Scrape.do vs SerpApi (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 24, 2026, SerpApi grades higher than Scrape.do: 2.4 against 2.2 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 and Oct 24, 2026 by ToolGPA
Scrape.do grades higher on value for money. SerpApi grades higher on features and platforms. They get the same grade on the free plan and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Scrape.do
Web scraping API with ready-made Google and AI search scrapers
SerpApi
Real-time search results API for Google and dozens of other engines
Which one is for you
Pick Scrape.do if
- Fits if you track Google AI Overviews and AI Mode answers alongside ordinary results
- Works for developers who need Google, Amazon and Walmart data from one credit pool
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you need Bing or another engine, as Google is the only search engine listed
- Tight if your usage spikes, since requests stop when the month's credits run out unless you upgrade or buy more
- Watch out: yearly billing (10 months for 12) is set up through support, not at checkout
- Watch out: refunds are rare and limited to the first three days after a purchase
- Tight if you're on Free, with 1,000 credits a month, or 100 Google searches
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
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAScrape.doFair | 2.4GPASerpApiFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | BHobby is $29 a month for 250,000 credits, just under this category's middle, but at 10 credits a Google search that's 25,000 searches, about $1.16 per 1,000, at the low end of the $1 to $4 rivals here charge. Pro is $99 for 125,000 searches. | CStarter is $25 a month, on the line of this category's cheaper quarter, but it buys 1,000 searches: $25 per 1,000, where most rivals here charge $1 to $4. Developer is $75 for 5,000, still $15 per 1,000. |
| Free plan and trial | CA free plan for good with no card: 1,000 credits a month with every feature, residential and mobile proxies included. That's 100 Google searches, which go quickly. | CA free plan for good: 250 searches a month, at most 50 an hour. Enough to build against, not to run anything on. |
| Features | CGoogle Search with 15+ parsed sections including AI Overviews, an AI Mode endpoint, Maps, Shopping, News, Trends, Amazon, Walmart, YouTube, ChatGPT and Gemini, plus general scraping. For search, though, Google is the only engine in the listing. | BGoogle Search, AI Mode, AI Overviews, Maps, Shopping, Scholar and Trends, plus Bing, DuckDuckGo, Yahoo, Baidu, YouTube, Amazon and Walmart, each run in a full browser near the location you set. Nothing in the listing shows a gap in the core job. |
| Ease of use | CJudged on how fast a developer gets a first result: ready-made endpoints that return parsed JSON, and asynchronous jobs for long lists. No rating on record, and a request costs 1 to 25 credits by proxy and rendering. | CJudged on how fast a developer gets a first result: client libraries in eight languages, and cached or failed searches don't count against you. No rating on record. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWeb only, with an API and asynchronous jobs. The listing names no SDKs, integrations or MCP server. No desktop or phone app. | BWeb, with an API, libraries for Python, JavaScript, Ruby, Go, PHP, Java, Rust and .NET, and an MCP server. No desktop or phone app, so B is the top. |
| Best for | Google and AI search results as parsed JSON | Google plus many other engines from one key |
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: Scrape.do and SerpApi. How we grade
Price against what you get
Scrape.do starts at $29 a month and scores 2.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. SerpApi starts at $25 a month and scores 2.7.
SerpApi scores higher and starts $4 a month lower. Of the other SERP and SEO data APIs on the chart, 9 score higher than Scrape.do for less, and none scores higher than SerpApi for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
At a glance
| Scrape.do | SerpApi | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $29 per month for 250,000 successful API credits, billed monthly | $25 per month for 1,000 searches, billed monthly |
| Free plan | 1,000 successful API credits a month (100 Google searches) with 5 concurrent requests and every feature, including residential and mobile proxies. No card needed. | 250 searches a month, up to 50 successful searches an hour. No U.S. Legal Shield. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | PACKEND, LLC | SerpApi, LLC |
| Price read from | scrape.do | serpapi.com |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Scrape.do
- A basic datacenter request costs 1 credit and a residential request with JavaScript rendering 25; a Google search costs 10.
- Requests stop when the month's credits run out unless you upgrade or buy more. Failed requests are not charged.
- Annual billing (pay for 10 months, get 12) is set up by contacting support, not at checkout.
- Refunds are rare and limited to the first three days after a purchase.
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.
Key features
Scrape.do
- Anti-bot bypass
- Rotates proxies from a pool Scrape.do puts at 150 million IPs, varies headers, user agents and TLS fingerprints, and handles CAPTCHAs.
- Google Search API
- Returns 15+ parsed sections as JSON, including organic results, ads, knowledge graph, local pack, People Also Ask, top stories and AI Overviews.
- AI Mode endpoint
- A separate endpoint returns the full answer from Google's AI Mode; other ready-made APIs collect ChatGPT and Gemini responses.
- Ready-made scraper APIs
- Parsed JSON for Google Maps, Shopping, News, Trends, Flights, Hotels and Play Store, plus Amazon, Walmart and YouTube.
- Rendering and geo-targeting
- JavaScript rendering, scripted browser actions, sticky sessions and geo-targeting in more than 160 countries, with unlimited bandwidth.
- Asynchronous scraping
- Submit a list of target URLs as one job, get a job ID back at once and collect the results later, for background processing at scale.
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.
Plans
Scrape.do
Free$0
1,000 successful API credits a month and 5 concurrent requests, with every feature unlocked.
Hobby$29
per month for 250,000 successful API credits, billed monthly
10 concurrent requests and email support. Enough for 25,000 Google searches at 10 credits each.
Pro$99
per month for 1,250,000 successful API credits, billed monthly
50 concurrent requests and priority email support. Enough for 125,000 Google searches.
Business$249
per month for 3,500,000 successful API credits, billed monthly
100 concurrent requests, premium residential and mobile proxies, dedicated support and team management.
Advanced$699
per month for 10,000,000 successful API credits, billed monthly
200 concurrent requests, custom firewall bypass strategies, a custom SLA and a dedicated Slack support channel.
EnterpriseCustom
Unlimited credits and concurrency on infrastructure built around the target sites. 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.
Ways to pay less
Scrape.do
- Annual discount
Two months free with annual billing
Scrape.do's pricing FAQ says annual billing costs 10 months for 12 (Hobby is $290 a year) on every plan except Enterprise, arranged through support.
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.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Scrape.do or SerpApi?
As of Oct 23, 2026, SerpApi is cheaper to start with: $25 a month, against $29 a month for Scrape.do. Scrape.do starts at $29 per month for 250,000 successful API credits, billed monthly, and SerpApi starts at $25 per month for 1,000 searches, billed monthly.
Which has a free plan, Scrape.do or SerpApi?
As of Oct 23, 2026, both Scrape.do and SerpApi have a free plan.
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.