Tavily icon
developer-tools

Tavily

A web search API that returns full-page text well, but usually buries the best result.

Visit Tavily
52-query ground truthFull-page textBasic vs advancedNo published dates
TL;DR — our verdictUpdated August 2026 · 2 test artifacts

Content API that ranks badly and extracts well

Where it wins
  • You need the answer-bearing passage in the payload, not just links or snippets.
  • You can tolerate weaker top-3 ranking in exchange for more complete text extraction.
  • You want an error-free search run across a fixed query set.
Main limitation
  • You need strong top-3 ordering or the best ambiguity handling.
Pricing (verified plans)
basic $8.00 / 1k queriesadvanced $16.00 / 1k queries
Strongest test artifacts
Scored run export →Per-query output log →

Our take

Tavily’s strongest trait in this run was extraction: the advanced tier reliably carried answer-bearing passages and materially outperformed basic on content completeness. But its ranking is still weak, especially at top-3, and advanced does not fix that — it is slower, pricier, and only clearly better on text coverage. If you want a search API that feeds an agent usable page text, Tavily is credible; if you need the supporting page to land near the top, it is a mixed fit.

Benchmark participation

Explore Tavily in our public benchmarks.

In-Depth Review

Our detailed analysis of Tavily — features, performance, and real-world testing.

AD
AI Demos Team
Expert Reviewer
Verified Review

Feature-by-Feature Breakdown

Live Web Retrieval and Ranking
▾
Test Summary
Feature tested: Live Web Retrieval and Ranking
Result: Partial

Feature tested: Live Web Retrieval and Ranking

Result: Partial

Expected behavior: Tavily takes a plain-text query and returns ranked live-web results for agent use. In the 47 answerable queries, the supporting page usually appeared in the candidate set, though placement was weaker near the top of the ranking.

Test case: Text/code file → Text/code file

Input type: Text/code file

Input used: Input artifact (Text/code file): Ground-truth query set — QUERY-SET-ground-truth.csv

Observed output: Output artifact (Text/code file): Fixed 52-query ground-truth run across tavily/basic and tavily/advanced, with 0 errors. The export supports the reported retrieval metrics: top-1 13% in both modes, top-3 31.9% basic vs 27.7% advanced, and top-10 66% for both. — TAVILY-scored-run-export.csv

Input artifact: Input artifact (Text/code file): Ground-truth query set — QUERY-SET-ground-truth.csv

Output artifact: Output artifact (Text/code file): Fixed 52-query ground-truth run across tavily/basic and tavily/advanced, with 0 errors. The export supports the reported retrieval metrics: top-1 13% in both modes, top-3 31.9% basic vs 27.7% advanced, and top-10 66% for both. — TAVILY-scored-run-export.csv

What changed: Text/code file transformed into Text/code file

Why it matters / Conclusion: Supporting pages usually appear in the candidate set, but Tavily is much less reliable at ordering them near the top.

Tavily takes a plain-text query and returns ranked live-web results for agent use. In the 47 answerable queries, the supporting page usually appeared in the candidate set, though placement was weaker near the top of the ranking.

file
QUERY-SET-ground-truth.csv
Loading file...
↓
file
TAVILY-scored-run-export.csv
Loading file...
Fixed 52-query ground-truth run across tavily/basic and tavily/advanced, with 0 errors. The export supports the reported retrieval metrics: top-1 13% in both modes, top-3 31.9% basic vs 27.7% advanced, and top-10 66% for both.
Bottom Line
Supporting pages usually appear in the candidate set, but Tavily is much less reliable at ordering them near the top.
Full-Page Content Extraction
▾
Test Summary
Feature tested: Full-Page Content Extraction
Result: Passed

Feature tested: Full-Page Content Extraction

Result: Passed

Expected behavior: Tavily returns usable page text rather than just snippets, with the advanced tier extracting more deeply. The evidence cites larger payloads and a clearer answer-bearing passage being carried into the returned content.

Test case: Text prompt → Text/code file

Input type: Text prompt

Input used: Input artifact (Text prompt): INPUT

Observed output: Output artifact (Text/code file): Q37 shows the content-depth win: advanced returned 92,217 characters and preserved all five GDPR Article 17(3) exceptions. Across the run, Tavily’s median payload was about 44,894 characters on basic and 49,982 on advanced. — TAVILY-per-query-output.md

Input artifact: Input artifact (Text prompt): INPUT

Output artifact: Output artifact (Text/code file): Q37 shows the content-depth win: advanced returned 92,217 characters and preserved all five GDPR Article 17(3) exceptions. Across the run, Tavily’s median payload was about 44,894 characters on basic and 49,982 on advanced. — TAVILY-per-query-output.md

What changed: Text prompt transformed into Text/code file

Why it matters / Conclusion: This is Tavily’s best capability: it carries the answer-bearing passage into the payload, and advanced materially improves that coverage.

