What it is
Tavily, the agent search API acquired by the AI cloud company Nebius in the first quarter of 2026, runs this MCP server for web search, page extraction, site mapping and crawling. Tavily says it continues under its own brand, with the same API and data policies.
There is a hosted endpoint at https://mcp.tavily.com/mcp, with OAuth or an API key in the URL or a bearer header, and a local server with npx -y tavily-mcp@latest (Node 20+) using TAVILY_API_KEY. The local server exposes six tools: tavily_search, tavily_extract, tavily_map, tavily_crawl, tavily_research and tavily_feedback. A DEFAULT_PARAMETERS setting fixes defaults such as search depth or max results, and an optional TAVILY_HUMAN_ID tags requests per user, hashed before storage.
The repo is MIT licensed with about 2,450 GitHub stars. The npm package has been at 0.2.22 since August 2026; recent commits are dependency updates.
Install
https://mcp.tavily.com/mcpOur review
Tavily was built for LLM agents from the start, and its MCP server bundles what an agent usually needs: search, read a page, map a site, crawl it and, now, run a multi-step research job. Having them behind one key is simpler than pairing a search server with a separate scraper, and the hosted endpoint means nothing to install.
The pricing rewards care. A basic search costs 1 credit and an advanced one 2; extraction costs 1 credit per five URLs, a crawl of ten pages 3 to 5 credits, and a single tavily_research call 4 to 250 credits depending on the model. At $0.008 a credit on pay as you go, an agent that defaults to advanced search and research calls can spend ten times what a basic-search agent does on the same question. The DEFAULT_PARAMETERS setting is the lever for that.
The security posture is better than the README suggests. Tavily says it holds SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001, offers zero data retention and does not train on customer data, though zero retention is described as an option rather than a default. The weaker part is the client side: the README's first-listed setup puts the API key in the URL, where it ends up in shell history and shared configs, and an open issue reports OAuth failing in GitHub Copilot CLI, pushing users back to that method. Everything the server returns is untrusted web text, so prompt injection is the agent's problem to handle.
Nebius's purchase, for $275 million up front, has not changed the product so far. The more practical risk is that the server itself has seen no feature release since August, while the hosted endpoint is where Tavily's attention appears to be.
Where it earns its place
A developer building a research agent for a 20-analyst equity team
Answer 'what changed at this company this week' with cited sources
The agent runs tavily_search at basic depth, then tavily_extract on the top five links: about 2 credits a question. At 10,000 questions a month that is roughly 20,000 credits, or $160 on pay as you go.
A RAG engineer at a B2B software firm
Keep a competitor-documentation index fresh every week
tavily_map lists a docs site at 1 credit per 10 pages and tavily_crawl pulls content at 3 to 5 credits per 10 pages. Crawl requests are capped at 100 a minute even on production keys, so large sites need pacing.
A product manager at a 12-person startup using Claude
Get a quick market scan without paying for a research tool
Connect the hosted endpoint through OAuth and ask for a summary; tavily_research does the multi-step work. The free 1,000 credits cover a handful of research calls a month, since each costs 4 to 250 credits.
Before you commit
- Setup
- claude mcp add --transport http tavily https://mcp.tavily.com/mcp, then complete OAuth via /mcp; or npx -y tavily-mcp@latest with TAVILY_API_KEY. Documented for Claude Code, Cursor and Claude Desktop, with a first search in under five minutes.
- Integrations
- Six tools: tavily_search, tavily_extract, tavily_map, tavily_crawl, tavily_research and tavily_feedback. All read the public web; none writes to your systems. DEFAULT_PARAMETERS sets depth, result count and image inclusion server-side.
- Data and privacy
- Queries go to Tavily, now part of Nebius. Tavily says it is SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 certified, does not train on your data and offers zero data retention as an option; check whether it applies to your plan. Results are untrusted web content, so injected instructions can reach the agent.
- Cost at scale
- Pay as you go is $0.008 a credit; Growth is $500 for 100,000 credits ($0.005 each). An agent doing two advanced searches and ten advanced extractions per task uses 8 credits, so 10,000 tasks a month is about $640 on pay as you go, or fits inside the $500 Growth plan.
- Limits
- Development keys get 100 requests a minute, production keys 1,000, with crawl capped at 100 and research at 20 on both. The local package has not had a feature release since 0.2.22 in August 2026, and OAuth fails in some clients, per open issues.
What's good
- Search, extract, map, crawl and research in one server
- Hosted endpoint with OAuth, or local via npx
- 1,000 free credits a month, no card required
- SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001, per Tavily
What's not
- Research and advanced calls multiply credit use
- README leads with the API key in the URL
- Development keys capped at 100 requests a minute
- Owned by Nebius since early 2026
Best for
Developers building research or RAG agents that need both search and page content.
Alternatives
Tavily MCP Server: common questions
- Is Tavily MCP Server worth it?
- Search, extract, map and crawl behind one key, priced so that an agent's research habits, not the subscription, decide the bill. We rate it 4.3 out of 5.
- How much does Tavily MCP Server cost?
- Free Researcher plan with 1,000 API credits a month; pay as you go at $0.008 per credit; monthly plans from $30 for 4,000 credits to $500 for 100,000.
- What are the downsides of Tavily MCP Server?
- Research and advanced calls multiply credit use; rEADME leads with the API key in the URL; development keys capped at 100 requests a minute; owned by Nebius since early 2026.
- Who is Tavily MCP Server best for?
- Developers building research or RAG agents that need both search and page content.
- How much does Tavily MCP Server cost for a team or in production?
- Pay as you go is $0.008 a credit; Growth is $500 for 100,000 credits ($0.005 each). An agent doing two advanced searches and ten advanced extractions per task uses 8 credits, so 10,000 tasks a month is about $640 on pay as you go, or fits inside the $500 Growth plan.
- Is Tavily MCP Server safe for company data?
- Queries go to Tavily, now part of Nebius. Tavily says it is SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 certified, does not train on your data and offers zero data retention as an option; check whether it applies to your plan. Results are untrusted web content, so injected instructions can reach the agent.
- What are the best Tavily MCP Server alternatives?
- The closest alternatives we have reviewed are Exa MCP Server, Brave Search MCP Server and Firecrawl MCP.
Answers checked Oct 23, 2026.
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