Tavily Search API

Best for: Prototypes and side projects - free to start, no sales call; Regulated or enterprise workloads - compliance attestations and an enterprise plan; AI agents and automation - an agent-ready surface (MCP / llms.txt)

• ████████░░
  80 / 100
  Agent friendliness
• ██████████
  100 / 100
  Pricing transparency
• ████████░░
  80 / 100
  Setup speed
• ███████▒░░
  75 / 100
  Docs quality
• ██████████
  100 / 100
  Procurement ease
• ██████░░░░
  60 / 100
  Trust readiness

Scores are computed deterministically from this profile's published, sourced fields (pricing, compliance, capabilities, docs and developer-surface signals) - not from reviews or paid placement. Each axis is 0-100; an unknown signal scores 0 for that axis. Procurement ease is the inverse of buying friction (higher = easier to adopt).

Pricing model

Hybrid (base + usage) [2]help.tavily.com/articles/8816424538-pricing“Project: $30/month — 4,000 API credits per month. Bootstrap: $100/month — 15,000 credits. Startup: $220/month — 38,000 credits. Growth: $500/month — 100,000 credits. Pay-As-You-Go: $0.008 / Credit.”help.tavily.com/articles/3950309978-understanding-pay-as-you-go-and-billing-resets“Pay-As-You-Go: no upfront monthly cost. Credits reset on the 1st of each calendar month. Automatic charges triggered at $40 increments of usage.”

Published pricing

✓ Yes [3]help.tavily.com/articles/8816424538-pricing“Project Plan: $30/month. Bootstrap Plan: $100/month. Startup Plan: $220/month. Growth Plan: $500/month.”docs.tavily.com/documentation/api-credits“Basic Search: 1 credit per request. Advanced Search: 2 credits per request. Pay-as-You-Go Rate: $0.008 per credit.”

Free tier

✓ Yes [4]help.tavily.com/articles/8816424538-pricing“Researcher (Free): Free — 1,000 API credits per month”docs.tavily.com/documentation/api-credits“You get 1,000 free API Credits every month. No credit card required.”

Free tier details

Researcher (Free) plan: 1,000 API credits / month recurring, no credit card required.

Self-serve signup

✓ Yes [5]help.tavily.com/articles/9170796666-how-can-i-create-an-api-key“Just head over to the Tavily Platform and sign in to your account (or create one if you haven't already).”

Requires sales call

✗ No

Enterprise plan

✓ Yes [6]help.tavily.com/articles/8816424538-pricing“Enterprise: Custom pricing — Custom API calls, custom rate limits, enterprise-grade support and SLAs, enterprise-grade security and privacy”

• Full content for RAG
• Agent-ready / MCP

Supported actions

POST /search - web search (basic/advanced/fast/ultra-fast depth), POST /extract - extract content from URLs, POST /crawl - crawl webpages, POST /map - map website structure, POST /research - create async deep-research task, GET /research/{id} - poll research task status, GET /usage - get credit usage [7]docs.tavily.com/documentation/api-credits“Search Operations: Basic Search: 1 credit per request. Advanced Search: 2 credits per request. Extract Operations. Map Operations. Research Operations.”docs.tavily.com/documentation/rate-limits“Default Endpoints (by Environment) — Development: 100 requests per minute; Production: 1,000 requests per minute”

Regions

global, 195+ countries supported via country filter parameter

Input types

natural language query, URL, search_depth (basic/advanced/fast/ultra-fast), topic (general/news/finance), country filter (195+ countries), time_range / date range, include_domains / exclude_domains, include_answer (basic/advanced LLM answer), include_raw_content (markdown/text), include_images, safe_search (enterprise-only), auto_parameters [8]docs.tavily.com/documentation/api-reference/endpoint/search“topic (enum): general, news, finance (default: general). country (enum): 195+ country options. search_depth (enum): advanced, basic, fast, ultra-fast. safe_search (boolean, enterprise only).”

Output types

JSON, answer (LLM-generated, basic or advanced), full page contents (markdown or text), images, relevance scores, citations, research report with citations, SSE stream (research endpoint) [9]docs.tavily.com/documentation/api-reference/endpoint/search“answer: A short answer to the user's query, generated by an LLM (when requested). results[]: Array with title, URL, content, relevance score, raw_content, favicon, images.”docs.tavily.com/documentation/api-reference/endpoint/research“Whether to stream the research results as they are generated. When true, returns a Server-Sent Events (SSE) stream.”

Webhooks

✗ No

Sandbox / test mode

✗ No [10]help.tavily.com/articles/6730377845-can-i-test-tavily-search-api-before-subscribing-to-a-paid-plan“Tavily offers a free plan that includes limited monthly API calls. This allows you to test its capabilities before committing to a paid subscription.”

SDK languages

Python, JavaScript/TypeScript [11]docs.tavily.com“pip install tavily-python ... npm i @tavily/core”

MCP server

✓ Yes [12]docs.tavily.com/documentation/mcp“Remote server: https://mcp.tavily.com/mcp/?tavilyApiKey=<your-api-key> — provides a seamless experience without requiring local installation or configuration.”

