Pricing
Pay per call, in dollars, from one prepaid balance. No subscription, no seats, no monthly minimum.
- You pay the engine's list price × 1.5, at least $0.0001 a call.
- Failed, timed-out and empty calls are not charged.
- Before a call we hold the most it can cost, then refund the difference the moment it ends. Without providers, that is the largest max among the engines the router may try.
- When one call asks several engines, you pay for each engine that returned results.
- Auto routing and relevance reranking add no charge. Auto never picks deep. It picks social (from $0.0675 a call) only on an X cue: the words "tweet", "Twitter" or "on X", an x.com link, or an @handle. Code such as @types/node, @media or Twitter cards does not count.
- Credits never expire while your account is open.
- Top up any whole amount from $5 to $1,000. No subscription.
- New accounts get $1 of credit after confirming their email.
What things cost
| example | working | total |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 general searches on Serper | 1,000 × $0.0015 | $1.50 |
| One Exa search, 10 results | $0.0105 a call | $0.0105 |
| One page read by our own fetch (extract) | $0.00075 a page | $0.00075 |
| One search-cli general search with no keys of your own | Serper, Exa and Jina at once: $0.0015 + $0.0105 + $0.00075 | $0.01275 |
Price per call, by mode
Typical is a call that returns 10 results. Max is the most a call pinned to this engine can cost. Without providers we hold the largest max among the engines the router may try, and refund the rest. The hold under each table is for the default engine order; when an engine is down the router skips it and the hold follows the engines it will try. Prices are in US dollars and include our margin.
general · news · academic · people · deep · extract · similar · scholar · patents · images · places · social
general
Any web lookup not covered by a more specific mode.
| engine | typical | max | price source |
|---|---|---|---|
| jina | $0.00075 | $0.00375varies with usage | jina.airead 2 Nov 2026 · unconfirmed |
| serper | $0.0015 | $0.003varies with usage | serper.devread 2 Nov 2026 |
| parallelnot enabled | $0.0015 | $0.0165varies with usage | docs.parallel.airead 2 Nov 2026 |
| brave | $0.0075 | same | brave.comread 2 Nov 2026 |
| linkup | $0.0075 | same | docs.linkup.soread 2 Nov 2026 |
| perplexity | $0.0075 | same | docs.perplexity.airead 2 Nov 2026 |
| exa | $0.0105 | $0.0255varies with usage | exa.airead 2 Nov 2026 |
| tavilynot enabled | $0.012 | same | docs.tavily.comread 2 Nov 2026 |
| firecrawl | $0.015 | $0.03varies with usage | firecrawl.devread 2 Nov 2026 · unconfirmed |
Without providers: tries serper, exa, jina in turn and holds $0.0255; you pay only for the engine that answers.
news
Current events and recent coverage.
| engine | typical | max | price source |
|---|---|---|---|
| serper | $0.0015 | $0.003varies with usage | serper.devread 2 Nov 2026 |
| parallelnot enabled | $0.0015 | $0.0165varies with usage | docs.parallel.airead 2 Nov 2026 |
| brave | $0.0075 | same | brave.comread 2 Nov 2026 |
| linkup | $0.0075 | same | docs.linkup.soread 2 Nov 2026 |
| perplexity | $0.0075 | same | docs.perplexity.airead 2 Nov 2026 |
| tavilynot enabled | $0.012 | same | docs.tavily.comread 2 Nov 2026 |
| serpapinot enabled | $0.0375 | same | serpapi.comread 2 Nov 2026 |
Without providers: tries serper, brave, linkup in turn and holds $0.0075; you pay only for the engine that answers.
academic
Papers and studies on a topic, found semantically.
| engine | typical | max | price source |
|---|---|---|---|
| serper | $0.0015 | $0.003varies with usage | serper.devread 2 Nov 2026 |
| perplexity | $0.0075 | same | docs.perplexity.airead 2 Nov 2026 |
| exa | $0.0105 | $0.0255varies with usage | exa.airead 2 Nov 2026 |
| tavilynot enabled | $0.024 | same | docs.tavily.comread 2 Nov 2026 |
Without providers: tries exa, serper, perplexity in turn and holds $0.0255; you pay only for the engine that answers.
people
A named person: their role, employer, LinkedIn profile. Served by Exa alone; if Exa is unavailable, search general for the name and employer.
| engine | typical | max | price source |
|---|---|---|---|
| exa | $0.0105 | $0.0255varies with usage | exa.airead 2 Nov 2026 · unconfirmed |
Without providers: uses exa and holds $0.0255; you pay only for the engine that answers.
deep
Wider coverage on a hard question. Slower and dearer than general.
