Bing Search API Alternatives for Developers

Microsoft's Bing Search API is one of the oldest programmatic search options available. It's reliable, backed by a major tech company, and integrates cleanly with Azure services. But the pricing model — $3 per 1,000 transactions on the S1 tier — adds up fast at any real volume. Plus, the Azure dependency means more setup, more IAM configuration, and more billing complexity than most developers want.

If you're building AI agents, search-powered tools, or data pipelines that need web search results, there are better options. Here are 10 Bing Search API alternatives worth evaluating in 2025.

Key Takeaways

• Bing Search API charges $1-3 per 1,000 queries depending on the tier — expensive for high-volume use
• SearchHive SwiftSearch offers real-time web search at significantly lower per-query costs with a simpler API
• Several alternatives offer SERP-specific features like local results, news, and image search that Bing lacks
• Free tiers range from 100 to 1,000 queries/month across providers
• The best alternative depends on your volume, feature needs, and whether you need structured or raw results

1. SearchHive SwiftSearch

SearchHive's SwiftSearch API delivers real-time web search results with structured JSON output. It's designed for developers building AI agents, RAG pipelines, and search-powered applications.

• Pricing: Free tier with 100 searches/month, paid plans from $29/mo
• Per-query cost: Significantly cheaper than Bing at all volume tiers
• Features: Web search, news, image search, geotargeting, batch queries
• Best for: AI/LLM integrations, production search pipelines, developers who want simple REST APIs

from searchhive import SearchHive

client = SearchHive(api_key="sh_live_...")
results = client.search("best python web scraping libraries 2025", limit=10)

for result in results.data:
    print(f"{result['title']}")
    print(f"{result['url']}")
    print(f"{result['snippet'][:150]}...")
    print("---")

SwiftSearch returns clean, consistent JSON — no XML parsing, no complex response objects, no Azure SDK dependency.

2. SerpAPI

SerpAPI is one of the most popular SERP scraping APIs. It supports Google, Bing, YouTube, and many other search engines.

• Pricing: $50/mo for 5,000 searches, pay-as-you-go at higher tiers
• Per-query cost: ~$0.01 at 50k volume
• Features: Google, Bing, YouTube, Google Maps, Google Images
• Downside: Expensive at low volumes, Google-focused (Bing support is secondary)

3. Google Custom Search API

Google's official JSON API for programmatic search. Available through Google Cloud.

• Pricing: Free for 100 queries/day, then $5 per 1,000 queries
• Per-query cost: $5/1k (more expensive than Bing)
• Features: Web search, image search, custom search engines
• Downside: The most expensive option at scale, limited to custom search engine scope

4. Serper.dev

A lightweight Google search API focused on speed and simplicity.

• Pricing: $50/mo for 50,000 searches, free tier with 2,500
• Per-query cost: $0.001 at 50k volume
• Features: Google search, images, news, maps, knowledge graph
• Best for: High-volume Google SERP data at competitive pricing

5. Scale SERP API (Traject Data)

Now part of Traject Data, Scale SERP focuses on Google search results extraction.

• Pricing: From $23/mo for 1,000 searches, up to $4,999/mo for 5M
• Per-query cost: $0.002-$0.038 depending on volume
• Features: Google SERP, batch processing, structured results
• Downside: Google-only, no multi-engine support

See /blog/scaleserp-alternatives-cheaper-google-search-api for a deeper comparison of Scale SERP alternatives.

6. Brave Search API

Brave's privacy-focused search engine offers a clean JSON API.

• Pricing: Free tier with 2,000 queries/month, paid from $3/1,000
• Per-query cost: $3/1k on standard, $5/1k on pro
• Features: Web search, news, images, video, summaries
• Best for: Privacy-conscious applications, good free tier

7. Tavily Search API

Purpose-built for AI agents, Tavily returns search results optimized for LLM consumption.

• Pricing: Free tier with 1,000 searches, paid from $40/mo
• Per-query cost: ~$0.005-$0.04 depending on plan
• Features: AI-optimized results, answer extraction, image search
• Best for: AI/LLM applications that need search-grounded responses

8. You.com API

You.com's search API targets AI application developers.

• Pricing: Free tier with 60 searches, Research plan from $100/mo
• Features: Web search, news, custom API, RAG support
• Downside: Expensive at low volumes, limited free tier

9. Exa (formerly Metaphor)

Exa uses neural search instead of keyword matching, returning semantically relevant results.

• Pricing: Free tier with 1,000 searches, paid from $25/mo
• Features: Neural/semantic search, content filtering, domain filtering
• Best for: Applications where semantic relevance matters more than keyword matching

10. DuckDuckGo API (Unofficial)

Several wrapper libraries provide programmatic access to DuckDuckGo search.

• Pricing: Free (unofficial, rate-limited)
• Features: Basic web search, no API key required
• Downside: Unofficial, can break without notice, rate-limited, no SLA

Comparison Table

Recommendation

For most developers, the decision comes down to two factors: cost and simplicity.

If you're building AI applications or need clean JSON search results, SearchHive SwiftSearch offers the best balance of price, simplicity, and feature coverage. The API is a single REST endpoint, the SDK handles retries and rate limiting, and the pricing scales linearly without surprise overages.

If you specifically need Google SERP data at high volume, Serper.dev's $0.001/query pricing is hard to beat.

If you're already in the Azure ecosystem and just need a search API with minimal additional setup, Bing Search API works — but you'll pay a premium for that convenience.

For prototyping and testing, Brave's 2,000 free queries/month and Tavily's 1,000 free queries/month are both solid options before committing to a paid plan.

Start with SearchHive's free tier — 100 searches/month with no credit card required. The documentation has Python, Node.js, and cURL examples to get you running in under five minutes.

See also: /blog/scaleserp-alternatives-cheaper-google-search-api and /blog/serpstat-alternatives-better-serp-analytics-tools