SearchApi vs Serpshot (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 24, 2026, SearchApi and Serpshot 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 Serpshot does.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 and Oct 24, 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
Serpshot
Google SERP API sold in one-time credit packs, no subscription
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 Serpshot if
- Fits if you need Google rankings for many keywords in many countries
- Works for irregular workloads that suit prepaid packs over a subscription
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you need Google News, Shopping, Maps or another engine, as only web and image search work today
- Watch out: a credit covers 10 results, so a 100-result search is 10 credits, times every keyword in a batch
- Tight if you buy big and use slowly, since credits expire 6 months after purchase and used ones aren't refunded
- Watch out: the pricing page's table lists different packs, Advanced at $175 and Ultimate at $500, from its pack cards
How we grade them
| 2.4GPASearchApiFair | 2.4GPASerpshotFair | |
|---|---|---|
| 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$19 buys 25,000 credits, valid 6 months, inside this category's cheaper quarter, at about $0.76 per 1,000 queries of 10 results; bigger packs fall to $0.20. A 100-result search costs 10 credits, though. |
| Free plan and trial | CNo free plan: 100 free requests on sign-up with no card, and then you're paying. | CNo free plan: 2,000 credits on sign-up 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. | CLive Google web and image results by country and language in 200+ markets, up to 100 results a keyword and 100 keywords a request. The gap is in the listing: news, shopping and maps are only planned, and no other engine is covered. |
| 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: an open-source Python SDK, docs in four languages and a public status page. 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, a Python SDK, and an MCP server and agent skill for Cursor, Claude Code and OpenClaw. No desktop or phone app, so B is the top. |
| Best for | Google and AI answer engines from one API | Google web results in prepaid packs |
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 Serpshot. How we grade
Where they differ
At a glance
| SearchApi | Serpshot | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free trial |
| Starts at | $40 per month for 10,000 searches, billed monthly | $19 one-time for 25,000 credits, valid 6 months |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | 100 free requests on sign-up, no credit card required | 2,000 free credits on sign-up, no card needed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | SearchApi, LLC | Serpshot |
| Price read from | searchapi.io | serpshot.com |
| 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.
Serpshot
- A credit covers 10 results, so a 100-result search costs 10 credits; a batch request multiplies that by its number of keywords.
- Only Google web and image search are supported; news, shopping and maps are listed as planned.
- Credits expire 6 months after purchase and are not refunded once used; failed requests are not charged.
- The pricing page's comparison table lists different packs (Advanced at $175 for 350,000 credits, Ultimate at $500) from the pack cards.
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.
Serpshot
- Google web and image search
- Each request fetches live Google results with no caching, typically in one to two seconds, and returns them as JSON.
- Localized results
- Set country and language for more than 200 countries and regions to see results as searchers there would.
- Batch keywords
- Send up to 100 keywords in one request and run up to 10 requests at once, for up to 1,000 keywords in parallel.
- Results per query
- Ask for up to 100 results per keyword; each 10 results requested, rounded up, uses one credit.
- MCP server and AI skill
- An MCP server and an agent skill let Cursor, Claude Code, OpenClaw and other MCP clients call Google search through Serpshot.
- Python SDK
- An open-source Python SDK on GitHub, plus a REST API documented in four languages and a public status page.
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.
Serpshot
Starter$19
one-time for 25,000 credits, valid 6 months
About $0.76 per 1,000 queries, 10 concurrent requests, up to 100 keywords per request and auto-refill.
Standard$65
one-time for 100,000 credits, valid 6 months
$0.65 per 1,000 queries, with email technical support.
Premium$199
one-time for 500,000 credits, valid 6 months
$0.40 per 1,000 queries, with priority support.
Ultimate$499
one-time for 2,500,000 credits, valid 6 months
$0.20 per 1,000 queries, with dedicated technical support. Larger volumes are quoted by email.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, SearchApi or Serpshot?
As of Oct 23, 2026, SearchApi starts at $40 per month for 10,000 searches, billed monthly, and Serpshot starts at $19 one-time for 25,000 credits, valid 6 months.
Which has a free plan, SearchApi or Serpshot?
As of Oct 23, 2026, neither SearchApi nor Serpshot 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.