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By data · SERP APIs

SERP API: search results as data, priced per 1,000

Six providers return a search engine results page as JSON. Google closed its own to new customers, so every working answer here is somebody else's.

Short answer

For Google results at a low price per query, Serper at $1 per 1,000, or DataForSEO's standard queue at $0.60 per 1,000 if you can wait about five minutes. SerpApi is the pick for Google, Bing, Amazon and more than 100 other engines on one key.

See the 6 providers All 52 GTM APIs
unit-cost.txt entry plans
scrapingbee · 1 credit$0.00025
dataforseo · 1 SERP, standard queue$0.0006
serper · 1 query$0.001
bright data · 1 request$0.0015
serpapi · 1 search on Starter$0.025
From $0.00025 to $0.025: the unit decides more than the vendor unit prices, read 24 Oct 2026 or later
6providers compared here
4usable at zero cost
3bill per call, no floor
4ship an MCP server
The use case

What a SERP API returns, and what it does not

A SERP API runs a query on a search engine and hands back the results page as structured data: the organic links in order, the ads, the maps pack, the answer box and whatever else the engine showed. It is how a rank tracker knows where you sit, how a pipeline finds the companies that appear for a phrase, and how an agent checks what Google says today.

The directory carries 6 SERP API providers, and they price the same job differently. Serper sells prepaid packs that expire, SerpApi sells monthly plans with an hourly ceiling, DataForSEO prices by how long you will wait, Bright Data charges per successful request, and ScrapingBee charges 10 credits a regular Google search. Google Search itself no longer sells its own to anybody new.

A SERP API is not the same thing as an AI search API. Exa, Tavily, Perplexity and Parallel run their own index or their own ranking and return content written for a model, which is a different answer to a different question. Where you need to know what the engine actually showed, a results-page API is the honest tool; where an agent needs to read the web, the sourcing APIs page covers the other kind.

Every price and limit below is read from the vendor's own pricing page and documentation, and each provider's review carries the full rate card and the date it was read.

What Google closed

There is no Google SERP API for a new customer

The obvious first stop is Google itself, and it is closed. The Custom Search JSON API, which was the only API for Google SERP data that Google sold, is closed to new customers, and existing customers have until January 1, 2027 to move off it. The Site Restricted JSON API stopped serving traffic on January 8, 2025.

What Google sells instead is Agent Search, at $1.50 or $4.00 per 1,000 queries, and it searches your own data and sites you name, not the open web. Anybody who wants full web search is sent to a contact form, with no product page and no published price.

So a team trying to get Google SERP API access today has one practical route: a third-party Google SERP API that runs the query and parses the page. Every provider here except Google Search is a Google search SERP API in that sense, and Google Search is listed so the closure is on the record rather than discovered in a sales call.

If something in production still calls the Custom Search JSON API, the deadline is the number that matters, and the work is usually rewriting the parser for a different response shape rather than changing a URL.

Rank tracking

SERP tracking API: what a tracked position costs

Most demand for a SERP API is rank tracking. Whether it is sold as a SERP tracking API or a rank checker, the job is the same: run the same keyword on a schedule and record where a domain appears. None of them sells a separate rank product here; each is a SERP data API that returns the results page, and your code reads the position off it.

There is no Google API SERP position call, a single request that answers "where do I rank": Google has never offered one. A Google SERP checker API is a results API plus a few lines of code that find your domain in the organic results, so what it costs is the searches it runs.

Depth is where tracking gets expensive. Google returns 10 results to a page, and a SERP ranking API that checks the top 100 has to ask for more. DataForSEO prices 100 results as 10 SERPs, so $0.006 on its standard queue, and on SerpApi a second page is another search.

  • Daily checks on 500 keywords, top 10 only, are 15,000 searches a month.
  • The same keywords to depth 100 are ten times that on DataForSEO, 150,000 SERPs.
  • Timing rarely matters for a rank report, which is why a queued SERP analysis API suits it: DataForSEO's standard queue returns in about five minutes at $0.60 per 1,000.
  • SerpApi's hourly cap of 20% of the plan means a 15,000-search Production plan runs its month in no less than five hours, which a nightly job absorbs easily.

For a SERP SEO API job such as daily tracking, the queue price is the one to model, and the live price is what you pay for not waiting.

Engines

Google, Bing and the other engines

A Google SERP API is what most teams need, and every provider still selling returns Google. The differences start the moment you need anything else: a Bing SERP API for a market where Bing matters, or Yandex for Russian-language results, Baidu for China and DuckDuckGo for a privacy-minded audience.

