Brave Search MCP Server 🔌 MCP server Freemium

What it is

The Brave Search MCP Server is Brave's official open-source server for the Brave Search API, which runs on Brave's own independent web index. It gives agents web, news, image, video and local search, plus AI summaries and LLM-ready context.

Key features

• Web search with filters
• News, image and video search
• Local business and point-of-interest search
• AI summarizer over search results
• LLM context extraction tool
• STDIO by default, optional HTTP transport

How to install

Get a key from the Brave Search API dashboard, then run npx -y @brave/brave-search-mcp-server --transport stdio with BRAVE_API_KEY set, or use Docker (docker run -i --rm -e BRAVE_API_KEY docker.io/mcp/brave-search). It needs Node.js 22+ and works with Claude Desktop, VS Code and other clients.

Pricing and rights

The server is MIT-licensed. As of September 2026 the Brave Search API includes $5 of free credits each month; the Search plan then costs $5 per 1,000 requests and the Answers plan $4 per 1,000 requests plus token charges. There is no flat monthly plan.

Who it is for

Writers and researchers who want fresh search results and news in an assistant from an index that is not Google or Bing. The news and image tools help when you need timely angles or reference images for a post.

Verdict

A reliable official search server with news and image search useful for content work. It returns search results and snippets rather than full pages, so pair it with a scraper for deep research.