Bright Data SERP API vs SerpApi (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Bright Data SERP API if

• Fits if you already buy Bright Data proxies or scrapers and want search data on the same account
• Works for rank checks across many countries and cities that can wait for async batches

Look elsewhere if

• Pricey if you want a plan, as the cheapest is $499 a month for 380,000 requests
• Skip it if you need SSO, volume discounts or a premium SLA without a sales call, as all three are Enterprise only
• Watch out: proxies, scrapers, datasets and the Unlocker API are separate products with their own prices
• Watch out: the Ultra Fast endpoint, with results in about a second, is sold only through sales

Pick SerpApi if

• Fits if you need Google AI Overviews, AI Mode and other engines in one response format
• Works for low volumes that fit in 250 free searches or 1,000 paid ones a month

Look elsewhere if

• Pricey if you search in volume, at $25 per 1,000 on Starter where Serper charges $1
• Tight if you're on Free, with 250 searches a month and at most 50 an hour
• Skip it if you want the U.S. Legal Shield on a small plan, as it starts on Production at $150 a month
• Watch out: plans are month to month, and yearly billing is only set up by request
• Watch out: Ludicrous Speed costs twice the price, and refunds stop after 7 days or 20% of a plan's searches

Bright Data SERP API

• Pay as you go is $1.50 per 1,000 requests with monthly spend limits; Scale plans lower the rate to $1.30, $1.10 or $1 per 1,000.
• Every API call counts as a request; in async mode only sending the request is counted.
• Volume discounts, SSO and the premium SLA come only with the custom-priced Enterprise plan.
• Proxies, web scrapers, datasets and the Unlocker API are separate Bright Data products, each with its own prices.

SerpApi

• Plans are month to month; the FAQ says yearly billing can only be set up by request while an official yearly plan is in the works.
• The U.S. Legal Shield is not included on the Free, Starter or Developer plans.
• Bigger self-serve plans run from Searcher at $725 for 100,000 searches a month to Cloud plans of 1 million searches and up from $3,750.
• Refunds are offered within 7 days of subscribing, unless more than 20% of the plan's searches have been used.

Bright Data SERP API

Seven search engines

Google on all its country domains, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Yandex, Baidu, Yahoo and Naver, with search, shopping, maps, hotels, images, trends, reviews, news, flights, ads, videos and jobs.

Answer engines

The playground queries ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Grok and Microsoft Copilot, and a parameter makes Google AI Overviews more likely to appear in results.

Location and device targeting

Results from any of 195 countries with city-level targeting, desktop or mobile user agents and a choice of browser.

Async batch mode

For large batches only sending the request is billed; responses are kept for 48 hours, usually ready in 5 minutes, and can be downloaded again at no charge.

Output formats

Parsed JSON for applications, Markdown for AI models and agents, or raw HTML for your own parsing.

Fast SERP

A Fast Parser returns only Google's top 10 results with lower latency, and an Ultra Fast endpoint, sold through sales, returns Google and Bing results in about a second.

SerpApi

Google and many other engines

Endpoints for Google Search, AI Mode, AI Overview, Maps, Shopping, Scholar, Trends, Flights and Hotels, plus Bing, DuckDuckGo, Yahoo, Yandex, Baidu, Naver, YouTube, Amazon, eBay and Walmart.

Full browser and CAPTCHA solving

Each request runs immediately in a full browser through a proxy near the chosen location, and results come back as JSON or Markdown.

Only successful searches counted

Cached, errored and failed searches do not count against the monthly allowance, and a response with 100 results counts as one search.

Ludicrous Speed

An option on every paid plan that sends parallel requests for faster responses, at twice the price; Ludicrous Speed Max is four times the price.

U.S. Legal Shield

From the Production plan up, SerpApi says it takes on liability for the lawful collection of public search data, with up to $2 million in coverage.

Teams and client libraries

Unlimited team members with admin, developer, billing and viewer roles, and libraries for Python, JavaScript, Ruby, Go, PHP, Java, Rust and .NET, plus an MCP server.

Bright Data SERP API

• Free Tier$0

  5,000 requests a month with expert support.

• Scale 380K$499

  per month for 380,000 requests

  Extra requests at $1.30 per 1,000, unlimited concurrency, cancel anytime.

• Scale 900K$999

  per month for 900,000 requests

  Extra requests at $1.10 per 1,000, unlimited concurrency.

• Scale 2M$1,999

  per month for 2 million requests

  Extra requests at $1 per 1,000, unlimited concurrency.

• EnterpriseCustom

  Volume discounts, an account manager, a premium SLA, priority support and SSO. Sold through sales.

SerpApi

• Free$0

  250 searches a month with a throughput of 50 an hour.

• Starter$25

  per month for 1,000 searches, billed monthly

  Throughput of 200 successful searches an hour. No U.S. Legal Shield.

• Developer$75

  per month for 5,000 searches, billed monthly

  Throughput of 1,000 successful searches an hour. No U.S. Legal Shield.

• Production$150

  per month for 15,000 searches, billed monthly

  Throughput of 3,000 an hour, and the U.S. Legal Shield with up to $2 million in coverage.

• Big Data$275

  per month for 30,000 searches, billed monthly

  Throughput of 6,000 an hour, with the U.S. Legal Shield.

• EnterpriseCustom

  Custom volume and throughput, ZeroTrace mode, which stores no search data, and priority support. Sold through sales.

Bright Data SERP API

• Other savings

  First deposit matched up to $500

  Bright Data's SERP API pricing says it matches a new account's first deposit dollar for dollar, up to $500.

• Startups

  Up to $20,000 in credits for AI startups

  The AI Startup Program offers up to $20,000 in platform credits to AI startups from pre-seed to Series A, after an application and a call.

SerpApi

• Education

  Special pricing for students and educators

  SerpApi's FAQ says universities, students and educators can email about their project and budget to arrange special pricing.