Tavily returns usable page text rather than just snippets, with the advanced tier extracting more deeply. The evidence cites larger payloads and a clearer answer-bearing passage being carried into the returned content.

text
Q37: GDPR Article 17(3) — verify that the answer-bearing passage includes all five exceptions.
↓
file
TAVILY-per-query-output.md
Loading file...
Q37 shows the content-depth win: advanced returned 92,217 characters and preserved all five GDPR Article 17(3) exceptions. Across the run, Tavily’s median payload was about 44,894 characters on basic and 49,982 on advanced.
Bottom Line
This is Tavily’s best capability: it carries the answer-bearing passage into the payload, and advanced materially improves that coverage.

Measured list pricing from the run

Two tested tiers; advanced costs 2× basic.

TESTED
basic
$8.00 / 1k queries
1 credit; 52-query run cost $0.416; p50 3,908 ms, p95 5,435 ms.
TESTED
advanced
$16.00 / 1k queries
2 credits; 52-query run cost $0.832; p50 6,650 ms, p95 9,761 ms.

From the report: basic is listed at 1 credit / $8 per 1,000 queries, advanced at 2 credits / $16 per 1,000 queries.

✓ Use This If
●You need the answer-bearing passage in the payload, not just links or snippets.
●You can tolerate weaker top-3 ranking in exchange for more complete text extraction.
●You want an error-free search run across a fixed query set.
✕ Skip This If
●You need strong top-3 ordering or the best ambiguity handling.
●You need published dates in the returned payload for freshness reasoning.
●You need multi-source synthesis from a single call.
●You need the cheapest possible answer per correct hit.
developer-toolssearch-enginetextOther
It returns usable full-text content, not just snippets. In this run the median payload was about 44,894 characters on basic and 49,982 on advanced, and Q37 reached 92,217 characters on advanced.
Only on extraction depth. Advanced was top-group for extraction, but it had lower top-3 ranking than basic, the same top-10 rate, was about 70% slower, and cost 2× as much.
Not especially well at the top of the list. Both modes reached top-10 66% of the time, but top-3 was only 31.9% on basic and 27.7% on advanced.
Poorly in this run. Ambiguity handling was only 14% top-3 for both basic and advanced, which is near the bottom of the tested field.
No published dates were returned in this run: 0% of results included them.
Basic measured at p50 3,908 ms and p95 5,435 ms at $8 per 1,000 queries. Advanced measured at p50 6,650 ms and p95 9,761 ms at $16 per 1,000 queries.

Banner Preview

How the embed badge will look on your site

Tavily featured on AI Demos

Embed HTML

Copy this code to your website source

<a target="_blank" href="https://aidemos.com/tools/tavily?utm_source=tavily_embed" style="width: 250px; height: 80px; border-radius:4px;" width="250" height="80"> <img src="https://aidemos-website-images.s3.amazonaws.com/featured.png" alt="Tavily | Featured on AI Demos" style="width: 250px; height: 80px; border-radius:4px;" width="250" height="80"> </a>

Quick Integration Guide

  • 1Copy the HTML code block above.
  • 2Paste it into your site's HTML or CMS editor.
  • 3Banner appears instantly on your page.
  • 4Links back to your tool profile here.
Similar Tools

Similar Tools

Discover more AI tools like Tavily to enhance your workflow.

🤖
Exa
Best live-web search API here for agents that need ranked results, long page text, and cited answers.
AI Tool
🤖
Jina
Rich web search results for agents, but this free-tier run was incomplete and not comparable.
AI Tool
🤖
Linkup
Standard mode is the usable tier: strong extraction, weak ranking; deep is slower, pricier, and weaker.
AI Tool
🤖
Olostep
A search-only baseline with mid-pack retrieval, weak extraction, and no usable answer mode.
AI Tool
🤖
OpenAI web_search
AI Tool
🤖
SerpAPI
Fast, zero-error live web search for agents, with stable mid-pack retrieval and snippet outputs.
AI Tool
🤖
Serper
Fast, cheap raw web search for agents — strong on ambiguity, but too snippet-thin to replace a scrape.
AI Tool
🤖
Valyu
Returns usable web text for agents, but the citation layer is too error-prone to trust.
AI Tool
🤖
You.com
Best-in-benchmark top-1 web retrieval for agent queries, with full-page text and published dates — but at a measured high all-in cost.
AI Tool

Comments (0)

Please Log in to join the discussion.

Built by FutureSmart AI — the team behind AI Demos

Need a custom AI solution for this use case?

If you are looking to build a custom web search, result ranking, or search API integration workflow for your business or internal workflow, email us at contact@futuresmart.ai.

Get a custom build

Found something inaccurate or missing? We try to keep our AI research accurate and useful. If you found outdated information, an issue, or have a suggestion, email us at collaborate@aidemos.com.

Back to Top