SerpApi is the broad one, with more than 100 search APIs behind one key, including Bing, Yandex, Baidu and DuckDuckGo, and Google verticals such as Maps, Jobs, Scholar and Trends. A SERP API Google Scholar request on SerpApi, or a Google Trends one, is the same call with a different engine parameter, billed as one search.

Bright Data sells its SERP scraper API as part of a scraping platform, and it returns Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Yandex and Baidu results, as JSON or HTML, at the same $1.50 per 1,000 whichever engine you ask. DataForSEO covers Google, Bing, Baidu, Yahoo and YouTube.

Serper is Google only, and is upfront about it: search, images, news, maps, places, videos, shopping, Scholar, patents and autocomplete, every one a Google vertical.

If the job is Google and nothing else, every provider here still selling can do it, and price decides; the moment a second engine is in scope, the shortlist is SerpApi, Bright Data and DataForSEO.

Pricing

SERP API pricing, per 1,000 searches

SERP API pricing looks comparable, because every provider quotes a price per 1,000. It is not, because each one counts a different thing and sells it in a different shape. The SERP API cost that matters is what you pay at your own monthly volume, after the rules about what counts.

At 10,000 Google searches a month, these come out very differently. These are list prices from each vendor's page, the arithmetic done here. ScrapingBee, a scraper rather than a SERP API, also sells its own Google results endpoint at 10 credits a regular search.

  • DataForSEO: $6 a month on the standard queue at $0.60 per 1,000, $12 on priority and $20 live, with a $50 minimum payment to start.
  • Serper: $10 a month at $1.00 per 1,000, as long as each $50 Starter pack of 50,000 is used within its six months, which at this volume it is.
  • Bright Data: $15 a month at $1.50 per 1,000, less whatever of its 5,000 free monthly credits you have not spent on its other APIs.
  • SerpApi: $150 a month, because 10,000 searches need the Production plan with 15,000, at $10 per 1,000 on that plan.
  • Google Search: not for sale to a new customer at any price.

The cheap SERP API is DataForSEO if you can wait and Serper if you need it in a second or two; SerpApi is the dear one per search, and what the price buys is breadth and a counting rule that charges nothing for a failure.

What counts

What each one bills you for

The SERP API price per 1,000 is only half the comparison, because the rules about what counts as a search move the bill as much as the rate does. Read these before trusting any comparison table, including the one on this page.

SerpApi counts successful searches only; cached, errored and failed ones are free. Bright Data charges on success only too, which is the point of a SERP scraping API that absorbs the blocks for you. Serper charges per query from a pack whose credits are valid for six months, so an unused pack is the cost to watch. DataForSEO multiplies: each search operator in a keyword, such as site:, is five times the base price, and its own documented example sets calculate_rectangles, which doubles the price of every call that copies it.

Speed is a multiplier as well. SerpApi prices Ludicrous Speed at twice Best Effort and Ludicrous Speed Max at four times, and DataForSEO's live mode is more than three times its standard queue.

A SERP API pay as you go model suits a spiky job and a plan suits a steady one, and the counting rule decides which provider is cheaper at the margin.

Keys and auth

How to get a SERP API key, provider by provider

Getting a SERP API key takes a few minutes everywhere it is still possible, and how you send it differs more than people expect. With a SERP API, API key handling is part of the security review, because some of them put it in the URL.

  • SerpApi: register, copy the key from the dashboard, and send it as the api_key parameter on each request. The same key opens its hosted MCP server, where a Bearer header keeps it out of logs.
  • Serper: the key is in the signed-in dashboard, with 2,500 free queries and no card.
  • DataForSEO: there is no key at all. It uses Basic authentication with an API login and a generated API password, which is different from the password you sign in with.
  • Bright Data: a Bearer API key plus a SERP zone, and a valid key with no zone cannot run a search.
  • Google Search: an API key plus a Programmable Search Engine ID, for existing customers only, so a new Google SERP API key is not something Google issues for this any more.

To get a SERP API key you can test with, Serper and SerpApi are the quickest, at 2,500 free queries and 250 free searches a month respectively.

Docs and code

Docs, the playground, Python and agents

Of these, SerpApi's SERP API docs are the most complete: one page per engine, parameters and example JSON, and a SERP API playground at serpapi.com/playground that runs any engine live, which is the fastest SERP API tutorial there is. How to use a SERP API is mostly reading that JSON before writing the parser.

Serper publishes no public documentation; the playground and the dashboard both sit behind the sign-in, and its homepage lists LangChain and CrewAI integrations, which is where most SERP API Python code starts. A SERP API LangChain setup with Serper is a tool definition, not an HTTP client.

The DataForSEO SERP API documentation lives at docs.dataforseo.com/v3, with examples in cURL, Python, PHP and C#, plus n8n, Make and Zapier for a no-code SERP API integration. Bright Data publishes a Python SDK and Markdown twins of every docs page.