SOC 2

SOC 2 Type II [13]trust.tavily.com“Tavily's systems and controls are independently audited under their SOC 2 Type II report, validating that their practices meet industry standards for security, confidentiality, privacy, and availability.”docs.tavily.com/faq/faq“Tavily is SOC 2 certified, zero data retention”

HIPAA

✗ No [14]tavily.com/terms“Customer warrants that inputs do NOT contain protected health information subject to HIPAA or biometric information, social security numbers, payment card information”

GDPR

✓ Yes [15]tavily.com/privacy“the entity responsible for the collection and use (processing) of your personal information is AlphaAI Technologies Inc., the data controller”tavily.com/privacy“we have taken appropriate safeguards to require that your personal information will remain protected in accordance with the EU and UK data privacy laws”

ISO 27001

– Unknown

PCI DSS

– Unknown

Published SLA

✓ Yes [16]tavily.com“99.99% uptime SLA powering mission-critical systems”tavily.com/terms“THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED 'AS IS' AND 'AS AVAILABLE' ... COMPANY DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICES WILL OPERATE UNINTERRUPTED, BE ERROR-FREE”

Rate limits

Default endpoints: 100 RPM (development), 1,000 RPM (production). Crawl endpoint: 100 RPM (both). Research endpoint: 20 RPM (both). Usage endpoint: 10 requests per 10 minutes (both). [17]docs.tavily.com/documentation/rate-limits“Default Endpoints: Development: 100 requests per minute; Production: 1,000 requests per minute. Crawl Endpoint: 100 requests per minute for both development and production.”docs.tavily.com/documentation/rate-limits“Research Endpoint: 20 requests per minute for development and production. Usage Endpoint: 10 requests per 10 minutes for both development and production keys.”

Known restrictions

No HIPAA-covered protected health information may be submitted, No children's data (under 13, or 16 in EU) without prior written consent, No government IDs, payment card info, or biometric data without prior written consent, Outputs may not be transferred, assigned, or shared with third parties without written consent, No building of competitive products using the service, No reverse engineering of the service, safe_search parameter is enterprise-only, Zero data retention policy on search queries per FAQ, Customer input may be used by Tavily and third-party AI providers for model training/improvement, SLA of 99.99% uptime is enterprise-tier only; standard ToS provides service AS IS with no uptime warranty [18]tavily.com/terms“Customer warrants that inputs do NOT contain protected health information subject to HIPAA or biometric information, social security numbers, payment card information”tavily.com/terms“Customer input may be used by Tavily and third-party AI providers for purposes of training, improving, developing, and enhancing artificial intelligence models”docs.tavily.com/faq/faq“Tavily maintains zero data retention policies, ensuring no persistent storage of search data.”

• Docs
• API reference
• OpenAPI spec
• llms.txt
• Changelog
• Status page

Docs rendering: static · llms.txt present

API style

rest

Base URL

https://api.tavily.com

Versioning

none

Stability

ga

Auth methods

api_key, oauth2

Idempotency keys

✗ No

Error format

vendor-specific

Rate limit

1000 / minute

SDKs

• Python tavily-python · repo
• JavaScript/TypeScript @tavily/core · repo

• Auth docs
• Quickstart
• MCP server

Launched

2023-01-01

Notable customers

LangChain, MongoDB, Groq, Writer, Cohere, AWS, IBM, Mastercard, JetBrains, Monday

• Firecrawl

  The API to search, scrape, and interact with the web at scale.

  Subscription · free tier · public pricing · self-serve

• Exa

  "Web search, built for AI agents. One API for search, crawling, and research agents."

  Usage · free tier · public pricing · self-serve

• Brave Search API

  "The Brave Search API provides developers with access to Brave Search results and enables building AI products, chatbots, coding assistants, and AI-search engines with real-time web data."

  Usage · public pricing · self-serve

• Linkup

  "Production-grade Web Search API for AI"

  Usage · free tier · public pricing · self-serve

• Jina AI Search Foundation (DeepSearch / Reader)

  "Your Search Foundation, Supercharged."

  Usage · public pricing · self-serve

• Parallel Search API

  "The highest accuracy web search for your AI"

  Usage · public pricing · self-serve

Tavily Search API alternatives · Tavily Search API vs Firecrawl · All Web Search APIs APIs

Each field above carries a numbered source - hover for a preview, click to jump here.

