Hacker News search API: best providers in 2026
We score 3 Hacker News search APIs. The most expensive costs 5 times as much per 1,000 searches as the cheapest. Algolia, Scrappa and AnyAPI are the best Hacker News search API providers in the Datacircle benchmark. We list all three, ranked by score. For each one, we show its top scoring plan, each part of the plan's score and what 1,000 searches cost. Scrappa's $10 pack is the cheapest paid plan per 1,000 searches in our ranking: $0.303.
Hacker News search API alternatives, ranked by score
| Rank | Provider and plan | Overall score | Accuracy score | $ per 1,000 searches |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Algolia, free (alternatives) | 90.9 | 100 | $0.00 |
| 2 | Scrappa, $10 pack (alternatives) | 69.1 | 100 | $0.303 |
| 3 | AnyAPI, top-up from $10 (alternatives) | 65.8 | 89 | $1.50 |
Compare the top three side by side: Algolia vs Scrappa, Algolia vs AnyAPI, AnyAPI vs Scrappa
#1 Algolia: Hacker News search API
Algolia's docs list all 4 fields on our checklist: Text, Links and tags, Engagement, Author.
- Overall score
- 90.9
- $ per 1,000
- $0.00
- Price score
- 100
- When a search finds nothing: you pay nothing
- Plans of this API we rank by price: 66
- Plans cheaper per 1,000 searches than this plan: 0
- Accuracy score
- 100
- Cost to get started score
- 100
- How you pay: free
- Least to pay before your first result: $0
- Bundle score
- 0
- Also pays for: nothing else
- Performance score
- 100
- Median answer time: 0.13 s
- Fastest we tested
- On 3 November 2026, we sent this provider the same 20 searches as every other provider in our benchmark.
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#2 Scrappa: Hacker News search API
Scrappa's docs list all 4 fields on our checklist: Text, Links and tags, Engagement, Author.
- Overall score
- 69.1
- $ per 1,000
- $0.303
- Price score
- 38
- When a search finds nothing: you pay $0.303 per 1,000 searches
- Plans of this API we rank by price: 66
- Plans cheaper per 1,000 searches than this plan: 16
- Accuracy score
- 100
- Cost to get started score
- 93
- How you pay: a pack you pay first
- Least to pay before your first result: $10
- Bundle score
- 100
- Also pays for, from the same budget: 2,423 other calls
- Performance score
- 16
- Median answer time: 0.83 s
- Fastest we tested: Algolia, 0.13 s
- On 7 November 2026, we sent this provider the same 20 searches as every other provider in our benchmark.
#3 AnyAPI: Hacker News search API
AnyAPI's docs list all 4 fields on our checklist: Text, Links and tags, Engagement, Author.
- Overall score
- 65.8
- $ per 1,000
- $1.50
- Price score
- 36
- When a search finds nothing: the provider's pages give no price
- Plans of this API we rank by price: 66
- Plans cheaper per 1,000 searches than this plan: 19
- Accuracy score
- 89
- Cost to get started score
- 93
- How you pay: a top-up you pay first
- Least to pay before your first result: $10
- Bundle score
- 100
- Also pays for, from the same budget: 469 other calls
- Performance score
- 31
- Median answer time: 0.43 s
- Fastest we tested: Algolia, 0.13 s
- On 1 November 2026, we sent this provider the same 20 searches as every other provider in our benchmark.
Best Hacker News search API for each need
Of the 3 Hacker News search API providers ranked in the Datacircle benchmark:
How we tested
Between 1 and 7 November 2026, we sent 3 providers the same list of 20 searches. Each plan's Overall score adds five parts at their weights, scaled to 100. Price and Accuracy weigh 40 each, and Cost to get started, Bundle and Performance weigh 10 each. We score all 3 providers and rank them by their top plan's Overall score.
Questions about Hacker News search APIs
What is a Hacker News search API?
A Hacker News search API takes a query. The API returns the stories Hacker News finds for the query. Our price sheet lists 143 Hacker News search API plans from 26 providers.
What is the best Hacker News search API?
Algolia is the best Hacker News search API in the Datacircle benchmark. Algolia's free plan has an Overall score of 90.9 out of 100. Scrappa is second at 69.1 and AnyAPI third at 65.8.
What is the cheapest Hacker News search API?
Scrappa's $500 pack is the cheapest paid plan per 1,000 searches of any provider in our ranking: $0.238. We rank 66 Hacker News search API plans by price. Half of them cost $2.66 per 1,000 searches or less.
