Use case

Research & retrieve the web

Search, crawl, and cite for agent retrieval.

• builders

A short list that fits this job, not a ranking and not a paid order. Smoke-tested means we ran a local install or import. Docs checked means we read the official site on 2026-10-15.

Short list

• Tavily

  TA

  Search API for agents that need web results. Pricing page showed a $0 option; not installed here.

  Web search built for agents, with a $0 option on the pricing page we read.

  Docs checked

  Checked October 15, 2026

  Free tier: Yes · 1,000 API credits per month.

  From: $30/mo

  Checked October 16, 2026

  • +Strength. The free plan includes 1,000 API credits per month for agent web search.
  • −Weakness. The next plan starts at $30 per month, and the API returns search results rather than clicking through a logged-in site.

• Firecrawl

  FI

  Turns websites into markdown for LLMs. Open-source repo plus a cloud API with a free plan.

  Turns sites into markdown you can index. Open-source repo plus a cloud free-plan mention.

  Docs checkedOpen source

  Checked October 15, 2026

  Free tier: Yes · 1,000 credits per month.

  From: Check pricing (opens in a new tab)

  Checked October 16, 2026

  • +Strength. The free cloud plan includes 1,000 credits per month to turn pages into markdown, and the repo is open source.
  • −Weakness. Paid cloud samples on the page included about $16 and $75, and a monthly starting price was not confirmed.

• Mem0

  ME

  Memory layer for agents. We imported the Python package locally; no account and no model call.

  Memory for agents. We imported the Python package locally; no account and no model call.

  Smoke-testedOpen source

  Checked October 15, 2026

  Free tier: Yes · 10,000 add requests and 1,000 retrieval requests per month.

  From: $19/mo

  Checked October 16, 2026

  • +Strength. We imported mem0ai 2.2.1 locally, and the cloud plan includes 10,000 add requests and 1,000 retrieval requests per month.
  • −Weakness. The paid plan starts at $19 per month once you pass those monthly request limits.

• LlamaIndex

  LL

  Open-source framework for retrieval and agents. The cloud free plan includes 10,000 credits.

  Framework for retrieval over your data. Local import checked. Cloud free tier unconfirmed.

  Smoke-testedOpen sourceAgent

  Checked October 15, 2026

  Free tier: Yes · 10,000 credits.

  From: $50/mo

  Checked October 16, 2026

  • +Strength. We imported llama-index-core 0.14.25, and the cloud free plan includes 10,000 credits.
  • −Weakness. Cloud Starter is $50 per month after the 10,000 free credits.

• Pinecone

  PI

  Managed vector database. Starter is free, and Builder is $20 per month.

  Managed vector database. Pricing page checked; a true $0 tier was not clearly confirmed.

  Docs checked

  Checked October 15, 2026

  Free tier: Yes

  From: $20/mo

  Trial: 3 weeks

  Checked October 16, 2026

  • +Strength. Starter is free for hosted vector search, and Builder is $20 per month with a 3-week trial.
  • −Weakness. Builder is $20 per month after the trial, and the free Starter limits were not spelled out on the page we parsed.

Not fully checked

These names belong to the job, but the October 15, 2026 check could not finish verification. They stay visible with a “Not fully checked” label. That is not a smoke test and not a docs check.

• Perplexity

  PE

  Web research product. Homepage returned HTTP 403 to our checker, so this listing is not fully checked.

  Not fully checked

  Checked October 15, 2026

  Free tier: Check pricing (opens in a new tab)

  From: Check pricing (opens in a new tab)

  Checked October 16, 2026

  • +Strength. The docs describe a web-research product, with API pricing written up on the official docs site.
  • −Weakness. The API pricing page we could read did not state a free-tier amount or a monthly starting price.

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