Web Search API (site) by Cloudflare lets AI agents pull live internet data through AI Gateway. It's in beta; pricing is not stated on the site beyond "billed at each provider's list API price with no additional markup," and there is no free tier.
Comparison table
| Product | Free tier | Starts at | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Web Search Agents by Nimble | Yes (5,000 req/mo) | $208.33/mo | Teams wanting self-learning research agents |
| Keenable | Yes (100K req/mo) | $0.004/request | Low-cost, low-latency search at scale |
| Kimi WebBridge | Yes | $15/mo | Browser-based agent web access |
| OrioSearch | Yes (self-hosted, free) | Free | Teams wanting zero API bills, full control |
| Olostep | Yes (500 req) | $9/mo | Clean structured data extraction |
| Agentilix | Yes (100 searches/mo) | $19/mo | Bundled search + scrape + agent tasks |
| Damn Good Search | No | Not stated | Simple pay-per-1,000 search + page read |
Web Search Agents by Nimble
Web Search Agents by Nimble (site) automates web research and retrieval with self-learning agents, going beyond a plain search endpoint. It suits teams that want ongoing research automation rather than a single API call. Free tier offers 5,000 requests/month; paid plans start at $2,500/month ($208.33/month billed annually), with pay-per-request options like $1.10/1k for Search API. Limitation: paid plans are priced much higher than most listed alternatives, which may not suit small projects.
Keenable
Keenable (site) is a web search API built on its own 100B+ page index, focused on low cost and low latency (p95 <250ms from us-east), with an open-sourced benchmarking suite called NEEDLE. It suits developers who want a direct, high-volume, cost-sensitive search API. Free tier gives 100K requests/month; paid tiers start at $4/1,000 requests, or $1/1,000 at 100 RPS+ for enterprise. Limitation: it's a newer entrant (launched August 2026) with less track record than larger providers.
Kimi WebBridge
Kimi WebBridge (site) connects AI agents to the live web, delivered via a browser extension. It fits users who want web access tied to a browser-based AI assistant rather than a pure backend API. Free tier (Adagio) is available; paid plans start at $15/month (Plus, billed monthly) or $180/year billed annually. Limitation: as a browser extension product, it may not fit server-side agent architectures as directly as a pure API.
OrioSearch
OrioSearch (site) is a 100% open-source, self-hosted search API positioned as a Tavily alternative. It suits teams that want to eliminate API bills entirely and run search infrastructure themselves. It's free under the MIT license, with no per-query cost since it's self-hosted via Docker. Limitation: self-hosting means you take on deployment, maintenance, and infrastructure costs instead of paying a vendor.
Olostep
Olostep (site) turns web pages into clean structured data for AI use, emphasizing extraction quality over raw search volume. It suits teams needing parsed, usable page data rather than just search results. Free plan includes 500 requests; paid plans start at $9/month (5,000 requests), up to $399/month (1M requests), with credit packs available. Limitation: lowest paid tier request volume (5,000) is modest compared to per-request pricing of other options.
Agentilix
Agentilix (site) bundles search, scraping, and agent-driven web tasks into one product, described as "100 AI agents" working the web. It suits users wanting an all-in-one toolkit rather than assembling search, scrape, and agent logic separately. Free tier offers 100 searches/month, no card required; paid plans start at $19/month (Starter), up to $149/month (Scale). Limitation: free tier volume is low relative to competitors' free tiers.
Damn Good Search
Damn Good Search (site) offers search plus page reading at a flat $1.50 per 1,000, a simple pricing model for combined search-and-read workflows. It suits developers who want predictable, transparent per-request cost without tiers. No free tier is offered, and no starting monthly price is stated beyond the per-1,000 rate. Limitation: lack of a free tier and limited public pricing detail make it harder to evaluate against alternatives upfront.
How to choose
If you want the lowest cost at scale, compare Keenable's per-request pricing against OrioSearch's free self-hosted model. If you need clean extracted data rather than raw links, Olostep fits better. If you want bundled agent automation instead of a bare API, look at Nimble or Agentilix.
FAQ
Is Web Search API free? No, there's no free tier, and pricing isn't stated beyond provider list prices with no markup.
Which alternative has the largest free tier? Keenable offers 100,000 requests/month free.
Is there a free, self-hosted option? Yes, OrioSearch is open-source and self-hosted at no cost.