Search API free tiers compared: FastAF, Tavily, Firecrawl and Exa
Every search API for AI agents has a free tier, but the number that matters is what one search costs once you scale. FastAF’s free tier is the smallest of the four in raw searches (about 100 Google searches a month); its case starts when you pay: per call over x402 with no account, or with one-time packs that do not reset every month. Competitor figures below were read on each vendor’s official pricing page on .
How do the free tiers compare?
| FastAF | Tavily | Firecrawl | Exa | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free allowance | 500 credits every month after email verification | 1,000 API credits every month | 1,000 credits every month | $10 of credits every month, plus a one-time $10 onboarding bonus |
| Card required | No | No | No | No |
| One search costs | 5 credits (Google search) | 1 credit (basic), 2 (advanced) | 2 credits per 10 results | from $4 per 1,000 (Lite) |
| Searches in the free tier | about 100 a month | 1,000 basic or 500 advanced a month | 500 a month | up to 2,500 Lite a month |
| Paid, per 1,000 searches | $2.50 (Starter) to $1.33 (Business), one-time packs without expiry; $3.00 over x402 | $8.00 pay as you go; $7.50 (Project) to $5.00 (Growth), monthly | $7.60 (Hobby) to $1.50 (Scale), monthly | $4 (Lite), $7 (Auto), $12 (Deep) |
| Pay per call with no account (x402) | Yes, every endpoint, $0.003 per Google search, USDC on Base | x402 on /search advanced, $0.01, USDC on Base | Not listed on its pricing page | Search and Contents, $0.004 to $0.015 per search |
| Source | fastaf.co/pricing | docs.tavily.com | firecrawl.dev | exa.ai |
A search here is one request of up to about 10 results: one Google results page on FastAF, a basic search on Tavily, 10 results on Firecrawl, a Lite search on Exa. Monthly plans are billed monthly; their credits reset each month. Sources (read 2026-10-29): fastaf.co/pricing · Tavily: docs.tavily.com/documentation/api-credits, tavily.com/pricing, docs.tavily.com/documentation/machine-payments/x402 · Firecrawl: firecrawl.dev/pricing · Exa: exa.ai/pricing, exa.ai/docs/llms.txt, exa.ai/docs/integrations/payments/x402/quickstart.md. Prices change: check the vendor’s page before deciding.
Where does FastAF fit?
- No account at all with x402. An agent calls
https://api.fastaf.co/x402/v1/serp, receives a 402 with the exact price, pays $0.003 in USDC on Base and gets the data. Only successful calls settle. See how x402 works. - Drop-in Tavily compatibility. Keep the Tavily SDK for
/searchand/extractand change only the base URL and the key: Tavily-compatible API. - Failed calls cost nothing. Errors and refused targets are not billed, with a key or over x402.
- A hard spending cap for agents. Credits are finite and shared by every key on the account; when they run out, requests return 402 instead of spending more.
- One key, 23 endpoints. The same credits cover Google search, Maps, News, YouTube, scraping and more: see the FastAF API catalog.
- Paid credits that never expire. Packs from $10 for 20,000 credits never expire; only the free 500 reset on the 1st.
Comparing Google SERP APIs instead? Free SERP API tiers compared covers the SerpApi and Serper free plans.
Detailed comparisons: FastAF vs Tavily · FastAF vs Firecrawl · FastAF vs Exa · FastAF pricing · all comparisons
FAQ
What does FastAF’s free tier include?
500 free credits every month per account after email verification, no card, on every endpoint. They reset on the 1st of each month at 00:00 UTC, do not carry over and are not valid on x402.
How many Google searches is that?
About 100: a Google search costs 5 credits.
Which free tier covers the most searches?
On raw count, Exa (up to 2,500 Lite searches a month), then Tavily (1,000 basic searches), Firecrawl (500 searches of up to 10 results) and FastAF (about 100 Google searches).
Can I use FastAF without an account?
Yes. Pay per call over x402 from $0.003 per Google search, in USDC on Base, with no key. Tavily’s x402 covers advanced search only ($0.01 per call).
Can I keep my Tavily code?
Yes for /search and /extract: set the base URL to https://api.fastaf.co/tavily and use a FastAF key. See the Tavily-compatible API.
Start free: 500 free credits every month after email verification, no card.