Free tiers · pricing · search/extract support

Web search providers, without the fairy dust.

A practical provider map for Web Search Plus users. Configure one search-capable provider and web_search_plus works; add extraction-capable providers when you need clean page contents through web_extract_plus.

Verified snapshot: 2026-07-24. Provider pricing and free tiers change often. Re-confirm at signup before using this as a production budget.
No-card starterTavily
Cited extractLinkup
Extract fallbackFirecrawl
Starter creditYou.com
Cheap SERPSerper / SerpBase
Local no-keyHound
🟢 Forever / recurringRecurring allowance, self-hosted, or currently free/keyless.
🟡 One-time / trialSignup credits you burn once, then pay.
🔴 NoneNo durable free API tier found.
⚪ DependsBilling belongs to another account.

🟢 Forever / recurring

Forever / recurring

Recurring allowance, self-hosted, or currently free/keyless. Still read the caveats: Brave needs a card; Keenable can change; SearXNG and Hound need local infrastructure.

Tavily

TAVILY_API_KEY

search + extract + research

🟢 forever
1,000 API credits / month, recurring, no credit card.

Pricing
Pay-as-you-go $0.008 / credit; Project about $30/mo for 4,000 credits; higher plans reduce unit cost.
Best for
Best honest default for WSP users who want search + extract without payment-card friction.
Watch out
Credits are not always equal to calls; deeper research-style features can consume more credits.
Search ✅ · Extract ✅sourcesource

Firecrawl

FIRECRAWL_API_KEY

search + extract + JS/crawl

🟢 forever
1,000 credits / month, recurring — no cost, no card, no hassle.

Pricing
Hobby $16–19/mo for 5k credits; Standard about $83–99/mo for 100k; Growth about $333–399/mo for 500k. Search costs 2 credits / 10 results; scrape/crawl/map are commonly 1 credit per page/call.
Best for
Best extraction/scraping fallback, especially JS-heavy pages and crawl workflows.
Watch out
Excellent for extraction; less ideal as the main cheap search backend because search burns credits quickly.
Search ✅ · Extract ✅sourcesource

Brave Search

BRAVE_API_KEY

search + news + local

🟢 forever / card caveat
$5 in free credits every month, recurring.

Pricing
Search $5 / 1k requests; Answers $4 / 1k queries plus token charges; autosuggest/spellcheck priced separately.
Best for
Independent broad web index, news/images/videos, privacy-friendly search.
Watch out
Brave docs require a payment card because API usage can generate costs. Treat as recurring free credits, not no-payment onboarding.
Search ✅ · Extract —sourcesource

Querit

QUERIT_API_KEY

search (multilingual, real-time)

🟢 forever
1,000 API requests / calendar month on the Free tier.

Pricing
Pay-as-you-go US$4 / 1,000 API requests; Enterprise custom. Paid activation requires valid payment info.
Best for
Multilingual / real-time search candidate.
Watch out
WSP exposes it as search-only; arbitrary URL extraction is not published/clear.
Search ✅ · Extract —sourcesource

SearXNG

searxng.base_url

search (meta, self-hosted)

🟢 self-hosted
Free if you self-host; no vendor API bill.

Pricing
Open-source/self-hosted. Your cost is the server, maintenance and upstream engine reliability.
Best for
Privacy, no vendor lock-in, metasearch across multiple engines.
Watch out
Not a beginner-friendly hosted API key; public instances are fragile and not production-grade. In WSP 3.x it is the backbone of the self_hosted profile (legacy SEARXNG_INSTANCE_URL still supported).
Search ✅ · Extract —sourcesource

Keenable

KEENABLE_API_KEY

search + extract

🟢 currently free / keyless
Keyless public tier plus optional API key; docs say API usage is currently free.

Pricing
Unauthenticated: 1,000 requests/hour, max 10 rps per IP. Authenticated removes hourly cap but keeps 10 rps/org. No public paid price list yet.
Best for
Zero-setup WSP fallback and independent search/fetch endpoint.
Watch out
“Currently free” can change. Keyless mode requires the explicit opt-in KEENABLE_ALLOW_PUBLIC=1 (or keenable.allow_public: true); without it Keenable does not auto-route in WSP.
Search ✅ · Extract ✅sourcesource

Hound

HOUND_MCP_URL

search + extract · local MCP sidecar

🟢 local / no provider API key
Separately installed loopback service; no provider request fee.

