Patent77 vs PQAI

Patent77 searches public patent records for prior art from a plain-English description of an invention, then returns cited references and a knockout-risk read. Its engine breaks the description into claim-style elements, expands synonyms, iterates searches, examines candidate documents and scores relevant references. Searches query the live Google Patents record, including US and major international patent collections. Paid patentability reports add an element-by-reference map, a novelty and obviousness narrative, limitations and PDF export. Lookups by publication number are never billed. Patent77 offers a web app, JSON API and hosted MCP server with tools for prior-art search, patent lookup and patentability assessment. Anonymous API requests need no account, but are limited to 4 requests per minute, 20 per day and three references per search. The Free plan is free and includes 3 AI searches per month and the top 5 references. Pro costs $49 a month; Scale costs $199 a month. Patent77 says descriptions are account-scoped and not used to train models, shown to others or sold, while descriptions are sent to an AI provider for query planning and reference reading. It does not cover non-patent literature, unpublished applications in the 18-month publication window or collections outside its corpus, and it is not legal advice.

PQAI is an AI-powered patent search platform intended to help find prior art relevant to an invention. Searchers can describe an idea in natural language without special formatting or technical expertise. Its tools include semantic search, CPC Classification Prediction, Technical Concept Extraction, Patent Data Retrieval, and claim analysis. The Free plan searches across 100M+ patents and returns 20 results per query at standard speed. PQAI+ offers 500 results per query, faster search, full-text excerpts, and export. The service is available on the web and through an API, and PQAI describes it as open source. API plans include MCP server access and compatibility with Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini. PQAI also provides an iFrame embed with instructions for WordPress, Wix, and custom-built websites. The company says it erases each query from its servers after generating results. API requests use token-based authentication and HTTPS, alongside rate limiting and access controls. PQAI identifies individual inventors, law firms, patent examiners, enterprises, and R&D teams as users. Paid plans start at $20 a month; commercial integration into another product requires a commercial API or Enterprise plan.