Search APIs,priced againstwhat they return.
Search API pricing spans two very different products — one that owns its index and one that relays a search engine's results — and the rate you should compare depends on which one you're buying, and whether the call includes the page text or just a link to it.
"search api"/
├── owns an index/
│ ├── askfinz, keiro, brave/
│ ├── exa, you.com, linkup/
│ └── tavily, serpapi
└── relays a search engine/
├── no index of its own
├── far cheaper per call
└── reaches only what rankedThree things worth knowing before you compare a rate card.
Two different products, one label
"Search API" covers services that hold their own index and services that relay a search engine's results back to you. Both are useful, and they are priced very differently for a reason — see the note under the table for which is which.
What the call returns changes the price you should compare
Some APIs charge extra to hand back the actual page text; others include it. Comparing headline rates without checking that is comparing different products — the table below matches on what you actually get back.
The cheap tier disappeared once already
Bing's Search API — the budget option a lot of this market was built on — was retired in August 2025. Its replacement is a different kind of product at a materially higher price, which is part of why the ground here keeps shifting.
Among index owners, this is the market.
| Provider | Per 1,000 searches | vs askFinz bundled |
|---|---|---|
| askFinz — top-upadditional searches beyond your plan | $0.75 | — |
| askFinz — with the extensionincluded in what you already pay | $1.00 | — |
| askFinz — standalonesearch on its own | $3.50 | — |
| $3.00 | 3.0× more | |
| $5.00 | 5.0× more | |
| $5.00 | 5.0× more | |
| $5.00 | 5.0× more | |
| $5.00 | 5.0× more | |
| $7.00 | 7.0× more | |
| $8.00 | 8.0× more | |
| $25.00 | 9.2× more | |
| $12.00 | 12.0× more |
You will find cheaper rates than these. A separate group of services quotes as little as $0.60 per thousand, and they are worth understanding rather than dismissing: they don't hold an index of their own, they pass your query to a search engine and hand back what it returned. That is a genuinely useful thing to buy, and it is priced accordingly. It is also a different product from this one — it can only reach what the engine chose to show, and none of the material we hold because we read it from the source. Among services that run their own index, the rates above are the market.
The budget option is gone. Bing's Search API — what much of this market was built on — was retired in August 2025. Its replacement is a different kind of product at a considerably higher price, which is part of why search costs what it does elsewhere.
Rates read from each provider's own pricing page on 12 August 2026. Where a provider gets cheaper with volume, the comparison uses their best rate, not their entry price. Rates are matched on what the call returns: askFinz search returns the relevant passage from the page with every result, so where a provider charges separately for page text, that is the rate shown. Providers change pricing — check theirs before relying on this.
A few kilobytes a page is what makes the rate above possible.
Every search API in the table above that owns its index is carrying the same fixed cost: storage for everything it's read. Keep that small and a low rate is sustainable; let it grow and it isn't. This is the live figure from the running system.
What's the difference between askFinz and a search API like Tavily or Exa?
Most of those run on their own index too — the difference this page is about is price and what the call returns. The deeper difference, of owning the index versus renting one, is covered on the full comparison.
Why do some "search APIs" cost a fraction of the ones in this table?
Because they're a different product. A relay-style API holds no index of its own — it passes your query to a search engine and returns what came back. That's genuinely useful and priced accordingly, but it can only ever reach what the engine chose to show, and none of what an owned index reads directly from the source.
Is this list every search API on the market?
No — it's the ones that publish a clear per-query rate and run their own index, so the comparison is apples to apples. Vertex AI Search is a notable absence: its pricing is multi-dimensional enough that a single per-1k figure would misrepresent it either way.
Can I use askFinz's index the way I'd use one of these APIs?
Search is usable directly today at the rates shown. The underlying index itself isn't sold or licensed as a separate feed — see an AI index for every customer for what is and isn't on offer.
Search, at the price of owning the index.
The table above is the rate a real account pays today, not a promotional figure. Try it directly, or read how the index underneath it is built and kept fresh.