Autom vs SearchApi (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 24, 2026, Autom and SearchApi share a 2.4 GPA, neither has a free plan and their prices can't be set side by side, so the choice depends on whether you care more about value for money, where Autom grades higher, or features, where SearchApi does.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 and Oct 24, 2026 by ToolGPA
They get the same grade on the free plan, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Autom
SERP API for Google, Bing, Brave and Perplexity, one credit each
SearchApi
Real-time SERP API for Google, AI answers and dozens of other sites
Which one is for you
Pick Autom if
- Fits if you want Google, Bing, Brave and Perplexity at the same price per request
- Works for high-volume rank tracking that needs 50 to 300 requests a second
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you need DuckDuckGo, Yandex or another engine, which only sit on its public roadmap
- Tight if you're testing, as the smallest pack is $50 once the 1,000 free requests are gone
- Watch out: credits expire a year after purchase, and queries stop when the balance reaches zero
- Watch out: refunds come only within 7 days of a first purchase, with no more than 20% of the credits used
Pick SearchApi if
- Fits if you need Google results and ChatGPT or Perplexity answers in the same format
- Works for teams watching ads in the Google, Meta, LinkedIn, Reddit and TikTok libraries
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if your jobs come in bursts, since any one hour can use only 20% of the month's searches
- Pricey if you need answers faster, as enhanced speed doubles the price of every plan
- Skip it if you need team management or the legal guarantee for $40, as both start at $100
- Not for you if you want a free plan that renews, since the 100 requests come once
How we grade them
| 2.4GPAAutomFair | 2.4GPASearchApiFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | B$50 buys 50,000 requests, $1 per 1,000 on any engine, one of the lower rates in this category, and bigger packs fall to $0.30. The first spend is at the dear end of the usual $25 to $50, though, and the credits lapse after a year. | CDeveloper is $40 a month for 10,000 searches, $4 per 1,000, right at this category's middle. Enhanced speed doubles any plan, and the Legal Protection Guarantee needs Production at $100. |
| Free plan and trial | CNo free plan: 1,000 free requests on sign-up with no card. They're a one-off, not a monthly allowance. | CNo free plan: 100 free requests on sign-up with no card, and then you're paying. |
| Features | CGoogle web, image, news and local results, with Bing, Brave and Perplexity, targeted by country, language, city or neighborhood. The listing's own limit: those four engines are all it covers, and it names no Shopping or AI Overview results. | BGoogle with AI Overview, AI Mode, Maps, Shopping, Lens and Scholar, answers from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Copilot, plus Bing, Baidu, YouTube, Amazon and ad libraries, targeted down to coordinates. Nothing in the listing shows a gap in the core job. |
| Ease of use | CJudged on how fast a developer gets a first result: code samples in nine languages and support for Postman, Bruno and Insomnia. No rating on record. | CJudged on how fast a developer gets a first result: plain GET requests, with examples in Python, Node, Ruby, Java, Go, PHP and C#. No rating on record. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, with an API and Zapier, n8n, Power Automate and Postman. No desktop or phone app, so B is the top. | BWeb, with an API, code samples in many languages and an MCP server for AI assistants. No desktop or phone app, so B is the top. |
| Best for | Google, Bing, Brave and Perplexity on one price | Google and AI answer engines from one API |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Autom and SearchApi. How we grade
Where they differ
At a glance
| Autom | SearchApi | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free trial |
| Starts at | $50 one-time for 50,000 credits, valid 1 year | $40 per month for 10,000 searches, billed monthly |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | 1,000 free requests on sign-up, no card needed | 100 free requests on sign-up, no credit card required |
| Web | ||
| Made by | WebAPI Group SAS | SearchApi, LLC |
| Price read from | autom.dev | searchapi.io |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Autom
- Credits come in one-time packs, the smallest $50, that expire a year after purchase; queries stop when the balance reaches zero.
- Refunds are given within 7 days of the first purchase, as long as no more than 20% of the credits have been used.
- Only successful requests use credits; failed ones are free.
- Coverage is limited to search engines: Google, Bing, Brave and Perplexity; other engines go through its public roadmap.
SearchApi
- Each plan can use only 20% of its monthly searches in any one hour.
