Web Search

Yes, Claude can search the internet. Web search is on every Claude plan, Free included, in every country Claude serves; turn it on with "+" and "Web search", and every answer that uses it cites its sources.

2:40 Yes, Claude can search the internet: web search is on every plan, including Free (as of Nov 6, 2026), and you turn it on in a chat with the "+" button at the lower left and "Web search", after which Claude decides when a question needs current information and cites every page it used (Web search). In the new Claude experience there is no toggle at all: Claude searches whenever it judges that helps. Web search launched on Mar 20, 2025 for paid users in the United States and became available globally on all plans on May 27, 2025.

Quick facts

Plans	Free, Pro, Max, Ultra, Team, Enterprise (as of Nov 6, 2026)
Countries	Global since May 27, 2025
Turn on	"+" > "Web search" (no toggle in the new Claude experience)
Citations	On every answer that searched
Image results	From Bing, each linked to its page
API price	$10 per 1,000 searches plus tokens (as of Nov 6, 2026)

How do I turn on web search in Claude?

Click "+" in the lower left corner of the message box.
Click "Web search". A checkmark appears beside it.
Ask your question. Claude searches when the answer depends on current or changing facts.

Click "Web search" again to turn it off. If your account already has the new Claude experience, the menu has no web search switch, and Claude searches on its own judgment (Web search).

On Team and Enterprise, an Owner or Primary Owner first enables web search for the whole organization under Organization settings > Capabilities; members can then use it chat by chat.

Which Claude models can search?

The Help Center lists Haiku 5.5, Sonnet 5.5, Opus 5.5, Fable 5.1, Opus 5, Sonnet 5, Fable 5, Opus 4.8, Opus 4.7, Sonnet 4.6, Opus 4.6 and Haiku 4.5 as of Nov 6, 2026 (Web search). In practice every current model in the model picker can search.

Citations and reading whole pages

Every answer that used the web includes citations and links, with short quotes where they help (Web search). With web search on, Claude can also fetch a page you name: paste a URL and ask about it, and Claude reads the full page rather than a search snippet. That is "web fetch". A long page costs more: the Help Center's example is a 10,000-word article using a large share of a Free account's limit.

Claude can also show images from the web in its answers, found through Bing and each linked to the page it came from. These are found images, not images Claude made (Image Generation).

Limits and location

Web searches and fetches count toward your plan's usage limits; on Free they reset every five hours along with the rest (Web search). Claude may infer your rough location from your IP address to give local results. The Help Center's other caveats: some cited links may not open, and complex searches take longer.

For many searches in a row with a written report at the end, use Research on a paid plan, which builds on web search.

Web search in the Claude API

Developers add the web_search server tool to a Messages API request, and Claude searches, reads and answers with citations in one call. As of Nov 6, 2026 it costs $10 per 1,000 searches, plus ordinary token costs for the results it reads; a failed search is not billed. The current version, web_search_20260318, can filter results with code before they reach the context window. The companion web fetch tool reads whole pages. Both are covered on Web Search and Web Fetch Tools.

Frequently asked questions

Can Claude search the internet for free? Yes. Claude's Free plan includes web search as of Nov 6, 2026; searches count toward the Free plan's usage limit, which resets every five hours.

Why is there no web search toggle in Claude? In the new Claude experience, Claude has no web search toggle and searches whenever it decides a question needs current information. You can still ask it directly: "search the web for...".

Does Claude cite sources when it searches? Yes. Every Claude answer that used web search includes citations and links to the pages it drew on.

Can Claude read a link I paste? Yes. With web search on, Claude can fetch and read the full page at a URL you give it, though long pages use more of your limit.

Is Claude web search available in my country? Claude web search has been available globally on all plans since May 27, 2025, wherever Claude itself is offered.