Scavio vs SerpApi (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Scavio if

• Fits if you're moving code off Google's Custom Search JSON API
• Works for AI agents that need Google results and social data from one API

Look elsewhere if

• Pricey if you search in volume, at about $3.43 per 1,000 on Project, or $10 per 1,000 paying as you go
• Skip it if you need Bing or another engine, as Google is the only search engine listed
• Tight if your usage swings, since credits refresh monthly and don't roll over, even on yearly billing
• Watch out: yearly plans can only be downgraded or cancelled when the paid year ends
• Tight if you're testing, with 50 free credits that never renew

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

Scavio

• A Google search costs 1 credit; heavier requests, such as a Reddit post with its full comment tree, cost 2.
• The 50 free credits are a one-time allowance and do not renew.
• Plan credits refresh monthly and do not roll over, even on yearly billing.
• Yearly plans can only be downgraded or cancelled at the end of the year paid for.

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.

Scavio

Google Search API

Returns organic results, ads, the knowledge graph, AI Overview, related questions and more, by device, country, language and Google domain.

Custom Search compatible endpoint

A drop-in endpoint takes the same parameters and returns the same items list as Google's Custom Search JSON API, for moving existing code.

Other Google surfaces

Separate endpoints for Google Maps, News, Shopping, Flights and Hotels.

Social, shopping and travel sites

YouTube, Reddit, TikTok, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, Amazon, Walmart, eBay, Etsy, Zillow, Airbnb, Booking.com, Yelp, Indeed and more on the same key.

Agent frameworks and MCP

Integrations for MCP, LangChain, OpenAI Agents, Vercel AI SDK, CrewAI, Google ADK, Pydantic AI, Composio and n8n, plus Python and JavaScript SDKs.

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.

Scavio

• Project$24

  per month for 7,000 credits, billed yearly ($30 billed monthly)

  5 requests a second and email support, at about $0.0034 a credit. Unused credits do not roll over.

• Pay As You Go$25

  one-time for 2,500 credits, used as you go

  Credits at $0.01 each with a 2,500-credit minimum purchase and no commitment.

• Bootstrap$79

  per month for 28,000 credits, billed yearly ($100 billed monthly)

  10 requests a second and email support, at about $0.0028 a credit.

• Startup$199

  per month for 85,000 credits, billed yearly ($250 billed monthly)

  15 requests a second and priority support, at about $0.0023 a credit.

• Growth$399

  per month for 200,000 credits, billed yearly ($500 billed monthly)

  50 requests a second and priority support, at about $0.0020 a credit.

• EnterpriseCustom

  Custom credits and rate limits with a dedicated account manager. 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.

Scavio

• Annual discount

  Save about 20% with yearly billing

  Scavio's pricing page lists yearly billing at about 20% less: Project is $24 a month ($288 a year) instead of $30 month to month.

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.