Test
10,000 searches
$7.50
$0.75/1K searches
- Try every engine on your real queries
- Same API as the biggest pack
- Credits never expire
Quick answer
What is the best SERP API in 2026?
There is no single best SERP API; the right one depends on volume, engines and how you pay. On 22 October 2026: SerpCrypto for crypto payment, no KYC and credits that never expire ($0.75/1K searches down to $0.30/1K searches); Serper for low-cost Google results at large volume ($1.00 to $0.30 per 1,000); SerpApi for the widest engine list and legal coverage; DataForSEO for delayed bulk data at $0.60 per 1,000.
The 10 best SERP APIs in 2026
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A SERP API for developers and AI agents, sold as prepaid credits that never expire, paid in crypto with no KYC. One credit per successful search on 6 engines.
Pros
- Credits never expire
- Same price on every engine
- Tool definitions for MCP, LangChain and OpenAI
Cons
- No free tier
- 6 engines; no Google AI Mode
- No legal coverage offered
-
A Google-focused SERP API with low list prices that fall with volume, and 2,500 free queries without a card.
Pros
- Low price at volume
- 2,500 free queries, no card
- Among the fastest in Proxyway's March 2026 test
Cons
- Credits expire 6 months after purchase
- Cards and PayPal only
-
The best-known SERP API, with a long list of engines including Google AI Mode, hourly throughput guarantees and a U.S. Legal Shield on larger plans.
Pros
- Widest engine coverage
- U.S. Legal Shield up to $2 million from Production
- 250 free searches a month
Cons
- Monthly plans reset unused searches
- Highest price per search at small volumes
-
Pay-as-you-go SERP data for SEO tools, with a low price for queued results and funds that never expire.
Pros
- Low queued price
- Funds never expire
- Billing per 10 results documented since September 2025
Cons
- Live results cost $2.00 per 1,000
- $50 minimum payment
-
5
Scrapingdog
A scraping API with a Google endpoint whose price per search falls steeply on large plans.
Pros
- Low price at 1 million a month and above
- Credits roll over from the Standard plan up
Cons
- 5 or 10 credits per Google search, depending on the request type
- Lite plan credits end with the cycle
-
6
Decodo Web Data API
A general web data API from a proxy provider, with a
/searchendpoint for Google and self-serve crypto payment.Pros
- Crypto accepted
- Low price on large plans
Cons
- Monthly plans
- Coins and processor not named on the pricing page
-
7
Bright Data SERP API
An enterprise-grade SERP API with pay-as-you-go pricing and a recurring free tier.
Pros
- 5,000 free requests every month
- Pay as you go
Cons
- States that it does not accept crypto
-
8
Oxylabs Web Scraper API
A large provider's scraping API with Google support and some of the fastest median response times in an independent 2026 test.
Pros
- Among the fastest in Proxyway's March 2026 test
- Clear plan ladder
Cons
- KYC for everyone
- No crypto
- $1.35 per 1,000 with JavaScript rendering on Starter
-
9
SearchApi
A SERP API with many engines and a dedicated rank tracking API since Google stopped serving 100 results per page.
Pros
- Wide engine list
- Legal-liability coverage advertised on mid and upper plans
Cons
- Higher entry price than Google-only APIs
-
10
Scrapeless
A scraping platform with a pay-as-you-go Google endpoint and crypto payment.
Pros
- Crypto accepted
- No KYC on basic packages
Cons
- Unused monthly minimum is not kept
- Coins not named on the pricing page
Disclosure: this page is published by SerpCrypto. Competitor details come from their public websites at the date shown above and may have changed since.
How do I choose a SERP API?
Start from the job, then compare price. Five questions settle most choices:
- How many searches a month, and how steady? Steady, large volumes favour monthly plans with low unit prices. Uneven volumes favour credits that do not expire.
- Do you need results now or in a few minutes? Queued results cost less: DataForSEO lists $0.60 per 1,000 queued and $2.00 live.
- Which engines? Google-only APIs are cheaper. Broad catalogues such as SerpApi and SearchApi cover many more engines.
- How will you pay? Most providers take cards only. Decodo, Scrapeless and SerpCrypto state crypto payment; DataForSEO takes Bitcoin on request.
- What checks will you accept? Oxylabs runs a KYC questionnaire for every customer; SerpCrypto asks for no ID at all.
