Free
$0
Free
$80 signup credit with no card, expiring about 60 days after signup (in the app on 25 Oct 2026); $5 of credit a month once a card is added.
API included
Plan details
Requests stop when credit runs out.
Comparison
Parallel vs Tavily
Parallel bills a prepaid dollar balance per request: $1 per 1,000 searches in fast mode, $1 per 1,000 extracted URLs, and Task runs that return cited fields from $5 per 1,000. Tavily sells monthly credit plans from $30 or pay as you go at $0.008 a credit, with site map and crawl endpoints and a free plan of 1,000 credits a month. Both run official MCP servers.
Pick Parallel AI if
- Most of your volume is light searches: Parallel fast mode costs $1 per 1,000, and Tavily basic costs $8 per…
- You want enrichment that returns each field with citations, from $5 per 1,000 Task runs, in batches of up to…
Pick Tavily if
- You need site map and crawl in the same API
- You want a monthly plan with a fixed credit allowance rather than a prepaid balance
Parallel AI
Research, Scraping
Tavily
Research, Scraping
At a glance
Parallel AI
- From
- Prepaid balance, priced per request
- Free plan
- Yes$80 signup credit, no card
- Cost per unit
- $1,Turbo and fast basic $5
- MCP server
- Official
Tavily
- From
- $30Plans to $500/mo, or $0.008/credit
- Free plan
- Yes1,000 credits/mo, no card
- Cost per unit
- $8basic, $16 advanced, pay as you go
- MCP server
- Official
Where they differ
15 points side by side. Open a value for the full detail.
| What | Parallel AI | Tavily |
|---|---|---|
| Web APIs for AI agents, own indexWeb APIs for AI agents on Parallel's own index: Search, Extract, Task (research and structured enrichment with citations), Responses, Monitor, FindAll and Entity Search. | Credit-based web layer for agentsA credit-based web layer for agents. Five main endpoints: search, extract, map, crawl and async research. | |
| Prepaid balance, priced per requestPrepaid dollar balance, priced per request, with optional auto-reload. Monthly spend limits only notify; they do not block requests. Verified 2026-10-25. | Plans $30 to $500/mo, or $0.008/creditMonthly credit plans from $30 to $500, or pay as you go at $0.008 per credit. Plan credits reset on the 1st of the month and do not roll over. Verified 2026-10-25. | |
| Turbo and fast $1, basic $5Turbo and fast modes $1 per 1,000; basic and advanced $5 per 1,000, each with 10 results, plus $1 per 1,000 extra results. The API default is advanced, so set the mode on every call. | $8 basic, $16 advanced, pay as you goBasic, fast and ultra-fast cost 1 credit; advanced costs 2. That is $8 and $16 per 1,000 on pay as you go, or $5 and $10 on the Growth plan billed monthly. | |
| $1 per 1,000 URLsExtract costs $1 per 1,000 URLs, up to 20 URLs per call. | $1.60 per 1,000 URLs, pay as you go/extract costs 1 credit per 5 successful URLs on basic and 2 per 5 on advanced, up to 20 URLs per call. Failed URLs are free. Basic works out at $1.60 per 1,000 URLs on pay as you go. | |
| No map or crawl endpointNo map or crawl endpoint. Extract reads URLs you supply. | Map 1 credit per 10 pages; crawl/map costs 1 credit per 10 pages (2 per 10 with instructions). /crawl costs map plus extract and has its own 100 requests per minute cap. | |
| Task runs from $5 per 1,000Task API: research or structured enrichment that returns each field with citations and confidence, priced per 1,000 runs from $5 (lite) and $10 (base) up to $2,400 (ultra8x). Task Groups add up to 1,000 runs per request. | Mini 4 to 110 credits per request/research is async. Mini costs 4 to 110 credits and pro 15 to 250 credits per request. There are no webhooks, so you poll /research/{id}. | |
| FindAll from $0.25 per run, betaFindAll builds verified entity lists from a plain-language description: $0.25 a run plus $0.03 a match on base. Entity Search costs $5 per 1,000 requests. Both are public beta. | No company or people search endpointNo entity-level company or people search. | |
