# Thunderbit, free, POST /search, Search and Distill, full: Web search API

> POST a Google search query and get the top results Distilled in one call. Each result returns the search snippet plus optional Markdown, summary, question/answer, highlights, links, and images.

Thunderbit's web search API on its Free plan. It costs $0.00 per 1,000 searches. It returns 3 of the 6 key fields we check: Text, Links, Answer.
We rank 379 plans by price. [Octen's top-up from $5](https://datacircle.dev/web-search-apis/octen/top-up-from-5-base-post-pulse-search-pulse-search/llms.txt) is the cheapest paid plan per 1,000 searches: $0.10.
[Context.dev](https://datacircle.dev/web-search-apis/context-dev/500-monthly/llms.txt), [Desearch](https://datacircle.dev/web-search-apis/desearch/top-up/llms.txt) and [ContextFetch](https://datacircle.dev/web-search-apis/contextfetch/top-up-from-10-pay-as-you-go-post-tavily-search-tavily-compatible-search-basic/llms.txt) are the best web search API providers in our benchmark.

- This page: https://datacircle.dev/web-search-apis/thunderbit/free-post-search-search-and-distill-full
- [Best web search API in 2026](https://datacircle.dev/best-web-search-api.txt)
- Get it: https://thunderbit.com/api-pricing
- Request: `POST https://openapi.thunderbit.com/openapi/v1/search`, Search and Distill, full
- API key: with the plan, on https://thunderbit.com/api-pricing
- Its API docs: https://thunderbit.com/docs/api-reference/endpoints/search
- Sold by: Thunderbit (https://thunderbit.com)
- Checked: 2026-10-29

## In the answer

- Completeness: 50%
- Text: ✓
- Links: ✓
- Answer: ✓

## Price

- $ per 1,000 searches: $0.00
- Per: call
- Billing: free

## Aggregators

- Aggregators: none

## Charges

- Most per search: 10
- Also pays for: from the same budget: Distill Single Page · Batch Distill · Extract Structured Data · Batch Extract

## Overage

- Units cap: hard

## Not found

- $ per 1,000: $0.00

## In their words

- Their pitch: POST a Google search query and get the top results Distilled in one call. Each result returns the search snippet plus optional Markdown, summary, question/answer, highlights, links, and images.

## Data

- Freshness: live
- Keep data: no limit
- Use data: When using the Scraping Services, you agree to the following: (a) Third-Party Service Compliance. You are solely responsible for ensuring that your use of the Scraping Services complies with all applicable laws, regulations, and the terms of service of Third-Party Services. [...] (d) Personal Data. You must not use the Scraping Services to collect personal data unless you have a lawful basis for such collection and processing. [...] (e) Authentication and Access. You shall not use the Scraping Services to access content protected by authentication systems unless you have valid, authorized access to such content. [...] (f) Intellectual Property. You are responsible for ensuring that your use of scraped data respects the intellectual property rights of third parties. [...] When using the API or SDK, you agree to the following: (a) You shall not exceed the rate limits or usage quotas applicable to your Account. (b) You shall not share API keys or SDK credentials with unauthorized parties. [...] (e) You shall not use the API or SDK to build services that compete directly with the Services.

## Plan

- Pay: $0
- You get: 600 credits
- Enough for: about 4 calls

## Rate limit

- Per second: 0.17
- Concurrent: 2
- Batch: 1

## Speed

- Answer: in the call

## The call

- You send: query, Content-Type header "application/json", "markdown", "links", "images", "summary", "question" and "highlights" in formats, formats[].question, formats[].query. Optional: limit, site, timeout
- Method: POST
- Path: /search

## About the plan

- Plan: Free
- Who can get it: anyone with a Thunderbit account who is at least 18 years old, or of the age of majority in their jurisdiction if greater

## The 15 fields the plan's answer can hold

query, results returned, successful results, credits used, position, page title, URL, snippet, result status, fetched page content, page links, images, summary, answer, highlights

