Linkup vs Valyu
A side-by-side comparison of Linkup and Valyu, two Search tools, drawn from Ignaite's continuously-verified listings.
Compared from listings verified as of
At a glance
| Attribute | Linkup | Valyu |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Search | Search |
| Pricing (differs) | FREEMIUM | PAID |
| License | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Deployment | Cloud | Cloud |
| Platforms | API | API |
| Model support | Model-agnostic | Model-agnostic |
| Vendor (differs) | Linkup | Valyu |
| Capabilities (differs) |
|
|
The honest brief
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
Valyu
Returns structured, extracted content from licensed paywalled papers, filings and patents — not just links most search APIs stop at.
- Searches proprietary and paywalled sources
- Full extracted content, ready for RAG
- Deep research API for multi-step tasks
- Flat per-task pricing
- No free tier
- Early-stage company
- Developer / API-only
- Premium data sources cost more
When to pick which
Linkup leans on Cited answers as a headline capability; Valyu treats it as secondary.
- Cited answers (primary capability)
They also differ on:
- Pricing
- FREEMIUM · PAID
Their capability lists differ in recorded depth — compare the full lists above before deciding.