Skip to content
ToolGPA

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

As of Oct 23, 2026, SearchApi and SerpApi share a 2.4 GPA, and only SerpApi has a free plan.

Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA

They get the same grade on all five counts.

Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.

SearchApi

Real-time SERP API for Google, AI answers and dozens of other sites

Free trial · from $40/mo
Full detailssearchapi.io

SerpApi

Real-time search results API for Google and dozens of other engines

Free plan · from $25/mo
Full detailsserpapi.com

Which one is for you

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

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

2.4GPASearchApiFair2.4GPASerpApiFair
Value for money
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.
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
CNo free plan: 100 free requests on sign-up with no card, and then you're paying.
CA free plan for good: 250 searches a month, at most 50 an hour. Enough to build against, not to run anything on.
Features
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.
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: plain GET requests, with examples in Python, Node, Ruby, Java, Go, PHP and C#. No rating on record.
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
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.
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 forGoogle and AI answer engines from one APIGoogle 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: SearchApi and SerpApi. How we grade

Price against what you get

SearchApi starts at $40 a month and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. SerpApi starts at $25 a month and scores 2.7.

They score the same, and SerpApi starts $15 a month lower. Of the other SERP and SEO data APIs on the chart, none scores higher than SearchApi for less, and none scores higher than SerpApi for less.

Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged

C2.0B3.0A4.0$2$5$10$20$50$100$200$500More for lessCosts more, scores moreCosts less, scores lessCosts more, scores lessSearchApiSerpApi

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
The full chart of SERP and SEO data APIs, and the best at every price

Where they differ

    In commonWebPublic APISERP API

    At a glance

    SearchApiSerpApi
    PricingFree trialFree plan
    Starts at$40 per month for 10,000 searches, billed monthly$25 per month for 1,000 searches, billed monthly
    Free planNone250 searches a month, up to 50 successful searches an hour. No U.S. Legal Shield.
    Free trial100 free requests on sign-up, no credit card requiredNone listed
    Web
    Made bySearchApi, LLCSerpApi, LLC
    Price read fromsearchapi.ioserpapi.com
    CheckedOct 23, 2026Oct 23, 2026

    Worth knowing

    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.

    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

    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.

    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

    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.

    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

    SearchApi

    No public discounts listed.

    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, SearchApi or SerpApi?

    As of Oct 23, 2026, SerpApi is cheaper to start with: $25 a month, against $40 a month for SearchApi. SearchApi starts at $40 per month for 10,000 searches, billed monthly, and SerpApi starts at $25 per month for 1,000 searches, billed monthly.

    Which has a free plan, SearchApi or SerpApi?

    As of Oct 23, 2026, only SerpApi has a free plan. SearchApi does not, though it has 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.
    How we review and grade