Is there a free Hacker News search API?
Yes: 26 Hacker News search API plans on our price sheet are free. Algolia's free plan scores highest of the free plans in our benchmark, at 90.9 out of 100. upAPI's free plan allows the most calls of the free plans: 1,000 a month.
Which is better, Algolia or Scrappa?
Algolia scores higher overall, at 90.9 against Scrappa's 69.1 in our benchmark. Scrappa scores higher on Bundle, at 100 against Algolia's 0.
Can I use Hacker News search API data?
Each provider's terms decide what you can do with Hacker News search API data. We rank 3 Hacker News search API providers. 2 of the 3 have API terms. 2 of the 3 set no time limit on keeping the data. 2 of the 3 set conditions on how you use the data. Each plan's page shows what the provider's terms say about keeping and using the data.
How did you test Hacker News search APIs?
Between 1 and 7 November 2026, we sent 3 providers the same list of 20 searches.
We haven't benchmarked 23 other Hacker News search API providers yet:
Hacker News search API comparison: how we tested each provider, and what each one costs
Algolia, #1 of 3
We tested Algolia on 3 November 2026 with all 20 searches in our test. Algolia scored 100 out of 100 for accuracy. Best for: the lowest price per 1,000 searches.
Algolia costs nothing on the Free plan. Algolia doesn't state a monthly limit for the Free plan.
Scrappa, #2 of 3
We tested Scrappa on 7 November 2026 with all 20 searches in our test. Scrappa scored 100 out of 100 for accuracy. Best for: the most accurate answers. Algolia is as accurate as Scrappa.
Price on the cheapest plan for each number of searches:
- 1,000 searches: $10 once, enough for 12 months ($0.83 a month), with Scrappa's Starter pack
- 10,000 searches: $25 once, enough for 8.6 months ($2.91 a month), with Scrappa's Basic pack
- 100,000 searches: $250 once, enough for 10 months ($25 a month), with Scrappa's Professional pack
- 1,000,000 searches: $1,000 once, enough for 5 months ($200 a month), with Scrappa's Ultimate pack
AnyAPI, #3 of 3
We tested AnyAPI on 1 November 2026 with all 20 searches in our test. AnyAPI scored 89 out of 100 for accuracy. Best for: the most endpoints on one plan. Scrappa covers as many endpoints on one plan.
Price on the cheapest plan for each number of searches:
- 1,000 searches: $1.50 a month with AnyAPI's Pay per call with x402 and MPP plan
- 10,000 searches: $15 a month with AnyAPI's Pay per call with x402 and MPP plan
- 100,000 searches: $150 a month with AnyAPI's Pay per call with x402 and MPP plan
- 1,000,000 searches: $1,500 a month with AnyAPI's Pay per call with x402 and MPP plan
The Accuracy score on Hacker News search APIs
This score, out of 100, shows how many stories and story details a provider returns for a search. The score also shows whether each story's details match what Hacker News shows. We send each provider the same words a person types into Hacker News' search box. Within minutes of a day's first calls, we read the first page of Hacker News' search for the same words. We score a provider we call days later on the first page we read. A story posted after we read the page can lower the score of a provider we call later. The page lists 30 stories. We look up each story on the page in the record Hacker News keeps of every story. We match each of the provider's stories to the Hacker News story with the same ID. We score each search on the number of stories and on each story detail, such as the points. We count a part on a search when Hacker News' own page for that search shows the part. To score the number of stories, we count the provider's stories that Hacker News' search also lists. We divide that count by the number of stories on the page. To score a story detail, we take the stories on the page that show that detail. We divide the number of stories the provider lists with the detail by the number of stories showing the detail. A story the provider doesn't list counts as missing on every detail. We count a story detail as missing when the provider's value differs from the value on Hacker News' page. On each search, we average the provider's shares over the parts that count on that search. Then we average over all searches. Each search has the same weight. A provider scores 0 on a search where the call returned no stories. We compare a provider that ran on fewer searches with the other providers on those same searches. A provider can't score higher by running only on easy searches. We lower the score when we test the call on fewer searches than the benchmark has.
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The badge links to this page. It shows your current rank on this page. Once it is on your site, it keeps saying #1 after another provider takes the top, with the dates you were #1.
- Hacker News search API pricing: free and cheapest plans compared
- Hacker News search API benchmark as CSV
- This page as plain text