For an agent rather than a script, four of the 6 ship a hosted MCP server, SerpApi, DataForSEO and Bright Data among them, so an assistant can run a search without any glue code.

Side by side

The SERP APIs, on the figures that decide it

Entry price and unit cost are read from each vendor's own pricing page. Every unit here is one search or one results page, but each provider counts a billable search differently, so read the counting rules above before comparing.

ProviderReturnsEntry priceUnit costMCP server
Bright Data Job postings, Search results $1.50/1K requests $0.0015 per request Yes
ScrapingBee Intent and news, Search results $19/mo $0.00025 per credit Yes
Google Search Search results Closed to new customers Not sold by the unit No
Serper Intent and news, Search results $1/1k queries $0.001 per query No
SerpApi Intent and news, Job postings, Search results $25/mo $0.025 per search on Starter Yes
DataForSEO Intent and news, Search results $0.60/1k SERPs $0.0006 per SERP, standard queue Yes

Read from each vendor's own pages on 24 October 2026, and each review carries the full rate card.

The directory

Every provider that returns this, filtered

The 6 providers are chosen by the data each one returns, read off its record, not by hand. Billing model is the filter worth starting with, because it decides whether a quiet month costs you anything.

Each has a full review, with the rate card read off the vendor's own page: Bright Data, ScrapingBee and Google Search.

Also with a full review: Serper, SerpApi and DataForSEO.

Showing 6 of 6

Bright Data

Best for search results and pre-built scrapers at volume
MotionSourceSignal
ModelMCP serverFree tierNo monthly floor

Bright Data is web data infrastructure: proxies, an unblocker, a SERP API and more than 1,500 pre-built scrapers. The three API products a GTM team calls, the SERP API, the Web Unlocker API and the Web Scraper API, are priced the same way: $1.50 per 1,000 successful requests or records, or $499 a month for about 380,000.

  • SERP, Unlocker and Scraper APIs at $1.50 per 1,000, charged on success only
  • 5,000 free credits a month shared across all three, no card
  • SERP API capped at 1,000 a minute until the account holds funds

From$1.50/1K requests

Read the review of the Bright Data APIsite for Bright Data (opens in a new tab)

ScrapingBee

Best for cheap rendered pages at volume
MotionSourceSignal
ModelMCP serverFree tier

ScrapingBee is one scraping endpoint that renders JavaScript and rotates proxies for you, priced in credits whose cost depends on the configuration: 1 for a plain fetch, 5 for the default rendered page, up to 75 for stealth. The plans are generous on credits, and the ceiling that actually binds is concurrency.

  • A default call costs 5 credits, because JavaScript rendering is on by default
  • 75,000 credits for $19 a month, 1,000,000 for $99
  • Concurrency from 25 to 900; a 429 means you hit it, and costs nothing

From$19/mo

Read the review of the ScrapingBee APIsite for ScrapingBee (opens in a new tab)

Google Search

Closed to new customers, with a deadline for the rest
MotionSource
ModelNo monthly floor

Google's own web search API is the Custom Search JSON API, and it is closed to new customers. Existing customers have until January 1, 2027 to move. Google points site search at Vertex AI Search, billed as Agent Search, and asks anybody who needs full web search to fill in a contact form.

  • Closed to new customers; existing ones move by January 1, 2027
  • Existing customers: 100 free queries a day, then $5 per 1,000, to 10,000 a day
  • Agent Search runs $1.50 or $4.00 per 1,000 queries, on your own sites

FromClosed to new customers

Read the review of the Google Search APIsite for Google Search (opens in a new tab)

Serper

Cheapest Google results per query, if you use the pack
MotionSourceSignal
ModelFree tier

Serper sells Google search results as prepaid credit packs rather than a subscription, from $1.00 per 1,000 queries down to $0.30. The catch is in the small print: credits are valid for six months, so the cheap rate is only cheap if you burn the pack in time.

  • 2,500 free queries with no card, then packs from $50 for 50,000
  • $1.00 down to $0.30 per 1,000, with credits valid for 6 months
  • 50 to 300 queries a second, set by the pack you bought

From$1/1k queries

Read the review of the Serper APIsite for Serper (opens in a new tab)

SerpApi

Best for breadth: 100 plus search engines behind one key
MotionSourceSignal
ModelMCP serverFree tier

SerpApi is the broad one: more than 100 search APIs, from Google and Bing to Amazon, Google Maps and Google Jobs, behind one key and one monthly plan. Only successful searches count, and every plan up to Infrastructure caps an hour at 20% of its monthly volume.

