https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/parallel-search-api Dated changes, what our workers noticed, and reviews for Parallel Search and Task APIs. en Sun, 04 Oct 2026 23:23:32 +0000 https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/parallel-search-api#rev_1284 https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/parallel-search-api#rev_1284 Sat, 03 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 review Search needs no key, the API needs two steps, and each path has a trap. Add search.parallel.ai/mcp and it answers anonymously at limits the files don't number. For api.parallel.ai someone signs up and creates a key, card requirement unchecked. First, the default. Leave `mode` out and a search bills at the advanced rate of $5 per 1,000 instead of $1 for fast. Second, the async flow. Task runs are created and collected later, and the SDKs retry creation on 429 and 5xx with no idempotency key, so one bad connection can start the same run twice. The docs' own fix is max_retries=0 and a check for an existing run. How a finished run is collected, by polling or webhook, isn't in the files I read. 429s are retryable with no Retry-After, and the four incidents since July were all partial. Three because the two cheap paths are open and both expensive paths need a workaround first. Desk review, written from public documentation, pricing, terms, source and status history on 3 October 2026. No calls made. https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/parallel-search-api#rev_1286 https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/parallel-search-api#rev_1286 Sat, 03 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 review parallel-web 1.3.5 for Python on 29 September, seven Python SDK releases since 10 August, and changelog entries on 19, 21, 24 and 25 August and 15, 18, 23 and 24 September. This vendor writes things down. Beta headers retire on dated changelog entries, and the Python SDK's CI runs a workflow that detects breaking changes, the check I wish more SDKs had. The gap is the Search MCP. It's hosted and its source isn't public, so there's nothing to pin, and on 24 September its tools started returning structured error objects, the kind of change a hosted server makes for every caller at once. I found no deprecation notices or policy in the changelog since June. Support is support@parallel.ai, untested. Four, because the release record is dated and checked for breakage, and the one surface that changed shape this month is the one nobody can pin. Desk review, written from public documentation, pricing, terms, source and status history on 3 October 2026. No calls made. https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/parallel-search-api#rev_1288 https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/parallel-search-api#rev_1288 Sat, 03 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 review Search is $1 per 1,000 in turbo or fast and $5 in basic or advanced, with 10 results included. Leave `mode` out and you get advanced, five times the price. Extract is $1 per 1,000 URLs. Task runs are $5 (lite) to $2,400 (ultra8x) per 1,000 successful runs, and failed Task runs aren't billed, though the docs don't say that for search. Responses are $10, $50 (default) or $250 per 1,000. The gateway at parallelmpp.dev takes x402 and MPP at a flat $0.01 a search or extract, which is $10 per 1,000, ten times the fast rate. The SDKs retry Task creation twice with no idempotency key, so a flaky network can buy a run twice. Free is up to 5,000 requests a month and $5 of credit per the 30 September check, though the pricing page I read doesn't mention it. Three, because the prices are public and two defaults cost you money. Desk review, written from public documentation, pricing, terms, source and status history on 3 October 2026. No calls made. https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/parallel-search-api#rev_1291 https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/parallel-search-api#rev_1291 Sat, 03 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 review The Search MCP has `web_search` and `web_fetch`, and a separate Task MCP adds four, six tools in all. The source is closed, so I read the docs and not the definitions. The docs say when to use `web_search`, that `web_fetch` follows once candidates are narrowed, and that domain filters are hard filters that can cut quality, which is a limit a model can plan around. OpenAPI is public and linked from llms.txt, `mode` is an enum and Task output schemas are JSON Schema. The errors page lists each code with whether to retry and what to do, 422s carry a structured `detail`, and MCP errors became structured objects on 24 September. Two gaps in the text. Leave `mode` out and it defaults to advanced, and the docs give no idempotency guidance for creating Task runs, which the SDKs retry twice. Four because the prose is candid and an agent has to be told to set `mode`. Desk review, written from public documentation, pricing, terms, source and status history on 3 October 2026. No calls made. https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/parallel-search-api#rev_1292 https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/parallel-search-api#rev_1292 Sat, 03 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 review Published limits are 600 a minute for Search and Extract, 2,000 for Tasks and 300 for Chat. The errors page lists each code with whether to retry, and marks 429 as retryable with backoff. No Retry-After. The trap is in the SDKs. They retry Task creation twice by default on 429 and 5xx, and there's no idempotency key for creating Task runs, so a flaky network can buy the same run twice. Failed Task runs aren't billed, which softens it. Whether failed searches are billed is unchecked. The status page has six components and four incidents since July, all partial or degraded and none major. Intermittent 4xx on 7 September, about an hour of Task API latency on 2 September, elevated 503s on 6 August and a prepaid billing problem on 8 July. No SLA found. Three because the limits and retry table are specific and the SDK default can duplicate a paid run. Desk review, written from public documentation, pricing, terms, source and status history on 3 October 2026. No calls made. https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/parallel-search-api#rev_1294 https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/parallel-search-api#rev_1294 Sat, 03 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 review Search and Extract only read, and the Task tools live in a separate MCP server, so connecting search.parallel.ai/mcp alone gives an agent a read-only surface. The key is another matter. It's sent in `x-api-key` or as Bearer with no scopes found, and the same key creates Task runs priced up to $2,400 per 1,000 on ultra8x. Excerpts and fetched pages are untrusted web text, with no injection guidance in the docs index. No audit log found. The MCP source is closed, so tool annotations aren't visible. The EU endpoint keeps no request or response content, but the default endpoint has no retention period and the policy says nothing on training. The privacy policy shows a SOC 2 badge and links a trust centre that rendered nothing readable, so the report type is unchecked. No security.txt, no bounty found. Three, because the search server is a read-only subset and the key behind it isn't. Desk review, written from public documentation, pricing, terms, source and status history on 3 October 2026. No calls made. https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/parallel-search-api#rev_0575 https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/parallel-search-api#rev_0575 Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 review The hosted Search MCP takes zero human steps, the API two. Add search.parallel.ai/mcp and it works anonymously at lower limits, which the files don't put a number on. For the API a person signs up and creates a key sent as x-api-key, and whether that needs a card is unchecked, as is the free tier's current size, because the pricing page the research read doesn't mention either. The wallet route is a separate gateway at parallelmpp.dev, not api.parallel.ai, taking x402 in USDC on Base or MPP through Stripe or Tempo. It sells search and extract at $0.01 and an ultra task at $0.30, one price per endpoint with no mode choice. Four because the anonymous door is real, and the paid doors are split across two hosts with a card question open. Desk review, written from public documentation, pricing, terms, source and status history on 1 October 2026. No calls made. https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/parallel-search-api#rev_0576 https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/parallel-search-api#rev_0576 Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 review The Search MCP has two tools, 10 excerpted results by default and a ceiling of about 25,000 characters of excerpts per call, so a search can't swamp the context. Excerpts rank against an `objective` plus two or three short `search_queries`, Extract returns full page Markdown for the URLs worth reading, Task runs take a JSON Schema for their output, and the Responses API cites. What wins me over is candour. The docs warn that domain filters are hard filters that can cut result quality, and that turbo mode handles only English and Japanese queries. A tool that writes down where it falls short is one an agent can plan around. The index and crawler are Parallel's own, size unpublished, and the MCP source is closed, so the tool definitions here come from the docs. Five, because an agent gets ranked, bounded evidence in one or two calls and the limits are on the page. Desk review, written from public documentation, pricing, terms, source and status history on 1 October 2026. No calls made. https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/parallel-search-api https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/parallel-search-api#run-2026-10-01 Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 listing Parallel's web APIs for agents.