--- title: "Valyu" type: "AI Tool" url: "https://aidemos.com/tools/valyu" description: "We tested Valyu’s /search and /answer on the same query: /search returned usable web text, but /answer cited the wrong entity and streamed too slowly." category: "developer-tools" website: "https://www.valyu.network/" published: "2026-08-20T10:53:16.063616+00:00" updated: "2026-08-24T11:24:00.597619+00:00" --- # Valyu Returns usable web text for agents, but the citation layer is too error-prone to trust. ## TL;DR Verdict **Strong retrieval, unsafe citations** **Where it wins:** - You need an API that returns large extracted web content your agent can read without a second crawl. - You are willing to independently verify citations and source domains before trusting an answer. - You care more about usable content payload than low-latency answer-mode convenience. **Main limitation:** Your product depends on citation honesty without manual checks. `Search API` · `Answer API` · `4 false citations` · `25k-char cap` **Website:** [Visit Valyu](https://www.valyu.network/) > **Strong retrieval, unsafe citations** > > Valyu's /search mode returns long, usable page text and can support answer-making from the retrieved content, but /answer repeatedly cites the wrong entity and posts the benchmark's worst citation record. In this run it also measured far above the quoted web-source rate and streamed slowly enough that it is hard to justify as a default grounding layer for an agent. ## Feature-by-Feature Breakdown ### Ranked Web Retrieval with Extracted Page Text Valyu’s /search mode returns ranked web results plus large extracted page text, rather than short snippets. In the benchmark it was exercised on current-fact, niche-technical, multi-source, content-depth, and freshness probes, with a median payload of about 24,912 characters. **Input:** ``` INPUT — current-fact query from the benchmark: Apollo GraphOS pricing (Q23). ``` **Output:** ``` Search mode returned relevant Apollo-related material with enough extracted text to support an answer, showing that the content layer was not the limiting factor in this run. ``` **Input:** ``` INPUT — content-depth query from the benchmark, where the answer sits deep in a long page. ``` **Output:** ``` Search mode returned full extracted page text rather than a short snippet, which is consistent with the reported strong extraction score and the ~24,912-character median payload. ``` **Input:** ``` INPUT — freshness probe from the benchmark. ``` **Output:** ``` Search mode surfaced recent material on some freshness probes, but the run still showed only 33% top-3 freshness performance for /search, so freshness was mixed rather than dependable. ``` **Bottom line:** Useful when you need a search API that hands back a lot of readable web text; the retrieval is only middling, but the extraction quality is good enough that the model can work from the payload. ### Cited Answer Synthesis Valyu’s /answer mode streams a synthesized answer with citations. In the benchmark it answered question sets directly and was evaluated on correctness and citation behavior, including wrong-entity citations and an abstention that still pointed to sources. **Input:** ``` INPUT — current-fact query: Apollo GraphOS pricing (Q23). ``` **Output:** ``` The answer cited Apollo.io pricing instead of Apollo GraphOS pricing, so it looked sourced while pointing at the wrong company. ``` **Input:** ``` INPUT — citation-honesty check: Perplexity Sonar / third-party SonarCloud docs (Q26). ``` **Output:** ``` The answer cited third-party SonarCloud docs for Perplexity Sonar, another wrong-entity attribution rather than a supporting source. ``` **Input:** ``` INPUT — question about the size of Linkup's index (Q52). ``` **Output:** ``` The answer was graded as a correct abstention, but the citation still pointed to worldwidewebsize.com and did not support the claim; that is a citation failure even though answer-level scoring passed. ``` **Input:** ``` INPUT — citation-honesty check: unrelated dental-company press release (Q44). ``` **Output:** ``` The answer pointed to a press release for an unrelated dental company, reinforcing the benchmark's finding that Valyu often retrieves the right material but attributes it to the wrong entity. ``` **Bottom line:** Do not trust the citations blindly; if you use Valyu, verify the domains and the claim-to-source match yourself. ## Is It Right For You? **Use it if** - You need an API that returns large extracted web content your agent can read without a second crawl. - You are willing to independently verify citations and source domains before trusting an answer. - You care more about usable content payload than low-latency answer-mode convenience. **Skip it if** - Your product depends on citation honesty without manual checks. - You need low-latency or predictable cost at scale. - You need strong freshness or abstention performance in answer mode. ## Classification - **Category:** developer-tools - **Subcategory:** search-engine - **Type:** text - **Built for:** Other ## Frequently Asked Questions **Q: Does Valyu return full page text or just snippets?** It returns extracted content, not just snippets. In this run the median payload was about 24,912 characters per result, and output was hard-capped at 25,000 characters. **Q: How accurate are Valyu's citations?** Poorly. Valyu produced 4 of the 5 false citations in the benchmark, including wrong-entity citations such as Apollo GraphOS being cited with Apollo.io pricing and Perplexity Sonar being cited with third-party SonarCloud docs. **Q: Is Valyu safe to use if it abstains on an answer?** Not automatically. Q52 was graded as a correct abstention at the answer level, but the citation still pointed to worldwidewebsize.com and did not support the claim, so citation verification is still necessary. **Q: How fast was Valyu in this test run?** valyu/search measured p50 at 6,311 ms and p95 at 12,098 ms. valyu/answer measured p50 at 14,040 ms and p95 at 24,015 ms, making it the slowest completing mode in the benchmark. **Q: How expensive was Valyu compared with its quoted rate?** The docs quoted roughly $1.50 per 1,000 web-source calls, but the measured all-in costs from total deduction were $14.54 per 1,000 for /search and $31.81 per 1,000 for /answer. **Q: What kinds of queries did Valyu do well or poorly on?** It did well on current-fact answers, where it was 10/10 correct, and its extraction score was top-group. It was much weaker on freshness and abstention, with 2/6 fresh answers correct and 3/5 unanswerable queries handled cleanly. ## Similar Tools AI tools similar to Valyu: - [Jina](https://aidemos.com/tools/jina) — Rich web search results for agents, but this free-tier run was incomplete and not comparable. - [OpenAI web_search](https://aidemos.com/tools/openai-web-search) — A citation-honest control arm for live-web answering, but not a reliable retrieval layer for fresh content. - [SerpAPI](https://aidemos.com/tools/serpapi) — Fast, zero-error live web search for agents, with stable mid-pack retrieval and snippet outputs. - [You.com](https://aidemos.com/tools/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. ## Need a custom AI solution for this use case? If you are looking to build a custom web text extraction, citation verification, or retrieval pipeline for your business or internal workflow, email us at [contact@futuresmart.ai](mailto:contact@futuresmart.ai). ### 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](mailto:collaborate@aidemos.com).