Serper vs Tavily (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Serper and Tavily share a 2.4 GPA, and only Tavily has a free plan.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Serper grades higher on value for money. Tavily grades higher on features. 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.
Serper
Google search results API sold in prepaid credit packs
Tavily
Web search, extract and crawl API built for AI agents
Which one is for you
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
Pick Tavily if
- Fits if an agent needs web search results it can read
- Works for people who prefer pay as you go to a monthly bill
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free: 1,000 credits, and requests stop until the month resets
- Watch out: an advanced search takes 2 credits, so 4,000 credits may mean 2,000 searches
- Pricey if you scale: 100,000 credits is $500 a month on the slider
- Watch out: it is a developer API only, with no desktop or mobile app
How we grade them
| 2.4GPASerperFair | 2.4GPATavilyFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | 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. | C$30 a month for 4,000 credits, or $0.008 a credit pay as you go, in the middle of this category ($19 to $44.10). |
| Free plan and trial | CNo free plan, but 2,500 free queries with no card. They're a one-off, not a monthly allowance. | C1,000 API credits a month with no card, resetting monthly. Requests stop when they run out. |
| Features | 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. | BSearch, extract, crawl, map and a research endpoint, with request safeguards. Nothing in the listing shows a gap in the core job. |
| Ease of use | 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. | CNo store rating on record. It is an API key and code, or an agent connector. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, with an API and listed integrations with LangChain, CrewAI, Haystack and Jan AI. No desktop or phone app, so B is the top. | BWeb only, but it lists LangChain, Claude and Databricks. |
| Best for | live Google results on prepaid credits | web search and extraction for AI agents |
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: Serper and Tavily. How we grade
Where they differ
- Tavily also covers AI search, AI agents and research.
At a glance
| Serper | Tavily | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free plan |
| Starts at | $50 one-time for 50,000 credits ($1.00 per 1,000 queries) | $30 per month for 4,000 API credits |
| Free plan | None | Researcher plan: 1,000 API credits a month, no credit card required. Credits reset on the first of each month. |
| Free trial | 2,500 free queries, no credit card required | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Serper.dev | Tavily |
| Price read from | serper.dev | tavily.com |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
Tavily
- Cost depends on the call: advanced search takes 2 credits, so the entry plan's 4,000 credits may mean only 2,000 advanced searches.
- On the free plan, requests stop when the month's credits run out until they reset or you upgrade.
- It is a developer API with no desktop or mobile apps; use is through the dashboard, SDKs and HTTP calls.
- It is a general web search API, not an SEO tool: it has no rank tracking or keyword metrics.
Key features
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.
Tavily
- Search
- Returns web results for a query. A basic search costs 1 credit and an advanced search costs 2 credits.
- Extract
- Pulls page content from given URLs. Every 5 successful basic extractions cost 1 credit, and failed extractions are not charged.
- Crawl and map
- Crawl extracts content across a whole site, and map lists the URLs a site contains without extracting them.
- Research endpoint
- An agent endpoint for in-depth web research, listed beside search and extract in the product menu.
- Request safeguards
- The homepage says requests pass through layers that block PII leakage, prompt injection and malicious sources.
- Agent connectors
- Docs cover an MCP server, a command-line tool and a plugin for Claude Code, plus Python and JavaScript SDKs.
Plans
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.
Tavily
Researcher$0
1,000 API credits a month, email support, no card needed. Requests stop when credits run out.
Pay As You Go$0.008
per credit, billed as used
No monthly fee; pay per credit used and cancel anytime. Docs say it also covers usage past a plan's credit limit.
Project$30
per month for 4,000 API credits
Higher rate limits. The slider also offers 15,000 credits for $100, 38,000 for $220 and 100,000 for $500.
EnterpriseCustom
Custom credits and rate limits, enterprise support with SLAs, and enterprise security and privacy.
Ways to pay less
Serper
No public discounts listed.
Tavily
- Startups
100k free API credits for startups
The pricing page says startups in the program get 100,000 free API credits plus hands-on support from the team.
- Education
Free for students
The pricing page says Tavily offers its service at no cost to students.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Serper or Tavily?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Serper starts at $50 one-time for 50,000 credits ($1.00 per 1,000 queries), and Tavily starts at $30 per month for 4,000 API credits.
Which has a free plan, Serper or Tavily?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Tavily has a free plan. Serper 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.