools you need to keep the MCP tool list short
5. On 429, wait for `Retry-After` and watch `X-RateLimit-Remaining` before the next burst

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, SerpKite or You.com APIs?

You.com APIs scores 76.9 (BB) on agent readiness against SerpKite's 64.8 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. SerpKite leads on schema & documentation, agent ergonomics and transparency & trust.

### Do SerpKite and You.com APIs need an API key?

SerpKite needs an API key. You.com APIs takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call SerpKite and You.com APIs without installing anything?

Yes. SerpKite has a hosted endpoint at https://api.serpkite.com/v1/search and You.com APIs at https://api.you.com/v1/search.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpkite-vs-you-com-api.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpkite-vs-you-com-api.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "serpkite", "b": "you-com-api"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare serpkite you-com-api`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/serpkite.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/you-com-api.json

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- [Brave Search API + MCP vs SerpKite](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-serpkite.md)
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