Pricing
Open source under MIT. Your cost is the machine, bandwidth, optional browser runtime and maintenance.
Best for
Local key-free metasearch, browser-backed extraction and a fallback outside commercial provider APIs.
Watch out
Not zero-setup, offline or unlimited. Engine availability, anti-bot behavior and latency vary. WSP keeps Hound explicit-only unless you deliberately enable auto-routing.
Search ✅ · Extract ✅ · tested with 11.1.6Hound / Master FetchBishesh Bhandari

Linkup

LINKUP_API_KEY

search + fetch/extract + citations

🟢 recurring credits / eligible accounts
Professional-email signups receive $20 credit; eligible accounts are topped back up to $20 each month.

Pricing
Search $0.005–$0.006 / request for standard/fast; deep $0.05–$0.055. Fetch $0.001 without JS, $0.005 with JS. Research $0.25–$2.50 / request.
Best for
Clean cited extraction, sourced answers, low-cost fetch.
Watch out
Eligibility matters: this is not “everyone forever no questions asked”; confirm account eligibility at signup.
Search ✅ · Extract ✅sourcesource

🟡 One-time / trial credits

One-time / trial credits

Good for trying WSP quickly. You burn the credit, then pricing matters.

You.com

YOU_API_KEY

search + extract + research

🟡 one-time
$100 free API credit to get started.

Pricing
Search $5 / 1k calls; Contents $1 / 1k pages; Research Lite $12 / 1k calls.
Best for
Generous starter key with search, contents/extract and research-style endpoints.
Watch out
One-time credit, not a permanent monthly free tier.
Search ✅ · Extract ✅sourcesource

Parallel

PARALLEL_API_KEY

search + extract + citations

🟢 recurring
1,000 requests / month free, plus up to $80 signup credit and $5 free credits / month.

Pricing
Search $5 / 1k requests with 10 results; +$1 / 1k additional page results/excerpts. Extract $1 / 1k URLs. Chat $5 / 1k; Task API ranges from $5 to $2,400 / 1k runs.
Best for
Ranked URLs, compressed excerpts, direct page extraction and agent-friendly citations.
Watch out
Signup-credit amounts and monthly free credits can change; confirm the current offer and credit accounting at signup.
Search ✅ · Extract ✅sourcesource

Serper

SERPER_API_KEY

search + maps/news/shopping/scholar + extract

🟡 one-time
2,500 free credits, no credit card.

Pricing
Volume packs: $1.00 / 1k at 50k credits down to $0.30 / 1k at 12.5M credits; credits valid 6 months.
Best for
Cheap, fast Google-like SERP with rich verticals.
Watch out
Extraction runs via Serper’s scrape endpoint and consumes credits like search calls; heavy extraction workloads may fit a dedicated extract provider better.
Search ✅ · Extract ✅source

Exa

EXA_API_KEY

search + extract (semantic)

🟡 credit-based / caveated
$10 one-time onboarding credit; +$7/month only when a payment method is on file.

Pricing
Search $7 / 1k requests; Contents $1 / 1k pages; Deep Search $12 / 1k; Answer $5 / 1k.
Best for
Neural/semantic discovery, similar pages, AI-optimized contents.
Watch out
Pricing page markets “20,000 requests/month for free”, but billing docs show the real usable model is credits. Treat billing docs as truth.
Search ✅ · Extract ✅sourcesource

SerpBase

SERPBASE_API_KEY

search + images/news/maps

🟡 one-time
100 free searches to start, no card; no-key preview capped to 5 organic links.

Pricing
Starter Boost $3 / 10k expires after one month. Standard prepaid packs run about $0.50–$0.20 / 1k and do not expire.
Best for
Very cheap Google-like SERP fallback.
Watch out
Search-only in WSP; explicit/fallback-only rather than a complete search+extract stack.
Search ✅ · Extract —sourcesource

Not registered in WSP 3.x

Not registered in WSP 3.x

Pricing context only: since WSP 3.0 these answer endpoints are not registered (source-only charter). Configured keys are ignored, not deleted — they are not part of the 13-search / 9-extract surface.

