Google SERP API Alternatives — Cheaper Search Results

If you're building anything that needs Google search results programmatically — SEO tools, price monitors, AI agents, content platforms — you've hit the same wall. Google's Custom Search API caps at 100 queries/day on the free tier and charges $5 per 1,000 queries after that, with strict rate limits and limited SERP features. It's fine for a prototype, not for production.

Google SERP API alternatives fill that gap by returning parsed, structured search results with rich SERP features (knowledge panels, featured snippets, People Also Ask, local packs, image results). The catch: pricing varies wildly, and most developers overpay for what they actually need.

This guide compares the top Google SERP API alternatives by price, features, developer experience, and reliability. We'll also show how SearchHive SwiftSearch stacks up as an all-in-one alternative that covers SERP, scraping, and AI extraction.

Key Takeaways

• SerpApi is the market leader but expensive at $50/month minimum, with overage charges that scale fast
• SearchHive SwiftSearch offers SERP results starting at a fraction of the cost, with a free tier and scraping built in
• SerpBear is the only viable free/open-source option, but you self-host and maintain it
• Most alternatives charge $50–$200/month for production workloads; a few offer true pay-per-request pricing
• The best choice depends on whether you need just search results or search + scraping + extraction combined

1. SearchHive SwiftSearch

SearchHive's SwiftSearch API returns structured Google search results with all the SERP features you'd expect — organic results, featured snippets, knowledge panels, People Also Ask, local results, and more. What sets it apart from pure SERP APIs is the integration with ScrapeForge (web scraping) and DeepDive (AI-powered extraction), so you can go from search query to extracted data in one pipeline.

Pricing: Free tier available with generous limits. Paid plans are significantly cheaper than SerpApi — you get more requests per dollar.

Key features:

• Structured organic results with titles, URLs, snippets, and positions
• Featured snippets, knowledge panels, and People Also Ask boxes
• Local pack results with business listings
• Image and video SERP results
• Built-in proxy rotation and anti-detection
• Python SDK with async support
• Combined with ScrapeForge for full-page scraping from any URL in the results

import searchhive

client = searchhive.Client(api_key="your-api-key")

# Get structured Google search results
results = client.swift_search.query(
    query="best web scraping API 2026",
    engine="google",
    num_results=10,
    include_snippets=True,
    include_people_also_ask=True,
)

for r in results.organic:
    print(f"{r.position}. {r.title}")
    print(f"   {r.url}")
    print(f"   {r.snippet}")

SwiftSearch also supports Bing, DuckDuckGo, and YouTube search engines from the same API key — no separate accounts or billing.

/blog/search-api-pricing-comparison

2. SerpApi

SerpApi is the oldest and most established Google SERP API. It parses Google, Bing, YouTube, Google Maps, and dozens of other search engines into structured JSON. The documentation is thorough, and the Python/JavaScript/Ruby libraries are well-maintained.

Pricing: Starts at $50/month for 5,000 searches. Overage at $0.01 per extra search. Enterprise plans go up to $500+/month for high-volume usage.

Pros:

• Most comprehensive SERP feature support in the market
• Excellent documentation with live examples
• Supports 20+ search engines including Google Lens and Google Scholar
• Reliable with high uptime

Cons:

• Expensive minimum commitment ($50/month)
• Overage charges add up quickly at scale
• No built-in scraping — you need a separate service for full-page extraction
• Rate limits can be restrictive on lower tiers

SerpApi is a solid choice if budget isn't a constraint and you only need parsed search results. For teams that also need scraping and extraction, the total cost with additional tools gets steep quickly.

/compare/serpapi

3. Serper.dev

Serper.dev focuses on speed and simplicity. It returns clean JSON from Google, Bing, and YouTube searches with minimal latency. The API is straightforward — one endpoint, query parameters, JSON response.

Pricing: Free tier with 2,500 searches/month. Paid plans start at $50/month for 50,000 searches, which is substantially more volume than SerpApi at the same price point.

Pros:

• Competitive per-request pricing at higher tiers
• Fast response times (sub-2s for most queries)
• Clean, minimal API design
• Free tier is genuinely usable

Cons:

• Fewer SERP features parsed (no Google Scholar, limited Google Maps)
• Documentation could be more thorough
• No scraping or extraction capabilities
• Occasional inconsistency in featured snippet parsing

Serper.dev hits a good price-to-performance ratio for developers who need high volume and don't need every edge-case SERP feature.

4. ValueSERP

ValueSERP positions itself as the budget-friendly SERP API. It supports Google, Bing, and Yahoo with parsed results including local, images, videos, and shopping.

