SearchApi vs Serper (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, SearchApi and Serper 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 features, where SearchApi grades higher, or value for money, where Serper does.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 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.
SearchApi
Real-time SERP API for Google, AI answers and dozens of other sites
Serper
Google search results API sold in prepaid credit packs
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 Serper if
- Fits if you only need Google and would rather pay per query than per month
- Works for AI agents on LangChain or CrewAI that need current Google results
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you need Bing, Yahoo or any engine other than Google
- Watch out: credits expire 6 months after purchase, so a big pack you don't use up is money lost
- Tight if you're testing, as the 2,500 free queries come once and there's no monthly free plan
- Watch out: refunds run 7 days from the first payment, and only with under 20% of the credits used
How we grade them
| 2.4GPASearchApiFair | 2.4GPASerperFair | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | B$50 buys 50,000 Google queries, $1 per 1,000, one of the lowest 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 6 months. |
| Free plan and trial | CNo free plan: 100 free requests on sign-up with no card, and then you're paying. | CNo free plan, but 2,500 free queries with no card. They're a one-off, not a monthly allowance. |
| 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. | CTen Google result types, from web and maps to Scholar, patents and autocomplete, fetched live with country and language set. Google only, though: no Bing, Yahoo or other engine, which the listing itself points out. |
| 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: most results in 1 to 2 seconds and 2,500 free queries to test with. No rating on record, and no client libraries named. |
| 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 and listed integrations with LangChain, CrewAI, Haystack and Jan AI. No desktop or phone app, so B is the top. |
| Best for | Google and AI answer engines from one API | live Google results on prepaid credits |
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 Serper. How we grade
Where they differ
At a glance
| SearchApi | Serper | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free trial |
| Starts at | $40 per month for 10,000 searches, billed monthly | $50 one-time for 50,000 credits ($1.00 per 1,000 queries) |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | 100 free requests on sign-up, no credit card required | 2,500 free queries, no credit card required |
| Web | ||
| Made by | SearchApi, LLC | Serper.dev |
| Price read from | searchapi.io | serper.dev |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 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.
Serper
- Its site lists Google endpoints only, with no Bing, Yahoo or other search engines.
- Credits expire 6 months after purchase, so a large pack bought for a lower rate can go unused.
- Refunds are given within 7 days of the first payment only if less than 20% of the credits are used.
- The 2,500 free queries are a one-time allowance, not a monthly free plan.
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.
Serper
- Ten Google result types
- Endpoints for Google web search, images, news, maps, places, videos, shopping, Scholar, patents and autocomplete.
- Live results
- Each call queries Google directly and nothing is cached; most results return in 1 to 2 seconds, sometimes 2 to 4 when a request is retried.
- Location and language
- Every pack lets you set the country and language a search is run from.
- Rate limits by pack
- From 50 queries a second on Starter to 300 on Ultimate, which Serper says is roughly 15,000 to 18,000 searches a minute.
- Charged on success
- Credits are deducted only for successful responses, and the API stops taking queries when the balance reaches zero.
- AI framework integrations
- Listed integrations with LangChain, CrewAI, Haystack and Jan AI for feeding search results to AI agents and chatbots.
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.
Serper
Starter$50
one-time for 50,000 credits, valid for 6 months
50,000 queries at $1.00 per 1,000, up to 50 queries a second. Prices exclude sales tax or VAT.
Standard$375
one-time for 500,000 credits, valid for 6 months
500,000 queries at $0.75 per 1,000, up to 100 queries a second.
Scale$1,250
one-time for 2.5 million credits, valid for 6 months
2.5 million queries at $0.50 per 1,000, up to 200 queries a second.
Ultimate$3,750
one-time for 12.5 million credits, valid for 6 months
12.5 million queries at $0.30 per 1,000, up to 300 queries a second; a higher limit can be arranged.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, SearchApi or Serper?
As of Oct 23, 2026, SearchApi starts at $40 per month for 10,000 searches, billed monthly, and Serper starts at $50 one-time for 50,000 credits ($1.00 per 1,000 queries).
Which has a free plan, SearchApi or Serper?
As of Oct 23, 2026, neither SearchApi nor Serper 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.