AI Search API Cost Optimization: Why Your Agent Is Paying 100x Too Much for Search
Your AI agent’s search infrastructure is silently consuming 80–95% of your API budget—not because search is inherently expensive, but because integrated model search costs $10 per 1,000 queries while purpose-built alternatives cost $0.008. Every major guide comparing AI search APIs has ranked them by relevance and speed; none have shown you the cost math that