Ask Brave

What if your AI could access a truly independent, privacy-preserving search index?

RecommendedBrave Search API offers a powerful, privacy-centric search solution optimized for AI, providing real-time data and advanced features for developers building intelligent applications.

Brave Search API provides access to a fully independent search engine's index, offering real-time web, news, video, and image search results. It includes specialized features like LLM context optimization, AI-powered answers, and autosuggest/spellcheck capabilities.

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Key Features:
  • Web, News, Video, Image, and Place Search APIs
  • LLM Context optimization for AI models and agents
  • AI-powered Answers API for summarized, grounded responses
  • Autosuggest and Spellcheck APIs for enhanced user input
  • Zero Data Retention (ZDR) for enterprise plans and strict privacy
Pros
  • Developers building AI chatbots and agents requiring real-time, grounded search data.
  • Companies needing comprehensive news aggregation and media monitoring tools.
  • Applications requiring privacy-focused search and data retention policies.
Cons
  • Credit card required for subscription, even with free credits.
  • Prohibition on retaining any data received through the API without explicit agreement.
  • Rate limits apply to different API plans (e.g., 50 req/sec for Search, 2 req/sec for Answers).
Pricing
freemiumFree tier
Starting at:$4.00/1,000 queries (Answers) or $5.00/1,000 requests (Search)
Free tier:Includes free $5 in credits every month for all plans.
Plans
  • Search: $5.00 per 1,000 requests (includes web, LLM context, news, video, image)
  • Answers: $4.00 per 1,000 queries + $5.00 per 1,000,000 input tokens + $5.00 per 1,000,000 output tokens
  • Spellcheck: $5.00 per 10,000 requests
  • Autosuggest: $5.00 per 10,000 requests
  • Enterprise: Custom plans available
Categories:
Search & KnowledgeSecurity & PrivacyChatbots & Assistants
Tags:
search engineAPIAILLMchatbotprivacyreal-time datanews searchimage searchvideo searchautosuggestspellcheck
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Quick Decision
Try if: You need a privacy-focused search API for AI applications, require real-time data from an independent index, or are building chatbots/agents that need grounded answers and LLM-optimized context.
Skip if: You require a completely free API without credit card registration, or your use case involves extensive data retention or LLM training on search results without a custom enterprise agreement.
Not for: Users seeking a free, high-volume search API without credit card registration.; Projects that require storing or training LLMs on Brave Search API results without prior agreement.
Trust Signals

  • Team Size

    large
Tech Details
Platforms
api
Open Source
No
Support
Channels
emaildocumentationfeedback survey
Company

  • Name

    Brave Software

Brave Software is the company behind the Brave browser and Brave Search, an independent search engine focused on privacy.

FAQ

What powers the Brave Search API?

The Brave Search API is powered by Brave Search, a fully independent search engine that serves tens of millions of queries per day and has its own web crawler.

Can I retain data received through the Brave Search API?

It is prohibited to retain any and all data received through the Brave Search API. If you need to store results or train an LLM, you must reach out to the Brave team for specific agreements.

Why is a credit card required even with free monthly credits?

The credit card serves as an anti-fraud measure to protect Brave from bad actors and is used to process charges for any usage beyond your included monthly credits.

What is LLM Context and how does it benefit AI applications?

LLM Context provides search results optimized specifically for large language models and agents. This helps AI applications generate more accurate and grounded answers by providing relevant, structured data from the web, news, videos, and images.

Does Brave Search API support filtering for recent events or specific countries?

Yes, the News Search API offers freshness filtering (e.g., last 24 hours, custom date ranges) and allows targeting news from specific countries and in preferred languages using 2-character country codes and language codes.

Use Cases
  • Developers building AI chatbots and agents requiring real-time, grounded search data.
  • Companies needing comprehensive news aggregation and media monitoring tools.
  • Applications requiring privacy-focused search and data retention policies.
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