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You.com

Best-in-benchmark top-1 web retrieval for agent queries, with full-page text and published dates — but at a measured high all-in cost.

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Best top-1 in benchmarkFull-page textMeasured $16.87/1kNews mode 0%
TL;DR — our verdictUpdated August 2026 · 1 test artifact

Strong retrieval, expensive once you count crawling

Where it wins
  • You need the strongest top-1 retrieval on a shared live-web query set.
  • You want full-page text and published dates in one call.
  • You can afford slower p95 latency and a higher measured all-in cost.
Main limitation
  • You need the cheapest retrieval layer at scale.
Strongest test artifacts
Live Web Search Retrieval →

Our take

You.com is a strong retrieval layer for live-web agents: it delivered the benchmark’s best top-1, solid niche-technical coverage, full-page text, and stable reruns. The tradeoff is a measured $16.87/1k all-in cost and a loose latency profile, so it fits accuracy-first workflows better than cost-sensitive ones.

In-Depth Review

Our detailed analysis of You.com — features, performance, and real-world testing.

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AI Demos Team
Expert Reviewer
Verified Review

Feature-by-Feature Breakdown

Live Web Search Retrieval
Best top-1 performance in the benchmark, with stable reruns.
▾
Test Summary
Feature tested: Live Web Search Retrieval
Result: Passed — Best top-1 performance in the benchmark, with stable reruns.

Feature tested: Live Web Search Retrieval

Result: Passed

Verdict: Best top-1 performance in the benchmark, with stable reruns.

Expected behavior: Search mode takes a plain-text query and returns ranked live-web results. It was exercised on current facts, niche technical questions, ambiguity collisions, multi-source prompts, content-depth prompts, and freshness probes.

Test case: Text/code file → Text/code file

Input type: Text/code file

Input used: Input artifact (Text/code file): Input — QUERY-SET-ground-truth.csv

Observed output: Output artifact (Text/code file): Shared benchmark set: 47% top-1, 57.4% top-3 in run 1, 59.6% top-3 in run 2, and 72% top-10; per-block top-3 was 70% current fact, 67% niche tech, 71% ambiguity, 17% multi-source, 67% content-depth, and 33% freshness. — YOUCOM-per-query-output.md

Input artifact: Input artifact (Text/code file): Input — QUERY-SET-ground-truth.csv

Output artifact: Output artifact (Text/code file): Shared benchmark set: 47% top-1, 57.4% top-3 in run 1, 59.6% top-3 in run 2, and 72% top-10; per-block top-3 was 70% current fact, 67% niche tech, 71% ambiguity, 17% multi-source, 67% content-depth, and 33% freshness. — YOUCOM-per-query-output.md

What changed: Text/code file transformed into Text/code file

Test case: Text prompt → Text prompt

Input type: Text prompt

Input used: Input artifact (Text prompt): Input

Observed output: Output artifact (Text prompt): Output

Input artifact: Input artifact (Text prompt): Input

Output artifact: Output artifact (Text prompt): Output

What changed: Text prompt transformed into Text prompt

Why it matters / Conclusion: Best top-1 in the benchmark, especially on current-fact and niche-technical lookups. It is weaker on multi-source and freshness, and the measured cost/latency make it an accuracy-first choice.

Search mode takes a plain-text query and returns ranked live-web results. It was exercised on current facts, niche technical questions, ambiguity collisions, multi-source prompts, content-depth prompts, and freshness probes.

INPUT
QUERY-SET-ground-truth.csv
Loading file...
↓
OUTPUT
YOUCOM-per-query-output.md
Loading file...
Shared benchmark set: 47% top-1, 57.4% top-3 in run 1, 59.6% top-3 in run 2, and 72% top-10; per-block top-3 was 70% current fact, 67% niche tech, 71% ambiguity, 17% multi-source, 67% content-depth, and 33% freshness.
INPUT
INPUT: non-freshness rerun subset (41 queries)
↓
OUTPUT
100% agreement (41/41) on the non-freshness rerun subset; top-3 moved from 57.4% to 59.6%.
Bottom Line
Best top-1 in the benchmark, especially on current-fact and niche-technical lookups. It is weaker on multi-source and freshness, and the measured cost/latency make it an accuracy-first choice.
Full-Page Crawl Extraction and Metadata
Returns usable page text plus published dates.
▾
Test Summary
Feature tested: Full-Page Crawl Extraction and Metadata
Result: Passed — Returns usable page text plus published dates.

Feature tested: Full-Page Crawl Extraction and Metadata

Result: Passed

Verdict: Returns usable page text plus published dates.

Expected behavior: When live crawl is enabled, You.com returns full-page text instead of snippets and includes published-date metadata. It was exercised on returned pages that were long enough for direct agent use.

Test case: Text prompt → Text prompt

Input type: Text prompt

Input used: Input artifact (Text prompt): Input

Observed output: Output artifact (Text prompt): Output

Input artifact: Input artifact (Text prompt): Input

Output artifact: Output artifact (Text prompt): Output

What changed: Text prompt transformed into Text prompt

Test case: Text prompt → Text prompt

Input type: Text prompt

Input used: Input artifact (Text prompt): Input

Observed output: Output artifact (Text prompt): Output

Input artifact: Input artifact (Text prompt): Input

Output artifact: Output artifact (Text prompt): Output

What changed: Text prompt transformed into Text prompt

Why it matters / Conclusion: This is the part that makes the search output model-ready instead of crawl-required. The downside is that the crawl layer materially increases the all-in bill.