  • Plans from $25 a month for 1,000 searches, with a 250-search free plan
  • Only successful searches count; cached, errored and failed ones do not
  • Hourly throughput is 20% of the monthly plan up to Infrastructure; Cloud plans cap lower

From$25/mo

Read the review of the SerpApi APIsite for SerpApi (opens in a new tab)

DataForSEO

SERP data from $0.60 per 1,000, if you can wait for it
MotionSignalSource
ModelMCP serverNo monthly floor

DataForSEO is pay as you go across a long list of SEO APIs, and the SERP API is priced by queue: $0.60 per 1,000 SERPs if you can wait about five minutes, $2.00 if you need it in six seconds. Search operators in the keyword multiply the price by five each.

  • Google SERP $0.60, $1.20 or $2.00 per 1,000, by queue
  • Each search operator in a keyword is x5 the base price
  • $50 minimum payment, a $1 trial credit and a free Sandbox

From$0.60/1k SERPs

Read the review of the DataForSEO APIsite for DataForSEO (opens in a new tab)
Buyer's guide

Four things that decide which SERP API

In the order they cost you money.

01

The engines you need

Google alone and every provider here still selling can do it. Add Bing, Yandex, Baidu or a Google vertical such as Scholar or Trends and the list narrows to SerpApi, Bright Data and DataForSEO.

02

What counts as a billable search

Successful only on SerpApi and Bright Data, per query from an expiring pack on Serper, and multiplied by operators, depth and options on DataForSEO. The counting rule moves the bill as much as the rate.

03

How fast you need the answer

A nightly rank report can wait five minutes for DataForSEO's $0.60 queue. An interactive agent cannot, and pays the live price or Serper's rate for a one to two second answer.

04

The shape of the commitment

Serper's packs expire after six months, SerpApi's plans are monthly with an hourly ceiling of 20% of the month up to Infrastructure and lower on its Cloud plans, and DataForSEO and Bright Data are pay as you go. Match the shape to how steady your volume is.

Keep going

Comparisons, stacks and alternatives

The same providers, seen three other ways: head to head on the compare hub, by the reason teams leave on the alternatives hub, and wired together with the cost run end to end on the stacks hub.

The same providers, sorted by other data: Web scraping APIs.

By the stage of the motion they serve: Sourcing APIs and Signal APIs.

Head to head, with the arithmetic done: DataForSEO vs SerpApi.

Teams leaving one of these have somewhere to go: Bright Data and DataForSEO.

Not sure which provider to pick? Clay runs 150+ from one table.

Clay runs a waterfall across 150+ data providers from one table, without a separate contract with each. A lookup that finds nothing costs no data credit, and the free plan includes 500 actions a month.

Try Clay See the stacks

Frontal is a Clay Elite Studio Partner.

FAQ

SERP APIs, answered

How many SERP APIs are in this directory?

6, chosen by what each one returns rather than by hand, and each with its own review carrying the price, the rate limit and the auth method read from the vendor's own pages.

Which SERP APIs have a free tier?

Bright Data, ScrapingBee, Serper and SerpApi. What each free tier includes differs a lot, so the review says what you actually get.

How are SERP APIs billed?

5 of the 6 publish a per-unit rate; the rest sell a plan, quote on request or price in another currency, and each review says which.

Which ones ship an MCP server?

Bright Data, ScrapingBee, SerpApi and DataForSEO. The ones the directory reviews live on the MCP page with the connect details.

What is SERP API used for?

Mostly rank tracking, keyword research and competitive monitoring: running a query on a search engine and recording what came back. In a GTM pipeline it also finds the companies that rank for a phrase, which is a list nobody sells.

Is there still an official Google SERP API?

Not for a new customer. Google's Custom Search JSON API is closed to new customers and ends for existing ones on January 1, 2027, and its replacement, Agent Search, searches your own data and named sites rather than the open web.

What does SERP API mean?

SERP stands for search engine results page, so a SERP API is an API that returns that page as structured data. The phrase is also the name of one vendor, SerpApi, which sells one of the SERP APIs reviewed here.

Can a SERP API return more than 10 results?

Yes, at a price. DataForSEO bills a 100-result request as 10 SERPs, so $0.006 on its standard queue, and on SerpApi each further page is another search against the plan.

Which SERP API is cheapest at high volume?

Per 1,000, DataForSEO's standard queue at $0.60, or Serper's Ultimate pack at $0.30, which needs its 12.5 million queries used inside six months to earn that rate.

Is it legal to use a SERP API?

This directory does not give legal advice. The provider's terms cover your use of the provider and the search engine's terms cover the results page, so read both. Google closed its own results API to new customers, so every working option on this page is a third party's.