Tavily vs Perplexity Search API: pricing and how they bill
Updated 2026-11-01 · listed A to Z, not ranked
Tavily and Perplexity both sell a web search API that returns results for an AI agent or app to read. Tavily bills in credits (1 per basic search, 2 per advanced). Perplexity’s Search API bills per successful request, and Perplexity also prices search as a tool inside its Agent API.
Listed A to Z, from tavily.com/pricing, docs.tavily.com and docs.perplexity.ai on Nov 1, 2026.
- Search price
- $5.00 per 1,000 requests; Fast Search $1.00 per 1,000
- Billing unit
- Each successful POST /search, which can hold up to 5 queries; failed and rate-limited requests are not billed
- Other endpoints
- Agent API tools: web_search $0.0025 per call, fetch_url $0.0005; models per token
- x402 pay per call
- Not listed
- Search price
- 1 credit (basic) or 2 credits (advanced); $0.008 per credit pay as you go, $0.0075–$0.005 on monthly plans
- Billing unit
- API credits; monthly plan credits reset on the 1st
- Other endpoints
- Extract, Map, Crawl and Research, each with its own credit cost
- x402 pay per call
- Yes, x402.tavily.com (our daily check below)
How we checked: Quoted from each official pricing page on Nov 1, 2026. What a result contains differs between the two, so compare on your own queries. Confirm prices with each provider.
Measured by us: the x402 endpoints
We call these x402 endpoints daily without paying and read the HTTP 402 reply. Not a ranking.
How they differ
- Batching. One Perplexity Search API request can carry up to five queries and is billed once. Tavily bills each search request in credits.
- Plans. Tavily has monthly credit plans from $30 (4,000 credits) to $500 (100,000). Perplexity’s Search API is priced per request with no plan tiers on its pricing page.
- Beyond search. Tavily adds extraction, site mapping, crawling and a research endpoint. Perplexity adds model APIs and an Agent API where search is one of several billed tools.
FAQ
How much does the Perplexity Search API cost?
Perplexity lists $5.00 per 1,000 successful requests, or $1.00 per 1,000 with Fast Search. One request can include up to five queries (checked Nov 1, 2026).
How much does a Tavily search cost?
A basic search uses 1 credit and an advanced search 2; credits are $0.008 pay as you go or $0.0075 to $0.005 on monthly plans.
Sources (official pages, read 2026-11-01)
- docs.perplexity.ai
- docs.perplexity.ai/getting-started/pricing
- tavily.com
- tavily.com/pricing
- docs.tavily.com/documentation/api-credits
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