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FAQ
Subscriptions
Which API plan is right for me?
Which API plan is right for me?
Before subscribing to a paid plan, we encourage you to test our API using a free plan. To make sure you pick the right plan, identify your core needs and goals. For general search, i.e. simply querying an index to find relevant results, pick any of the Data for Search plans. If you’re looking to use the results for your AI, i.e. feed results to AI models for inference, choose a Data for AI plan. If you want to retain the results and/or train your AI models, make sure you subscribe to a Data with storage rights plan. Please note the plans don’t come with a storage system - it is up to you how you store the data, as long as you have rights to do so.If your company needs a bespoke, large-data solution, please contact searchapi-support@brave.com.
Why is a credit card required to subscribe to a free plan?
Why is a credit card required to subscribe to a free plan?
The credit card serves as an anti-fraud measure to protect Brave from bad
actors who want to abuse the free offering (e.g. by combining multiple
accounts). Please rest assured your card would never be billed for usage of
the free plan, it is used merely to confirm your identity.
Do I need a key for every plan I am subscribed to?
Do I need a key for every plan I am subscribed to?
Yes. After you’ve subscribed to a plan, you will need to generate a new key in
the API Keys section - this applies to all plans. You may have up to 3 keys
per subscription.
What happens if I reach my plan's request limit?
What happens if I reach my plan's request limit?
If you are subscribed to a plan that has a request limit (Free or Base) and reach this cap, you will get an error message with limits visible as response headers. To avoid this from happening, you can monitor your usage in the dashboard.If you need to run more requests than a plan allows, you’ll need to subscribe to a new (higher tier) plan, after which you’ll need to generate a new key to start using it.
What data can be retained?
What data can be retained?
Data for Search and Data for AI plans do not grant permission to retain any part of the API’s output. You can only retain data received via the API if you are subscribed to a Data with storage rights plan. This plan allows you to store the entire output of the API, i.e. the JSON response to a query. For more details, please refer to our Terms of Service.
Account
How can I change my payment method?
How can I change my payment method?
Navigate to the Billing section under Settings and click “Update Payment Method”. You’ll be redirected to a Stripe page where you can enter your new payment details.
How can I delete my account?
How can I delete my account?
Send us an email from the email address associated with the Brave Search API account you’d like to delete.
Search Index
What powers the Brave Search API?
What powers the Brave Search API?
The Brave Search API is powered by Brave Search, a fully independent search engine serving tens of millions of queries per day.Try Brave Search at search.brave.com.
Does Brave Search have its own Web crawler?
Does Brave Search have its own Web crawler?
Yes, every search engine that has its own index necessarily has its own Web crawler. The Brave Search crawler does not advertise a differentiated user-agent because we must avoid discrimination from websites that allow only Google to crawl them. However, if a domain or page is not crawlable by any search engine (it has a noindex tag), or if it is not crawlable by googlebot, then Brave Search’s bot will not crawl it either.Brave Search’s crawler is partially powered by information provided by users enrolled in the Web Discovery Project (WDP) option in Brave browser’s search settings, which is an off-by-default (aka opt-in), privacy-preserving system. WDP has multiple mechanisms to prevent Brave from knowing who is contributing what (WDP is also open-source for auditing and inspection by anyone).
Does the Brave Search API surface recent events?
Does the Brave Search API surface recent events?
Yes. Brave Search fetches millions of web pages every day, offering extensive
coverage of recent events around the world.
What about copyright?
What about copyright?
Brave Search API offers a ranked list of web pages that are publicly available; this list also includes information to support why the web page is relevant to the query (for instance via query-dependent snippets based on the content of the web page).The Brave Search API does not grant any rights to third-party content such as web pages. Customers who access URLs displayed in the Brave Search API must ensure their access to those web pages complies with the copyright terms of the page publishers.
I don't like the results I'm getting. What am I doing wrong?
I don't like the results I'm getting. What am I doing wrong?
If you are getting unexpected or suboptimal results via the API and would like to share some feedback, please include the following details in your email:
- List of HTTP request parameters sent
- List of HTTP headers sent, if any
- Plan name used for request
- From drop down setting in Brave Search:
- Search country
- Safesearch
- Time filter
- Local result
- From page settings in Brave Search:
- Search language
- Fallback mixing
- Discussions
- Summarizer