| $80 signup credit, no cardIn the app on 25 Oct 2026: a Free plan with an $80 signup credit, no card, expiring about 60 days after signup. Adding a card unlocks $5 of credit a month. | 1,000 credits/mo, no cardResearcher plan: 1,000 credits a month, no card. When credits run out, requests stop unless pay as you go is on. | |
| Free anonymous Search MCPThe Search MCP at search.parallel.ai/mcp is free and anonymous, with web_search and web_fetch tools at lower limits. | Search and extract work keylessSearch and extract work keyless with the header X-Tavily-Access-Mode: keyless. Map is not available keyless. | |
| Search and Extract 600/minPer product, per rolling minute: Search and Extract 600 a minute, Task runs 2,000 a minute, FindAll 300 an hour. Only requests that create resources count. | 100 to 1,000 requests/min per keySet per key: Development keys 100 requests a minute, Production keys 1,000 a minute. Production keys need a paid plan or pay as you go. /research allows 20 new tasks a minute. | |
| YesTwo official servers: Search MCP (free anonymous, or with a key or OAuth for higher limits) and Task MCP (key or OAuth, billed at Task prices). | YesOfficial hosted server at mcp.tavily.com/mcp/ with OAuth, a key in the URL, or the keyless header. Tools: search, extract, crawl, map and research. | |
| Usage CSV shows exact costThe app rounds spend to the cent; the Usage CSV export shows the exact cost per call. A plain API key cannot read the account balance endpoint, which needs an OAuth token. | usage.credits when include_usage is trueResults return usage.credits when you set include_usage to true (the default is false). The Usage and logs page is for paid plans only. | |
| Signed webhooks; Monitor from $3 per 1,000Signed webhooks for Task runs, FindAll and Monitor. Monitor runs scheduled web checks at $3 per 1,000 executions on lite and $10 on base. | No webhooks or monitoringNo webhooks and no monitoring endpoint. | |
| SOC-II Type 1 and Type IISOC-II Type 1 and Type II certified as of April 2025, per its FAQ. Standard terms let Parallel train on de-identified inputs and outputs, and outputs may not be cached or shared across end customers or used to build a database product. | SOC 2 and ZDR stated; query data onIts docs FAQ says SOC 2 certified with zero data retention. The setting "Allow use of query data" was on by default in the app on 25 Oct 2026. Its terms bar sharing performance analysis of the service, so this page compares prices, limits and features only. | |
| Three calls cost $0.007Three paid calls on 25 Oct 2026 cost $0.007: a fast-mode search $0.001, a one-URL extract $0.001 and a lite Task $0.005, matching the docs. | Seven calls used 14 free creditsSeven calls on 25 Oct 2026 used 14 free credits across search, extract, map, crawl and research. Each matched the docs. |
No row matches in this view.
Pricing, plan by plan
US dollars as each vendor's page showed them on 25 Oct 2026. One panel per tool; switch each between monthly and annual billing (an annual price is the monthly rate when you pay for the year up front).
Parallel AI
4 plans · API reviewPay as you go
Usage-based
Prepaid dollar balance billed per request.
API included
Plan details
Search turbo and fast $1, basic and advanced $5 per 1,000 (10 results); Extract $1 per 1,000 URLs; Task from $5 (lite) to $2,400 (ultra8x) per 1,000 runs; Monitor $3 or $10 per 1,000 executions; FindAll base $0.25 a run plus $0.03 a match.
Startup program
Up to $250 in free credits for qualified startups, by application.
API included
Enterprise
Custom quote
Custom pricing with zero data retention, DPA, SSO, custom rate limits and EU data residency.
API included
Tavily
7 plans · API reviewResearcher (free)
$0
Free
1,000 credits a month, no card, Development keys only (100 requests per minute).
