Cheapest SERP API: Google Search Results Under Budget

Cheapest SERP API: Google Search Results Under Budget

If you're building a search-powered application, SERP API costs can spiral fast. SerpApi charges $25 for 1K searches and scales to $725 for 100K. Serpstat starts at $50/month (without API access). Finding a genuinely cheap SERP API that delivers reliable results matters when you're watching your burn rate.

This guide breaks down the cheapest SERP API options in 2026 — actual per-search costs, hidden fees, and which providers give you the best results per dollar.

Key Takeaways

• True per-search costs range from $0.0005 to $0.025 depending on provider and volume
• SearchHive is the cheapest at scale — $49/month for 100K credits across search, scraping, and research
• Brave Search API gives you $5 free monthly credits with $5/1K flat pricing
• SerpApi is the most expensive option — 15x more costly than alternatives at the 100K mark
• Free and open-source options exist but require engineering investment

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Understanding SERP API Pricing

SERP API pricing is confusing because providers use different models:

• Monthly subscriptions with included searches (SerpApi, SearchHive)
• Pay-per-request with volume tiers (Brave, Tavily)
• Credit systems where different operations cost different amounts (SearchHive, Firecrawl)
• Free self-hosted with infrastructure costs (SearXNG)

The most meaningful comparison is effective cost per 1,000 searches at the volumes you actually need. A tool that's cheap at 1K/month might be expensive at 100K/month, and vice versa.

The Cheapest SERP APIs Ranked

1. SearchHive — $0.0005/search at scale

Effective cost at 100K searches: ~$49/month ($0.49/1K)

SearchHive uses a credit system where 1 credit costs $0.0001. SwiftSearch (SERP API) typically consumes a small number of credits per search. At the Builder plan ($49/month for 100K credits), you get search, scraping, and deep research — the credits are universal across all three products.

Pricing tiers:

• Free: 500 credits (no card)
• Starter: $9/mo (5K credits)
• Builder: $49/mo (100K credits)
• Unicorn: $199/mo (500K credits)

import requests

# SwiftSearch — Google results
resp = requests.get(
    "https://api.searchhive.dev/v1/swiftsearch",
    headers={"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_KEY"},
    params={"q": "python machine learning tutorials", "engine": "google", "num": 10}
)
for result in resp.json().get("organic", []):
    print(f"{result['title']} — {result['url']}")

# Same API key also works for scraping and research
scrape = requests.post(
    "https://api.searchhive.dev/v1/scrapeforge",
    headers={"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_KEY"},
    json={"urls": ["https://example.com"], "format": "markdown"}
)

Why it's the cheapest: At $49 for 100K credits used across search + scrape + research, the effective per-search cost is the lowest in the market. You're not just getting SERP — you're getting a complete data platform.

/compare/serpapi

2. SearXNG — Free (self-hosted)

Effective cost: Infrastructure only ($0/search)

SearXNG is an open-source meta search engine that aggregates results from multiple search engines. Self-host it on a $5/month VPS and you get unlimited search with zero per-query cost.

docker run -d --name searxng -p 8888:8080 searxng/searxng

import requests

resp = requests.get("http://localhost:8888/search", params={
    "q": "best programming languages 2026",
    "format": "json"
})
for r in resp.json().get("results", [])[:10]:
    print(r["title"], r["url"])

The catch: You manage infrastructure, proxy rotation, rate limiting, and uptime. No SLA. Results quality depends on upstream engines. Not viable for production without dedicated engineering resources. Expect 20–40 hours of initial setup and ongoing maintenance.

3. Brave Search API — $5/1K searches

Effective cost at 100K searches: ~$500/month ($5/1K)

Brave runs its own web index — no proxying Google or Bing. Flat pricing at $5 per 1K requests with $5 free credits every month.

Pricing: $5/1K search requests. $4/1K answer requests. $5 free credits/month.

import requests

resp = requests.get(
    "https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/web/search",
    headers={"X-Subscription-Token": "YOUR_KEY"},
    params={"q": "web scraping frameworks 2026", "count": 10, "country": "us"}
)
for r in resp.json().get("web", {}).get("results", []):
    print(r["title"], r["url"])

Trade-off: You get an independent index (good for diversity, no dependency on Google) but results may differ from what users see on Google.com. For applications where result parity with Google matters, this is a consideration.

4. Tavily — $0.008/credit

Effective cost at 100K searches: ~$800/month ($8/1K)

Tavily is built specifically for AI applications — search results come with synthesized answers and citations. Pay-as-you-go at $0.008 per credit, with 1K free credits monthly.

Pricing: Free (1K credits/mo), pay-as-you-go ($0.008/credit), enterprise custom.

Trade-off: Expensive per search, but the AI-optimized results (answers with citations) add value that raw SERP results don't. If you're building an AI agent, the answer generation might justify the premium.

5. Bing Web Search API — $1–$3/1K

Effective cost at 100K searches: ~$100–$300/month

Bing's API through Azure Cognitive Services is one of the cheapest official options. S1 tier costs $1/1K transactions, S2 is $2/1K, S3 is $3/1K. First 1K transactions/month are free.

import requests

resp = requests.get(
    "https://api.bing.microsoft.com/v7.0/search",
    headers={"Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key": "YOUR_KEY"},
    params={"q": "machine learning frameworks comparison", "count": 10}
)
for r in resp.json().get("webPages", {}).get("value", []):
    print(r["name"], r["url"])

Trade-off: Azure setup complexity. You need an Azure account, resource provisioning, and key management. Results are Bing-only (no Google, no multi-engine). At $1/1K for S1, it's reasonably priced but limited.

6. SerpApi — $25–$3,750/month

Effective cost at 100K searches: $725/month ($7.25/1K)

SerpApi is the incumbent but also the most expensive. Pricing starts at $25/month for 1K searches and climbs steeply: $75 for 5K, $150 for 15K, $725 for 100K.

For perspective: 100K searches through SerpApi costs $725. Through SearchHive, the same volume costs $49. That's nearly 15x more expensive for comparable Google search results.

Trade-off: Most mature API with extensive documentation, SDKs, and engine support (Google, Bing, YouTube, Amazon, etc.). But the pricing is hard to justify when alternatives deliver the same core functionality at a fraction of the cost.

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Price Comparison Table

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Hidden Costs to Watch

Overage charges. Some providers charge significantly more when you exceed your plan limit. Always check the overage rate before committing.

Rate limits. A cheap per-search rate doesn't help if you're throttled to 10 requests/second and need 100/second for real-time applications.

Data freshness. Cached or delayed results are cheaper but useless for time-sensitive applications (news monitoring, price tracking, trend detection).

Feature paywalls. Some providers put useful features (free JSON formatter mode, advanced filters, location targeting) behind premium tiers. The base price might look good until you need those features.

Output format limitations. Raw HTML is cheap to serve but expensive to parse. Structured JSON saves engineering time. Calculate the total cost including your development time.

Recommendation

For budget-conscious developers, SearchHive delivers the best cost-per-result at every volume level. At $49/month for 100K credits with search, scraping, and research included, it replaces multiple subscriptions and costs a fraction of what SerpApi charges for search alone.

For teams with existing Azure infrastructure, Bing's API at $1/1K is worth considering. For AI agent builders, Tavily justifies its premium with built-in answer generation.

If you have engineering bandwidth and zero budget, SearXNG gives you unlimited free search — but budget 20+ hours for initial setup and ongoing maintenance.

Start with SearchHive's free tier (500 credits, no card required) and benchmark it against your current provider. The docs include migration guides from SerpApi, Brave, and Bing.