Google Vertex AI Search
Google Vertex AI Search, now presented as Agent Search, builds search and recommendation experiences for public websites and mobile apps.
What Google Vertex AI Search is
Google Vertex AI Search, now presented as Agent Search, builds search and recommendation experiences for public websites and mobile apps. It retrieves information from websites, unstructured documents, and structured data, supporting retrieval-augmented generation. Natural-language understanding, semantic search, synonym handling, spell correction, and auto-suggest are included. The service can produce answers grounded in indexed content with citations and follow-up question support. Parsers handle PDF, HTML, and TXT files, while a search widget can be embedded in websites. Data sources include BigQuery, Cloud Storage, Google Drive, Gmail, Google Sites, Google Calendar, Google Groups, Cloud SQL, Spanner, Firestore, Bigtable, AlloyDB for PostgreSQL, and websites. Hybrid search combines vector and faceted search, with REST queries and cloud deployment. Android, iOS, web, and API platforms are listed.
Good
- Supports websites, documents, and structured data
- Generates cited answers and follow-up responses
- Includes semantic, vector, and faceted search
- Parses PDF, HTML, and TXT files
- Offers a 10,000-query monthly free trial
Watch out
- No free plan
- Advanced Generative Answers excluded from trial
- Cloud deployment only
Who it suits
It suits teams building AI-assisted search or recommendations across websites, apps, documents, and structured data. It also fits organizations needing cited generated answers, semantic retrieval, and faceted filtering.
Verdict
Google Vertex AI Search combines broad data-source support with generated answers, semantic retrieval, and REST access. Its paid structure and trial exclusion for Advanced Generative Answers should be considered before choosing it.
Plans and prices
From Google Vertex AI Search's own pricing page, checked 8 Oct 2026.
| Plan | Price | What it gives you |
|---|---|---|
| Search Standard Edition | $1.50 a month | Semantic retrieval and KPI optimization · 10,000 queries per account per month at no cost during free trial · $1.50 / 1,000 query |
| Advanced Generative Answers (AI Mode) | $4 a month | Can be added to Standard Edition or Enterprise Edition · Excluded from free trial · +$4.00 / 1,000 user input query |
| Search Enterprise Edition | $4 a month | Core Generative Answers included · 10,000 queries per account per month at no cost during free trial · $4.00 / 1,000 query |
The facts
Each one read from Google Vertex AI Search's own pages, with the date it was checked.
What it does
- Data coverage
- It supports search and retrieval-augmented generation across websites, unstructured documents, and structured data.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Data sources
- Supported sources include websites, BigQuery, Cloud Storage, Google Drive, Gmail, Google Sites, Google Calendar, Google Groups, Cloud SQL, Spanner, Firestore, Bigtable, and AlloyDB for PostgreSQL.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Document processing
- Its parsers handle unstructured formats such as PDF, HTML, and TXT, and its search widget can be embedded in websites.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Generative answers
- It can generate answers grounded in indexed data with citations and support follow-up questions.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Industry use cases
- Google describes specialized tuning for commerce catalogs, media libraries, and clinical data repositories.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Integrations
- The custom search documentation describes ingestion through Cloud Storage and BigQuery or through the REST API.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Pricing models
- Search applications and associated data stores use either general pay-as-you-go pricing or configurable monthly subscription pricing, and a configurable data store can only be used by an app on configurable pricing.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Purpose
- Agent Search, formerly Vertex AI Search, builds AI-enabled search and recommendation experiences for public websites and mobile applications.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Search features
- Out-of-the-box capabilities include natural-language understanding, semantic search, synonym understanding, spell correction, and auto-suggest.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Security and compliance
- Google Cloud publishes compliance mappings and reports and states that it undergoes independent verification for certifications, attestations, and audit reports.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Support
- The documentation page links to Google Cloud Support, community forums, release notes, and system status.checked 8 Oct 2026
Money
- Free trial limit
- The pricing page offers 10,000 queries per account per month at no cost to explore Agent Search, excluding Advanced Generative Answers.checked 8 Oct 2026
Alternatives to Google Vertex AI Search
- 1
Vespa
Open sourceWebAPILinuxmacOS8.4 - 2
Algolia
Free planAndroidiOSWebAPI8.2From $0.50 a month - 3
Pinecone
Free planWebAPILinuxmacOS7.8From $20 a month - 4
Meilisearch
Free planWebAPILinuxmacOS7.2From $20 a month - 5
Weaviate
Free planWebAPILinuxSelf-hosted7.1$45 usage-based - 6
Qdrant
Free planWebAPILinuxmacOS6.9Free plan