MCP Brave Search Server

v2025.4.24

Anthropic (Archived)

MCPsearchwebmcpmodel-context-protocol
83
Strong
About This MCP

ARCHIVED: Former Anthropic reference MCP server for the Brave Search API, archived 2025-05-29 to the servers-archived repository and no longer maintained (no security guarantees). Brave now ships its own official Brave Search MCP server, which is the recommended replacement. The underlying Brave Search API remains active and privacy-focused.

Last Evaluated: June 10, 2026
Official Website

Trust Vector Analysis

Dimension Breakdown

🚀Performance & Reliability
+
search result quality

Search quality benchmarking

Evidence
Brave Search API Documentation — Independent search index with high-quality results
highVerified: 2025-11-09
api response time

API latency testing

Evidence
Brave Search Performance — Fast response times, typically 200-800ms
highVerified: 2025-11-09
result freshness

Content freshness testing

Evidence
Brave Search Index — Independent crawling with frequent index updates
highVerified: 2025-11-09
rate limit handling

Rate limiting behavior testing

Evidence
API Rate Limits — Rate limits vary by plan (2000-15000 queries/month typical)
mediumVerified: 2025-11-09
error recovery

Error handling testing

Evidence
MCP Implementation — Graceful error handling with retry logic for failed requests
MCP servers-archived repository — Server archived 2025-05-29; bugs and Brave API changes will never be fixed in this implementation
mediumVerified: 2026-06-10
🛡️Security
+
api key security

Authentication security review

Evidence
Brave API Authentication — API key-based authentication with secure key management
highVerified: 2025-11-09
query sanitization

Input sanitization testing

Evidence
Search Query Processing — Query parameters properly sanitized before API calls
highVerified: 2025-11-09
data exposure risk

Data flow analysis

Evidence
Search Query Logging — Search queries logged by Brave; potential for sensitive query exposure
mediumVerified: 2025-11-09
malicious content protection

Content safety assessment

Evidence
Brave Search Safety — Basic SafeSearch filtering available
mediumVerified: 2025-11-09
🔒Privacy & Compliance
+
privacy focus

Privacy policy review

Evidence
Brave Privacy Policy — Privacy-focused search engine with no user profiling or tracking
highVerified: 2025-11-09
data retention

Data retention policy review

Evidence
Brave Search Privacy — Minimal data retention, no personalization or user tracking
highVerified: 2025-11-09
third party sharing

Data sharing analysis

Evidence
Brave Independence — Independent search index, minimal third-party data sharing
highVerified: 2025-11-09
query anonymization

Anonymization assessment

Evidence
Brave API — Queries not linked to individual users, API key-based access only
mediumVerified: 2025-11-09
👁️Trust & Transparency
+
documentation quality

Documentation completeness review

Evidence
Brave API Documentation — Clear API documentation with examples and parameters
highVerified: 2025-11-09
search transparency

Algorithmic transparency assessment

Evidence
Brave Search About — Independent index with transparent ranking approach
mediumVerified: 2025-11-09
query logging

Query visibility assessment

Evidence
MCP Protocol — All search queries visible in MCP logs
highVerified: 2025-11-09
implementation clarity

Code transparency review

Evidence
Community Implementation — Open source MCP server implementation available
MCP servers-archived repository — Code now lives in the read-only servers-archived repository; README states no security guarantees are provided for archived servers
mediumVerified: 2026-06-10
⚙️Operational Excellence
+
ease of setup

Setup complexity assessment

Evidence
API Setup — Simple API key setup with minimal configuration
highVerified: 2025-11-09
api reliability

Uptime monitoring

Evidence
Brave Search Uptime — High availability with reliable infrastructure
highVerified: 2025-11-09
cost efficiency

Pricing analysis

Evidence
Brave API Pricing — Competitive pricing with free tier available
highVerified: 2025-11-09
result formatting

Response format assessment

Evidence
API Response Format — Well-structured JSON responses with metadata
mediumVerified: 2025-11-09
feature coverage

Feature completeness assessment

Evidence
API Features — Supports web search, news, and image search
mediumVerified: 2025-11-09
Strengths
  • +Privacy-focused search with no user tracking or profiling
  • +Independent search index not reliant on Google or Bing
  • +Fast response times and high-quality search results
  • +Minimal data retention and third-party sharing
  • +Simple API integration with clear documentation
  • +Cost-effective with competitive pricing and free tier
Limitations
  • !Rate limits may be restrictive for high-volume applications
  • !Search queries still logged by Brave (potential privacy concern)
  • !Smaller index compared to Google, may miss some niche content
  • !API costs can accumulate with heavy usage
  • !Limited advanced search features compared to Google
  • !ARCHIVED 2025-05-29: reference server unmaintained with no security guarantees; use Brave's official Brave Search MCP server instead
Metadata
license: Proprietary API, MCP server varies
supported platforms
0: All platforms with HTTP support
programming languages
0: TypeScript
1: Python
2: Any language with HTTP
mcp version: 1.0
api provider: Brave Software
authentication: API key
rate limits: Varies by plan (2000-15000 queries/month)
first release: 2024-11
maintained by: None (Archived 2025-05-29)
repository: https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/servers-archived
replacement: Brave's official Brave Search MCP server

Use Case Ratings

code generation

Useful for researching documentation, finding code examples, and checking syntax

customer support

Excellent for finding answers to customer questions and product information

content creation

Great for research, fact-checking, and gathering content ideas

data analysis

Useful for finding public datasets and research, but limited direct analysis

research assistant

Excellent for academic research, literature discovery, and information gathering

legal compliance

Good for legal research and finding regulations, but verify sources

healthcare

Useful for medical research, but not for PHI handling

financial analysis

Good for market research and financial news gathering

education

Excellent for educational research and learning resources

creative writing

Great for research, inspiration, and fact-checking for creative works