Best Price Comparison APIs for AI Shopping Agents in 2026
Building an AI shopping agent requires access to real-time product data, pricing, and availability across multiple retailers. The API you choose determines your agent's capabilities, latency, and cost.
We evaluated the top price comparison and product search APIs for agent readiness. Here's how they compare.
Why This Matters for AI Agents
Shopping agents need:
- Real-time prices — stale data leads to bad recommendations
- Cross-retailer coverage — one agent, many stores
- Low latency — sub-second responses for conversational UX
- Agent-native interfaces — MCP, function calling, or tool-use ready
- Structured product data — prices, specs, availability, categories
The Contenders
1. BuyWhere — Best for AI Shopping Agents
| Feature | Rating |
|---|---|
| Product Coverage | 11M+ products across Amazon, Walmart, Shopee, Lazada, 10K+ retailers |
| Agent Interface | Native MCP server with search_products, compare_prices, get_price_history, get_price_alerts |
| Latency | <200ms p95 |
| Pricing | Free tier (1K queries/mo), paid from 9/mo |
| Price History | 90-day history included |
| API Style | REST + MCP + SSE |
Best for: Developers building shopping agents, price comparison tools, and deal trackers.
2. SerpAPI — Best for Search Engine Results
Scrapes Google Shopping results. Good for broad market research but limited to Google's view of prices. Not MCP-native.
3. Bright Data — Best for Custom Web Scraping
Full proxy + scraping infrastructure. Maximum flexibility but requires building your own extraction logic. No product catalog. Enterprise pricing.
4. Algolia — Best for Site Search
Excellent for searching within a single merchant's catalog. Not designed for cross-merchant price comparison. No built-in price history.
Quick Decision Guide
| Use Case | Recommended API |
|---|---|
| AI shopping agent | BuyWhere (native MCP) |
| Google Shopping data | SerpAPI |
| Custom scraping pipeline | Bright Data |
| Single-store search | Algolia |
| Affiliate product feeds | Amazon PAAPI, CJ Affiliate |
Getting Started with BuyWhere
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Summary
For AI shopping agents, BuyWhere is the most agent-ready option with native MCP protocol support, the broadest cross-retailer coverage, built-in price history, and sub-second latency. Other APIs serve specific niches but require more integration work to make them agent-friendly.
