2026-11-11, SERP API · Google · Rank Tracking

SerpApi alternatives: 7 SERP APIs compared on price

SerpApi’s entry plan is $25 a month for 1,000 searches, $25 per 1,000 Google searches. Six of the alternatives below list between $0.60 and $4.00 per 1,000 at their entry volume; AnswerLine is the seventh. Several return AI assistant answers that SerpApi does not list, such as ChatGPT and Perplexity. SerpApi still has the widest catalog: well over a hundred APIs, from Google verticals to Amazon and app stores.

Every competitor fact comes from the vendor’s own page, linked and checked 2026-11-11. “Not documented” means not found on those pages on that date.

Comparison table

“Google, per 1,000 at entry” is the cheapest paid option that includes Google web search, divided down to 1,000 searches.

Entry prices hide how each one scales. SerpApi’s rate falls to $7.25 per 1,000 at 100,000 searches a month. Serper’s largest pack is $0.30 per 1,000. For monthly bills at 10k, 100k and 1M searches, see the cheapest SERP API breakdown.

Why teams look for a SerpApi alternative

From SerpApi’s own pages, checked 2026-11-11:

• Price at low and mid volume. $25 per 1,000 on Starter, $15 on Developer, $10 on Production (pricing).
• Hourly throughput. Each plan caps searches per hour: 200 on Starter, 1,000 on Developer, 20,000 on Searcher.
• A second request for some AI Overviews. When Google loads the overview separately, SerpApi returns a page_token that “will expire within 1 minute of the search” (AI Overview docs). The page does not say whether that follow-up counts as a search.
• No ChatGPT or Perplexity. Its API directory lists a Google Gemini API and a Bing Copilot API, and neither of the other two.
• Polling for bulk work. async=true submits a search, and you collect it later from the Searches Archive API. The docs mention no webhooks (Search API docs).

The alternatives, one by one

DataForSEO

Pay as you go with no subscription. Google Organic costs $0.60 per 1,000 SERPs in the standard queue (about 5 minutes on average), $1.20 in the priority queue (up to 1 minute) and $2.00 live (up to 6 seconds) (pricing). The minimum top-up is $50, and the balance never expires (pricing). Up to 100 tasks go in one POST, with results pushed to a postback_url or announced at a pingback_url (task_post docs). Its LLM Scraper returns ChatGPT and Gemini answers; the pricing page says “only ChatGPT and Gemini are supported” (LLM Scraper pricing). All checked 2026-11-11.

Best for scheduled rank tracking that can wait minutes, and teams that also want keyword and backlink data on one balance. See DataForSEO vs SerpApi for a head-to-head.

SearchApi

The closest match to SerpApi’s model: a GET request per search and monthly plans, from $40 for 10,000 searches down to $1.00 per 1,000 on Octo 5M. Only searches returning 200 are billed, and usage is capped at 20% of plan credits per hour (pricing). It lists ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Bing Copilot APIs next to Google AI Overview and AI Mode, but publishes no separate price for them. Its homepage mentions no async jobs or webhooks (searchapi.io). Checked 2026-11-11.

Best for SerpApi users who want the same request style at a lower per-search price, plus AI assistant engines.

Serper

Prepaid packs: $50 for 50,000 credits ($1.00 per 1,000), down to $3,750 for 12.5M ($0.30). Credits are valid 6 months, and rate limits run from 50 to 300 queries per second by pack. It claims results in 1 to 2 seconds and gives 2,500 free queries (serper.dev, checked 2026-11-11). It covers Google only, and its site does not mention AI Overview, async jobs or webhooks.

Best for agents and enrichment jobs that need fast organic Google results and no SERP features.

Bright Data

$1.50 per 1,000 requests pay as you go, or $499 a month for 380K on Scale, billing only successful requests, with 5K free requests a month (pricing). Its SERP page lists 195 countries with city-level targeting, brd_ai_overview=2 for AI Overviews, and an async mode whose results are usually ready in about 5 minutes, and up to 8 hours at peak (SERP API). ChatGPT, Gemini and AI Mode are separate scrapers billed per record; its docs mark the Perplexity and Grok scrapers unavailable (AI scrapers docs). Checked 2026-11-11.

Best for teams already buying other Bright Data collection, or that need many countries and cities.

Oxylabs

Monthly plans from $15. Google costs $1.00 per 1,000 results without JavaScript rendering and $1.35 with it at entry, falling to $0.50 and $0.90 at the largest tiers (pricing). Its AI Overview docs ask for render: "html" “to maximize the chance of receiving fully rendered AI Overviews content” (docs), so budget at the rendered rate. A batch takes up to 5,000 queries with a callback_url (push-pull docs). ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and AI Mode are listed at $1.50 per 1,000 results at entry. Checked 2026-11-11.

Best for teams that scrape Google next to e-commerce and other sites and want one vendor with callbacks.

Scrape.do

A Google search costs 10 credits, so Hobby ($29, 250,000 credits) is about $1.16 per 1,000 and Advanced ($699, 10M credits) $0.70 (pricing). A deferred AI Overview costs a 5-credit follow-up (Google search docs). The Async API takes a WebhookURL, with 30% of the plan’s concurrency (async docs). Its ChatGPT scraper costs 25 credits a call and documents no country parameter (ChatGPT scraper). Failed calls cost nothing. Checked 2026-11-11.

Best for cost-sensitive teams that want parsed Google with AI Overview and some assistant coverage on a monthly plan.

AnswerLine

AnswerLine returns Google Search (with the AI Overview), Google AI Mode, Google News, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot and Grok under one key and one prepaid USD balance, topped up from $1. A Google Search request is $1.00–$1.50 per 1,000 across tiers; the AI Overview adds $0.71 per 1,000 and is charged only when Google shows one, in the same request as the organic results. Each results page after the first adds $0.00071. A synchronous call costs the same as an async task. Batches take up to 500 tasks, each with an idempotency key and a signed webhook, and a failed request is not charged (billing). Google Search takes a city through location or uule. ChatGPT and Gemini answer from inside a requested US state (50 states and DC); the other engines accept state and answer for the whole US.

It covers fewer search engines: no Bing, Baidu, Yandex, Maps, Shopping or Scholar endpoints, and Google depth stops at 10 pages.

Best for products that report Google rankings and AI assistant answers side by side, such as AI visibility tools and agencies. The SerpApi comparison maps SerpApi’s parameters and AI Overview fields to AnswerLine’s.

Where SerpApi is still the better pick

• Breadth. Baidu, Yandex, DuckDuckGo, Amazon, Walmart, eBay, the app stores and dozens of Google verticals sit behind one key. Only SearchApi comes close on this list.
• Repeated searches. A cached search is free and not counted, for up to an hour after the first one (Search API docs, checked 2026-11-11).
• Speed modes. Ludicrous Speed at 2x and 4x the base price, for latency-sensitive work (pricing, checked 2026-11-11).

How to choose

1. List the engines and SERP features your product shows. That removes vendors faster than price does.
2. Pick a latency tier. A nightly job can use a queue; an interactive lookup needs live results.
3. Price the exact request at your volume, with extra pages and AI Overview included.
4. Check webhooks and throughput caps against your largest daily job.
5. Run 500 of your own keywords through two free tiers and compare fields and billing.

For a wider field of ten vendors, see the best SERP APIs. For AnswerLine’s Google response and prices, see the Google Search engine page.

SerpApi is a trademark of its owner. AnswerLine is not affiliated with or endorsed by SerpApi.

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