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Search API & MCP Comparison

The Most Affordable Search API & MCP for AI

Real-time web search with geo, language & device targeting. Native MCP for Claude, Cursor & Copilot. Zero data retention on every plan.

0×
Cheaper
0K
Free Credits/mo
0
Data Retained
Zero data retention
Real-time results
Geo + Lang + Device
Native MCP
Feature comparison

How Crawleo Stacks Up

A side-by-side look at what matters for Search API and MCP workflows.

Feature
Crawleo		FirecrawlTavilySerpAPIExaPerplexity
Free tier10,000 credits/mo500 credits (one-time)1,000 credits/mo250 searches/mo$10 free creditsUnlimited basic searches
Cost per 10K searches$20$83$80 (PAYG)$150Not public$50–120
Cost per 100K searches$100$332$500$725Not public$500 (Search API)
Search + Crawl in one API
Native MCP support
Geo targetingCountry boostLimited
Language targeting
Device targetingDesktop, Mobile, TabletMobile onlyDesktop, Mobile, Tablet
Output formatsMarkdown, HTML, Enhanced HTMLMarkdown, JSON, HTML, ScreenshotsMarkdown, Text, AI AnswersJSON SERPMarkdown (default), HTML, HighlightsSummarized answers
Zero data retentionAll plans (default)Enterprise onlyClaimed (ToS allows use)Enterprise (ZeroTrace)Enterprise onlyNo
LangChain integration
Max concurrent requests100100+1,000 RPMPlan-basedNot publicNot public

Ready to switch to the most affordable search API?

Sign up in 30 seconds. No credit card required. 10,000 free credits every month.

Deep dive

Crawleo vs Each Competitor

Honest pros and cons — so you can pick what's right for your use case.

Why Crawleo wins

  • 20x larger free tier (10K vs 500 credits)
  • Zero data retention on ALL plans by default
  • Desktop + Mobile + Tablet targeting (vs mobile only)
  • Simpler, faster onboarding

Where Firecrawl shines

  • More SDK languages (Rust, Go)
  • JSON Schema extraction
  • Batch API with webhooks
  • Open-source self-hosting option
  • Geo + language targeting on search

Choose Crawleo for cost-effective search at scale with privacy guarantees. Choose Firecrawl if you need structured extraction with schemas or self-hosting.

Why Crawleo wins

  • 5x cheaper at 100K volume ($100 vs $500)
  • Full device targeting (desktop, mobile, tablet)
  • Search + Crawl combined in one API
  • Zero data retention on all plans

Where Tavily shines

  • AI-ranked search results with relevance scores
  • Domain include/exclude filters
  • Time range filtering
  • Country-based search boosting
  • Multiple search depths (basic, fast, advanced)

Choose Crawleo for production at scale — especially if you need device targeting, geo/language control, or a combined search + crawl API. Choose Tavily for AI-ranked results, domain filtering, and search depth options.

Why Crawleo wins

  • Up to 7x cheaper at scale
  • Includes crawling — not just search
  • AI-ready output formats (Markdown)

Where SerpAPI shines

  • Mature product with broad SERP features
  • Structured SERP JSON output
  • Multi-engine support (Google, Bing, etc.)
  • Full device targeting (desktop, mobile, tablet)
  • Native MCP server available

Choose Crawleo for AI/RAG pipelines needing search + content. Choose SerpAPI for SEO analytics and SERP monitoring.

Why Crawleo wins

  • Simpler, predictable credit pricing
  • Raw content access (not just summaries)
  • Multiple output formats

Where Perplexity Sonar shines

  • Built-in LLM summarization
  • Cited answers in one call
  • 128K token context window
  • Official MCP server available

Choose Crawleo when you need raw data for your own LLM pipeline. Choose Perplexity for pre-summarized answer engines.

MCP Integration

Native MCP — Search the Web From Any AI Assistant

Crawleo is a first-class MCP server. Many providers now offer MCP support — Crawleo's stands out by combining search + crawl in a single server with simple credit-based pricing.

search_web(10 credits / page)

Real-time web search with geo, language, and device targeting

querymax_pagessetLangccgeolocationdevice
crawl_web(1–10 credits / page)

Extract clean content from any URL in multiple formats

urloutput_formatuse_proxiesuse_premium_proxiescountry

Works with every MCP client

🤖Claude Desktop
⌨️Cursor IDE
🏄Windsurf IDE
🐙GitHub Copilot
🔌Any MCP Client

Quick Setup — Pick Your Client

config.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "crawleo": {
      "url": "https://api.crawleo.dev/mcp",
      "transport": "http",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

Add this config to your AI client, replace the API key, and start searching.

