The cheapest search API that writes the answer.
Prices checked
You.com Answer API leads 4 providers at $5 per 1,000 searches when you make 1,000 searches a month, checked .
Top 4
all 93 prices- 1
Answer API
You.com · pay as you go · $5 at 100k$5/1k searches - 2
Answer
Exa · pay as you go · $5 at 100k$5/1k searches - 3
Standard sourced answer
Linkup · pay as you go · $6 at 100k$6/1k searches - 4
Responses API, low
Parallel · pay as you go · $10 at 100k$10/1k searches
How we count
The floor is a written answer with its sources from one call, at a price per call that is the whole price; an answer billed by its tokens is listed on the provider's page and not ranked. 4 providers clear it, from $5 per 1,000 searches. Each price is per 1,000 searches when you make 1,000 or 100,000 searches a month and buy them the cheapest way that provider sells: pay as you go, the plan that covers them with its overage, or a pack spread over the months it lasts. A free allowance is not subtracted; free tiers are listed on their own.
Frequently asked
- What is the cheapest of the answer APIs right now?
- You.com Answer API, $5 per 1,000 searches when you make 1,000 searches a month, paying as you go. Read on 21 Oct 2026.
- Why does the volume change the order?
- Pay as you go costs the same per search at any volume, while a monthly plan or a large pack gets cheaper per search the more of it you use. A provider that is dear at 1,000 searches a month can be the cheapest at 100,000, so each ranking says its volume.
- What does the price leave out?
- Tax, and anything billed beside the search: a model's tokens where a model reads the results, extra results past the first ten where a provider charges for them, and page contents fetched by a separate call. Each provider's page lists what it adds.
- How is this ranked, and how current is it?
- Prices are read every morning from 16 providers' own pricing pages, and this list recomputes with them. A price read for the first time, or held while a second reading checks it, says so on its row and gives first place to a price that is confirmed or a week old whenever the list has one. Last refresh: 21 Oct 2026.