| engine | typical | max | price source |
|---|---|---|---|
| serper | $0.0015 | $0.003varies with usage | serper.devread 2 Nov 2026 |
| parallelnot enabled | $0.0075 | $0.0225varies with usage | docs.parallel.airead 2 Nov 2026 |
| perplexity | $0.0075 | same | docs.perplexity.airead 2 Nov 2026 |
| brave | $0.015 | same | brave.comread 2 Nov 2026 · unconfirmed |
| exa | $0.018 | $0.033varies with usage | exa.airead 2 Nov 2026 |
| tavilynot enabled | $0.024 | same | docs.tavily.comread 2 Nov 2026 |
| xai | $0.0675 | $0.225varies with usage | docs.x.airead 2 Nov 2026 |
| linkup | $0.075 | same | docs.linkup.soread 2 Nov 2026 |
Without providers: tries exa, serper, brave in turn and holds $0.033; you pay only for the engine that answers.
extract
One page as markdown. Tries our own fetch first, then rendering services.
| engine | typical | max | price source |
|---|---|---|---|
| jina | $0.000375 | $0.0075varies with usage | jina.airead 2 Nov 2026 · unconfirmed |
| direct | $0.00075 | same | our own serverread 2 Nov 2026 |
| browserlessnot enabled | $0.006 | same | browserless.ioread 2 Nov 2026 |
| firecrawl | $0.0075 | $0.1575varies with usage | firecrawl.devread 2 Nov 2026 · unconfirmed |
Without providers: tries direct, jina, firecrawl in turn and holds $0.1575; you pay only for the engine that answers.
similar
Pages resembling a given page: competitors, related coverage.
| engine | typical | max | price source |
|---|---|---|---|
| exa | $0.0105 | $0.0255varies with usage | exa.airead 2 Nov 2026 · unconfirmed |
Without providers: uses exa and holds $0.0255; you pay only for the engine that answers.
scholar
Google Scholar records: citation counts, versions, PDF links.
| engine | typical | max | price source |
|---|---|---|---|
| serper | $0.0015 | $0.003varies with usage | serper.devread 2 Nov 2026 |
| serpapinot enabled | $0.0375 | same | serpapi.comread 2 Nov 2026 |
Without providers: uses serper and holds $0.003; you pay only for the engine that answers.
patents
Patent filings.
| engine | typical | max | price source |
|---|---|---|---|
| serper | $0.0015 | $0.003varies with usage | serper.devread 2 Nov 2026 |
Without providers: uses serper and holds $0.003; you pay only for the engine that answers.
images
Pictures. Returns imageUrl (the image) and url (the page it sits on). Served by Serper, with SerpApi as the fallback on the hosted API.
| engine | typical | max | price source |
|---|---|---|---|
| serper | $0.0015 | $0.003varies with usage | serper.devread 2 Nov 2026 |
| serpapinot enabled | $0.0375 | same | serpapi.comread 2 Nov 2026 |
Without providers: uses serper and holds $0.003; you pay only for the engine that answers.
places
Businesses and physical locations, with addresses.
| engine | typical | max | price source |
|---|---|---|---|
| serper | $0.0015 | $0.003varies with usage | serper.devread 2 Nov 2026 |
Without providers: uses serper and holds $0.003; you pay only for the engine that answers.
Questions
- Why does one mode have several prices?
- Each engine has its own list price. Name the engines you want in providers, or leave it out and the router tries engines in order until one returns results. You pay for the engine that answered.
- What is the maximum per call?
- Some engines bill by what a call used: results beyond the first 10, PDF pages, tokens or X posts read. Before the call we hold the maximum from your balance; afterwards you pay what the engine used and the rest comes back. A call never costs more than its maximum. Max is the most a call pinned to this engine can cost. Without providers we hold the largest max among the engines the router may try, and refund the rest. Each mode lists that hold under its table. For example, an extract without providers holds $0.1575 and usually costs $0.00075, so a balance below $0.1575 gets 402 insufficient_credits.
- What happens when a call fails?
- Nothing is charged. Failed, timed-out, rejected and empty attempts are free, and the hold is returned at once. The response lists every attempt and what each cost.
- What does unconfirmed mean?
- The vendor does not publish that figure plainly, so we could not check it against their own page. We price it at the top of our reading and lower it once it is confirmed.
- Can I use my own provider keys instead?
- Yes. search-cli is open source and calls the providers with your own keys at their prices, with no account here. Log in when you want the engines you have no key for.
- Do credits expire?
- No, not while your account is open. Every top-up gets an invoice you can download as a PDF.
social
Live X posts and what is being said there now. Put X handles, without @, in include_domains to limit authors. Served by xAI alone; if xAI is unavailable, use news.
Without providers: uses xai and holds $0.225; you pay only for the engine that answers.