# Claude answers API > aivisibilityskill returns Claude's answer to a question as JSON, from Anthropic's Claude model with its web search tool on: the brands it names in order and whether it recommends them, every citation with its source type, and the raw response with its SHA-256 hash. It's asked through the API, not the claude.ai app, costs $0.06 an answer, and failed answers are never charged. Canonical page: https://aivisibilityskill.com/api/claude. Updated November 5, 2026 by Ahmed Gagan, founder of aivisibilityskill. - Asks: Anthropic's Claude model, with Claude's web search tool on - Returns: The answer, brands in order, every citation, facts and the raw response - Countries: Any of 250 countries and territories, told to the model - Price per answer: $0.06 (live); half for a reused answer - Speed: Live only, one call per answer - Try it: Free sandbox keys and 500 free credits, no card Get a free sandbox key: https://app.aivisibilityskill.com/login?next=%2Fkeys. API reference: https://api.aivisibilityskill.com/docs. OpenAPI 3.1: https://api.aivisibilityskill.com/openapi.json. ## Request and response ```bash curl https://api.aivisibilityskill.com/v1/checks \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $AIV_KEY" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{ "questions": ["best CRM for early-stage startups"], "engines": ["claude"], "locale": "en-US", "mode": "live", "wait": 60 }' ``` Response, shortened (real values from October 29, 2026): ```json { "status": "succeeded", "credits": { "quoted": 60, "charged": 60 }, "answers": [ { "engine": "claude", "surface": "api", "question": "best CRM for early-stage startups", "locale": "en-US", "has_ai_answer": true, "brands": [ { "name": "HubSpot", "rank": 1, "recommended": true, "sentiment": "positive", "quote": "HubSpot Free is the most common default." }, { "name": "Pipedrive", "rank": 2, "recommended": true, "sentiment": "positive", "quote": "suits teams that mainly want a pipeline" } ], "facts": [ { "brand": "Pipedrive", "type": "price", "value": "$12.50 per user/mo", "price": { "amount": 12.5, "currency": "USD", "period": "month", "per_user": true } } ], "citations": [ { "position": 3, "domain": "saasworthy.com", "source_type": "review_site" }, { "position": 4, "domain": "techradar.com", "source_type": "media" } ], "receipt": { "sha256": "…", "url": "…/receipt" } } ] } ``` ## What the Claude API returns With web search on, Claude reads a handful of pages and writes a short, careful answer. Each one comes back read the same way as the other engines: brands in order, every citation typed, and the raw response kept as proof. What each answer includes: | Field | What it holds | | --- | --- | | `has_ai_answer` | false when the engine showed no AI answer (for example, no AI Overview for that query). | | `text` | The full answer, as markdown. | | `brands[].name, rank` | Every brand the answer names, in order of first mention (rank 1 = named first). | | `brands[].recommended, sentiment, quote` | Whether it recommends the brand, the tone (positive, neutral, negative) and the exact words. | | `citations[].position, url, domain, title` | Every source the answer cites, in the order it cites them. | | `citations[].source_type` | What kind of site each source is: brand_owned, review_site, media, reddit, youtube, wikipedia, forum, social, blog_platform, marketplace, gov_edu or other. | | `facts[]` | Claims about each brand (price, plan, free tier, platform, feature) with the quote they came from; prices parsed into amount, currency and period. | | `model, locale, collected_at` | The model the engine reported, the country and language asked from, and when. | | `receipt.sha256, receipt.url` | The engine's raw response, stored as returned, and its SHA-256 hash. | ## Claude SEO: what decides which brands Claude names When Claude searches, it summarises what the pages it found agree on. Its answer to the CRM question began: “across the 2026 roundups I found, a few tools come up repeatedly.” It cited six pages, mostly roundups and review sites (techsifted.com, startupik.com, saasworthy.com, techradar.com), plus folk.app, the site of a brand it then recommended. So the way into Claude's answers is the same as for the other engines: get onto the roundups it reads. The API shows exactly which ones those are for each question. ## One question, three different answers We asked “best CRM for early-stage startups” on each engine from the US on the same morning. Each card is what the API returned: how the answer opens, the brands it named in order, and the first sites it cited. Real answers to "best CRM for early-stage startups" (en-US), collected October 29, 2026, as the API read them: - Claude: opens "The best choice depends on your sales motion and budget, but across the 2026 roundups I found, a few tools come up repeatedly." Names, in order: HubSpot, Pipedrive, Bigin by Zoho CRM, Folk, Attio, Close, Copper. Cites 6 sources, starting with techsifted.com, startupik.com, saasworthy.com. - ChatGPT: opens "My recommendation: start with Attio if you're building a tech startup, or HubSpot if you want a free, all-purpose sales and marketing platform." Names, in order: Attio, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Zoho CRM, Close. Cites 10 sources, starting with hackceleration.com, softwarecompare.net, stackbytrade.com. - Perplexity: opens "The best CRM for an early-stage startup is usually the simplest one your team will actually use …" Names, in order: HubSpot, Less Annoying CRM, Attio, Pipedrive, Zoho, Zoho Bigin, Salesforce Starter, monday CRM, Folk, Capsule. Cites 17 links from 15 sites, starting with techradar.com, salesforce.com, slack.com. Where each answer ranks each brand (1 = named first; – = not named): | Brand | Claude | ChatGPT | Perplexity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | HubSpot | **1** | 2 | **1** | | Pipedrive | 2 | 3 | 4 | | Bigin | 3 | – | 6 | | Folk | 4 | – | 9 | | Attio | 5 | **1** | 3 | | Close | 6 | 5 | – | | Copper | 7 | – | – | | Zoho CRM | – | 4 | 5 | | Less Annoying CRM | – | – | 2 | | Salesforce Starter | – | – | 7 | All three name HubSpot, Pipedrive and Attio. Claude puts HubSpot first, as Perplexity does, while ChatGPT leads with Attio. Claude