Agent builders face a choice: use paid search APIs with per-query costs that scale with usage, or self-host search infrastructure for zero marginal cost. SearXNG is the most popular self-hosted option, but it has real limitations: inconsistent JSON output, dependency on upstream search engines, and maintenance burden. Paid APIs trade money for reliability. We compared self-hosted and paid search options specifically for AI agent use cases, where JSON consistency and uptime directly affect agent reliability.
Scavio provides the JSON consistency and multi-platform coverage that agent builders need without the maintenance burden of self-hosted infrastructure, starting free at 250 credits/month.
Full Ranking
Scavio
Agent builders who want reliable JSON without self-hosting maintenance
- Consistent typed JSON across 6 platforms
- Zero infrastructure to maintain
- MCP server for direct agent integration
- Free tier covers development and testing
- Per-query cost scales with agent usage
- Vendor dependency vs self-hosted control
- No offline or air-gapped mode
SearXNG (Self-Hosted)
Agent builders who want zero marginal search cost and full privacy control
- Zero per-query cost after server setup
- Full control over search sources and ranking
- Privacy-preserving, no data sent to third parties
- Active open-source community
- JSON output varies by upstream engine used
- Requires Docker or system-level server setup
- Result quality depends on which engines are available
- Maintenance burden: engine configs break when upstream sites change
Serper.dev
Agent builders needing cheap, fast Google results with minimal setup
- Cheapest per-query paid option for Google
- Fast response times for real-time agents
- Clean JSON output
- Simple API, minimal integration work
- Google only, no multi-platform search
- Credit packs expire in 6 months
- No self-hosted option available
Tavily
Agent builders using LangChain or LlamaIndex with native Tavily support
- Designed for AI agents from the ground up
- Content extraction included
- 1K free searches/month
- Native framework integrations
- Nebius acquisition creates vendor risk
- Web only, no platform-specific search
- No self-hosted option
Brave Search API
Agent builders wanting a privacy-focused search API without self-hosting
- 2K free queries/month is generous
- Independent search index, not Google-dependent
- Privacy-focused by design
- Good for web search without Google
- Smaller index than Google-based APIs
- Results can miss popular pages Google surfaces
- No Amazon, YouTube, or Reddit search
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Criteria | Scavio | Runner-up | 3rd Place |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per-query cost | $0.005 | $0 (after server) | $0.001 |
| Server required | No | Yes (Docker) | No |
| JSON consistency | High (typed) | Variable | High |
| Privacy | API (data sent) | Full (self-hosted) | API (data sent) |
| Maintenance | Zero | Ongoing | Zero |
| Multi-platform | 6 platforms | Multi-engine | Google only |
Why Scavio Wins
- Typed JSON responses mean agents parse results reliably without error handling for schema variations
- Zero maintenance frees agent builders to focus on agent logic instead of search infrastructure
- SearXNG wins for teams with strict privacy requirements or air-gapped deployments where no data can leave the network
- Serper.dev wins on pure per-query cost for agents that only need Google search results
- Scavio's per-query cost scales linearly, which becomes expensive for agents running thousands of searches daily