Try
5,000 searches
$9.25
$1.85/1K searches
- Wire it into one agent
- Same API as the largest pack
- Credits never expire
Quick answer
How much does web search cost an AI agent?
Monthly cost = tasks per day × searches per task × 30 × price per search, plus the tokens your model reads. As of October 22, 2026, most standalone APIs charge $1 to $8 per 1,000 searches and built-in model tools $10 to $14 plus tokens. LLMWebSearch charges from $1.85/1K searches down to $1.20/1K searches, with the top 3 pages included. No KYC; pay in crypto.
What is the formula?
Two parts: the search bill and the token bill.
- Search bill = searches per month × price per search. Searches per month = tasks per day × searches per task × 30.
- Token bill = the page text your model reads, at your model's input price.
The search bill is what vendors advertise. The token bill is often larger, and it depends on how much text each search returns. A tool that returns full pages costs more tokens than one that returns snippets, but saves the extra calls a reader would need.
# Monthly search volume and credits for one agent workload.
TASKS_PER_DAY = 100 # questions or jobs the agent handles each day
SEARCHES_PER_TASK = 6 # calls to the search tool per task
PAGES_READ = 3 # read=3 keeps every search at 1 credit; 4 to 10 pages make it 2
credits_per_search = 1 if PAGES_READ <= 3 else 2
searches = TASKS_PER_DAY * SEARCHES_PER_TASK * 30
credits = searches * credits_per_search
print(f"{searches:,} searches a month = {credits:,} credits")What does one search cost at each vendor?
Prices per 1,000 searches as read on each vendor's page on 22 October 2026. "Content" says what text comes back. Built-in tools add the retrieved content as model tokens.
| Service | Price per 1,000 searches | Content returned | Tokens billed on top? |
|---|---|---|---|
| LLMWebSearch | $1.85/1K searches down to $1.20/1K searches | Top 3 pages as Markdown, up to 20 results | No (you choose the length with max_chars) |
| Tavily | $7.50 (Project) to $5.00 (Growth); $8.00 pay as you go | Snippets; raw page text with include_raw_content | No |
| Exa | $7.00 (auto); $4.00 (lite, cached only) | Text of the first 10 results in auto search | No |
| Brave Search API | $5.00 | Extracted chunks (LLM Context), not full pages | No |
| Perplexity Search API | $5.00; $1.00 fast | Extracted snippets sized per page | No |
| Parallel | $1.00 fast to $5.00 advanced; Extract $1.00 per 1,000 URLs | Excerpts; full pages through Extract | No |
| OpenAI web_search | $10.00 | An answer with citations | Yes, at model rates |
| Anthropic Claude web_search | $10.00 | URLs and titles; content counted as input tokens | Yes |
| Gemini 3 grounding | $14.00 after 5,000 free a month (paid tier) | An answer with citations | Not stated |
| Grounding with Bing | $14.00 | An answer; raw results not accessible | Yes, model tokens billed separately |
Example 1: a personal coding assistant
One developer, 20 searches a day, about 600 a month. At this size, free tiers often cover the need: Tavily gives 1,000 credits a month and Exa $10 a month, as read on October 22, 2026. The free tier guide lists the catches.
On LLMWebSearch, 5,000 searches at $9.25 lasts about eight months at this pace. Search credits have no expiry date: what you do not use this month is still there next year. The point of paying here is page text in every result and no monthly reset, not a lower bill than free.
Example 2: a team assistant with 18,000 searches a month
100 tasks a day, 6 searches per task: 18,000 searches a month. Using prices read on October 22, 2026:
- Tavily: Bootstrap at $100 for 15,000 credits, plus 3,000 at $0.008: $124.
- Exa auto: 18 × $7.00 = $126.
- OpenAI or Anthropic built-in search: 18 × $10.00 = $180, plus content tokens.
- Gemini 3 grounding: (18,000 − 5,000 free) × $14 per 1,000 = $182.
On LLMWebSearch, 25,000 searches at $41.25 covers this month and about a third of the next, with the top 3 pages of each search included.
Example 3: a research product with 80,000 searches a month
2,000 reports a month, 40 searches each: 80,000 searches. Again with prices read on October 22, 2026:
- Tavily: Growth at $500 covers up to 100,000 credits: $500.
- Exa auto: 80 × $7.00 = $560.