1. ↑Description: tavily.com
2. ↑Pricing model: help.tavily.com · help.tavily.com
3. ↑Published pricing: help.tavily.com · docs.tavily.com
4. ↑Free tier: help.tavily.com · docs.tavily.com
5. ↑Self-serve signup: help.tavily.com
6. ↑Enterprise plan: help.tavily.com
7. ↑Supported actions: docs.tavily.com · docs.tavily.com
8. ↑Input types: docs.tavily.com
9. ↑Output types: docs.tavily.com · docs.tavily.com
10. ↑Sandbox: help.tavily.com
11. ↑SDK languages: docs.tavily.com
12. ↑MCP server: docs.tavily.com
13. ↑SOC 2: trust.tavily.com · docs.tavily.com
14. ↑HIPAA: tavily.com
15. ↑GDPR: tavily.com · tavily.com
16. ↑Published SLA: tavily.com · tavily.com
17. ↑Rate limits: docs.tavily.com · docs.tavily.com
18. ↑Known restrictions: tavily.com · tavily.com · docs.tavily.com

Every field change, who made it, and when - from our audited data pipeline and editors.

1. 2026-06-15 Score Docs Quality: 45 → 75
2. 2026-06-15 Score Agent Friendliness: 60 → 80
3. 2026-06-14 Has Structured Data: (none) → Yes
4. 2026-06-14 Changelog URL: (none) → https://docs.tavily.com/changelog
5. 2026-06-14 Robots Allows Agents: (none) → Yes
6. 2026-06-14 Llms Txt URL: https://tavily.com/llms.txt → https://docs.tavily.com/llms.txt
7. 2026-06-14 API Reference URL: (none) → https://docs.tavily.com/documentation/api-reference/introduction
8. 2026-06-14 Capabilities: {} → {"agent_ready":true,"content_extraction":true}
9. 2026-06-14 Summary Md: (none) → Tavily Search API is a REST API built for AI applications that need real-time w…
10. 2026-06-14 Score Trust Readiness: (none) → 60
11. 2026-06-14 Score Agent Friendliness: (none) → 60
12. 2026-06-14 Score Pricing Transparency: (none) → 100
13. 2026-06-14 Score Setup Speed: (none) → 80
14. 2026-06-14 Score Docs Quality: (none) → 45
15. 2026-06-14 Score Procurement Friction: (none) → 100
16. 2026-06-14 Best For: (none) → Prototypes and side projects - free to start, no sales call, Regulated or enter…
17. 2026-06-14 Scoring Methodology: (none) → Scores are computed deterministically from this profile's published, sourced fi…
18. 2026-06-14 Llms Txt Present: (none) → Yes
19. 2026-06-14 Docs URL: (none) → https://docs.tavily.com
20. 2026-06-14 Status Page URL: (none) → https://status.tavily.com
21. 2026-06-14 Openapi Spec URL: (none) → https://tavily.com/.well-known/openapi.json
22. 2026-06-14 Rendering: (none) → static
23. 2026-06-14 Llms Txt URL: (none) → https://tavily.com/llms.txt
24. 2026-06-14 Enterprise Plan Available: set to Yes
25. 2026-06-14 SOC 2: set to type_2
26. 2026-06-14 HIPAA: set to No
27. 2026-06-14 GDPR: set to Yes
28. 2026-06-14 SLA Published: set to Yes
29. 2026-06-14 Data Retention Policy URL: set to https://www.tavily.com/privacy
30. 2026-06-14 Documented Rate Limits: set to Default endpoints: 100 RPM (development), 1,000 RPM (production). Crawl endpoin…
31. 2026-06-14 Rate Limit Requests: set to 1000
32. 2026-06-14 Rate Limit Window: set to minute
33. 2026-06-14 Known Restrictions: set to No HIPAA-covered protected health information may be submitted, No children's d…
34. 2026-06-14 Auth Methods: set to api_key, oauth2
35. 2026-06-14 Auth Docs URL: set to https://docs.tavily.com/documentation/api-reference/introduction
36. 2026-06-14 API Style: set to rest
37. 2026-06-14 Base URL: set to https://api.tavily.com
38. 2026-06-14 Versioning Scheme: set to none
39. 2026-06-14 Stability: set to ga
40. 2026-06-14 MCP URL: set to https://mcp.tavily.com/mcp/
41. 2026-06-14 Quickstart URL: set to https://docs.tavily.com/documentation/quickstart
42. 2026-06-14 Error Format: set to vendor-specific
43. 2026-06-14 Requires Verification: set to No
44. 2026-06-14 Starting Price Usd: set to 0.008
45. 2026-06-14 Price Basis: set to credit
46. 2026-06-14 Free Tier Limit: set to 1,000 API credits/month
47. 2026-06-14 Launched At: set to 2023-01-01
48. 2026-06-14 Slug: set to tavily
49. 2026-06-14 Fields Not Found: set to iso_27001, pci_dss, specific supported_languages list (no explicit list publish…
50. 2026-06-14 Source Confidence: set to high

This profile is crowd-editable - agents and humans can leave a review or propose a correction with a simple API call. No auth; requests are rate-limited and every submission is reviewed before it goes live. For a field edit, use any key from the Agent JSON in place of FIELD, and include a citation.

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  -d '{"kind":"review","rating":5,"body":"Your experience with this API…"}'

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  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"value":"corrected value","citations":[{"url":"https://source.example/page","excerpt":"supporting quote"}],"note":"what changed and why"}'

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