- The Legal Protection Guarantee and team management are not on the Developer plan.
- Enhanced speed doubles the price of any plan; larger plans run to Octo 2M at $2,800 and Octo 5M at $5,000 a month, with custom plans on request.
- The 100 free requests are a sign-up allowance; the pages do not describe an ongoing free plan.
Key features
Autom
- Google Search API
- Returns web, image, news and local results as JSON, with organic results, the knowledge graph, related searches and pagination.
- Bing, Brave and Perplexity
- Separate endpoints for Bing, Brave and Perplexity cost the same single credit per request as Google.
- Location targeting
- Set the country and language, or narrow a search to a city or neighborhood, to see results as local searchers do.
- Live results
- Every call queries the engine directly with no caching; Autom says most results come back in one to two seconds.
- High request rates
- Packs allow 50 to 300 requests a second, roughly 15,000 to 18,000 searches a minute at the top rate.
- No-code and API clients
- Works from Zapier, n8n and Power Automate, or from API clients such as Postman, Bruno and Insomnia, with code samples in nine languages.
SearchApi
- Google and its verticals
- Google Search, Light, AI Overview, AI Mode, Maps and reviews, Shopping, Flights, Hotels, News, Images, Lens, Jobs, Scholar, Trends and a rank tracking endpoint.
- AI answer engines
- Endpoints for ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Bing Copilot answers alongside the Google AI features.
- Other engines and sites
- Bing, Baidu, Yandex, DuckDuckGo, Yahoo, Naver, YouTube, Amazon, Walmart, eBay, TikTok, app stores, and Meta, LinkedIn, Reddit and TikTok ad libraries.
- Pay per success
- Only searches that return a 200 status code are charged, and requests run through premium proxies with location targeting down to coordinates.
- Legal Protection Guarantee
- From the Production plan up, SearchApi says it takes legal responsibility for how it collects and parses public results, with up to $2 million in coverage.
- Code samples and MCP
- Plain GET requests with examples in Python, Node, Ruby, Java, Go, PHP, C# and other languages, and an MCP server for AI assistants.
Plans
Autom
Starter$50
one-time for 50,000 credits, valid 1 year
$1.00 per 1,000 requests, 50 requests a second, location targeting and 90 days of logs.
Standard$375
one-time for 500,000 credits, valid 1 year
$0.75 per 1,000 requests and 100 requests a second.
Premium$1,250
one-time for 2,500,000 credits, valid 1 year
$0.50 per 1,000 requests and 200 requests a second.
Ultimate$3,750
one-time for 12,500,000 credits, valid 1 year
$0.30 per 1,000 requests and 300 requests a second, which can be raised on request.
SearchApi
Developer Plan$40
per month for 10,000 searches, billed monthly
$4 per 1,000 searches and a 99.9% SLA. Enhanced speed, with parallel threads, doubles the price to $80.
Production Plan$100
per month for 35,000 searches, billed monthly
$3 per 1,000 searches, team management and the Legal Protection Guarantee. $200 with enhanced speed.
BigData Plan$250
per month for 100,000 searches, billed monthly
$2.50 per 1,000 searches, with medium throughput. $500 with enhanced speed.
Scale Plan$500
per month for 250,000 searches, billed monthly
$2 per 1,000 searches, high throughput and search analytics. $1,000 with enhanced speed.
Octo 500K$900
per month for 500,000 searches, billed monthly
$1.80 per 1,000 searches, dedicated throughput and priority support. $1,800 with enhanced speed.
Octo 1M$1,500
per month for 1 million searches, billed monthly
$1.50 per 1,000 searches, dedicated throughput and priority support. $3,000 with enhanced speed.
Ways to pay less
Autom
- Startups
Startup Program discounts for 12 months
Autom's Startup Program gives early-stage companies under 3 years old discounted rates on paid plans for 12 months, with priority support.
SearchApi
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Autom or SearchApi?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Autom starts at $50 one-time for 50,000 credits, valid 1 year, and SearchApi starts at $40 per month for 10,000 searches, billed monthly.
Which has a free plan, Autom or SearchApi?
As of Oct 23, 2026, neither Autom nor SearchApi has a free plan. Both have a free trial.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.