Brave Search APIAPI38/100 via “real-time web search with llm-optimized result formatting”
Independent search API — web, news, images, summarizer, privacy-respecting, free tier.
Unique: Brave's search index is independently operated (not licensed from Google/Bing) with 30+ billion pages and 100+ million daily updates, and results are specifically formatted for LLM consumption with configurable snippet counts and schema enrichment rather than optimized for human click-through. The API explicitly supports RAG pipelines and training data sourcing, positioning it as infrastructure for AI rather than a consumer search product.
vs others: Faster and cheaper than Google Custom Search ($5/1000 queries vs $5/100 queries) with privacy-first architecture (no user profiling, no data retention) and native LLM optimization, but lacks the query operator sophistication and geographic coverage certainty of Google Search API.