# Brave Search API: what it sells, price and AI features

URL: https://www.newsprint.com/companies/brave-search-api/
Covers: August 2025 to Feb. 12, 2026
Updated: 2026-11-11
License: CC BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Cite as: Newsprint, "Brave Search API: what it sells, price and AI features", https://www.newsprint.com/companies/brave-search-api/, updated 2026-11-11

> Brave Search API is on the social monitoring map. We record 2 dated launches and events for it. The latest is dated Feb. 12, 2026.

Search API on Brave's own independent web index (plans: Search, Answers, Spellcheck, Autosuggest). An agent can query it directly; Brave results are not Google's index. Source: [brave.com](https://brave.com/search/api/).

## Facts

- Site: [brave.com](https://brave.com/search/api/)
- Founded: [2015](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_(web_browser))
- Category: Search APIs
- Status: Active

## On the research maps

### [The social monitoring map](https://www.newsprint.com/research/social-monitoring/#co-brave-search-api)

Search API on Brave's own independent web index (plans: Search, Answers, Spellcheck, Autosuggest). An agent can query it directly; Brave results are not Google's index. Source: [brave.com](https://brave.com/search/api/).

- Category: Search APIs
- Price: Search $5 per 1,000 requests; Answers $4 per 1,000 + $5 per million tokens; $5 free credit per plan per month (needs public attribution per Brave's blog); no free tier since Feb 2026.
- Platforms: LinkedIn
- Scale: Enterprise incumbent: nine-figure revenue or public-company scale (Brave Software reports nine-figure annualized revenue (about $100M) and 100M+ monthly active users.)
- Founded: [2015](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_(web_browser))

Sources: [brave.com](https://brave.com/search/api/) and [en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_(web_browser)).

## Launches and dated events, newest first

### Simpler, cheaper and more powerful plans

Pricing change, Feb. 12, 2026. Brave replaced its plans: Search $5/1k requests, Answers $4/1k + tokens; $5 free credit per plan monthly with attribution. Implicator reports the free tier was removed in Feb 2026.

Source: [Brave blog](https://brave.com/blog/most-powerful-search-api-for-ai/). From [the social monitoring map](https://www.newsprint.com/research/social-monitoring/#co-brave-search-api).

### Free allowance raised to 5,000 queries per month (AI Grounding update)

Pricing change, August 2025. Implicator reports the free limit rose from 2,000 to 5,000 queries per month in the August 2025 AI Grounding update, before being cut to $5 credit (about 1,000 queries) in Feb 2026.

Source: [Implicator.ai](https://www.implicator.ai/brave-drops-free-search-api-tier-puts-all-developers-on-metered-billing/). From [the social monitoring map](https://www.newsprint.com/research/social-monitoring/#co-brave-search-api).

## Methodology and corrections

How we track launches, and how to report an error: https://www.newsprint.com/updates/pr-software/#methodology