API included
Project
$30/mo
billed monthly
$25/mo
billed annually
4,000 credits a month ($0.0075 per credit monthly).
API included
Plan details
Annual price shown in the app on 25 Oct 2026.
Bootstrap
$100/mo
billed monthly
$83.33/mo
billed annually
15,000 credits a month ($0.0067 per credit monthly).
API included
Plan details
Annual price shown in the app on 25 Oct 2026.
Startup
$220/mo
billed monthly
$183.33/mo
billed annually
38,000 credits a month ($0.0058 per credit monthly).
API included
Plan details
Annual price shown in the app on 25 Oct 2026.
Show all 7 plansShow fewer plans
Growth
$500/mo
billed monthly
$416.67/mo
billed annually
100,000 credits a month ($0.005 per credit monthly).
API included
Plan details
Annual price shown in the app on 25 Oct 2026.
Pay as you go
Usage-based
$0.008 per credit, billed as you use it, with Production keys.
API included
Enterprise
Custom quote
Custom credits and rate limits, SSO, MSA and DPA.
API included
Which one to pick
Choose Parallel AI if
- Most of your volume is light searches: Parallel fast mode costs $1 per 1,000, and Tavily basic costs $8 per 1,000 on pay as you go.
- You want enrichment that returns each field with citations, from $5 per 1,000 Task runs, in batches of up to 1,000.
- You want entity lists built from a description (FindAll) or company and people search (Entity Search).
- You want webhooks or scheduled web monitoring.
- You want a free search tool in your coding agent with no account: the anonymous Search MCP.
Choose Tavily if
- You need site map and crawl in the same API.
- You want a monthly plan with a fixed credit allowance rather than a prepaid balance.
- You want a free plan that renews: 1,000 credits a month with no card.
- You want search and extract keyless with a single header.
- You want up to 1,000 requests a minute on a single Production key.
If neither fits: Also consider Exa when you need company and people search modes inside the search API itself, or scheduled searches that push to a webhook, billed in dollars from $4 per 1,000 searches.
Want us to build it for you?
Choosing between Parallel AI and Tavily, or moving from one to the other? Tell us your setup. We will show you how we would run it, and what we would check first.
Questions people ask
What APIs does Claude Code use for lead generation?
For web research, both of these plug into Claude Code through official MCP servers. Parallel's free anonymous Search MCP adds web search and page fetch with no account, and its Task API enriches a list with cited fields from $5 per 1,000 runs. Tavily's hosted MCP adds search, extract, map, crawl and research on a free plan of 1,000 credits a month.
Is Parallel cheaper than Tavily for web search?
In fast or turbo mode, Parallel costs $1 per 1,000 searches with 10 results. Tavily basic costs $8 per 1,000 on pay as you go and $5 per 1,000 on its Growth plan billed monthly. Parallel's basic and advanced modes cost $5 per 1,000, and advanced is the API default, so set the mode explicitly. Prices verified 2026-10-25.
Do Parallel and Tavily have free plans?
Tavily's Researcher plan gives 1,000 credits a month with no card. Parallel gave a new organization an $80 signup credit with no card on 25 Oct 2026, expiring about 60 days later, plus $5 a month once a card is added. Parallel's Search MCP is also free without an account.
Can Parallel or Tavily crawl a whole website?
Tavily can: /map lists a site's pages at 1 credit per 10 pages and /crawl adds extraction. Parallel has no map or crawl endpoint; its Extract API reads URLs you supply, up to 20 per call at $1 per 1,000 URLs.
Can I store Parallel results and reuse them across clients?
Parallel's customer terms say outputs are for the querying user or one end customer, may not be cached or shared across end customers, and may not be used to build a database or data-selling product. Read the terms before you store results for reuse.
Related
Read from docs.parallel.ai/getting-started/pricing, docs.tavily.com/documentation/api-credits and each tool's API docs. Verified 25 Oct 2026.
