TinyFish Guide 2026: The Completely Free Search & Fetch API for AI Agents (vs SerpAPI, Tavily, Exa)

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What is TinyFish?

TinyFish is a search & fetch API for AI agents — completely free.

Provided by Monid, TinyFish lets AI agents (Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, etc.) perform live web search and clean page fetches at zero cost. No subscriptions, no API keys, no credit card required.

The concept is simple: "Humans search Google for free. Agents shouldn't have to pay either."

Why Free? — Price Comparison vs Other Search APIs

TinyFish's landing page compares major search API prices (the comparison itself was fetched by TinyFish's own free tool).

※ Prices as of 2026. SerpAPI ~$25/1k searches on Starter, Tavily $5-8, Exa $7, Brave $5 — search APIs typically cost $5-25 per 1,000 requests. TinyFish does it for $0.

"One search, four pages, billed $0.00" — that's TinyFish's pitch.

4 Core Features

1. Live Search

Returns browser-rendered results from the live web. Never cached, so pricing pages and breaking news are current at query time.

• Categories: web, news, research papers
• No "per 1,000 searches" billing concept

2. Clean Page Fetches

Any URL rendered in a real browser and returned as model-ready Markdown.

• 10 URLs in one call
• Escalate blocked pages to stealth fetchers

3. Freshness Filter

Scope any search to a freshness window, down to the last hour.

{ "recency": "60 min" }

4. Free Monitoring

Watch any page for changes — free. An unchanged page returns instantly, and either way the check costs nothing.

{ "not_modified": true }

Setup Guide

1. Get the SKILL.md

curl -O https://monid.ai/SKILL.md

2. Install Monid CLI

npm install -g @monid-ai/cli@latest
monid setup

3. Add an API key (optional, free)

Create an account at https://app.monid.ai → generate an API key:

monid keys add -k <api-key> -l main

4. Give the SKILL.md to your agent

Place the SKILL.md in your agent's skill directory. The agent automatically starts using TinyFish's search & fetch features.

The Monid Platform

TinyFish is part of Monid, a platform connecting agents to 1,700+ tools & APIs.

Search is free. Everything else starts with $1 in credit.

Caveats & Limitations

1. Young service: Monid is v0.1.0, a 2026 startup (Delaware C-Corp, San Francisco). No guarantee the free tier lasts forever
2. Account required for full CLI features: search is free, but full CLI usage needs a Monid account
3. Search quality unverified: whether it matches Google-level accuracy is unknown without trying. Backend index is not disclosed
4. Agent-first design: designed for AI agents (Claude Code, etc.), not human browsing
5. Watch out for paid tools: other Monid tools (scraping, etc.) are paid. Only TinyFish search & fetch is free. Understand the SKILL.md cost warnings so your agent doesn't accidentally call paid tools

Summary

TinyFish makes search & fetch APIs completely free for AI agents. Against the $5-25/1k market rate (SerpAPI $25, Tavily $8, Exa $7, Brave $5), TinyFish charges $0. It offers live search, clean fetches (10 URLs/call), freshness filters, and free monitoring.

"Hell is other people's API bills" — if you're using Claude Code or Cursor and want to cut search API costs, TinyFish is a compelling option. Just keep in mind it's a young service with no long-term free guarantee.

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