Is switch402 web search live?

Yes. POST https://api.switch402.com/v1/search with {"q": "...", "limit": 10} returns up to 10 ranked results for $0.008 USDC on Base per call, paid over x402 and charged only when at least one result comes back.

How much does Exa cost?

As of Nov 9, 2026, per exa.ai/pricing: pay as you go with no subscription. Lite search $4 per 1,000 requests, Auto $7 per 1,000 (Instant and Fast are legacy types at the same prices), Deep Search $12 per 1,000 on the pricing page ($12–15 in the docs), Contents $1 per 1,000 pages, Answer $5 per 1,000. The free tier gives $10 of credits a month that resets, plus a one-time $10 onboarding bonus. Extra results above 10 cost $1 per 1,000 results.

How much does Tavily cost?

As of Nov 9, 2026: Researcher free (1,000 credits a month), pay as you go $0.008 per credit, Project $30 (4,000), Bootstrap $100 (15,000), Startup $220 (38,000), Growth $500 (100,000). Basic search 1 credit, advanced 2. Credits reset on the first day of each month.

Is Exa cheaper than Tavily?

On published per-search rates, yes: Exa Lite is $0.004 per request against Tavily's $0.008 pay as you go or $0.0075 to $0.005 on fully used plans. Exa Auto ($0.007) costs less than Tavily pay as you go and Project, but more than Bootstrap, Startup or Growth when you fill them. Compare the product you actually call, not only the cheapest row.

Which has the bigger free tier, Exa or Tavily?

Exa's free $10 a month covers up to 2,500 Lite searches (about 1,400 Auto searches); Tavily's free 1,000 credits cover 1,000 basic searches or 500 advanced. Both reset monthly and need no card.

Is switch402 cheaper than Exa or Tavily?

No against Exa Lite or Auto. It matches Tavily pay as you go at $0.008 and costs less than a Tavily plan you are not filling. The trade is no signup, API key or prepaid credits, not a lower per-search price than Exa.

Where do these numbers come from?

Exa's pricing page and pricing docs, and Tavily's pricing page and API credits docs, all re-checked Nov 9, 2026, plus switch402's live payment terms. Prices can change; check the sources before you decide.

Exa vs Tavily Pricing (2026): Cost per Search at 1K, 10K and 100K, and Which Costs Less

Short answer: on published prices Exa costs less per search. Per exa.ai/pricing (re-checked Nov 9, 2026), Exa is pay as you go with no subscription: Lite search is $4 per 1,000 requests ($0.004 each, up to 10 results), Auto search $7 per 1,000 ($0.007) and Contents $1 per 1,000 pages, and its free tier gives $10 of credits a month (up to 2,500 Lite searches) plus a one-time $10 onboarding bonus. Per tavily.com/pricing and docs.tavily.com/documentation/api-credits (same day), Tavily bills API credits: a basic search is 1 credit and advanced 2, the free Researcher plan gives 1,000 credits a month, pay as you go is $0.008 per credit, and monthly plans run from Project ($30 for 4,000 credits, $0.0075 each) to Growth ($500 for 100,000, $0.005). switch402 /v1/search is $0.008 per successful call with no signup. Exa Lite is the lowest per-search rate at every volume below; Tavily's Bootstrap, Startup and Growth plans undercut Exa Auto once you use most of the pool, but no Tavily plan undercuts Exa Lite.

Exa: pay as you go, no plan
Load credits and pay per request. Lite search $4 per 1k ($0.004), Auto $7 per 1k ($0.007), Deep Search $12 per 1k on the pricing page ($12–15 in the docs), Contents $1 per 1k pages, Answer $5 per 1k. The base price covers up to 10 results; each result above 10 adds $1 per 1k results. Free tier: $10 of credits that resets on the first of every month.
Tavily: credits and monthly plans
Basic search 1 credit, advanced 2. Free 1,000 credits a month. Pay as you go $0.008 per credit. Project $30 (4,000), Bootstrap $100 (15,000), Startup $220 (38,000), Growth $500 (100,000). Credits reset on the first day of each month; past a plan, pay as you go bills $0.008 per credit.
switch402: $0.008 per search, no signup
POST /v1/search returns up to 10 ranked results (title, URL, snippet) for $0.008 USDC on Base, charged only when results come back. No account, API key or prepaid balance. Same rate as Tavily pay as you go; higher than Exa Lite and Auto.
What each one adds
Exa also sells Contents, Answer, Monitors, Agent and Deep Search. Tavily adds Extract, Map, Crawl and Research under the same credits. switch402 pairs search with scrape ($0.008), lite ($0.003), screenshots, map, metadata and PDF, each priced per call with no shared credit pool.

