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POST /v1/images · engine=brave

Brave Image Search API

Image results from Brave Search with full-size URLs, thumbnails, dimensions and the page each image appears on. One page often returns 100 images.

Updated

Get a free API key Try in playground
1 credit per page of results 2,500 free credits, no card Failed calls are free

Overview

What the Brave Image Search API does

Brave Search runs its own web index, built by its own crawler, so its results are independent of both Google and Bing. Use it when you want a second, independent view of the web next to Google, or a non-Google source for an AI agent.

/v1/images with engine: "brave" returns Brave's image results: image_url (the full-size file), thumbnail_url, image_width, image_height, and the link, domain and source of the page it appears on. A single page often holds 100 images.

What you get

results[] array
Images: position, title, image_url (full size), thumbnail_url, image_width, image_height, and the host page's link, domain and source.
meta object
request_id, credits_used, cached, latency_ms, parse_quality, engine (the provider that answered) and route (each provider attempt with outcome and ms).

Request

curl https://api.serpkite.com/v1/images \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SERPKITE_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"q":"espresso machine","engine":"brave"}'

Response (live response, trimmed)

200 OK · Brave images · live response, trimmed 
{
  "request": {
    "country": "us",
    "endpoint": "images",
    "engine": "brave",
    "language": "en",
    "num": 10,
    "page": 1,
    "q": "espresso machine"
  },
  "results": [
    {
      "domain": "unsplash.com",
      "image_height": 4500,
      "image_url": "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1769970630324-64c66587e525?fm=jpg&q=60&w=3000&auto=format&fit=crop&ixlib=rb-4.1.0&ixid=NHwxMjA3fDA=",
      "image_width": 3000,
      "link": "https://unsplash.com/s/photos/espresso-machine",
      "position": 1,
      "source": "unsplash.com",
      "thumbnail_url": "https://imgs.search.brave.com/OAcfgr6F2qnP9gueftSD5MjG2wiRbW61RYHft5bsJ2s/rs:fit:500:0:1:0/g:ce/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWFn/ZXMudW5zcGxhc2gu/Y29tL3Bob3RvLTE3/Njk5NzA2MzAzMjQt/NjRjNjY1ODdlNTI1/P2ZtPWpwZyZxPTYw/Jn…",
      "title": "Espresso pouring into a white cup from machine"
    },
    {
      "domain": "americastestkitchen.com",
      "image_height": 452,
      "image_url": "https://res.cloudinary.com/hksqkdlah/image/upload/c_fill,dpr_2.0,f_auto,fl_lossy.progressive.strip_profile,g_faces:auto,q_auto:low,w_226/v1/ATK%20Reviews/2025/Espresso%20Machines/Espresso_Machines_Bad_Drip_Tray",
      "image_width": 452,
      "link": "https://www.americastestkitchen.com/equipment_reviews/1803-espresso-machines",
      "position": 2,
      "source": "americastestkitchen.com",
      "thumbnail_url": "https://imgs.search.brave.com/5qkB27DjX9Rgpcpy7UIX3ebfl_X7dkgXG-PdCEa_7tk/rs:fit:500:0:1:0/g:ce/aHR0cHM6Ly9yZXMu/Y2xvdWRpbmFyeS5j/b20vaGtzcWtkbGFo/L2ltYWdlL3VwbG9h/ZC9jX2ZpbGwsZHBy/XzIuMCxmX2F1dG8s/Zm…",
      "title": ""
    }
  ],
  "meta": {
    "request_id": "req_01J8ZK4M6Q2V7",
    "credits_used": 1,
    "cached": false,
    "engine": "brave",
    "route": [
      {
        "provider": "brave",
        "outcome": "ok",
        "ms": 1682
      }
    ],
    "latency_ms": 1701,
    "parse_quality": "ok"
  }
}

Every response also carries X-Credits-Used, X-Credits-Remaining, X-Cache and X-Tokens-Estimate headers. Run this query in the playground

One key, many engines

Brave through SerpKite

  • Same key, same envelope and the same SDK call as Google: only engine changes.
  • meta.engine names the provider that answered and meta.route lists every attempt. A result is never relabelled.
  • engine: "auto" keeps Google first and falls back to Brave and the other engines only when Google fails. How fallback works
  • Failed, blocked and empty attempts are free; you pay only for the provider that answered.