Whatever you pick, test your 50 most important queries for a day before moving production traffic.
Which SERP APIs are fastest?
We do not publish our own speed figures until we have measured them on a public sample. The most-cited independent test is Proxyway's search API report of 4 March 2026: 15 services, three rounds of 2,000 requests in mid-January 2026. It found Oxylabs and Serper the fastest live SERP APIs, at a median of about 0.6 to 0.7 seconds.
Vendor-run tests disagree with each other, and most rank their own API first. Treat any speed claim, including future ones from us, as a starting point for your own test.
What changed for SERP APIs in 2025 and 2026?
Three changes affect every provider on this list. Google stopped honouring num=100 around 10 to 14 September 2025, so 100 results now take 10 searches. Google started routing result links through a /goto redirect, which it confirmed on 26 August 2026. And since about 11 September 2026, rank-tracking vendors have reported wide blocks and altered results pages; Nozzle measured 8.0% of pages affected.
The official alternatives are closing too: Microsoft retired the Bing Search APIs on 11 August 2025, and Google's Custom Search JSON API ends on 1 January 2027. Our guide to Google's num=100 change and legal overview give the dated details.
What does SerpCrypto cost?
Prepaid credits, one per successful search on any of the 6 engines, never expiring. Prices set on 22 October 2026.
Build
100,000 searches
$56.25
$0.56/1K searches
- Daily rank tracking for 3,300 keywords
- One page per keyword per day for a month
- Credits never expire
Volume
1,000,000 searches
$375
$0.38/1K searches
- Large keyword sets and datasets
- Higher concurrency on request
- Credits never expire
Best rate
Bulk
5,000,000 searches
$1,500
$0.30/1K searches
- Search data at research scale
- Higher concurrency on request
- Credits never expire
In every plan: Every engine at 1 credit per search · Failed requests not charged · Credits never expire · Country, language, city and device targeting
Best SERP API: common questions
Which SERP API is the most affordable?
It depends on volume. On 22 October 2026, DataForSEO's standard queue listed $0.60 per 1,000 for delayed results; for live results, Serper and Scrapeless listed $1.00 at 10,000 a month and Scrapingdog $0.35 at 1 million. The price index has 19 providers.
Which SERP API has a free tier?
Bright Data gives 5,000 requests a month, SerpApi 250 a month and Serper 2,500 once, without a card. SerpCrypto has no free tier; its smallest pack is 10,000 searches for $7.50.
Which SERP APIs accept crypto?
Decodo and Scrapeless state self-serve crypto payment, DataForSEO takes Bitcoin on request, and SerpCrypto takes BTC, USDT, USDC, ETH, SOL, LTC. Bright Data and Oxylabs state that they do not accept crypto.
Is this ranking independent?
No. It is published by SerpCrypto, which is ranked first. Every provider is described from its own public pages, read on 22 October 2026, with the same criteria, and each entry lists what that provider does better. Proxyway's March 2026 report is a widely cited independent test.
Which SERP API is best for AI agents?
One that returns compact JSON and has ready tool definitions. See our separate ranking of search APIs for AI agents, which also covers AI search APIs such as Tavily, Exa and Brave.
Sources (12)
- Search APIs 2026 report — Proxyway (2026-03-04)
- SerpApi pricing serpapi.com/pricing — SerpApi (read 2026-10-22)
- Serper serper.dev — Serper (read 2026-10-22)
- SERP API pricing dataforseo.com/apis/serp-api/pricing — DataForSEO (read 2026-10-22)
- Pricing scrapingdog.com/pricing — Scrapingdog (read 2026-10-22)
- Pricing decodo.com/pricing — Decodo (read 2026-10-22)
- SERP API pricing — Bright Data (read 2026-10-22)
- Web Scraper API pricing oxylabs.io/pricing/web-scraper-api — Oxylabs (read 2026-10-22)
- KYC and safety oxylabs.io/kyc-and-safety — Oxylabs (read 2026-10-22)
- Pricing searchapi.io/pricing — SearchApi (read 2026-10-22)
- Pricing scrapeless.com/en/pricing — Scrapeless (read 2026-10-22)
- Google feeds rank trackers swapped results on 8% of pages, Nozzle finds — PPC Land (2026-10-19)