Why Crawleo

Built for AI Search from Day One

Lowest Cost at Scale

10K free credits/month. $20/mo for 100K searches. No surprise bills — predictable subscription pricing.

From $0.002 per search

Privacy by Design

Zero data retention on every plan. We never store your queries or crawled content. Not an upsell — it's architecture.

All plans, not just Enterprise

Geo + Language + Device

Target search results by country, language, and device type. Get the exact results your users would see, anywhere in the world.

Combined in one AI-oriented API

Native MCP Server

First-class MCP integration. Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, GitHub Copilot — your AI assistant calls search_web and crawl_web directly. Many competitors now offer MCP too, but Crawleo's is tightly coupled with search + crawl.

Zero boilerplate integration

Search + Crawl in One

One vendor, one API key. Search the web, then crawl results for full content. No stitching multiple services together.

auto_crawling parameter

LLM-Ready Output

Get Markdown, Enhanced HTML, or raw HTML. Designed to minimize tokens and reduce post-processing in your RAG pipeline.

Multiple output formats
Testimonials

Trusted by Developers Worldwide

See what engineers and builders say about using Crawleo in production.

“After trying several crawling APIs, I can say that Crawleo was one of the best solutions I've used. The performance is fast, the API is stable, and it's easy to integrate into projects without complications. The pricing is also very reasonable compared to the value you get. What stood out for me was their highly cooperative support — if you need a specific feature, help with setup, or guidance to improve usage, they're responsive and flexible.”

One of the best solutions I've used

A
Ali Hassavia LinkedIn

“Very solid idea and well-built. To take it further, explore handling large PDFs and other content types — that could position you as a specialist in efficient knowledge bases.”

Very solid idea and well-built

M
Muhamed Essamvia LinkedIn

“Great service that will compete strongly in the market.”

Will compete strongly in the market

A
Abu Baker Solmanvia LinkedIn

“Really appreciate the support, Ahmed! Your encouragement and the Crawleo access made it much easier to experiment and push this workflow further. Grateful for the support — it genuinely helped me learn faster.”

Genuinely helped me learn faster

O
Omkar Sawantvia LinkedIn

Join hundreds of developers building with Crawleo.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Both offer search APIs with geo and language targeting. Crawleo is up to 3x cheaper and includes device targeting (desktop, mobile, tablet). Firecrawl has stronger extraction features like JSON schemas and batch crawling, plus an open-source self-hosting option. For search-heavy workloads at scale, Crawleo is more cost-effective.

Yes. Crawleo's Search API returns clean, AI-ready results like Tavily, but at up to 5x lower cost at scale ($100 vs $500 for 100K searches). Tavily has its own strengths — AI-ranked results, domain include/exclude filters, and country-based boosting. Crawleo offers full device targeting and a built-in Crawl API so you don't need a second tool.

MCP (Model Context Protocol) lets AI assistants like Claude, Cursor, and GitHub Copilot use Crawleo's search and crawl tools directly. Instead of writing API calls, your AI assistant just calls search_web or crawl_web as native tools — making it effortless to add live web data to any AI workflow.

Search costs 10 credits per page of results. Crawling costs 1 credit per page (no proxy), 2 with standard proxy, or 10 with premium proxy. The Free plan gives you 10,000 credits/month — that's 1,000 searches or 10,000 crawls.

Yes. The Crawl API renders JavaScript-heavy pages automatically. You can also use proxies (standard or premium) for geo-restricted or bot-protected sites.

Yes — on every plan, including Free. Crawleo never stores your queries or crawled content. No selling data, no training models on your data. This is a core architectural decision, not an enterprise upsell. Some competitors offer zero-retention modes (Firecrawl on Enterprise, SerpAPI via ZeroTrace), but Crawleo is one of the few that includes it by default on all plans.

Start Searching with 10,000 Free Credits

No credit card required. Set up your first search in under 5 minutes.

10K free credits/mo Search + Crawl API MCP included Zero data retention
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