## Thunderbit's plans (11)

- [Thunderbit, free, POST /search, Search and Distill, full](https://datacircle.dev/web-search-apis/thunderbit/free-post-search-search-and-distill-full/llms.txt): $0.00 per 1,000, 50% complete, live
- [Thunderbit, $29 monthly, Starter, POST /search, Search and Distill, full](https://datacircle.dev/web-search-apis/thunderbit/29-monthly-starter-post-search-search-and-distill-full/llms.txt): $633.167 per 1,000, 50% complete, live
- [Thunderbit, $72 monthly, Pro, POST /search, Search and Distill, full](https://datacircle.dev/web-search-apis/thunderbit/72-monthly-pro-post-search-search-and-distill-full/llms.txt): $157.20 per 1,000, 50% complete, live
- [Thunderbit, $120 monthly, Pro, POST /search, Search and Distill, full](https://datacircle.dev/web-search-apis/thunderbit/120-monthly-pro-post-search-search-and-distill-full/llms.txt): $131.00 per 1,000, 50% complete, live
- [Thunderbit, $240 monthly, Pro, POST /search, Search and Distill, full](https://datacircle.dev/web-search-apis/thunderbit/240-monthly-pro-post-search-search-and-distill-full/llms.txt): $131.00 per 1,000, 50% complete, live
- [Thunderbit, $480 monthly, Pro, POST /search, Search and Distill, full](https://datacircle.dev/web-search-apis/thunderbit/480-monthly-pro-post-search-search-and-distill-full/llms.txt): $131.00 per 1,000, 50% complete, live
- [Thunderbit, $192 yearly, Starter, POST /search, Search and Distill, full](https://datacircle.dev/web-search-apis/thunderbit/192-yearly-starter-post-search-search-and-distill-full/llms.txt): $419.20 per 1,000, 50% complete, live
- [Thunderbit, $480 yearly, Pro, POST /search, Search and Distill, full](https://datacircle.dev/web-search-apis/thunderbit/480-yearly-pro-post-search-search-and-distill-full/llms.txt): $104.80 per 1,000, 50% complete, live
- [Thunderbit, $840 yearly, Pro, POST /search, Search and Distill, full](https://datacircle.dev/web-search-apis/thunderbit/840-yearly-pro-post-search-search-and-distill-full/llms.txt): $91.70 per 1,000, 50% complete, live
- [Thunderbit, $1,560 yearly, Pro, POST /search, Search and Distill, full](https://datacircle.dev/web-search-apis/thunderbit/1560-yearly-pro-post-search-search-and-distill-full/llms.txt): $85.15 per 1,000, 50% complete, live
- [Thunderbit, $3,000 yearly, Pro, POST /search, Search and Distill, full](https://datacircle.dev/web-search-apis/thunderbit/3000-yearly-pro-post-search-search-and-distill-full/llms.txt): $81.875 per 1,000, 50% complete, live

## Thunderbit's calls for this API (2)

- `POST /search`, Search and Distill: [Thunderbit, free, POST /search, Search and Distill](https://datacircle.dev/web-search-apis/thunderbit/free-post-search-search-and-distill/llms.txt)
- `POST /search`, Search and Distill, full: [Thunderbit, free, POST /search, Search and Distill, full](https://datacircle.dev/web-search-apis/thunderbit/free-post-search-search-and-distill-full/llms.txt)

## Thunderbit's APIs (2)

- [Thunderbit: web scraping API pricing, 11 plans, POST /batch/distill](https://datacircle.dev/web-scraping-apis/thunderbit/free-post-batch-distill/llms.txt)
- [Thunderbit: web scraping API pricing, 11 plans, POST /distill, Distill Single Page](https://datacircle.dev/web-scraping-apis/thunderbit/free-post-distill-distill-single-page/llms.txt)
- [Thunderbit: web scraping API pricing, 11 plans, POST /distill, Distill Single Page, full](https://datacircle.dev/web-scraping-apis/thunderbit/free-post-distill-distill-single-page-full/llms.txt)
- [Thunderbit: web search API pricing, 11 plans, POST /search, Search and Distill, full](https://datacircle.dev/web-search-apis/thunderbit/free-post-search-search-and-distill-full/llms.txt)

## Thunderbit: web search API alternatives

- [CrawlForge, $19 monthly](https://datacircle.dev/web-search-apis/crawlforge/19-monthly/llms.txt): $19.00 per 1,000, 33% complete, live
- [ScrapeGraphAI, $5 pack](https://datacircle.dev/web-search-apis/scrapegraphai/5-pack/llms.txt): $30.00 per 1,000, 17% complete, live
- [Tako, top-up, Pay as you go, POST /api/v3/search, Search, deep, full](https://datacircle.dev/web-search-apis/tako/top-up-pay-as-you-go-post-api-v3-search-search-deep-full/llms.txt): $32.00 per 1,000, 33% complete, live
- [Nimble, pay as you go, POST /v2/search, Search, lite, full](https://datacircle.dev/web-search-apis/nimble/pay-as-you-go-pay-as-you-go-post-v2-search-search-lite-full/llms.txt): $101.10 per 1,000, 17% complete, live

## Sources

From each provider's own pricing page and docs, and from what providers tell us. We read this row from these pages on 2026-10-29.

- https://thunderbit.com/api-pricing
- https://thunderbit.com/docs/api-reference/endpoints/search
- https://thunderbit.com/docs/api-reference/overview
- https://thunderbit.com/docs/guides/faq
- https://thunderbit.com/docs/guides/output-formats
- https://thunderbit.com/docs/guides/rate-limits
- https://thunderbit.com/docs/guides/units
- https://thunderbit.com/docs/llms.txt
- https://thunderbit.com/docs/recipes/search-and-distill
- https://thunderbit.com/terms