Yes. POST https://api.switch402.com/v1/scrape with {"url": "..."} returns the page as markdown for $0.008 USDC on Base per call, paid over x402 and charged only on success. A lower-cost endpoint, /v1/scrape/lite, is $0.003 per call.

What is the cheapest Tavily alternative?

Checked Nov 10, 2026, for basic searches: at 1,000 searches a month Tavily's free 1,000 credits and Exa's $10 monthly free credit both cost $0. At 10,000 searches Exa Lite costs $30 ($40 minus $10 free), then Tavily pay as you go $72, switch402 $80, Firecrawl Hobby with top-ups $94 and SerpAPI Production $150. At 100,000 searches Exa Lite is $390, then Firecrawl Growth $399, Tavily Growth $500, SerpAPI Searcher $725 and switch402 $800.

Is switch402 cheaper than Tavily?

Not on the pay-as-you-go sticker, and not against Tavily plans you fully use. Both Tavily pay as you go and switch402 /v1/search are $0.008 per basic search. Tavily also has a free 1,000 credits a month and plans from $0.0075 to $0.005 per credit when you use the pool. switch402 costs less than Tavily only in months you would pay for a plan and then leave most of it unused. Its trade is no account, API key, plan or credits.

Is Exa cheaper than Tavily?

Yes, on Lite. Exa Lite is $4 per 1,000 searches ($0.004), which undercuts Tavily's $0.008 pay as you go and every Tavily plan on this page (Growth is $0.005 per credit when fully used). Tavily's free 1,000 credits still win at very low volume if you are already on Tavily and stay under that cap. Exa Auto at $7 per 1,000 is only cheaper than Tavily pay as you go, not cheaper than Growth once you use the 100,000 credits.

Do these alternatives return the same kind of results?

No. Tavily and Exa are search APIs built for agents (query in, ranked results or page text out). SerpAPI returns parsed search-engine results pages. Firecrawl search is tied to its crawl/scrape credit pool (2 credits per 10 results). switch402 /v1/search returns up to 10 ranked results (title, URL, snippet) for public web search; it is not a drop-in SerpAPI engine feed. Check the response shape before you switch.

Which Tavily alternative has no subscription?

Exa is pay as you go with no subscription or minimum (prepaid credits, $10 free each month). Tavily itself has pay as you go at $0.008 per credit with no plan. switch402 has no account at all: each /v1/search call is paid in USDC on Base over x402. SerpAPI and Firecrawl sell monthly plans; Firecrawl top-ups need a paid plan.

Where do these numbers come from?

Each vendor's own pricing page or pricing docs: tavily.com/pricing and Tavily's API credits docs, exa.ai/pricing and exa.ai/docs/pricing, serpapi.com/pricing, and firecrawl.dev/pricing, all checked Nov 10, 2026, plus switch402's live payment terms. Prices can change; check the sources before you decide.

Tavily Alternatives (2026): 5 Search APIs Priced at 1K, 10K and 100K Searches

Looking for a Tavily alternative for agent search? Here is what a basic web search costs on Tavily and four alternatives, from each vendor's own pricing page, checked Nov 10, 2026. Tavily bills API credits: a basic search is 1 credit and advanced is 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 (4,000 credits) to Growth $500 (100,000). Short answer: Exa Lite ($4 per 1,000 searches, $10 of free credit a month) is the cheapest paid option at 10,000 and 100,000 searches; at 1,000 searches Tavily's free 1,000 credits and Exa's $10 free credit both cost $0. switch402 /v1/search is $0.008 per successful call with no account, the same sticker as Tavily pay as you go, and it is not cheaper than Exa Lite at any of these volumes.

Exa Lite: lowest paid rate per search
Pay as you go, no subscription: Lite and instant search are $4 per 1,000 requests ($0.004 each, up to 10 results), Auto or fast $7 per 1,000, Deep $12 per 1,000. A $10 free balance resets on the first of each month (up to 2,500 Lite searches), plus a $10 onboarding bonus. Extra results above 10 add $1 per 1,000 results.
Tavily: free 1,000 credits, then $0.008 or a plan
Basic search 1 credit, advanced 2. Free 1,000 credits a month, no card. Pay as you go $0.008 per credit once you pass the plan or free limit. Project $30 (4,000), Bootstrap $100 (15,000), Startup $220 (38,000), Growth $500 (100,000). Credits reset monthly.
SerpAPI: monthly search quotas, no public pay as you go
Free 250 successful searches a month, then Starter $25 (1,000), Developer $75 (5,000), Production $150 (15,000), Big Data $275 (30,000), Searcher $725 (100,000) and Volume $1,475 (250,000). Only successful searches count. Enterprise is quoted on request.
Firecrawl search: 2 credits per 10 results
Free 1,000 credits a month (about 500 searches). Hobby $19 for 5,000 credits (2,500 searches), Standard $99 for 100,000 credits, Growth $399 for 500,000. Hobby, Standard and Growth credits do not roll over; paid plans can buy top-ups in $5 steps.
switch402: $0.008 per search, no account or key
/v1/search returns up to 10 ranked results (title, URL, snippet) for $0.008 USDC on Base over x402, charged only when results come back. No signup, API key, plan or credits. Public web search only; it is not a SerpAPI-style engine-results feed.

