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# Introduction
AI brokers are solely as efficient as their entry to recent, dependable data. Behind the scenes, many brokers use internet search instruments to tug the newest context and guarantee their outputs stay related. Nonetheless, not all search APIs are created equal, and never each possibility will match seamlessly into your stack or workflow.
On this article, we evaluation the highest 7 internet search APIs that you could combine into your agent workflows. For every API, one can find instance Python code that will help you get began shortly. Better of all, each API we cowl provides a free (although restricted) tier, permitting you to experiment while not having to enter a bank card or encounter extra hurdles.
1. Firecrawl
Firecrawl supplies a devoted Search API constructed “for AI,” alongside its crawl/scrape stack. You’ll be able to select your output format: clear Markdown, uncooked HTML, hyperlink lists, or screenshots, so the information matches your downstream workflow. It additionally helps customizable search parameters (e.g. language and nation) to focus on outcomes by locale, and is constructed for AI brokers that want internet information at scale.
Set up: pip set up firecrawl-py
from firecrawl import Firecrawl
firecrawl = Firecrawl(api_key="fc-YOUR-API-KEY")
outcomes = firecrawl.search(
question="KDnuggets",
restrict=3,
)
print(outcomes)
2. Tavily
Tavily is a search engine for AI brokers and LLMs that turns queries into vetted, LLM-ready insights in a single API name. As an alternative of returning uncooked hyperlinks and noisy snippets, Tavily aggregates as much as 20 sources, then makes use of proprietary AI to attain, filter, and rank probably the most related content material on your process, lowering the necessity for customized scraping and post-processing.
Set up: pip set up tavily-python
from tavily import TavilyClient
tavily_client = TavilyClient(api_key="tvly-YOUR_API_KEY")
response = tavily_client.search("Who's MLK?")
print(response)
3. Exa
Exa is an revolutionary, AI-native search engine that gives 4 modes: Auto, Quick, Key phrase, and Neural. These modes successfully stability precision, velocity, and semantic understanding. Constructed by itself high-quality internet index, Exa makes use of embeddings-powered “next-link prediction” in its Neural search. This function surfaces hyperlinks primarily based on that means moderately than actual phrases, making it significantly efficient for exploratory queries and sophisticated, layered filters.
Set up: pip set up exa_py
from exa_py import Exa
import os
exa = Exa(os.getenv('EXA_API_KEY'))
consequence = exa.search(
"hottest AI medical startups",
num_results=2
)
4. Serper.dev
Serper is a quick and cost-effective Google SERP (Search Engine Outcomes Web page) API that delivers ends in simply 1 to 2 seconds. It helps all main Google verticals in a single API, together with Search, Photos, Information, Maps, Locations, Movies, Procuring, Scholar, Patents, and Autocomplete. It supplies structured SERP information, enabling you to construct real-time search options with out the necessity for scraping. Serper allows you to get began immediately with 2,500 free search queries, no bank card required.
Set up: pip set up --upgrade --quiet langchain-community langchain-openai
import os
import pprint
os.environ["SERPER_API_KEY"] = "your-serper-api-key"
from langchain_community.utilities import GoogleSerperAPIWrapper
search = GoogleSerperAPIWrapper()
search.run("Prime 5 programming languages in 2025")
5. SerpAPI
SerpApi provides a strong Google Search API, together with assist for extra search engines like google, delivering structured Search Engine Outcomes Web page information. It options strong infrastructure, together with international IPs, an entire browser cluster, and CAPTCHA fixing to make sure dependable and correct outcomes. Moreover, SerpApi supplies superior parameters, comparable to exact location controls by the placement parameter and a /places.json helper.
Set up: pip set up google-search-results
from serpapi import GoogleSearch
params = {
"engine": "google_news", # use Google Information engine
"q": "Synthetic Intelligence", # search question
"hl": "en", # language
"gl": "us", # nation
"api_key": "secret_api_key" # change together with your SerpAPI key
}
search = GoogleSearch(params)
outcomes = search.get_dict()
# Print high 5 information outcomes with title + hyperlink
for idx, article in enumerate(outcomes.get("news_results", []), begin=1):
print(f"{idx}. {article['title']} - {article['link']}")
6. SearchApi
SearchApi provides real-time SERP scraping throughout many engines and verticals, exposing Google Internet together with specialised endpoints comparable to Google Information, Scholar, Autocomplete, Lens, Finance, Patents, Jobs, and Occasions, plus non-Google sources like Amazon, Bing, Baidu, and Google Play; this breadth lets brokers goal the best vertical whereas maintaining a single JSON schema and constant integration path.
import requests
url = "https://www.searchapi.io/api/v1/search"
params = {
"engine": "google_maps",
"q": "finest sushi eating places in New York"
}
response = requests.get(url, params=params)
print(response.textual content)
7. Courageous Search
Courageous Search provides a privacy-first API on an impartial internet index, with endpoints for internet, information, and pictures that work nicely for grounding LLMs with out person monitoring. It’s developer-friendly, performant, and features a free utilization plan.
import requests
url = "https://api.search.courageous.com/res/v1/internet/search"
headers = {
"Settle for": "utility/json",
"Settle for-Encoding": "gzip",
"X-Subscription-Token": ""
}
params = {
"q": "greek eating places in san francisco"
}
response = requests.get(url, headers=headers, params=params)
if response.status_code == 200:
information = response.json()
print(information)
else:
print(f"Error {response.status_code}: {response.textual content}")
Wrapping Up
I pair search APIs with Cursor IDE by MCP Search to tug recent documentation proper inside my editor, which quickens debugging and improves my programming circulate. These instruments energy real-time internet purposes, agentic RAG workflows, and extra, whereas maintaining outputs grounded and lowering hallucinations in delicate eventualities.
Key benefits:
- Customization for exact queries, together with filters, freshness home windows, area, and language
- Versatile output codecs like JSON, Markdown, or plaintext for seamless agent handoffs
- The choice to look and scrape the net to complement context on your AI brokers
- Free tiers and reasonably priced usage-based pricing so you possibly can experiment and scale with out fear
Choose the API that matches your stack, latency wants, content material protection, and price range. If you happen to want a spot to start out, I extremely suggest Firecrawl and Tavily. I exploit each nearly every single day.
Abid Ali Awan (@1abidaliawan) is a licensed information scientist skilled who loves constructing machine studying fashions. Presently, he’s specializing in content material creation and writing technical blogs on machine studying and information science applied sciences. Abid holds a Grasp’s diploma in know-how administration and a bachelor’s diploma in telecommunication engineering. His imaginative and prescient is to construct an AI product utilizing a graph neural community for college kids fighting psychological sickness.