Everything Brave serves on SerpKite

See all engines on the multi-engine search page or in the providers reference.

engine=auto answered by Brave (illustrative)

meta.route 
{
  "request": {
    "endpoint": "images",
    "engine": "auto",
    "q": "espresso machine"
  },
  "meta": {
    "engine": "brave",
    "route": [
      {
        "provider": "google",
        "outcome": "blocked",
        "ms": 2140
      },
      {
        "provider": "brave",
        "outcome": "ok",
        "ms": 640
      }
    ]
  }
}

Measured Oct 25, 2026

How Brave behaves on this endpoint

Three queries ("espresso machine", "northern lights norway", "mid century modern chair") sent to /v1/images with engine=brave through the production API.

Images per page
100 on all three queries
Median response time
1.7 s
Fields on every image
image_url, thumbnail_url, image_width, image_height, link, domain and source
Images with a title
96%
Image size
Median width 1,000 px; 54% at least 1,000 px wide
Host sites
56 different domains across 300 images

Filters and limits

  • Brave returns its image results as one list of up to 200. SerpKite cuts it into pages of 100, so page: 2 holds the rest; a page past the end comes back empty and isn't charged.
  • time works for day, week, month and year, and start_date/end_date ranges work too. time: "hour" is a 400 invalid_request and isn't charged: Brave has no past-hour filter.
  • safe: true uses Brave's strict SafeSearch. Otherwise Brave's moderate setting applies; it can't be switched off completely.
  • country and language are sent as Brave's country and search_lang on every request (Japanese is jp, and Chinese is split into simplified and traditional).

Reference

Parameters

The parameters /v1/images accepts, in the JSON body or the query string.

Brave Image Search API parameters
Name Type Default Description
q required string – The search query. Required. Up to 2,048 characters.
engine string | string[] google "brave" for this page. "auto" tries Google first and falls back to other engines; a list such as ["google", "brave"] limits the route to those engines.
country string us Country to search from, as a two-letter ISO code (us, gb, de, in…). Defaults to the country a location ends in.
language string en Interface language, as a language code with an optional region (en, de, pt-BR, zh-TW…).
page integer 1 Results page, 1–10. Each page is billed separately.
format string json Response format. markdown is LLM-ready prose; compact is JSON with only the fields agents need. Values: json, compact, markdown.
fields string – Comma-separated projection, e.g. results.title,results.link,knowledge_graph. Cuts tokens.
max_age integer – Accept a cached result up to this many seconds old. Cache hits cost 50% of the credits.

Full reference, error codes and headers are in the /v1/images reference. Queue up to 100 requests at half price with POST /v1/batches.

Use cases

What people build with the Brave Image Search API

01

A second index for agents

Ground answers in two independent indexes: Google by default, Brave with one parameter.

02

Fallback when Google is blocked

engine=auto tries Google first and answers from Brave when Google is unavailable.

03

Index comparison

Run the same query on Google and Brave and compare which domains each index ranks.

Pricing

Brave Image Search API pricing

Cost per call

1 credit

per page of results

  • From $0.60 per 1,000 calls at volume.
  • Credits never expire. No subscription.
  • Failed, empty and blocked calls are refunded.
  • 2,500 free credits = 2,500 calls, then 1,000 credits a month.

For reference: Serper lists Google searches at $1.00 per 1k on its entry tier and $0.30 at its best tier, and its credits expire after 6 months. SerpKite credits cost $1.00 to $0.60 per 1k.

See all pricing
Brave Image Search API cost per pack
Pack Price Per 1k credits Per 1k calls Calls per pack
Starter $10 $1.00 $1.00 10,000
Growth $50 $0.80 $0.80 62,500
Pro $300 $0.60 $0.60 500,000

FAQ

Brave Image Search API: common questions

Keep exploring

Related APIs and integrations

Brave Search API Brave's independent web index: organic results, PAA, related searches. Brave News API Brave Search news: articles with source, snippet and typed dates. Brave Video Search API Brave video results: channel, duration, date and thumbnail. Google Images API Original image URL, thumbnail, dimensions and source page.

Use it from

Start building

Start with the Brave Image Search API

2,500 free credits, then 1,000 every month. No credit card.

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