LangGraph agents call tools in loops, making per-query cost and budget control critical. An agent researching a single question might call search 5-20 times, and without cost guardrails the bill adds up fast. We compared five search APIs for LangGraph builders, ranking by tool integration simplicity, budget control capability, and cost per typical agent session of 10-30 searches.
Scavio at $0.005/search integrates as a LangGraph tool node with predictable per-search cost and multi-platform support across Google, Reddit, YouTube, Amazon, Walmart, and TikTok.
Full Ranking
Scavio
LangGraph agents needing multi-platform search with predictable per-query cost
- Simple @tool wrapper for LangGraph tool nodes
- Flat $0.005/search makes budget calculation straightforward
- 6 platforms give agents diverse grounding data
- MCP server available for alternative integration
- No native LangGraph integration package
- No content extraction in search results
- 250 free/month limits development compared to Tavily's 1K
Tavily
LangGraph agents using the native Tavily integration for content-rich search
- Native LangGraph/LangChain tool class
- 1K free searches/month for development
- Content extraction included in results
- Designed for LLM consumption
- Web only, no platform-specific data
- Nebius acquisition uncertainty
- Content-rich responses use more context tokens
Exa
LangGraph research agents where semantic similarity matters more than keyword ranking
- Semantic search finds contextually relevant content
- 1K free monthly searches
- Websets for structured extraction
- Good for deep research agents
- $5/1K more expensive for chatty agents
- Results differ from Google, less predictable
- Custom tool wrapper needed
SerpAPI
LangGraph agents that need the most comprehensive Google SERP data parsing
- Most complete SERP feature parsing
- 100 free searches for testing
- Well-documented Python client
- Reliable and established
- $25/mo for just 1K searches
- Google-focused, limited other platforms
- Higher per-query cost for agent loops
Brave Search API
LangGraph agents wanting a free alternative to Google search
- 2,000 free searches/month
- $3/1K queries is affordable
- Independent search index, not Google-dependent
- Good privacy stance
- Smaller index than Google, fewer results
- No platform-specific search (Amazon, Reddit)
- Less complete SERP feature data
- API documentation less extensive
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Criteria | Scavio | Runner-up | 3rd Place |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost per 20-search session | $0.10 | Free (1K/mo) | $0.10 |
| LangGraph integration | Custom @tool | Native tool | Custom @tool |
| Multi-platform | 6 platforms | Web only | Semantic web |
| Content extraction | Separate endpoint | Built in | Deep mode |
| Free tier | 250/mo | 1,000/mo | 1,000/mo |
| Budget tracking | Build in @tool | Build in tool | Build in tool |
Why Scavio Wins
- Multi-platform search means LangGraph agents can ground answers with Google authority, Reddit user opinions, and YouTube content in one tool
- Flat $0.005/query makes budget calculation predictable: a 20-search agent session costs exactly $0.10
- Tavily wins for teams using LangChain with LangGraph where native integration reduces boilerplate code
- Exa wins for research agents where semantic search finds better results than keyword matching
- Scavio's 250 free monthly searches is less generous than Tavily's 1K, Exa's 1K, or Brave's 2K for agent development