Perplexity Sonar API

PERPLEXITY_API_KEY

search + cited answers

🔴 none
No durable free API tier found.

Pricing
Search/Sonar request fees roughly $5–$22 / 1k depending context/model, plus token pricing.
Best for
Search-grounded answers with Perplexity synthesis and citations.
Watch out
Not usable through WSP 3.x at all (source-only charter; keys are ignored). Shown for market/pricing context only.
Search — (not in WSP 3.x) · Extract —sourcesource

Not registered in WSP 3.x

Also unregistered: account-bridged

Billing belongs to another account, and the bridge endpoint is likewise not registered in WSP 3.x.

Kilo Code — Perplexity bridge

KILOCODE_API_KEY

search + answers

⚪ depends
Depends on your Kilo account and billing.

Pricing
Usage is billed through the configured Kilo/provider account; no standalone WSP free tier.
Best for
Convenience if you already use Kilo Code and want Perplexity-style answers through that account.
Watch out
Not usable through WSP 3.x at all; billing context only.
Search — (not in WSP 3.x) · Extract —sourcesource

Capability matrix

Search, extract, free tier.

Fast scan for which keys unlock which WSP capability.

ProviderSearchExtractFree tierHeadline freeStarting price
Tavily
TAVILY_API_KEY		✅✅🟢 forever1,000 API credits / month, recurring, no credit card.Pay-as-you-go $0.008 / credit
Firecrawl
FIRECRAWL_API_KEY		✅✅🟢 forever1,000 credits / month, recurring — no cost, no card, no hassle.Hobby $16–19/mo for 5k credits
Brave Search
BRAVE_API_KEY		✅—🟢 forever / card caveat$5 in free credits every month, recurring.Search $5 / 1k requests
Querit
QUERIT_API_KEY		✅—🟢 forever1,000 API requests / calendar month on the Free tier.Pay-as-you-go US$4 / 1,000 API requests
SearXNG
searxng.base_url		✅—🟢 self-hostedFree if you self-host; no vendor API bill.Open-source/self-hosted. Your cost is the server, maintenance and upstream engine reliability.
Keenable
KEENABLE_API_KEY		✅✅🟢 currently free / keylessKeyless public tier plus optional API key; docs say API usage is currently free.Unauthenticated: 1,000 requests/hour, max 10 rps per IP. Authenticated removes hourly cap but keeps 10 rps/org. No public paid price list yet.
Hound
HOUND_MCP_URL		✅✅🟢 local / no provider keySeparate loopback MCP sidecar; no provider request fee.Your machine, bandwidth, browser runtime and maintenance.
You.com
YOU_API_KEY		✅✅🟡 one-time$100 free API credit to get started.Search $5 / 1k calls
Parallel
PARALLEL_API_KEY		✅✅🟢 recurring1,000 requests / month free, plus up to $80 signup credit and $5 free credits / month.Search $5 / 1k requests with 10 results
Serper
SERPER_API_KEY		✅✅🟡 one-time2,500 free credits, no credit card.Volume packs: $1.00 / 1k at 50k credits down to $0.30 / 1k at 12.5M credits
Exa
EXA_API_KEY		✅✅🟡 credit-based / caveated$10 one-time onboarding credit; +$7/month only when a payment method is on file.Search $7 / 1k requests
SerpBase
SERPBASE_API_KEY		✅—🟡 one-time100 free searches to start, no card; no-key preview capped to 5 organic links.Starter Boost $3 / 10k expires after one month. Standard prepaid packs run about $0.50–$0.20 / 1k and do not expire.
Linkup
LINKUP_API_KEY		✅✅🟢 recurring credits / eligible accountsProfessional-email signups receive $20 credit; eligible accounts are topped back up to $20 each month.Search $0.005–$0.006 / request for standard/fast
Perplexity Sonar API
PERPLEXITY_API_KEY		— not in WSP 3.x—🔴 noneNo durable free API tier found.Search/Sonar request fees roughly $5–$22 / 1k depending context/model, plus token pricing.
Kilo Code — Perplexity bridge
KILOCODE_API_KEY		— not in WSP 3.x—⚪ dependsDepends on your Kilo account and billing.Usage is billed through the configured Kilo/provider account