# Tavily alternative Research sources, paid per search. Use Tavily alongside other search engines from one TaskFuel balance. Compare source excerpts, domain controls and billing before choosing a provider for your research. Tavily, Exa and Brave were each tested once with the same PostgreSQL query, and Tavily ran at basic depth. Serper’s price is for the same query. Provider in the worked example: Tavily via Orthogonal. Price shown for this route: 1¢ per search. ## Compare Tavily and its alternatives. TaskFuel includes Tavily alongside the other providers below. A direct Tavily plan is listed for comparison. We publish this comparison and sell access through TaskFuel. Prices checked 30 October 2026. Each TaskFuel row prices the same PostgreSQL query with its own controls. | Option | Price and billing | Strength | Good to know | Available through TaskFuel | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Tavily (Direct provider account) | $0.008 / credit. Provider credits; pay-as-you-go or a monthly plan. Basic search: 1 credit. Advanced: 2 credits. Free allowance: 1,000 credits/month. | Keep Tavily’s own account, SDKs and credit plans for a Tavily-focused application. | Basic and advanced searches use different credits. Its free allowance may cover a small project. | No | | Tavily (Via Orthogonal) | $0.01 / search. Per request from your TaskFuel balance. Basic depth, five results. | Search results with per-source excerpts. Our basic-depth call returned five sources. | The test returned community pages as well as official ones. Generated answers and full raw content were off. | Yes | | Exa (Via StableEnrich) | $0.01 / search. Per request from your TaskFuel balance. Auto mode, five results, postgresql.org only. | Restricts results to one domain. All five of ours were on postgresql.org. | Our request returned titles and URLs without excerpts, so page text needs a second call. | Yes | | Brave Search (Via Locus) | $0.035 / search. Per request from your TaskFuel balance. Five web results, US English. | Web results with snippets from its own index. We got five. | The official docs link was fourth, and its title named a newer version. | Yes | | Serper (Via Orthogonal) | $0.002 / search. Per request from your TaskFuel balance. Five Google results requested, US English. | Google rankings for the same query. | Titles and snippets, not excerpts or full pages. | Yes | - [Tavily: provider reference](https://docs.tavily.com/documentation/api-credits). Checked 2026-10-30. - [Tavily: provider reference](https://docs.tavily.com/documentation/api-reference/endpoint/search). Checked 2026-10-30. - [Exa: provider reference](https://exa.ai/docs/reference/search). Checked 2026-10-30. - [Brave Search: provider reference](https://api-dashboard.search.brave.com/app/documentation/web-search). Checked 2026-10-30. - [Serper: provider reference](https://serper.dev/). Checked 2026-10-30. ## What it can do ### Tavily search Search results with per-source excerpts. Our basic-depth call returned five sources. Price: $0.01 / search. ### Exa search Domain-limited results. All five of ours came from postgresql.org. Price: $0.01 / search. ### Serper search Google rankings for the same query. Price: $0.002 / search. ## A real example Tested on 2026-10-30 through Tavily via Orthogonal. We searched for PostgreSQL 17 incremental-backup documentation. Tavily returned five sources with excerpts, including the official version-17 release notes and community guides. Your agent asked: Find research sources on PostgreSQL 17 incremental backups Returned in this test: - Sources returned: 5 results with excerpts - Official source: PostgreSQL 17 release notes - Excerpt mentions: pg_basebackup and pg_combinebackup - Source URL: https://www.postgresql.org/docs/17/release-17.html Charged in this test: $0.01. One basic-depth search. The first source was a community page and the official release notes were second. The excerpt mentioned both backup utilities. ## Try the API request Use your TaskFuel API key as TASKFUEL_API_KEY in your terminal or server. Keep it out of browser code. ### 1. Check the price This request checks the price without paying. This is the exact Tavily search from the test. Changing the depth, result count or returned content can change the price, so quote again before a different request. ```sh curl --fail-with-body https://app.taskfuel.ai/v1/call \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $TASKFUEL_API_KEY" \ -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \ --data-binary @- <<'TASKFUEL_REQUEST' { "url": "https://mpp.orthogonal.com/tavily/search", "method": "POST", "body": { "query": "PostgreSQL 17 incremental backup documentation", "search_depth": "basic", "max_results": 5, "include_answer": false, "include_raw_content": false }, "dryRun": true } TASKFUEL_REQUEST ``` ### 2. Run the request Review amount_usd in the quote. To pay and run, change dryRun to false and add maxAmountUsd with that approved amount inside the same JSON object. Keep the inputs unchanged; this limit applies to one call. ### 3. Read the result Read results[].title, results[].url and results[].content. The content field contains source excerpts; raw_content and answer were null in our test. [Setup and API reference](https://taskfuel.ai/docs/) · [Job polling and timeout recovery](https://app.taskfuel.ai/using.md) ## Connect your agent Read the [setup guide](https://taskfuel.ai/docs/setup/) and choose the connection your agent supports. Use one TaskFuel account and prepaid balance. Inspect the provider and request quote before a paid call, then review the returned response and recorded charge. ## When to use it ### Source excerpts with each result. Tavily can return relevant passages alongside URLs. ### Restrict the search to the source. The Exa example uses postgresql.org as a domain filter. It is useful when a task needs official references rather than a broad set of guides. ### Find the official notes among the guides. Our Tavily search returned the PostgreSQL 17 release notes second, among community guides, with excerpts that mention pg_basebackup and pg_combinebackup. ## Questions ### Is Tavily available through TaskFuel? Yes. Your agent pays from your TaskFuel balance, so there is nothing else to sign up for. Tavily is available next to the other engines, and the exact request and charge are shown in the example. ### What does Tavily pricing mean in credits? Our TaskFuel test search cost $0.01 on 30 October 2026. Tavily’s direct basic search uses one credit and advanced uses two, at $0.008 per credit with 1,000 free credits monthly, as published that day. Your agent shows the price for your own request before it pays. ### Does this example generate a research answer? It returns source excerpts, not a generated answer or full page text. ### Which alternative returns official sources? The Exa example restricts results to postgresql.org. Tavily’s unrestricted example returned official release notes as well as community pages. Different filters and indexes change the result set. ### Can I move from Tavily to another search provider? Yes, from the same balance. Each provider uses its own request and response fields, so your agent maps them again when it switches. Tavily’s excerpts are in results[].content. ## Related tool guides - [Compare Tavily and Brave on the same question](https://taskfuel.ai/tools/tavily-vs-brave/) - [Compare Tavily and Perplexity on one question](https://taskfuel.ai/tools/tavily-vs-perplexity/) - [Send one question to Exa and Tavily and compare the results](https://taskfuel.ai/tools/exa-vs-tavily/) - [Connect Tavily and other web search through MCP](https://taskfuel.ai/tools/web-search-mcp/) - [See every search API in one guide](https://taskfuel.ai/tools/web-search-api-for-llm/) - [Compare Exa alternatives for finding official sources](https://taskfuel.ai/tools/exa-alternative/) - [Compare Brave Search API alternatives and their indexes](https://taskfuel.ai/tools/brave-search-api-alternative/) - [Extract the full text after choosing a source](https://taskfuel.ai/tools/extract-webpage/) ## Reference - [Read this guide on the website](https://taskfuel.ai/tools/tavily-alternative/). - [Browse providers and capabilities](https://taskfuel.ai/catalog/). - [Pricing](https://taskfuel.ai/pricing/). - [Agent instructions](https://taskfuel.ai/llms.txt).