- OpenAI or Anthropic built-in search: 80 × $10.00 = $800, plus content tokens.
- Gemini 3 grounding: (80,000 − 5,000) × $14 per 1,000 = $1,050.
- Grounding with Bing: 80 × $14.00 = $1,120, plus model tokens.
On LLMWebSearch, 100,000 searches at $145 covers the month with 20,000 searches left over.
What about the tokens?
Every source your model reads costs input tokens, whichever search you use. The difference is who decides how many. OpenAI bills search content "at model rates", and for gpt-4o-mini and gpt-4.1-mini it counts a fixed 8,000 input tokens per call. Anthropic counts search results as input tokens, also on later turns of the conversation.
With a standalone API you set the length yourself. Three pages capped at 4,000 characters each come to roughly 3,000 tokens. Lower max_chars for chat agents and raise it for research reports.
How can I cut the bill?
Five changes, from easiest to hardest:
- Cap searches per task. A hard limit in code is cheaper than a polite request in the prompt.
- Keep
readat 3. On LLMWebSearch, 4 to 10 pages make a search cost 2 credits. - Trim pages. Lower
max_chars; most answers sit in the first few thousand characters. - Cache repeated questions. Store answers to frequent queries for a day.
- Search only when needed. Teach the agent to answer stable questions from memory.
Compare the full picture on the dated price comparison.
LLMWebSearch packs
One credit pays for one search: up to 20 ranked results, with the pages of the first 3 read and returned as Markdown. Reading 4 to 10 pages makes it 2 credits. A call that ends in an error costs nothing. Search credits have no expiry date: what you do not use this month is still there next year.
Builder
25,000 searches
$41.25
$1.65/1K searches
- A coding agent or a research assistant
- MCP, LangChain and n8n ready
- Credits never expire
Production
100,000 searches
$145
$1.45/1K searches
- Agents in production
- Higher rate limit on request
- Credits never expire
Scale
500,000 searches
$650
$1.30/1K searches
- Deep research and multi-agent systems
- Higher rate limit on request
- Credits never expire
Best rate
Volume
1,000,000 searches
$1,200
$1.20/1K searches
- Platforms serving many agents
- Higher rate limit on request
- Credits never expire
In every plan: Top 3 pages read as Markdown · Country, language, time and domain filters · Failed calls not charged · Credits never expire
| Plan | Quantity | Total price | Price per unit | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Try | 5,000 searches | $9.25 | $1.85/1K searches | Buy |
| Builder | 25,000 searches | $41.25 | $1.65/1K searches | Buy |
| Production | 100,000 searches | $145 | $1.45/1K searches | Buy |
| Scale | 500,000 searches | $650 | $1.30/1K searches | Buy |
| Volume Best rate | 1,000,000 searches | $1,200 | $1.20/1K searches | Buy |
Web search costs: common questions
How can I give an agent web search on a small budget?
For a few hundred searches a month, a free tier. Beyond that, compare the price per search with page text included, not the headline price for snippets. The dated comparison puts them side by side.
Are failed searches charged on LLMWebSearch?
No. A call that ends in an error costs nothing. A successful search costs its credit even when some pages could not be read.
Do prices change often?
Yes. Exa simplified and lowered its prices on March 3, 2026, and OpenAI's search tool fell from $30 or $25 per 1,000 at launch in March 2025 to $10. Check dates on any price you rely on.
Is a subscription cheaper than prepaid credits?
Only if you use the full allowance every month. Plans that reset monthly charge for unused searches; prepaid credits that never expire do not.
Sources (10)
- API credits docs.tavily.com/documentation/api-credits — Tavily (read 2026-10-22)
- Pricing exa.ai/pricing — Exa (read 2026-10-22)
- Brave Search API brave.com/search/api — Brave Software (read 2026-10-22)
- Search API overview docs.perplexity.ai/docs/search/overview.md — Perplexity (read 2026-10-22)
- Pricing parallel.ai/pricing — Parallel Web Systems (read 2026-10-22)
- API pricing — OpenAI (read 2026-10-22)
- Pricing — Anthropic (read 2026-10-22)
- Gemini Developer API pricing — Google (read 2026-10-22)
- Grounding with Bing Search pricing — Microsoft (read 2026-10-22)
- OpenAI launches new tools for building agents — The Decoder (2025-03-11)