Brave Search API
Independent web search API with access to 40+ billion pages. Supports web, news, image, video, and AI/LLM context endpoints without relying on Google or Bing.
Use Cases
Free Tier
$5/month in prepaid credits (~1,000–1,600 queries depending on endpoint), no credit card for docs access
How to Maximize the Free Tier
Brave's $5/month free credit pool works best if you optimize query frequency — cache search results for repeated queries and use the basic web endpoint ($0.003/query) instead of the summarizer ($0.005/query) when you don't need LLM-formatted output. The LLM context endpoint is worth the premium for RAG pipelines since it pre-formats results for ingestion. Monitor your credit usage on the dashboard and batch queries during off-peak hours. Pair with a local cache layer (Redis or Upstash) to avoid re-querying for the same search terms within the same day.
Getting Started
Sign up at api-dashboard.search.brave.com → get API key → choose endpoint (web, news, images, video) → make authenticated requests with the API key in headers → credits are consumed per query at $0.003–$0.005 depending on endpoint.
Pros
- Independent index: Built on Brave's own 40+ billion page index — no reliance on Google or Bing, providing genuinely independent search results
- AI-optimized: Dedicated LLM context endpoint and summarizer endpoint designed specifically for AI/RAG pipelines
- Privacy-first: No user tracking or profiling — search queries aren't tied to identities, aligning with privacy-respecting app development
Cons
- Credit card required: Free tier requires a credit card for verification even though you won't be charged if staying within $5/month
- Query limits: $5/month translates to roughly 1,000–1,600 queries — heavy usage will quickly exhaust the free tier
- Niche index: Brave's index is smaller than Google's — some long-tail or region-specific queries may return fewer results