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Brave Search API

Independent search API with its own 30+ billion page web index, real-time updates, AI answer summaries, and privacy-first architecture. The default search provider for Claude MCP integrations.

Starting atFree
Visit Brave Search API →
💡

In Plain English

A web search API with its own independent index — built for AI agents, chatbots, and applications that need real-time web data without Google dependency.

OverviewFeaturesPricingGetting StartedUse CasesIntegrationsLimitationsFAQSecurityAlternatives

Overview

Brave Search API is the only search API that runs on a fully independent web index, not a Google or Bing reseller. That independence gives you different results, lower costs, and no Google dependency.

If you're building AI agents, RAG pipelines, or any application that needs web search, Brave is the API most teams reach for first. It's the default search tool for Claude MCP integrations, and its growth has been exponential since 2024. The reason is simple: competitive per-query pricing starting around $3 per 1,000 queries, a free tier with 2,000 queries/month, an independent index of 30+ billion pages, and privacy guarantees that Google can't match.

What You Get

The API offers multiple specialized endpoints: Web Search (human-readable URLs and text snippets), LLM Context (results optimized for models and agents), AI Answers (summarized responses with citations), Image, Video, News, Suggest, and Spellcheck. The Answers endpoint is OpenAI SDK compatible with streaming support, so you can plug it into existing OpenAI-based workflows.

Brave indexes 100+ million page updates daily. Search Goggles let you create custom reranking rules and result filters. Each result can include up to 5 extra snippets for maximum context. The API supports up to 50 queries per second.

How It Compares

Serper and SerpAPI scrape Google SERPs, giving you Google's ranking but inheriting Google's TOS risk. Brave returns results from its own index, which is independent but somewhat smaller. Tavily is purpose-built for LLM search but sits on top of other indexes. Brave brings its own index plus a Summarizer, making it the better choice when you want both the retrieval layer and the answer layer from one independent provider.
🦞

Using with OpenClaw

▼

Integrate Brave Search API with OpenClaw through available APIs or create custom skills for specific workflows and automation tasks.

Use Case Example:

Extend OpenClaw's capabilities by connecting to Brave Search API for specialized functionality and data processing.

Learn about OpenClaw →
🎨

Vibe Coding Friendly?

▼
Difficulty:beginner
No-Code Friendly ✨

Simple API integration with clear documentation - perfect for vibe coding approaches.

Learn about Vibe Coding →

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Editorial Review

The go-to search API for AI developers. Independent index of 30+ billion pages, freemium pricing with a free tier (2,000 queries/month) and paid plans from ~$3 per 1K queries, privacy-first architecture, and the default choice for Claude MCP integrations. Index quality trails Google on niche queries, but the independence and cost make it the practical choice for most AI workloads.

Key Features

Independent web index of 30+ billion pages, refreshed continuously by Brave's own crawler with no upstream dependency on Google or Bing+
Multiple endpoints under a single API key: Web Search, News Search, Image Search, Video Search, Suggest (autocomplete), Spellcheck, Local Search (POI/businesses), and AI Summarizer+
AI Summarizer returns grounded LLM-generated answers with citations, designed to be consumed directly by chatbots without a separate generation step+
Official Brave Search MCP server published by Brave, making it a one-line install for Claude Desktop, Claude Code, and other Model Context Protocol clients+
Privacy-preserving architecture: anonymous queries, no user profile linkage, no resale of query data to third parties, GDPR-friendly defaults+
Structured JSON responses with rich metadata (freshness, language, locale, deep links, sitelinks) optimized for RAG and agent ingestion+
Predictable rate limits and pricing tiers (Free, Base, Pro, Enterprise) with transparent QPS and monthly-query caps published on the pricing page+

Pricing Plans

Free

$0/month

    Base AI

    From ~$3 per 1,000 queries

      Pro

      From ~$5–9 per 1,000 queries

        Enterprise / Custom

        Custom

          See Full Pricing →Free vs Paid →Is it worth it? →

          Ready to get started with Brave Search API?

          View Pricing Options →

          Getting Started with Brave Search API

          1. 1Define your first Brave Search API use case and success metric.
          2. 2Connect a foundation model and configure credentials.
          3. 3Attach retrieval/tools and set guardrails for execution.
          4. 4Run evaluation datasets to benchmark quality and latency.
          5. 5Deploy with monitoring, alerts, and iterative improvement loops.
          Ready to start? Try Brave Search API →

          Best Use Cases

          🎯

          AI agent web search via MCP: Powering AI agent search capabilities through Claude MCP integrations — Brave is the default search provider for Claude Desktop and MCP-compatible tools

          ⚡

          RAG pipeline web grounding: Grounding LLM responses with real-time web data using the LLM Context endpoint, which returns results pre-structured for language model consumption

          🔧

          Privacy-compliant enterprise search: Building search-powered applications for regulated industries (healthcare, finance, legal) using Zero Data Retention and SOC 2 Type II attestation

          🚀

          Foundation model training data: Accessing web-scale training data from 30+ billion pages with up to 5 snippets per result — purpose-built for AI model training pipelines

          Integration Ecosystem

          4 integrations

          Brave Search API works with these platforms and services:

          🧠 LLM Providers
          OpenAIAnthropic
          ☁️ Cloud Platforms
          AWS
          🔗 Other
          GitHub
          View full Integration Matrix →

          Limitations & What It Can't Do

          We believe in transparent reviews. Here's what Brave Search API doesn't handle well:

