# Web search MCP Get the sources your answer needs. Looking for a web search MCP? TaskFuel gives your agent Google results, Tavily excerpts, Exa domain filters and Brave search from one balance. Provider: Serper, Tavily, Exa and Brave. Price shown for this route: 0.2¢ per search, from. ## Which web search MCP does your job? Check the rows you need. | Job | TaskFuel | Tavily MCP | Exa MCP | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Google results | Yes: Serper | No: Not offered | No: Not offered | | Search with source excerpts | Yes: Tavily | Yes: Basic search | Yes: Content options | | Brave web results | Yes: Brave | No: Not offered | No: Not offered | | Fetch or extract a page | No: Search only | Yes: Extract | Yes: Page fetching | | Mix providers in one task | Yes: One balance | No: Tavily only | No: Exa only | | Price per search | $0.002 to $0.035 | $0.008 after free credits | $0.007 (Auto Search) | | Free to start | $1 credit | 1,000 credits a month | $10 a month plus $10 bonus | | Option | Price and billing | Strength | Good to know | Connection | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | TaskFuel (Serper, Tavily, Exa and Brave) | $0.002–$0.035 / tested search. Prepaid, per request. Serper $0.002; Tavily basic $0.01; Exa auto $0.01; Brave $0.035. Five results in each test. | Choosing among search providers in the same task, with one balance and no separate provider keys. | Each provider call has its own price. Direct free allowances can be a better deal for a single-provider task. | TaskFuel account; hosted MCP | | Tavily MCP (Direct Tavily connection) | Free limited access; paid credits. Keyless access or a Tavily account. Account includes 1,000 free credits/month. Basic search uses 1 credit; pay-as-you-go is $0.008/credit. | Search and extraction through Tavily; signed-in access also supports its wider research tools. | Keyless Search and Extract require a client that can send the access-mode header. Wider tools need authentication and use different credits. | Hosted or local MCP; keyless access, OAuth or API key | | Exa MCP (Direct Exa connection) | Free limited access; paid usage. Keyless access or an Exa account. Account includes $10 monthly credits and a $10 onboarding bonus. Auto Search is $7/1,000 requests with up to 10 results. | Web search and page fetching with Exa, without another service when Exa alone fits. | Keyless access has rate limits. Agent features need authentication; search modes and content options affect cost. | Hosted or local MCP; keyless access, OAuth or API key | - [TaskFuel: TaskFuel pricing](https://taskfuel.ai/pricing/). Checked 2026-11-04. - [Tavily MCP: Tavily pricing](https://docs.tavily.com/documentation/api-credits). Checked 2026-11-04. - [Exa MCP: Exa pricing](https://exa.ai/pricing). Checked 2026-11-04. ## Search the web with TaskFuel. How the connection is arranged: your MCP client (Claude, Cursor, Codex or another client that supports MCP) connects to TaskFuel, which holds one prepaid balance; your agent sees the price before it pays. Data comes from Serper, Tavily, Exa and Brave, and each request is priced and paid separately. ### Google rankings Google web results for a query, with titles, snippets and related questions. Our test returned five results. Price: $0.002 / search. ### Search with source excerpts Tavily basic-depth search. Our test returned five results, each with an excerpt from the source. Price: $0.01 / search. ### Search within named domains Exa auto-mode search restricted to the domains you name. Our test returned five results, all on postgresql.org. Price: $0.01 / search. ### Independent web index Brave web search. Our test returned five web results, four of them community articles. Price: $0.035 / search. ## A real example Tested on 2026-11-04 through Serper, Tavily, Exa and Brave. The same question, four search providers: each returned five results, but the sources differed. Your agent asked: Search for PostgreSQL 17 incremental backup documentation through four search APIs Returned in this test: - Serper (Google): PostgreSQL 17 release notes first; also related questions - Tavily: Release notes first, with an excerpt per source: pg_basebackup now supports incremental backup - Exa: All five on postgresql.org, starting with the pg_basebackup page for version 17 - Brave: Four of five are community articles (Medium, DEV, Mydbops, Bright DBA) - Per search: Serper $0.002, Tavily $0.01, Exa $0.01, Brave $0.035 Charged in this test: $0.057. One question, one search per API, five results each. Tested through the TaskFuel API; MCP uses the same operations. ## When to use it ### Search, then read the sources. Your agent runs a search and reads the titles, snippets or excerpts that come back, then opens the pages it needs. ### Limit a search to named domains. Your agent restricts one search to the sites you name, such as a vendor's documentation. ### Run the same question through two APIs. Your agent sends one question to Google results and to a different index, and compares the sources that come back. ## Start with TaskFuel [Start for Free](https://app.taskfuel.ai/). Sign up, connect your agent and ask for the task you need. ## Questions ### Why use TaskFuel instead of a provider’s own MCP? Use TaskFuel when one task needs more than one search provider. Tavily and Exa both offer free direct MCP access with limits. After their free credits they cost $0.008 and $0.007 a search, against $0.01 here. If one provider covers your work, connect it directly. ### Do I need separate provider API keys? No. Authenticate with TaskFuel and pay from your TaskFuel balance. You do not need separate Tavily, Exa, Brave or Serper credentials. ### Does this replace my agent’s built-in web search? You can keep the search already included in your agent. TaskFuel is useful when you need a particular provider, request controls such as domain filters, or search access in a client without built-in browsing. ### What does a web search cost? Our four test searches on 4 November 2026 cost $0.002 (Serper), $0.01 (Tavily), $0.01 (Exa) and $0.035 (Brave). ### Which search APIs can my agent use? Serper for Google results, Tavily for source excerpts, Exa for domain-restricted search and Brave for an independent index. Each is a separate call with its own price. ### How do these differ? Serper returns Google rankings with titles and snippets. Tavily returns excerpts from each source. Exa can restrict results to named domains. Brave runs its own index. ### Does a search return full page text? Not in our tests, which returned source excerpts. Tavily can return raw page content with other request settings, and the other providers have their own options. ### Are there guides for each provider? Yes. The comparison guides for Tavily, Exa, Brave and SerpApi alternatives show a tested search, its price and the trade-offs. ## Related tool guides - [Compare web search API requests and results](https://taskfuel.ai/tools/web-search-api-for-llm/) - [Search public Reddit posts through MCP](https://taskfuel.ai/tools/reddit-mcp/) - [Query Semrush keyword and domain data through MCP](https://taskfuel.ai/tools/semrush-mcp/) ## Reference - [Read this guide on the website](https://taskfuel.ai/tools/web-search-mcp/). - [Browse providers and capabilities](https://taskfuel.ai/catalog/). - [Pricing](https://taskfuel.ai/pricing/). - [Agent instructions](https://taskfuel.ai/llms.txt).