Evaluation record · mcp-server-brave-search

MCP Brave Search Server

v2025.4.24

Anthropic (Archived)

MCPsearchwebmcpmodel-context-protocol

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Anthropic reference MCP server for the Brave Search API, archived 2025-05-29 to the servers-archived repository and no longer maintained (no security guarantees).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 (@brave/brave-search-mcp-server on npm, v2.0.85 as of June 2026), which is the recommended replacement. The underlying Brave Search API remains active and privacy-focused.

Last Evaluated: July 9, 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: 2026-07-09

api response time

API latency testing

Evidence

Brave Search Performance — Fast response times, typically 200-800ms

highVerified: 2026-07-09

result freshness

Content freshness testing

Evidence

Brave Search Index — Independent crawling with frequent index updates

highVerified: 2026-07-09

rate limit handling

Rate limiting behavior testing

Evidence

API Rate Limits — Rate limits vary by plan (2000-15000 queries/month typical)

mediumVerified: 2026-07-09

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: 2026-07-09

🛡️Security

api key security

Authentication security review

Evidence

Brave API Authentication — API key-based authentication with secure key management

highVerified: 2026-07-09

query sanitization

Input sanitization testing

Evidence

Search Query Processing — Query parameters properly sanitized before API calls

highVerified: 2026-07-09

data exposure risk

Data flow analysis

Evidence

Search Query Logging — Search queries logged by Brave; potential for sensitive query exposure

mediumVerified: 2026-07-09

malicious content protection

Content safety assessment

Evidence

Brave Search Safety — Basic SafeSearch filtering available

mediumVerified: 2026-07-09

🔒Privacy & Compliance

privacy focus

Evidence

Brave Privacy Policy — Privacy-focused search engine with no user profiling or tracking

highVerified: 2026-07-09

data retention

Data retention policy review

Evidence

Brave Search Privacy — Minimal data retention, no personalization or user tracking

highVerified: 2026-07-09

third party sharing

Data sharing analysis

Evidence

Brave Independence — Independent search index, minimal third-party data sharing

highVerified: 2026-07-09

query anonymization

Anonymization assessment

Evidence

Brave API — Queries not linked to individual users, API key-based access only

mediumVerified: 2026-07-09

👁️Trust & Transparency

documentation quality

Documentation completeness review

Evidence

Brave API Documentation — Clear API documentation with examples and parameters

highVerified: 2026-07-09

search transparency

Algorithmic transparency assessment

Evidence

Brave Search About — Independent index with transparent ranking approach

mediumVerified: 2026-07-09

query logging

Query visibility assessment

Evidence

MCP Protocol — All search queries visible in MCP logs

highVerified: 2026-07-09

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

npm: @brave/brave-search-mcp-server — Brave's official Brave Search MCP server is actively maintained; v2.0.85 published June 2026 with web, image, video, news, local, and summarizer search plus STDIO/HTTP transports

mediumVerified: 2026-07-09

⚙️Operational Excellence

ease of setup

Setup complexity assessment

Evidence

API Setup — Simple API key setup with minimal configuration

highVerified: 2026-07-09

api reliability

Uptime monitoring

Evidence

Brave Search Uptime — High availability with reliable infrastructure

highVerified: 2026-07-09

cost efficiency

Pricing analysis

Evidence

Brave API Pricing — Competitive pricing with free tier available

highVerified: 2026-07-09

result formatting

Response format assessment

Evidence

API Response Format — Well-structured JSON responses with metadata

mediumVerified: 2026-07-09

feature coverage

Feature completeness assessment

Evidence

API Features — Supports web search, news, and image search

mediumVerified: 2026-07-09

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/brave-search-mcp-server (actively maintained, v2.0.85 June 2026) 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 (@brave/brave-search-mcp-server, https://github.com/brave/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