MCP Brave Search Server

Reference MCP server wrapping the Brave Search API. Privacy-respecting alternative to Google/Bing endpoints — Brave does not maintain a personal-history-linked index. The default web-search MCP in the Anthropic reference set; trivial to swap out for Tavily or SerpAPI variants if you prefer.

By Fredoline Eruo·Last verified May 6, 2026·60,000 GitHub stars

Overview

Stack & relationships

How MCP Brave Search Server relates to other entries in the catalog — recommended pairings, alternatives, dependencies, and edges to avoid. Each edge carries a one-line operator note from our editorial team.

MCP Brave Search Server ↔ ecosystem

Recommended stack

Pairs with
MCP Fetch Server
Search returns links; fetch reads them. The canonical web-research duo in the Anthropic reference set.

Pros

Privacy-respecting search backend
Reference implementation — well-documented
Straightforward API key auth

Cons

Requires a Brave Search API subscription for non-trivial volume
Result quality below Google for long-tail queries

Compatibility

Operating systems	macOS Linux Windows
GPU backends	n/a
License	Open source · free (server, MIT) + Brave API key

Get MCP Brave Search Server

Official site

https://brave.com/search/api/

GitHub

https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/servers

Frequently asked

Is MCP Brave Search Server free?

MCP Brave Search Server has a paid tier (free (server, MIT) + Brave API key). Check the pricing page for current terms.

What operating systems does MCP Brave Search Server support?

MCP Brave Search Server supports macOS, Linux, Windows.

Which GPUs work with MCP Brave Search Server?

MCP Brave Search Server supports n/a. CPU-only inference is also possible but slow.

Reviewed by RunLocalAI Editorial. See our editorial policy for how we evaluate tools.