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Researchers working on computational explanations of phenomena
Lightdrift
FreemiumAPI
Agents that generate slides, build apps, or pull research imagery keep hitting the same wall: the images are there, but the licensing isn't, and someone has to clean that up before anything ships.
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Summary
Lightdrift is an image search API built specifically for that gap — every result comes back with file URLs, source provenance, license type, and attribution requirements attached, so the agent consuming it does not have to guess. The index covers Creative Commons and public domain images; the API accepts text queries, image uploads, and combined image-plus-text searches. MCP integration means coding agents can wire themselves in without manual setup. The ceiling appears at the index boundary: if your use case requires rights-managed stock, editorial photography, or images outside the CC/public domain corpus, Lightdrift returns nothing useful — and teams with those requirements route to a licensed stock API instead.
Bottom line: Pick this when your agent needs legally attributable images from open-licensed sources and you want provenance baked into every API response — skip it when your project requires commercial stock photography or editorial imagery the CC corpus does not cover.
Pricing Plans
Usage-Based- Price
- $5 / 1,000 searches
- Free Tier
- Free credit to start
Pay as you go
Usage-Basedper month
$5 per 1,000 searches after free credit
- Text/image search
- License details on every result
Enterprise
Custom
Custom volume pricing and SLAs
- Volume discounts
- Dedicated support
View full pricing on lightdrift.ai →
Pricing may have changed since last verified. Check the official site for current plans.
Find your fit
Before you choose Lightdrift
More options in Research & AI Search. Compare pricing, platforms, and features side by side.
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Pros
- License and attribution metadata attached to every result, so agents building content for publication do not ship an asset that turns into a legal problem six weeks later.
- Accepts text, image-upload, and image-plus-text queries, which means agents can search by concept or by visual similarity without building a separate preprocessing step.
- MCP integration that the vendor describes as agent-configurable, so connecting a coding agent does not require manual credential plumbing — the agent handles setup from a pasted prompt.
- Usage-based pricing with no seat costs, so teams running intermittent agent workflows pay only for actual searches rather than carrying a flat monthly bill during quiet periods.
- Hosted index maintained by the vendor, which means teams do not own the crawl, deduplication, or license-status tracking that keeping a comparable corpus current would otherwise require.
Cons
- The index is bounded to Creative Commons and public domain images — any agent workflow that requires commercial stock, brand photography, or editorial imagery hits an empty result set, and teams with those requirements switch to a licensed stock API such as Getty or Shutterstock's programmatic access.
- No self-hosted option exists, so agents running in air-gapped environments or behind strict data-residency requirements cannot use Lightdrift at all — the API call must reach Ondara LLC's infrastructure.
- Enterprise features including custom rate limits and uptime SLAs are paid-only, which means high-volume agent workloads on the base pay-as-you-go tier have no contractual guarantee on availability — a spike that exceeds default limits starts queuing requests with no SLA backstop.
About
- Platforms
- API, MCP
- API Available
- Yes
- Self-Hosted
- No
- Last Updated
- September 23, 2026
Best For
Who it's for
- AI agents requiring licensed images
- Developers building with image search APIs
- Teams needing provenance and attribution metadata
What it does well
- Agent image sourcing with license compliance
- Moodboard and research image retrieval
- Slide and app content generation with attribution
Integrations
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Frequently Asked Questions
- Is Lightdrift free?
- Lightdrift offers a free option alongside paid upgrades. Pricing: $5 / 1,000 searches. Check the current allowances and terms before choosing a plan.
- Does Lightdrift have an API?
- Yes. Lightdrift exposes a developer API. See the official documentation at https://lightdrift.ai for details.
- What platforms does Lightdrift support?
- Lightdrift is available on: API, MCP.
Curated lists that include this category
Agents that generate slides, build apps, or pull research imagery often locate usable images only to discover missing license details, forcing extra cleanup before anything ships.
Core offering
Lightdrift returns file URLs, source provenance, license type, and attribution requirements with every result. The index covers Creative Commons and public domain images. The API accepts text queries, image uploads, and combined image-plus-text searches. MCP integration lets coding agents connect without manual setup. Pricing runs $5 per 1,000 searches on a usage-based model, with free credit to start.
Strengths
Every result carries license and attribution metadata, so agents building content for publication avoid later legal issues. Text, image-upload, and combined queries remove the need for separate preprocessing steps. The vendor states MCP integration is agent-configurable, allowing setup from a pasted prompt rather than credential plumbing.
Limitations
The index stops at Creative Commons and public domain content, so workflows needing commercial stock or editorial photography return empty sets. No self-hosted option exists, and enterprise features such as custom rate limits or SLAs require paid access.
Who it is for / who should skip it
Best for AI agents requiring licensed images, developers building with image search APIs, and teams needing provenance metadata. Skip it when rights-managed stock, brand photography, or air-gapped deployment is required.
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