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There's a free plan; paid tiers are quoted.
You.com has a free MCP tier for 100 Web Search API queries a day, with no API key, account, or card required. Production use is pay-as-you-go, not a monthly subscription: Web Search costs $5 per 1,000 calls, Contents $1 per 1,000 pages, and other API rates vary. Research calls range from $12 per 1,000 Lite calls to $1,200 per 1,000 Frontier calls. Inference Router pricing depends on the model.
01Every plan, line by line
| Plan | Billed annually | Billed monthly | Built for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | — | $0 | Prototyping with MCP web search |
| Pay as you go | — | Quote | Production workloads |
| Custom | — | Quote | Enterprise teams needing dedicated capacity |
02What the plan grid doesn't tell you
Metered API units
Production rates apply per call or page, so estimate your endpoint volume; the pricing page lists no monthly bundle or platform fee.
Research tier spread
Research ranges from $12 per 1,000 Lite calls to $1,200 per 1,000 Frontier calls. Your chosen depth changes the bill substantially.
Model-specific routing
Inference Router pricing varies by model; the pricing page does not give one flat rate for routed requests.
Custom capacity rates
Custom offers dedicated capacity and custom QPS, but its price is not published.
03Which plan should you buy?
| If you are… | Get | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Prototyping with MCP search | Free | Includes 100 Web Search API queries per day via MCP, with no API key, account, or credit card required. |
| Production API workloads | Pay as you go | No minimums, seats, or platform fee; pay per call or page at the listed endpoint rates. |
| Enterprise teams needing capacity | Custom | Offers custom QPS, dedicated capacity, and SLA-backed support; pricing is not published. |
04Is You.com worth the money?
You.com is worth considering if you need search, retrieval, answers, or model routing through APIs and value usage-based billing. The free MCP allowance is useful for prototyping, while production has no minimums, seats, or platform fee. But the cheapest listed rate is not a useful estimate for research-heavy apps: Research ranges from $12 to $1,200 per 1,000 calls, and router costs vary by model. Price your actual request mix before committing; enterprise capacity is custom.
You.com pricing FAQ
Is You.com free?
Yes. The Free plan includes 100 Web Search API queries per day via MCP and requires no API key, account, or credit card, according to the pricing page. It is specifically described for prototyping with MCP web search; production API usage is priced per call or page.
How much does the You.com API cost?
There is no single production starting monthly price. The pricing page lists $5 per 1,000 Web Search calls, $1 per 1,000 Contents pages, and $5 per 1,000 Answer calls. Research and Finance Research have separate rates, while Inference Router pricing varies by model.
Does You.com have monthly plans?
The pricing page lists no monthly or annual billing for production APIs. Its paid option is Pay as you go, billed per call or page, with no minimums, seats, or platform fee. Custom enterprise pricing is available, but the price is not published.
What does the You.com Research API cost?
Research is priced per 1,000 calls: $12 for Lite, $50 for Standard, $100 for Deep, $450 for Exhaustive, and $1,200 for Frontier. Check which depth your application needs before estimating spend, because the rate changes substantially by tier.