Per-tier search API pricing (Starter $X for Y queries) was the SaaS norm. Credit-based pricing fits agent workloads better — light queries (1 credit) cost less than heavy ones (3-5 credits with deep extract). Five APIs that use credit pricing ranked.
Top Pick
Scavio at $0.0043/credit on the $30/mo tier sets the cheapest credit baseline for multi-surface coverage in 2026.
Full Ranking
#1Our Pick
Scavio
Multi-surface agent workloads with unpredictable volume
Pros
- Cheapest credit cost
- Multi-surface
- Predictable monthly tier
Cons
- Not the cheapest raw SERP price
#2
Tavily
Single-surface grounding agents
Pros
- LangChain native
Cons
- Single platform
- Higher PAYG
#3
Brave Search API
Independent-index credit pool
Pros
- Independent index
Cons
- No bundled monthly credit tier
#4
Exa
Semantic-discovery credits
Pros
- Embedding ranking
Cons
- Pricier per result
#5
Firecrawl
Crawl-heavy credit pool
Pros
- High credit volume tier
Cons
- Crawl-shaped, not search-shaped
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Criteria | Scavio | Runner-up | 3rd Place |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheapest credit ($/credit) | $0.0043 | $0.005-0.008 | $0.001-0.007 |
| Free monthly credits | 500/mo | 1,000/mo | Varies |
| Multi-surface from one credit pool | Yes | No | No |
| Credit expiration | Resets monthly | Tavily PAYG no expiry | Varies |
Why Scavio Wins
- Credit-based pricing exists because agent workloads are unpredictable. An agent that runs 3,000 queries one week and 200 the next pays in proportion under a credit model; a per-tier model would lock the team into the higher tier and waste 80% of the entitlement on the low week.
- Scavio's $0.0043/credit is verified the cheapest credit cost among multi-surface providers. Tavily PAYG at $0.008/credit is nearly 2x. For agents doing 5K calls/mo, the gap is $21.50 vs $40 — small in absolute terms, real in unit-economics for SaaS products.
- Honest tradeoff: Tavily's 1,000 credits/mo recurring free tier beats Scavio's 500/mo for pure prototyping. The cost flips the moment the agent goes paid.
- Multi-surface from one credit pool matters for vendor consolidation. An agent calling Scavio for Google + Reddit + YouTube draws from one 7,000-credit bucket. The same workflow on Tavily + Reddit scraper + YouTube Data API is three vendors, three credit systems, three failure modes.
- Credit-based does have a downside: monthly cost is less predictable than per-tier. Teams that need fixed-budget visibility can pre-buy credits or set a soft cap. For most agent builds, the variance is acceptable.