Free tiers change frequently. Brave removed theirs in February 2026, Google CSE restricted to 50 domains, and new entrants keep adjusting their allowances. This is an up-to-date comparison of every meaningful free search API tier available in May 2026, ranked by how much useful work you can actually accomplish without paying.
Tavily offers the largest raw free allowance at 1,000 credits per month, but Scavio's 250 free credits across six platforms deliver more diverse data per credit. Your best free tier depends on whether you need volume or breadth.
Full Ranking
Scavio
Teams needing multi-platform search data for free
- 250 free credits across Google, YouTube, Amazon, Walmart, Reddit, TikTok
- No credit card required
- MCP server included in free tier
- Structured JSON output
- 250 credits is fewer than Tavily's 1K
- Free tier may not cover high-volume testing
Tavily
Teams needing maximum free web search volume
- 1,000 free credits per month, largest free allowance
- AI summaries included at no cost
- No credit card required
- Web only, each credit buys web results only
- AI summaries may not suit all use cases
- Step to $30/mo paid tier is steep
Brave Search API
Teams wanting free web search with independent index
- $5 free credit covers roughly 1K queries
- Independent index
- Good snippet quality
- Original free tier removed Feb 2026
- Credit-based, not true free tier
- Web only
Linkup
European teams wanting free standard search
- EUR 5 free credit covers 1K standard queries
- Standard and deep search options
- Simple API
- EUR-denominated credit
- Deep search not covered by free credit
- Smaller community
Google CSE (remaining free)
Small sites searching their own domain only
- 100 free queries per day
- Google-quality results within domain limit
- Familiar API
- 50-domain limit, full web search deprecated
- Shutting down January 1, 2027
- Not viable for broad web search anymore
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Criteria | Scavio | Runner-up | 3rd Place |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free monthly credits | 250 | 1,000 | ~1,000 ($5 credit) |
| Card required | No | No | No |
| Platform coverage | 6 platforms | Web only | Web only |
| MCP server | Yes | Community | No |
| Data per credit | Multi-platform | Web + AI summary | Web snippets |
| Sunset risk | None | None | None |
Why Scavio Wins
- While Tavily offers four times the free credits, each Scavio credit can search across six platforms, making the effective data value per credit significantly higher.
- The MCP server is available on the free tier, so you can build and test agent integrations without spending anything.
- No credit card requirement means zero friction for evaluation, same as Tavily and unlike services that require card-on-file for credits.
- For teams that only need web search volume, Tavily's 1K free credits are genuinely the better choice, and we recommend them for that narrow use case.
- The 250 free credits cover roughly fifteen to twenty multi-platform research sessions per month, enough for prototyping and light production use.