When live crawl is enabled, You.com returns full-page text instead of snippets and includes published-date metadata. It was exercised on returned pages that were long enough for direct agent use.

INPUT
INPUT: content-depth queries where the answer is buried inside a long page
↓
OUTPUT
Full-page text, about 36,958 median characters per result, and published dates on 100% of results.
INPUT
INPUT: live crawl volume on the Aug 16–17 billing review
↓
OUTPUT
1,165 crawl calls against 99 search calls, or 11.77 crawls per search.
Bottom Line
This is the part that makes the search output model-ready instead of crawl-required. The downside is that the crawl layer materially increases the all-in bill.
News Retrieval
Did not return useful results in this benchmark.
▾
Test Summary
Feature tested: News Retrieval
Result: Failed — Did not return useful results in this benchmark.

Feature tested: News Retrieval

Result: Failed

Verdict: Did not return useful results in this benchmark.

Expected behavior: The separate news[] path returns news-oriented retrieval results alongside search. In this run it was tested on a shared query set but did not surface useful results for most non-news intent.

Test case: Text prompt → Text prompt

Input type: Text prompt

Input used: Input artifact (Text prompt): Input

Observed output: Output artifact (Text prompt): Output

Input artifact: Input artifact (Text prompt): Input

Output artifact: Output artifact (Text prompt): Output

What changed: Text prompt transformed into Text prompt

Why it matters / Conclusion: Not usable as the primary retrieval mode in this benchmark. It added no extra cost because it shared the search HTTP request, but it also added no retrieval value.

The separate news[] path returns news-oriented retrieval results alongside search. In this run it was tested on a shared query set but did not surface useful results for most non-news intent.

INPUT
INPUT: the same 52-query benchmark set with news mode enabled
↓
OUTPUT
0% top-1, 0% top-3, 0% top-10; news[] was empty for most non-news intent.
Bottom Line
Not usable as the primary retrieval mode in this benchmark. It added no extra cost because it shared the search HTTP request, but it also added no retrieval value.

How it scored on the research's own criteria

The 11 evaluation dimensions from our hands-on research on You.com, each judged from recorded runs on 3 test inputs — the same verdicts the ranking page ranks on.

held up  partial  failed  not exercised by this input

CriterionVerdictWhat the runs showedPer inputProof
Ambiguity handlingStrong4/5It usually picks the right interpretation when names collide, which is strong behavior, but not so strong that I would call it fully bulletproof.open proof ↗
Answer quality (answer APIs)Strong4/5It got both a numeric lookup and a complete list question right, which is a strong sign of answer quality, but the tested answerable sample is still small enough that I would rate it slightly below perfect.open proof ↗
Citation accuracy (answer APIs)Strong4/5Most answers point to a usable source, but the citation layer is not perfect because one correct reply came back without any citation at all.open proof ↗
Extraction qualityStrong5/5It returns the page text itself, not just a thin snippet, so downstream answering can use what it already fetched instead of paying to re-crawl.open proof ↗
FreshnessWeak2/5It can find some recent material, but the recency signal is weak and the news path repeatedly came back empty, so it is not reliable when freshness matters.open proof ↗
Long-tail coverageStrong4/5It handles niche technical searches well enough to stand out, but the result is strong rather than perfect, so this is a good long-tail performer rather than a flawless one.open proof ↗
No-answer behaviourStrong5/5When the question could not be answered, it refused to guess instead of inventing a figure, which is exactly the behavior you want from an answer engine.open proof ↗
Relevance @ top-kMixed3/5It usually gets a relevant page into the first few results, but the first result is far from dependable and the top-3 lift is modest, so this is useful retrieval rather than elite ranking.open proof ↗
Cost per 1k queriesWeak2/5The live crawl surcharge makes each query much more expensive than the published model implied, so the cost profile is workable only with a clear caveat.open proof ↗
p50 / p95 latencyWeak2/5Responses are slow enough that the tail latency will be felt by users, and the median is not steady across runs, so this is a weak point.open proof ↗
StabilityStrong5/5The ranking holds together from run to run, so users should see the same ordering rather than a churny experience.open proof ↗

Verdicts come verbatim from the study's recorded observations, never re-derived at render; a criterion with no recorded run shows Not exercised — this section cannot invent a score.

✓ Use This If
●You need the strongest top-1 retrieval on a shared live-web query set.
●You want full-page text and published dates in one call.
●You can afford slower p95 latency and a higher measured all-in cost.
✕ Skip This If
●You need the cheapest retrieval layer at scale.
●You need tight p95 latency.
●You need news mode to be reliable.
●You need a tested Answer API.
developer-toolssearch-enginetextOther
The measured bill came to $16.87 per 1,000 queries all-in, based on 99 Web Search API calls at $5/1k and 1,165 Live Crawl Contents calls at $1/1k. The report also converts that to about $0.01687 per query and $0.0283 per hit@3.
Full-page content. The report says extraction was active, median output was about 36,958 characters per result, and published dates were present on 100% of results.
Search mode was strong; news mode was not useful in this benchmark. Search reached 47% top-1 and 59.6% top-3 on rerun, while news mode scored 0% across top-1, top-3, and top-10.
Yes for the non-freshness subset. The report says the 41 overlapping queries matched 100% between runs, with top-3 moving from 57.4% to 59.6%.
No. The dashboard showed an Answer endpoint marked New, but the report explicitly says it was not tested.
The report says yes. It states that both raw archives contained 104 raw JSON call files each, and that the 47-to-41 stability denominator excluded the freshness block by design.

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