Perplexity
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You.com
Real-time web search and research APIs for AI agents and LLM pipelines
You.com is a B2B API platform providing real-time web data for AI systems, including search, content extraction, and research synthesis. All plans start with $100 free credit; pay-as-you-go Search API costs $5 per 1,000 calls with no minimums. Best for developers and enterprises building AI agents that need grounded, real-time web data.
Verified JUN 11, 2026 USAGE-BASED Live
What is You.com?
You.com is a B2B API platform that provides real-time web data infrastructure for AI systems. Originally launched as a consumer AI search engine, the company has fully pivoted to serving developers and enterprises who need reliable, fast web search data to ground their LLMs and agents. Its four core products — Search API, Contents API, Research API, and Finance Research API — cover the main tasks of web data retrieval: finding results, extracting full page content, synthesizing multi-source research with citations, and analyzing financial information.
The platform differentiates itself from general-purpose search APIs through benchmark-backed quality claims (Research API ranked #1 in DeepSearchQA) and enterprise-grade reliability: 300ms p99 latency, 99.99% uptime SLA, SOC 2 certification, and zero data retention options. Pricing is usage-based with no minimums, and every account receives $100 in free credits at signup.
Who is it for?
You.com is aimed squarely at developers and enterprise teams building AI-native products that require current, accurate web information. It is not a product end users interact with directly — there is no chat interface or browser extension.
Ideal users include:
- AI product developers building agents or RAG pipelines that need live web data beyond an LLM’s training cutoff
- Enterprise AI teams at companies like those already using it (OpenAI, Amazon, Salesforce) who need compliant, high-SLA web search infrastructure
- Data engineers enriching pipelines with scraped full-page content at scale using the Contents API
- Fintech developers who need structured, cited financial intelligence without building their own data aggregation layer
How much does You.com cost?
Starting price: $5 per 1,000 calls · Free tier: yes · Model: usage-based
Pricing verified JUN 11, 2026
Price history tracked from June 2026
| Plan | Price | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Free Credit | $100 credit | $100 free credit on signup · Access to all four APIs · No minimum spend required |
| Search API | $5.00 per 1,000 calls | Up to 100 results per call · News endpoint included · Country and language targeting · LLM-ready snippets |
| Contents API | $1.00 per 1,000 pages | Full page text extraction · Clean Markdown or raw HTML output · Batch URL processing · Summaries and metadata |
| Research API | $12.00 per 1,000 calls (Lite) | Multi-tier: Lite, Standard, Deep, Exhaustive, Frontier · Cited inline references · Multi-step search synthesis · Ranked #1 in DeepSearchQA |
| Finance Research API | $110.00 per 1,000 calls (Deep) | Financial filings and macro data · Cited answers with source references · Deep and Exhaustive tiers · 87.29% on FinSearchComp benchmark |
What are You.com's key features?
- Search API delivering real-time results at 300ms p99 latency with 99.99% uptime
- Contents API extracting full page text from multiple URLs in Markdown or HTML
- Research API with multi-step synthesis and inline source citations
- Finance Research API covering filings, macro data, and market intelligence
- No-minimum pay-as-you-go billing with volume discounts available
- SOC 2 certified with zero data retention and DPA-ready compliance options
- $100 free credit on signup covering all four API products
What people use You.com for
- 01 Grounding LLM outputs with real-time web search results
- 02 Building AI research agents that synthesize and cite multiple sources
- 03 Enriching data pipelines with current web content and full-page extraction
- 04 Financial AI tools requiring cited intelligence from filings and market data
- 05 Developer prototypes and production AI products needing fast, reliable search infrastructure
Pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Transparent per-call pricing with no minimums makes it accessible for small-scale testing | No consumer-facing product — purely developer and enterprise API access |
| $100 free credit gives meaningful runway to evaluate all four APIs before committing | Finance Research API at $110 per 1,000 calls is expensive for high-volume workloads |
| Research API benchmark results (DeepSearchQA #1) provide an objective quality signal | Higher Research API tiers (Standard, Exhaustive, Frontier) have undisclosed pricing requiring direct contact |
| Enterprise-grade compliance: SOC 2, DPA, zero data retention options built in | No native UI or chat interface — requires integration effort to build end-user experiences |
What are the best You.com alternatives?
Elicit
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Phind
AI search engine built for developers that combined web search with LLM-generated code answers
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Frequently asked questions
Is You.com free?
You.com offers $100 in free API credits on signup, usable across all four APIs. After that, pricing is pay-as-you-go with no free tier — Search API costs $5 per 1,000 calls.
What is You.com used for?
You.com provides web search, content extraction, and research APIs for developers building AI agents, LLM pipelines, and enterprise data tools. It is not a consumer search engine.
How much does the You.com Search API cost?
The Search API costs $5.00 per 1,000 calls with no minimum spend. Volume discounts and annual commitment pricing are available for higher usage.
Does You.com have an API?
Yes — You.com's entire product is API-based. It offers four APIs: Search, Contents, Research, and Finance Research, all accessible via standard HTTP with an API key.
Who are You.com's customers?
You.com's documented enterprise customers include OpenAI, Amazon, Alibaba, DuckDuckGo, Salesforce, and Databricks.
Is You.com still a search engine for consumers?
No. You.com has pivoted from its original consumer AI search product to a B2B API platform focused on providing real-time web data for AI systems and developers.
Is You.com SOC 2 certified?
Yes. You.com is SOC 2 certified and offers zero data retention options and DPA-ready agreements for enterprise compliance requirements.