Basic searches: what you pay a month at 1k, 10k and 100k (checked Nov 9, 2026)

Option	How it bills	1,000 searches	10,000 searches	100,000 searches
Exa Lite search	$4 / 1k requests, after the $10 monthly free credit	$0 (free credit)	$30.00	$390.00
Exa Auto search	$7 / 1k requests, after the $10 monthly free credit	$0 (free credit)	$60.00	$690.00
Tavily free + pay as you go	1,000 free credits, then $0.008/credit	$0 (free tier)	$72.00	$792.00
Tavily monthly plan	Lowest plan that covers it	Free $0	Bootstrap $100, or Project $30 + 6,000 credits at $0.008 = $78	Growth $500
switch402 /v1/search	$0.008 per successful call	$8.00	$80.00	$800.00

No fake savings: Exa Lite is the cheapest option in this table at 10,000 and 100,000 searches, and Exa's monthly free credit covers 1,000 Lite or Auto searches, as Tavily's free tier covers 1,000 basic searches. Fully used, Tavily Project works out to $0.0075 a search, which is more than Exa Auto ($0.007); Bootstrap ($0.0067), Startup ($0.0058) and Growth ($0.005) cost less than Exa Auto, but none costs less than Exa Lite ($0.004). Against switch402's $0.008, a Tavily plan costs less once you run more than 3,750 basic searches a month on Project or 62,500 on Growth. switch402 matches Tavily pay as you go and removes signup, keys and plans; it does not undercut Exa.

Sources, checked Nov 9, 2026: exa.ai/pricing, exa.ai/docs/admin/pricing, tavily.com/pricing, docs.tavily.com/documentation/api-credits. Prices can change; check the source before you decide.

Example: 5,000 basic searches in a month. Exa Lite: $20, minus the $10 free credit = $10. Tavily: the free 1,000 plus 4,000 at pay as you go = $32, or Project ($30 for 4,000) plus 1,000 credits at $0.008 = $38. switch402: $40. Exa wins on price; Tavily wins if its free tier covers you; switch402 matches Tavily pay as you go with no account.

Code example

Exa Search lite (curl)

curl -s -X POST https://api.exa.ai/search \\
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $EXA_API_KEY" \\
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \\
  -d '{"query": "x402 payment protocol", "type": "lite", "numResults": 10}'
# base price $4 / 1k requests (up to 10 results)

Tavily basic search, 1 credit (curl)

curl -s -X POST https://api.tavily.com/search \\
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TAVILY_API_KEY" \\
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \\
  -d '{"query": "x402 payment protocol", "search_depth": "basic"}'

switch402 web search, $0.008 per successful call (JavaScript)

// npm i @x402/fetch @x402/evm viem
import { wrapFetchWithPaymentFromConfig } from '@x402/fetch'
import { ExactEvmScheme } from '@x402/evm'
import { privateKeyToAccount } from 'viem/accounts'

const account = privateKeyToAccount(process.env.AGENT_KEY)
const fetchWithPayment = wrapFetchWithPaymentFromConfig(fetch, {
  schemes: [{ network: 'eip155:8453', client: new ExactEvmScheme(account) }],
})

const res = await fetchWithPayment('https://api.switch402.com/v1/search', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json', 'User-Agent': 'my-agent/1.0' },
  body: JSON.stringify({ q: 'x402 payment protocol', limit: 10 }),
})
const { results } = await res.json()

FAQ

Is switch402 web search live?: Yes. POST https://api.switch402.com/v1/search with {"q": "...", "limit": 10} returns up to 10 ranked results for $0.008 USDC on Base per call, paid over x402 and charged only when at least one result comes back.
How much does Exa cost?: As of Nov 9, 2026, per exa.ai/pricing: pay as you go with no subscription. Lite search $4 per 1,000 requests, Auto $7 per 1,000 (Instant and Fast are legacy types at the same prices), Deep Search $12 per 1,000 on the pricing page ($12–15 in the docs), Contents $1 per 1,000 pages, Answer $5 per 1,000. The free tier gives $10 of credits a month that resets, plus a one-time $10 onboarding bonus. Extra results above 10 cost $1 per 1,000 results.
How much does Tavily cost?: As of Nov 9, 2026: Researcher free (1,000 credits a month), pay as you go $0.008 per credit, Project $30 (4,000), Bootstrap $100 (15,000), Startup $220 (38,000), Growth $500 (100,000). Basic search 1 credit, advanced 2. Credits reset on the first day of each month.
Is Exa cheaper than Tavily?: On published per-search rates, yes: Exa Lite is $0.004 per request against Tavily's $0.008 pay as you go or $0.0075 to $0.005 on fully used plans. Exa Auto ($0.007) costs less than Tavily pay as you go and Project, but more than Bootstrap, Startup or Growth when you fill them. Compare the product you actually call, not only the cheapest row.
Which has the bigger free tier, Exa or Tavily?: Exa's free $10 a month covers up to 2,500 Lite searches (about 1,400 Auto searches); Tavily's free 1,000 credits cover 1,000 basic searches or 500 advanced. Both reset monthly and need no card.
Is switch402 cheaper than Exa or Tavily?: No against Exa Lite or Auto. It matches Tavily pay as you go at $0.008 and costs less than a Tavily plan you are not filling. The trade is no signup, API key or prepaid credits, not a lower per-search price than Exa.
Where do these numbers come from?: Exa's pricing page and pricing docs, and Tavily's pricing page and API credits docs, all re-checked Nov 9, 2026, plus switch402's live payment terms. Prices can change; check the sources before you decide.