Brave Search API
Brave Search API publishes a Free / Base AI / Pro AI / Pro Data tier ladder with explicit CPM (cost-per-1K-query) rates and a no-card 2K-query/month free entry, plus self-serve key issuance and a public anonymous documentation portal at api-dashboard.search.brave.com. xpay verified true PAYG metering and self-serve Stripe checkout for every paid tier.
Brave Search API — Independent web index for AI builders, pay-as-you-go pricing
Data for AI: $9 CPM (per 1K queries) on Base, $15 CPM with web extras; Data for Search Pro: $5 CPM
$0
Self-serve
Self-serve
Available
How Brave Search API scores on the 7 agent-ready dimensions
Public pricing
15 / 15
Usage-based / metered
14 / 25
Self-serve checkout
15 / 15
Public API
15 / 15
Low / no minimum
8 / 10
Unauth automated payment
3 / 10
Bonus (machine-readable pricing)On top of /100 base
0 / 5
Total
70 / 100
Six-step check: can an agent actually buy from Brave Search API?
Discover price
https://brave.com/search/api/ — Free + paid CPM tiers visibleSelect a plan
Free / Base AI / Pro AI / Pro Data distinguishablePay per task
True CPM (per-1K-query) PAYG modelAvoid a sales call
All paid tiers buyable via api-dashboard.search.brave.comAPI docs without auth
https://api-dashboard.search.brave.com/app/documentation — publicEstimate cost upfront
CPM × queries, trivially computable upfrontPros and cons for AI agents
Observational summary written by xpay from the signals captured on 2026-05-03. Not a review of the product — only of its current pricing posture for agent buyers.- Pricing is publicly visible on an indexable page — agents can read tiers without scraping past auth.
- Every advertised tier is self-serve; no tier requires scheduling a call.
- API documentation is reachable without a login — discovery and integration can happen in one session.
- A free tier exists, lowering the bar for an agent builder to prototype before committing budget.
- Per-unit pricing exists but is wrapped inside a subscription wrapper — an agent must sponsor a recurring plan rather than pay for a single task.
- PPU requires account creation and an issued API key; a fully unauthenticated agent purchase is not yet supported.
- No /.well-known/ai-pricing.json or equivalent machine-readable pricing manifest is published — agents must rely on HTML scraping.
- A unit price is published but consumption per task is not declared upfront — cost predictability is partial.
How Brave Search API could lift its score
Brave Search API already lands solidly in Verified. Two missing points: (1) publish /.well-known/ai-pricing.json mirroring the CPM ladder; (2) expose an anonymous one-shot PPU endpoint so an agent can run a single query without provisioning a developer account.
| pricing_visible | true |
| headline_phrasing | Brave Search API — Independent web index for AI builders, pay-as-you-go pricing |
| tier_count | 4 |
| lowest_paid_entry_usd | 0 |
| free_tier | true |
| free_tier_terms | Free plan: 1 query/sec, up to 2,000 queries/month, no card required |
| per_unit_price | Data for AI: $9 CPM (per 1K queries) on Base, $15 CPM with web extras; Data for Search Pro: $5 CPM |
| annual_required | false |
| self_serve_paid_tiers | 3 |
| sales_only_tiers | 0 |
| public_api_docs_url | https://api-dashboard.search.brave.com/app/documentation |
| api_docs_auth_walled | false |
| ai_pricing_json_present | false |
| agents_txt_present | false |
| anonymous_purchase_path | false |
Brave Search API
70
/ 100 (rubric v1.1)Search APIs
Brave Search API — Independent web index for AI builders, pay-as-you-go pricing
4
Yes
Free plan: 1 query/sec, up to 2,000 queries/month, no card required
Free
Data for AI: $9 CPM (per 1K queries) on Base, $15 CPM with web extras; Data for Search Pro: $5 CPM
3 / 0
Public
No
Not published
2026-05-03