          • ⚠Index quality trails Google for niche, long-tail, and recently-published content — expect gaps on obscure topics that Google handles well
          • ⚠Answers endpoint capacity limited to 2 queries per second compared to 50 QPS for basic search — not suited for high-throughput summarization
          • ⚠Free tier is limited to 2,000 queries/month at 1 QPS — sufficient for prototyping but not production workloads
          • ⚠Zero Data Retention only available on Enterprise plans with custom agreements — not accessible to individual developers or small teams
          • ⚠While Brave's index is independently crawled, results may occasionally be supplemented by third-party sources for coverage on certain query types

          Pros & Cons

          ✓ Pros

          • ✓Fully independent 30+ billion page index — not a reseller of Bing or Google, which removes a major supply-chain risk other search APIs carry
          • ✓First-class MCP integration with an official server, making it the path-of-least-resistance search backend for Claude Desktop, Claude Code, and other MCP clients
          • ✓Built-in AI Summarizer endpoint returns grounded, cited answers, saving a round-trip through a separate LLM call for simple lookups
          • ✓Privacy-preserving by design: anonymous queries, no user profiling, no resale of query data — meaningful for GDPR and enterprise compliance reviews
          • ✓Generous free tier (2,000 queries/month at 1 QPS) lets developers prototype RAG and agent workflows without a credit card
          • ✓Clean structured JSON with news, images, videos, web, and local endpoints under one consistent auth scheme

          ✗ Cons

          • ✗Index is smaller and less deep than Google's, so long-tail and very obscure queries can return weaker results than Google Custom Search or SerpAPI
          • ✗No native JavaScript rendering or scraping — you get the indexed snapshot, not a live-rendered page, so heavily client-rendered sites may be under-represented
          • ✗Higher-tier plans charge per-query, which can become expensive for high-volume agent workloads that issue many speculative searches per task
          • ✗AI Summarizer and some advanced endpoints are gated behind paid tiers, not available on the free plan
          • ✗Documentation and SDK ecosystem are thinner than SerpAPI's — fewer language clients and community examples for niche use cases

          Frequently Asked Questions

          Is Brave Search API really independent of Google and Bing?+

          Brave operates its own web crawler and maintains its own index of 30+ billion pages. The core results are served from that independent index, not proxied from Google or Bing. However, like most search engines, Brave may supplement its own index with third-party results for certain queries to improve coverage. This is different from APIs like SerpAPI or Serper that are entirely wrappers around Google's SERP.

          Why is Brave Search the default for Claude MCP setups?+

          Anthropic ships an official Brave Search MCP server in the standard MCP examples and documentation. It is fast to configure (just an API key), returns structured results that LLMs can consume directly, and the privacy posture aligns with Anthropic's positioning. As a result, most Claude Desktop and Claude Code tutorials use it as the canonical web-search tool.

          Is there a free tier?+

          Yes. The Free plan provides 2,000 queries per month at 1 query per second with no credit card required, suitable for prototyping. Paid tiers (Base, Pro, and custom enterprise) raise rate limits, unlock the AI Summarizer, and offer commercial usage rights.

          How does it compare to SerpAPI or Serper?+

          SerpAPI and Serper scrape Google search result pages, so you get Google's ranking but inherit Google's TOS risk and pricing. Brave returns its own index, which is independent but somewhat smaller. Brave is typically cheaper at volume, has better latency for non-localized queries, and is preferred when you want to avoid Google as an upstream dependency.

          Can I use it for retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)?+

          Yes — RAG is one of the primary intended use cases. The web search endpoint returns titles, URLs, descriptions, and snippets in JSON that plug directly into LangChain, LlamaIndex, and custom agent frameworks. The Summarizer endpoint can also be used as a one-shot RAG step for simple factual queries.

          🔒 Security & Compliance

          🛡️ SOC2 Compliant
          ✅
          SOC2
          Yes
          ✅
          GDPR
          Yes
          ❌
          HIPAA
          No
          ❌
          SSO
          No
          ❌
          Self-Hosted
          No
          ❌
          On-Prem
          No
          ❌
          RBAC
          No
          ❌
          Audit Log
          No
          ✅
          API Key Auth
          Yes
          ❌
          Open Source
          No
          ✅
          Encryption at Rest
          Yes
          ✅
          Encryption in Transit
          Yes
          Data Retention: Zero Data Retention available on Enterprise
          📋 Privacy Policy →🛡️ Security Page →
          🦞

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          What's New in 2026

          Brave has continued to invest heavily in the API as AI-agent traffic has become its dominant use case. Recent emphasis includes deeper MCP support and official MCP server distribution, expanded AI Summarizer coverage with better citation formatting, growth of the underlying index past the 30-billion-page mark, and tighter integrations with Claude (Anthropic's Claude Desktop and Claude Code ship Brave-friendly examples by default). Brave has also leaned into positioning the API as the independent, non-Big-Tech option for RAG and agent builders concerned about supply-chain risk from Google/Bing-backed competitors.

          Alternatives to Brave Search API

          Serper

          Search & Discovery

          Serper: Google SERP API optimized for AI retrieval pipelines. - Enhanced AI-powered platform providing advanced capabilities for modern development and business workflows. Features comprehensive tooling, integrations, and scalable architecture designed for professional teams and enterprise environments.

          SerpAPI

          Search & Discovery

          SerpAPI: Comprehensive SERP API across Google, Bing, and more. - Enhanced AI-powered platform providing advanced capabilities for modern development and business workflows. Features comprehensive tooling, integrations, and scalable architecture designed for professional teams and enterprise environments.

          Tavily

          AI Memory & Search

          Real-time search engine built specifically for AI agents and RAG workflows, providing LLM-optimized web search results through search, extract, crawl, map, and research APIs. Recently acquired by Nebius in February 2026 for $275 million to enhance AI cloud platform capabilities.

          View All Alternatives & Detailed Comparison →

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          Quick Info

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          Website

          brave.com/search/api/
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