# Low, medium, high, and xhigh presets use Fast Search By Steven Van · 2026-10-01 Agent API web\_search calls under the low to xhigh presets now cost $1.00 per 1,000, down from $2.50, and run about 800 ms faster. Perplexity's Agent API now runs web\_search on Fast Search for the low, medium, high and xhigh presets, matching the fast preset. These presets now set search\_type: "fast" by default. ## Price and speed Under these presets, web\_search calls drop from $2.50 to **$1.00 per 1,000 invocations**, plus model tokens. Search is about 800 ms faster. Models, prompts, tool budgets and step limits are unchanged. ## Keeping standard web search To use standard web search under any preset, set search\_type: "web" on the web\_search tool in the request. If search\_type is omitted, the tool inherits the preset's search type when one is configured, and otherwise uses "web". The docs suggest fast for day-to-day agent loops and high-volume tool calls, and web for rare, difficult or ambiguous questions. The setting is separate from the Agent API fast preset. It can be combined with token budgets, max\_results and filters. The Python library (0.43.5) accepts search\_type inside the tool object. In the TypeScript SDK (0.38.5) the tool type does not yet include the field, so the docs use an as any cast. Details are in the [Agent API Web Search documentation]() for [Perplexity](). ![Perplexity]() Perplexity AI-powered answer engine — ask anything and get cited, real-time answers from across the web. [View Perplexity →]() Sources [Original source]() [Read Low, medium, high, and xhigh presets use Fast Search on Creators Toolbox]() --- Canonical source: https://creatorstoolbox.com/blog/perplexity-low-medium-high-and-xhigh-presets-use-fast-search