Brave Search API vs Linkup
A side-by-side comparison of Brave Search API and Linkup, two Search tools, drawn from Ignaite's continuously-verified listings.
Compared from listings verified as of
Brave Search API
SearchIndependent search index. Privacy-respecting, non-Google.
View Brave Search APIAt a glance
| Attribute | Brave Search API | Linkup |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Search | Search |
| Pricing | FREEMIUM | FREEMIUM |
| License | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Deployment | Cloud | Cloud |
| Platforms | API | API |
| Model support | Model-agnostic | Model-agnostic |
| Vendor (differs) | Brave Software | Linkup |
| Capabilities (differs) |
|
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The honest brief
Brave Search API
One of the few search APIs backed by a genuinely independent crawl rather than resold Bing or Google results.
- Independent index, not resold Bing/Google
- Privacy-respecting, no user profiling
- Free tier available
- Simple REST API
- Smaller index than Google
- Rate limits on free tier
- Less tuned for AI-answer grounding than Exa/Tavily
Linkup
Tops OpenAI's SimpleQA benchmark for grounded answers, with per-request pricing and a multi-step deep-research endpoint.
- Strong SimpleQA benchmark result
- Sourced, cited answers fast
- Fetch + deep-research endpoints
- MCP and SDK integrations
- API-only, no end-user app
- Deep research can cost up to $2.50/call
- Newer entrant vs incumbents
When to pick which
Both cover Cited answers.
Pick Brave Search API if you need Unified search.
- Unified search (primary capability)
Pick Linkup if you need MCP server and Web research agent.
- MCP server (secondary capability)
- Web research agent (primary capability)
Linkup leans on Cited answers as a headline capability; Brave Search API treats it as secondary.
- Cited answers (primary capability)