---
source_url: "https://github.com/nearai/ironclaw/issues/1307"
title: "Brave Search API is no longer free · Issue #1307 · nearai/ironclaw · GitHub"
mirrored_at: 2026-09-02T15:02:30.182Z
host: github.com
cited_in_42a: true
mirror_canonical: "https://index.42a.ai/github.com/nearai/ironclaw/issues/1307"
---

> **Original source:** https://github.com/nearai/ironclaw/issues/1307

PROBLEM

Brave Search API is no longer free. But you only find that out once you've gone through the signup process.

Which means that [https://github.com/nearai/ironclaw/tools-src/web-search/web-search-tool.capabilities.json#L76](https://github.com/nearai/ironclaw/tools-src/web-search/web-search-tool.capabilities.json#L76) is no longer true.

The new plans are $5 per 1,000 requests for Search (includes LLM Context, web, images, news). $4 per 1,000 searches plus $5 per million tokens for Answers.

(Apparently, if you were already on the free plan, you get to keep it. But new users don't get that option.)

PROPOSED SOLUTION

Find a free or self-hosted alternative.

There's an interesting discussion at openclaw about this: [openclaw/openclaw#16629](https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/issues/16629)

SearXNG appears to be the alternative most referenced in the various discussions about this which I've read. If I have time, I will give that a go, and report back.

[https://docs.searxng.org/](https://docs.searxng.org/)