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What is You.com?

You.com is an AI search engine that answers questions directly, with links to the web sources it used. It was founded in 2020 by Richard Socher and Bryan McCann, and it also sells search APIs that other AI products build on.

You.com works by retrieving live web pages for your query and using a language model to write a summary with citations. You can ask follow-up questions in the same thread.

Key Features

You.com’s key features are AI answers with cited sources, a choice of AI models, research agents, and a set of developer APIs for web search, answers, research and page content, priced from $5 per 1,000 calls.

• AI answers with citations: Every response links to the web sources it used, so you can open them and check the claim. Follow-up questions stay in the same thread.
• Choice of models: Lets you pick from several leading AI models on paid plans, according to 2026 reviews, instead of tying you to one provider.
• Research and agents: Runs deeper, multi-step research tasks that read many sources and return a longer cited report.
• Web Search API: Returns real-time web and news results formatted for AI apps at $5 per 1,000 calls. New accounts get $100 of free credit, about 20,000 searches.
• Answer API: Returns a finished answer with citations in a single call for $5 per 1,000 calls. You.com quotes a latency of about 2.7 seconds.
• Research API: Offers five depth levels, from Lite at $12 per 1,000 calls with answers in under 2 seconds to Frontier at $1,200 per 1,000 calls. Finance Research starts at $110.
• Contents API: Extracts clean page text as Markdown or HTML for $1 per 1,000 pages, with a stated latency of 1 to 10 seconds per page.
• MCP server and agent skills: Connects AI agents to You.com search. The free tier allows up to 100 queries a day through the MCP server with no API key, account or credit card.

Pros

You.com’s main advantages are answers with visible sources, a free plan, clear per-call API pricing with $100 of free credit, API testing without an account, and SOC 2 certification with zero data retention.

• Sources shown: Citations sit next to each answer, which makes it quick to verify a claim or read the original page.
• Free to try: Basic AI search costs nothing, and developers get $100 of API credit at signup, which You.com equates to roughly 20,000 searches.
• Testing without an account: The free Web Search tier gives up to 100 queries a day through the MCP server without an API key, account or credit card.
• Several models: One subscription covers more than one AI model, according to 2026 reviews of the paid plan.
• Transparent API pricing: Every API has a published per-call price, from $1 per 1,000 pages for Contents to $5 per 1,000 calls for Web Search and Answer.
• Security commitments: You.com states that its infrastructure is SOC 2 certified, offers zero data retention and is ready for data processing agreements.

Cons

You.com’s main drawbacks are a shift in focus from the consumer search app to APIs, consumer plan prices that are not on the official pricing page, limits on the free plan, and high prices for deep research calls.

• Shifting focus: The company now leads with APIs and enterprise. Its homepage and pricing page describe search APIs for AI agents and do not mention the consumer app.
• Unclear consumer pricing: Plan prices are not shown on the main pricing page. The Pro price of about $15 a month comes from third-party reviews.
• Limits on Free: Advanced models and higher query volumes need a paid plan, and the exact free allowance is not published.
• Deep research is costly: Research API prices climb steeply with depth: Standard costs $50, Deep $100, Exhaustive $450 and Frontier $1,200 per 1,000 calls.
• Answers need checking: Summaries can misread their sources, so open the citations before relying on a figure or quote.

Who is Using You.com?

• Students and researchers: Get cited summaries quickly.
• Knowledge workers: Research markets and competitors.
• Developers: Add live web search to AI apps.
• Enterprise teams: Run research with company controls.

Pricing

You.com is free to use, and its Pro plan costs about $15 per month. API prices are from the official site (October 2026).

Disclaimer: Pricing can change. Check the official You.com website.

What Makes You.com Unique?

You.com stands out for serving two audiences at once: people who want cited AI search, and developers who need live web data inside their own AI products. Few AI search engines publish simple per-call API pricing.

Compatibilities and Integrations

• Platform: Web app at you.com.
• APIs: Web Search, Contents, Answer, Research and Finance Research.
• Agent tools: An MCP server and agent skills for AI agents.
• Security: SOC 2 certified, with zero data retention for API queries.

You.com Tutorials

You can learn how to use You.com in a few minutes:

1. Open you.com and type a question in plain language.
2. Read the answer and open the cited sources.
3. Ask a follow-up question to go deeper.
4. For the API, create a key and use the free credit to test.

How We Rated It

Summary

You.com is a solid AI search engine for people who want cited answers, and a strong option for developers who need web search inside AI apps. Try the free plan first, and compare it with Perplexity before paying. The API pricing is clear, simple and predictable.