SearchApi vs SerpWow (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, SearchApi grades higher than SerpWow: 2.4 against 2.2 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
SearchApi grades higher on value for money. They get the same grade on the free plan, features, 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
SerpWow
Multi-engine SERP API from Traject Data, now part of ScraperAPI
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 SerpWow if
- Fits if you need Google plus Bing, Yahoo, Yandex, Baidu or Naver from one provider
- Works for pipelines that want results pushed to a webhook or a cloud bucket
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you start small, at $155 a month billed monthly for 10,000 credits
- Tight if you want help getting set up, as premium support and onboarding start at BigData, $399
- Watch out: credits past the allowance cost $0.024 each on Starter
- Watch out: ScraperAPI bought Traject Data and says it is moving Traject's APIs onto its own infrastructure
- Not for you if you want to know the trial's size first, as its pages don't say
How we grade them
| 2.4GPASearchApiFair | 2.2GPASerpWowFair | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | DStarter is $125 a month on yearly billing ($155 monthly) for 10,000 credits, in this category's dearest tenth: $12.50 per 1,000, against $1 to $4 at most rivals. Traject Data's own Scale SERP starts at $29. |
| Free plan and trial | CNo free plan: 100 free requests on sign-up with no card, and then you're paying. | CNo free plan. There's a free trial, but its pages don't say how many searches it includes. |
| 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 web, AI Overviews, News, Trends, Images, Maps and Shopping on every Google domain down to postal code, plus Bing, Yahoo, Yandex, Baidu and Naver, with batches and webhook or cloud delivery. 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: JSON, CSV or HTML by API pull, webhook or cloud bucket. No rating on record, and concierge onboarding only starts at BigData. |
| 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, webhooks and delivery to Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage and Azure. No desktop or phone app, so B is the top. |
| Best for | Google and AI answer engines from one API | Google plus Bing, Yahoo and Baidu from one provider |
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 SerpWow. 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. SerpWow starts at $125 a month and scores 2.7.
They score the same, and SearchApi starts $85 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 SerpWow 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
| SearchApi | SerpWow | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free trial |
| Starts at | $40 per month for 10,000 searches, billed monthly | $125 per month for 10,000 credits, billed annually ($155 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | 100 free requests on sign-up, no credit card required | Free trial; the number of free searches is not stated |
| Web | ||
| Made by | SearchApi, LLC | Traject Data (ScraperAPI) |
| Price read from | searchapi.io | trajectdata.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.
SerpWow
- The cheapest plan is $155 a month billed monthly; Traject Data's Google-only Scale SERP starts at $29.
- Credits beyond a plan's allowance are charged, from $0.024 each on Starter.
- Premium technical support and concierge onboarding start at BigData; Starter has neither.
- Traject Data was acquired by ScraperAPI, which says it is moving Traject's APIs onto its own infrastructure.
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.
SerpWow
- Google verticals
- Web search, AI Overviews, News, Trends, Images, Videos, reverse image search, Maps listings and reviews, and Shopping and product data.
- Other search engines
- Its pages name Bing, Yahoo, Yandex, Baidu and Naver alongside Google, and also YouTube, Amazon and Reddit.
- Local targeting
- Every Google domain, localized by country, language, city, region or postal code, with mobile or desktop views.
- Batches
- Run hundreds or thousands of searches at once in batches; every plan allows up to 10,000 of them.
- Delivery options
- JSON, CSV or HTML by API pull, by webhook push, or straight to Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage or Azure.
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.
SerpWow
Starter$125
per month for 10,000 credits, billed annually ($155 billed monthly)
Extra credits cost $0.024 each; up to 10,000 batches.
BigData$399
per month for 50,000 credits, billed annually ($499 billed monthly)
Extra credits at $0.01996 each, premium technical support and concierge onboarding.
Volume$960
per month for 250,000 credits, billed annually ($1,200 billed monthly)
Extra credits at $0.0096 each, with premium support and onboarding.
Infrastructure$2,399
per month for 1M credits, billed annually ($2,999 billed monthly)
Extra credits at $0.005998 each, with premium support and onboarding.
Infrastructure XL$7,200
per month for 5M credits, billed annually ($9,000 billed monthly)
Extra credits at $0.0036 each, with premium support and onboarding. Larger custom plans through sales.
Ways to pay less
SearchApi
No public discounts listed.
SerpWow
- Annual discount
20% off with annual billing
SerpWow's pricing toggle takes 20% off for annual billing: Starter is $125 a month billed annually against $155 billed monthly.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, SearchApi or SerpWow?
As of Oct 23, 2026, SearchApi is cheaper to start with: $40 a month, against $125 a month for SerpWow. SearchApi starts at $40 per month for 10,000 searches, billed monthly, and SerpWow starts at $125 per month for 10,000 credits, billed annually ($155 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, SearchApi or SerpWow?
As of Oct 23, 2026, neither SearchApi nor SerpWow 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.