2025 API Benchmark Report

How Leading APIs Stack Up in the Agentic Era

In 2025, Search APIs have faced far greaterdemands than ever before. Today, they must go beyond simple retrieval and provide structured, context-rich information that allows AI agents to reason, act, and make decisions in real time. That shift means APIs now carry the weight of handling complex queries, adding contextual relevance to results, and delivering them fast enough to support conversational and autonomous systems.

To understand how leading search APIs stack up against these demands,we ran a comparative benchmark study. Using standardized queries andevaluation methods, we measured each provider’s performance across multiple datasets to isolate true search quality and evaluate performance under the pressures of the agentic era.

What We Evaluated

We benchmarked the You.com Search API against several providers, including Google (SerpAPI) and Exa. For each system, we examined three key dimensions:

• Accuracy: How well the retrieved content supports correct answers
• Latency: How quickly results are returned
• Cost: Cost per thousand requests (CPM)
• Freshness: Ability to answer questions about recent events

By evaluating these factors together, we can better identify where each system truly excels or struggles.