Pricing: Pay-per-request starting at $0.001 per search, with bulk discounts. No monthly minimum — genuinely pay for what you use.

Pros:

• True pay-as-you-go with no monthly commitment
• Among the cheapest per-request rates available
• Supports Google, Bing, and Yahoo
• Location and language targeting included

Cons:

• Fewer SERP features parsed compared to SerpApi
• API design is less polished
• No official SDK — HTTP requests only
• Uptime historically less consistent than premium alternatives

/compare/valueserp

5. DataForSEO

DataForSEO is built for SEO platforms and agencies. It provides SERP data, keyword data, and backlink data through a unified API. The SERP endpoint returns Google results with full feature parsing.

Pricing: Volume-based pricing with significant bulk discounts. Roughly $0.0005–$0.001 per SERP request at high volumes. No monthly minimum for API access.

Pros:

• Extremely cheap at scale (best per-request pricing for high volume)
• Combined SERP + keyword research + backlink data
• 100+ location/country combinations
• Live and organic SERP types

Cons:

• Steep learning curve — API designed for SEO platforms, not individual developers
• Credit-based billing system is confusing
• Documentation assumes SEO knowledge
• No scraping or extraction features
• Onboarding process requires business verification

DataForSEO is the right call if you're building an SEO tool and need tens of thousands of daily requests. It's overkill and complex for simpler use cases.

/compare/dataforseo

6. SearchApi.io

SearchApi.io provides Google, Bing, YouTube, and Amazon search results in structured JSON. It's a newer entrant but has gained traction for its clean API and competitive pricing.

Pricing: Free tier with 100 searches/month. Plans start at $15/month for 5,000 searches — significantly cheaper than SerpApi's entry point.

Pros:

• Low entry price ($15/month vs SerpApi's $50)
• Good SERP feature coverage
• Supports Google, Bing, YouTube, and Amazon
• Simple REST API

Cons:

• Smaller community and ecosystem
• Fewer advanced SERP features
• No scraping integration
• Limited enterprise features

7. SerpBear (Free / Open Source)

SerpBear is the only open-source option worth considering. It's a self-hosted application that scrapes Google search results using headless browsers. You run it on your own server and access results through a local API.

Pricing: Free and open-source (MIT license). You pay for your own server/proxies.

Pros:

• Completely free — no API charges ever
• Full control over data and infrastructure
• Transparent — you can see and modify the scraping logic
• No vendor lock-in

Cons:

• You maintain the server, proxies, and browser instances
• Google actively blocks scraping — you'll need residential proxies
• Slower than managed APIs (1 request every 10-15 seconds to avoid blocks)
• No structured SERP feature parsing beyond basic organic results
• Not suitable for production workloads without significant engineering investment

SerpBear works for low-volume personal projects where cost is the only concern. For anything production-grade, the operational overhead makes managed APIs cheaper in practice.

8. Oxylabs SERP Scraper

Oxylabs is primarily known for proxy infrastructure, but their SERP Scraper API provides structured Google search results using their residential proxy network.

Pricing: Billed through Oxylabs' pay-as-you-go proxy model. SERP requests start around $0.003–$0.005 each depending on proxy type and volume.

Pros:

• Backed by one of the largest proxy networks in the world
• High reliability with residential proxies
• Supports Google, Bing, and other engines

Cons:

• Pricing model is tied to proxy consumption, not per-search
• Setup is more complex than pure SERP APIs
• Documentation focused on proxy use cases, not SERP specifically
• Minimum commitment for residential proxy plans

/compare/oxylabs

Comparison Table

$$$ = best value; more $ = cheaper per request

Recommendation

For most developers: SearchHive SwiftSearch offers the best combination of price, features, and developer experience. The free tier lets you prototype without commitment, and having scraping (ScrapeForge) and AI extraction (DeepDive) in the same platform eliminates the need for multiple API subscriptions.

For SEO platforms at scale: DataForSEO has the cheapest per-request pricing if you need 50,000+ daily queries and can handle the complex API.

For budget-conscious solo devs: Serper.dev gives you 2,500 free searches/month and solid paid pricing. SearchApi.io is also worth a look at $15/month.

For complete control: SerpBear is the only free option, but factor in proxy costs, server maintenance, and the engineering time to keep Google from blocking you.

Whatever you choose, start with a free tier or trial before committing. SERP APIs differ in ways that only show up when you're parsing real results at volume — featured snippets, local packs, and People Also Ask boxes all have edge cases that separate good APIs from great ones.

SearchHive Documentation | Free Tier Signup | SwiftSearch API Reference