diff --git a/src/__tests__/commands/search.test.ts b/src/__tests__/commands/search.test.ts
index fecaeb31aa..c908189ef7 100644
--- a/src/__tests__/commands/search.test.ts
+++ b/src/__tests__/commands/search.test.ts
@@ -831,6 +831,20 @@ describe('executeSearch', () => {
       });
     });
 
+    it("shows the API's own error for a refused request, not the HTTP status", async () => {
+      const apiError =
+        'Insufficient credits to perform this request. For more credits, you can upgrade your plan at https://firecrawl.dev/pricing or try changing the request limit to a lower value.';
+      mockHttpPost.mockRejectedValue(
+        Object.assign(new Error('Request failed with status code 402'), {
+          response: { status: 402, data: { success: false, error: apiError } },
+        })
+      );
+
+      const result = await executeSearch({ query: 'test query' });
+
+      expect(result).toEqual({ success: false, error: apiError });
+    });
+
     it('should handle non-Error exceptions', async () => {
       mockHttpPost.mockRejectedValue('String error');
 
diff --git a/src/commands/search.ts b/src/commands/search.ts
index 39e8449a7e..52ca5e3259 100644
--- a/src/commands/search.ts
+++ b/src/commands/search.ts
@@ -177,13 +177,19 @@ export async function executeSearch(
       error:
         options.domainTools || options.sources?.includes('alexandria')
           ? JSON.stringify(apiFailure(error))
-          : error instanceof Error
-            ? error.message
-            : 'Unknown error occurred',
+          : apiErrorMessage(error),
     };
   }
 }
 
+/** The API's own error text, which a raw HTTP error keeps only in its response body. */
+function apiErrorMessage(error: unknown): string {
+  const body = (error as { response?: { data?: { error?: unknown } } })
+    ?.response?.data;
+  if (typeof body?.error === 'string' && body.error) return body.error;
+  return error instanceof Error ? error.message : 'Unknown error occurred';
+}
+
 /**
  * Shorten a matched passage for the human-readable output. A developer passage
  * runs to several KB, which floods a terminal. `--json` keeps the full text.