Monthly cost for basic searches (cheapest option that covers it), as of Nov 10, 2026

Searches a month	Tavily (basic)	Exa Lite	SerpAPI	Firecrawl search	switch402
1,000	$0 (free 1,000 credits)	$0 (inside the $10 free credit)	$25 (Starter)	$19 (Hobby)	$8
10,000	$72 (free 1,000 + 9,000 x $0.008)	$30 ($40 minus $10 free)	$150 (Production)	$94 (Hobby $19 + 15 x $5 top-ups)	$80
100,000	$500 (Growth)	$390 ($400 minus $10 free)	$725 (Searcher)	$399 (Growth)	$800
Monthly minimum past the free tier	$0 (pay as you go)	$0 (pay as you go)	$25	$19	$0

Figures assume every included search or credit is used; a plan you only half use costs twice as much per search. Tavily advanced search costs 2 credits (double the Tavily column). Exa Auto is $7 per 1,000, not Lite's $4; extra Exa results above 10 add $1 per 1,000 results. Firecrawl search uses 2 credits per 10 results, and Hobby top-ups are 1,000 credits per $5. SerpAPI has no public pay-as-you-go rate on its pricing page. Honest reading: Exa Lite is the cheapest paid option at 10,000 and 100,000 searches; at 1,000 searches Tavily and Exa are free. switch402 matches Tavily pay as you go at $0.008 and costs less than SerpAPI from 1,000 to 30,000 searches, but it is not cheaper than Exa Lite at any of these volumes. It fits agents that cannot or should not hold an account, key or plan.

Sources, checked Nov 10, 2026: tavily.com/pricing, docs.tavily.com/documentation/api-credits, exa.ai/pricing, exa.ai/docs/pricing, serpapi.com/pricing, firecrawl.dev/pricing. Prices can change; check the source before you decide.

Example: an agent runs 10,000 basic searches a month. Exa Lite is $40 minus the $10 monthly free credit, so $30. Tavily pay as you go is $72 after the free 1,000 credits (Bootstrap at $100 would cost more). switch402 is $80 with no account. Firecrawl Hobby plus top-ups is $94, or Standard $99. SerpAPI Production is $150. If you can hold an API key and your volume is steady, Exa Lite costs less than switch402 at every volume in this table.

Code example

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"}'

Exa Lite search, $4 per 1,000 requests (curl)

curl -s -X POST https://api.exa.ai/search \
  -H "x-api-key: $EXA_API_KEY" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"query": "x402 payment protocol", "type": "lite", "numResults": 10}'

switch402 search, $0.008 per call, no key (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({ query: 'x402 payment protocol' }),
})
const { results } = await res.json() // up to 10 results, $0.008, charged only on success

FAQ

Is switch402 live?: Yes. POST https://api.switch402.com/v1/scrape with {"url": "..."} returns the page as markdown for $0.008 USDC on Base per call, paid over x402 and charged only on success. A lower-cost endpoint, /v1/scrape/lite, is $0.003 per call.
What is the cheapest Tavily alternative?: Checked Nov 10, 2026, for basic searches: at 1,000 searches a month Tavily's free 1,000 credits and Exa's $10 monthly free credit both cost $0. At 10,000 searches Exa Lite costs $30 ($40 minus $10 free), then Tavily pay as you go $72, switch402 $80, Firecrawl Hobby with top-ups $94 and SerpAPI Production $150. At 100,000 searches Exa Lite is $390, then Firecrawl Growth $399, Tavily Growth $500, SerpAPI Searcher $725 and switch402 $800.
Is switch402 cheaper than Tavily?: Not on the pay-as-you-go sticker, and not against Tavily plans you fully use. Both Tavily pay as you go and switch402 /v1/search are $0.008 per basic search. Tavily also has a free 1,000 credits a month and plans from $0.0075 to $0.005 per credit when you use the pool. switch402 costs less than Tavily only in months you would pay for a plan and then leave most of it unused. Its trade is no account, API key, plan or credits.
Is Exa cheaper than Tavily?: Yes, on Lite. Exa Lite is $4 per 1,000 searches ($0.004), which undercuts Tavily's $0.008 pay as you go and every Tavily plan on this page (Growth is $0.005 per credit when fully used). Tavily's free 1,000 credits still win at very low volume if you are already on Tavily and stay under that cap. Exa Auto at $7 per 1,000 is only cheaper than Tavily pay as you go, not cheaper than Growth once you use the 100,000 credits.
Do these alternatives return the same kind of results?: No. Tavily and Exa are search APIs built for agents (query in, ranked results or page text out). SerpAPI returns parsed search-engine results pages. Firecrawl search is tied to its crawl/scrape credit pool (2 credits per 10 results). switch402 /v1/search returns up to 10 ranked results (title, URL, snippet) for public web search; it is not a drop-in SerpAPI engine feed. Check the response shape before you switch.
Which Tavily alternative has no subscription?: Exa is pay as you go with no subscription or minimum (prepaid credits, $10 free each month). Tavily itself has pay as you go at $0.008 per credit with no plan. switch402 has no account at all: each /v1/search call is paid in USDC on Base over x402. SerpAPI and Firecrawl sell monthly plans; Firecrawl top-ups need a paid plan.
Where do these numbers come from?: Each vendor's own pricing page or pricing docs: tavily.com/pricing and Tavily's API credits docs, exa.ai/pricing and exa.ai/docs/pricing, serpapi.com/pricing, and firecrawl.dev/pricing, all checked Nov 10, 2026, plus switch402's live payment terms. Prices can change; check the sources before you decide.