Brave Search API Killed Its Free Tier - What Now?

Brave Search API killed its free tier in February 2026. The old plan gave developers 2,000 free queries per month with no credit card required. Now the cheapest option is $5 per 1,000 queries on the Base plan, and every response still requires a Brave attribution link in your UI. If you were relying on that free tier for a side project or early-stage prototype, you need a new plan.

Why Brave dropped the free tier

Brave runs its own independent search index. That index costs real money to crawl, store, and serve. Unlike providers that proxy Google results, Brave is paying for the entire stack. A free tier at scale was unsustainable. This is a legitimate business decision, not a bait-and-switch.

What Brave still does well

Brave has the only major independent search index outside of Google and Bing. If you need results that are not just Google repackaged, Brave is genuinely unique. Their Goggles feature lets you re-rank results with custom rulesets. For privacy-focused applications, Brave does not track users or personalize results. These are real advantages that no proxy-based API can match.

The alternatives, honestly

• Scavio -- $0.005 per credit (same as Brave at $5/1K), 500 free credits per month, $30/mo for 7,000 credits. No attribution required. Multi-platform (Google, YouTube, Reddit, Amazon). The tradeoff: Scavio uses Google results, not an independent index.
• Serper -- 2,500 free queries, then $50/mo for 50K. Google results only. Fast and reliable. No multi-platform support.
• Google Custom Search Engine -- 100 free queries per day. Directly from Google. Very limited volume. Requires a CX ID setup that is painful to configure.
• SerpAPI -- $75/mo for 5,000 searches. Most platforms supported. Currently facing DMCA litigation from Google, which is a real procurement risk in mid-2026.

Migration from Brave: the code change

If you were using Brave Search API, migrating to Scavio takes about 10 minutes. The response shape is different, but the core data (title, URL, snippet) maps directly. Here is a minimal migration example.

import requests, os

# Before: Brave Search API (now $5/1K, attribution required)
# resp = requests.get('https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/web/search',
#     headers={'X-Subscription-Token': os.environ['BRAVE_KEY']},
#     params={'q': 'best crm for startups 2026'})

# After: Scavio (500 free/mo, no attribution)
resp = requests.post('https://api.scavio.dev/api/v1/search',
    headers={'x-api-key': os.environ['SCAVIO_API_KEY']},
    json={'platform': 'google', 'query': 'best crm for startups 2026'})

results = resp.json().get('organic_results', [])
for r in results[:5]:
    print(f"{r['title']} -- {r['link']}")

Multi-platform queries you could not do with Brave

One advantage of switching: you can now query multiple platforms with the same API key. Brave only searched its own web index.

import requests, os

H = {'x-api-key': os.environ['SCAVIO_API_KEY']}
URL = 'https://api.scavio.dev/api/v1/search'

# Search Google for web results
web = requests.post(URL, headers=H,
    json={'platform': 'google', 'query': 'best crm startups 2026'})

# Search Reddit for real user opinions
reddit = requests.post(URL, headers=H,
    json={'platform': 'reddit', 'query': 'crm recommendation small team'})

# Search YouTube for demo videos
yt = requests.post(URL, headers=H,
    json={'platform': 'youtube', 'query': 'crm setup tutorial 2026'})

print(f"Web results: {len(web.json().get('organic_results', []))}")
print(f"Reddit threads: {len(reddit.json().get('organic_results', []))}")
print(f"YouTube videos: {len(yt.json().get('organic_results', []))}")

The honest tradeoff matrix

If you need an independent index and Goggles re-ranking, Brave is still the only game in town and $5/1K is fair pricing for that. If you need free-tier volume for prototyping, Scavio (500 free) or Serper (2,500 free) are better starting points. If you need multi-platform search, Scavio is the only option that covers Google, YouTube, Reddit, and Amazon in one API. If you need raw volume at the lowest cost, Google CSE at 100 free per day is hard to beat for tiny projects. There is no single best answer. Pick based on what your project actually needs.

What to do this week

1. Audit your current Brave API usage volume
2. If under 500 queries/mo, Scavio free tier covers you
3. If under 2,500 queries/mo, Serper free tier covers you
4. If you need Brave-specific features (Goggles, independent index), budget $5/1K and stay
5. If you need multi-platform, migrate to Scavio

The free tier era for search APIs is ending across the industry. Brave was one of the last holdouts. Plan your budget accordingly.