is the only one to recommend Copper, and it shares just one source with ChatGPT (techradar.com) and two with Perplexity (techradar.com and folk.app). ## Calling Claude's web search yourself vs aivisibilityskill You can call Claude with its web search tool yourself. You'd get the answer and its sources, and still have to read the answer for brands, track it over time and keep the same format for every other engine. That's what this API does. Calling Claude yourself vs through aivisibilityskill: | | Claude API with web search | aivisibilityskill | | --- | --- | --- | | The answer and its sources | Yes | Yes | | Brands named | You parse them yourself | Listed with rank, recommendation and sentiment | | Source types | No | Every citation typed | | Billing | Tokens plus searches | One price per answer; failed answers are free | | ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI and others | No | Yes, in the same call | As with the other model APIs, this is Claude through the API with a fresh conversation, not the claude.ai app with a person's own history and settings. ## Track brand mentions in Claude Put a brand, its competitors and its buyers' questions in a project with a daily or weekly schedule. The API returns how often Claude names the brand (with error bars), each competitor's share, the sites Claude cites and the history, and a webhook tells your server when each run is done. ## Call the Claude API from TypeScript or Python ```ts import { Aiv } from "@aivisibilityskill/sdk"; const aiv = new Aiv({ apiKey: process.env.AIV_KEY! }); const job = await aiv.checks.create({ questions: ["best CRM for early-stage startups"], engines: ["claude"], locale: "en-US", }); const done = await aiv.jobs.wait(job.id); for (const answer of done.answers ?? []) { console.log(answer.brands?.map((b) => `${b.rank}. ${b.name}`)); console.log(answer.citations?.map((c) => c.domain)); } ``` ```python import os from aivisibilityskill import Aiv aiv = Aiv(api_key=os.environ["AIV_KEY"]) job = aiv.checks.create( ["best CRM for early-stage startups"], engines=["claude"], locale="en-US", ) done = aiv.jobs.wait(job["id"]) for answer in done["answers"]: print([(b["rank"], b["name"]) for b in answer["brands"]]) print([c["domain"] for c in answer["citations"]]) ``` ## Claude API pricing You pay per answer, in credits. Claude is asked live, one call per answer, so there's one speed. A dollar buys 1,000 credits on a pack; monthly and volume plans include more. An answer reused from a recent identical one (`max_age_hours`) costs half, and an answer that fails costs nothing. Claude answer prices: | Speed | Ready | Credits | Pay as you go | Business and Enterprise plans | Reused answer | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Live | Usually under a minute | 60 | $0.06 | $0.0375 | 30 credits | Every account gets the same API and every engine, starting with 500 free credits and no card. Volume plans start at $500 a month for 750,000 credits, with invoicing and a [99.5% uptime commitment](https://aivisibilityskill.com/sla): [see volume plans](https://aivisibilityskill.com/volume). ## Countries and languages Claude is asked through its API, so it isn't answering from a location. For any locale other than `en-US`, it's told which country the buyer is in, for any of 250 countries and territories, and it answers in the question's language (`de-DE`, `pt-BR`, `ja-JP`…). The app and search engines answer from the country itself: ChatGPT in 192, Gemini, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode in 240. `GET /v1/locales` lists every pair for free. ## Questions ### Is this the claude.ai app's answer? No. It's Claude through Anthropic's model API with its web search tool on, asked as a fresh conversation. The claude.ai app can answer differently, depending on a person's settings and history. ### Which Claude model answers? A current Claude model with web search; every answer's model field says exactly which one answered. ### How do I get my brand recommended by Claude? Claude builds its answer from the pages its search finds, mostly roundups, comparisons and review sites. Find which pages it cites for your buyers' questions (the API lists them, with types), then get onto those pages or publish a better one. ### Does it return Claude's citations? Yes. Every citation comes back in order, with its URL, domain, page title and a source type such as review_site, media or brand_owned. ### How much does the Claude API cost? 60 credits an answer: $0.06 at pay-as-you-go rates and about $0.0375 on volume plans. A recent identical answer reused with max_age_hours costs 30 credits. Failed answers are never charged. ### Can I ask Claude from another country? Yes. For any locale other than en-US, Claude is told which country the buyer is in, for any of 250 countries and territories, and it answers in the question's language. ## Related - [ChatGPT API](https://aivisibilityskill.com/api/chatgpt): The ChatGPT app's answer as JSON: brands in order, every citation and the raw response. - [Google AI Overview API](https://aivisibilityskill.com/api/google-ai-overviews): AI Overviews as JSON for any query, with every cited link, and a ready-made AI Overview tracker. - [Google AI Mode API](https://aivisibilityskill.com/api/google-ai-mode): AI Mode answers and sources as JSON, and how AI Mode differs from AI Overviews and Gemini. - [Gemini API](https://aivisibilityskill.com/api/gemini): The Gemini app's answer as JSON, and how Gemini differs from ChatGPT and AI Mode. - [Perplexity API](https://aivisibilityskill.com/api/perplexity): Perplexity's Sonar answers and citations as JSON, read into brands and source types. - [Grok API](https://aivisibilityskill.com/api/grok): Grok's answers as JSON, with search across the web and X, read into brands. - [DeepSeek API](https://aivisibilityskill.com/api/deepseek): DeepSeek's answers as JSON, grounded in DeepSeek's web search, read into brands. - [AI visibility API](https://aivisibilityskill.com/api): All 8 engines in one call, with builder features and every endpoint. - [What AI engines cite](https://aivisibilityskill.com/guides/what-ai-engines-cite): 24,258 citations from ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI, analyzed.