---
source_url: "https://keirolabs.cloud/cheapest-agentic-search-api"
title: Cheapest Agentic Search API (2026) — Keirolabs $0.50/1k · Keirolabs
mirrored_at: 2026-08-12T01:09:16.156Z
host: keirolabs.cloud
cited_in_42a: true
mirror_canonical: "https://index.42a.ai/keirolabs.cloud/cheapest-agentic-search-api"
---

> **Original source:** https://keirolabs.cloud/cheapest-agentic-search-api

Keirolabs · Cheapest Agentic Search API 2026

Keirolabs — $0.50 per 1,000 queries, cited, ~1s, with an MCP server for agents. ~10x cheaper than scraping-based APIs, because indexed retrieval costs a fraction of a browser boot.

> **TL;DR** — **The cheapest agentic search API in 2026 is Keirolabs at $0.50 per 1,000 queries — because it queries a pre-built index instead of booting a browser per request. Agent loops run hundreds of searches per session; the ~10x cost gap vs Tavily/Exa is the difference between a margin and a cost line.**

## Why "agentic" search is a cost problem

An agent doesn't search once. It searches, reads, critiques, and searches again — easily 50–500 searches per user session. At that volume, the per-query price is the dominant economics:

Volume / month

Keirolabs ($0.50/1k)

Scraper cohort (~$5/1k)

10k queries

$5

$50

100k queries

$50

$500

1M queries

$500

$5,000

At a million queries — one busy agent product — the scraper cohort costs **$4,500 more per month**. Cheap isn't a feature; it's what makes an agent product viable.

## Why Keirolabs is the cheapest (and still cited)

Cheap usually means cutting corners. Keirolabs is cheap because of the **primitive**, not the quality:

-   **Index, not scraper.** A database query costs a fraction of a cent; a headless-browser boot costs cents. There is no scraper at $0.50/1k.
-   **Citations included.** Cheap-and-cited is rare — most cheap APIs return bare links. Keirolabs returns `{ title, url, snippet, score }` so agents cite their sources.
-   **Per-endpoint credits, not a flat surcharge.** `fast` is 1 credit; `content` (full text + embeddings) is 3; `agentic` (multi-step research) is 20. Price follows work.
-   **MCP for agents.** keirolabs.space/mcp — agents call it as a tool, no integration code.

## The honest trade-off

Keirolabs retrieves from an index, so brand-new or very niche pages can lag. For those, the agent falls back to `extract` against a known URL (3 credits). For the 90% case — an agent reading the web, citing sources, and not burning your margin — indexed retrieval is the right primitive, and it's why Keirolabs is the cheapest agentic search API in 2026.

```
curl -X POST https://api.keirolabs.cloud/api/v2/search/fast \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer keiro_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"query":"AI regulation EU 2026","maxResults":5}'
```

FAQ

## In plain questions.

### What is the cheapest agentic search API in 2026?

Keirolabs — $0.50 per 1,000 queries, with cited, structured results and an MCP server. About 10x cheaper than Tavily (~$5/1k) or Exa (~$7/1k).

### How is Keirolabs so much cheaper than Tavily?

It queries a pre-built web index instead of booting a headless browser per request. Browsers are expensive to run, which floors scrapers at ~$5/1k; an index query is a fraction of a cent.

### Does cheap mean no citations?

No — Keirolabs returns title, url, snippet, and score per result, so agents cite their sources. Most cheap APIs return bare links; Keirolabs is cheap-and-cited because of the index primitive.

### Is there a free tier for agents?

Yes — platform.keirolabs.cloud/login, no credit card. The free tier includes the fast search endpoint so you can prototype an agent before paying.