Agentic search didn't get cheaper—it got unbundled into a new supply chain

A wave of Agent Web Search APIs appeared in 2026 not because search got easier, but because the delivery contract changed. Models need clean text and URL citations, not ad-filled SERPs, so crawling, retrieval, parsing, and compression can now be sold as separate layers. Serper proxies Google results, Exa narrows its index to high-signal domains, Tavily focuses on context refinement, and AWS repackages internal crawl infra as cloud services—replacing browser distribution with cloud runtime distribution. The hard engineering—web-scale crawling, anti-bot, freshness indexing—remains untouched. New moats are forming around model SDKs, MCP standards, and agent task success rates as ranking signals.

Why it matters: A sharp industry analysis with real technical breakdown, not a product pitch. The author clearly maps out the four Agent search API approaches and backs the core thesis—search didn't get cheaper, the supply chain got unbundled—with concrete comparisons. Docked slightly because...