Cheapest SERP API in 2026: True Cost per 1,000 Google Searches at Every Tier

The cheapest SERP API in 2026 depends on your volume and how fast you need results. If you can wait minutes for results, DataForSEO’s Standard queue at $0.60 per 1,000 SERPs is hard to beat at low volume. For live results at scale, Serper and CrawlerData both reach $0.30 per 1,000, and Scrapingdog’s larger plans go lower by our arithmetic.

Below we normalise every public tier to one unit, cost per 1,000 Google searches, and add the rules that change the real bill: multipliers, failed-request billing and credit expiry.

The answer depends on three things

1. Volume. Entry prices range from $0.60 to $25 per 1,000. At the largest public tiers most providers fall to $0.14–$2.00.
2. Delivery speed. Some providers price by queue. DataForSEO’s Google Organic pricing is $0.60 per 1,000 on the Standard queue (about 5 minutes on average, 45-minute target), $1.20 on Priority and $2.00 on Live. SerpApi’s faster modes multiply the price 2× or 4×.
3. Results per query. One page of 10 results and 100 results cost the same on some APIs and 10 times more on others.

Our method: list prices from each provider’s public pages on 2026-10-12, in USD, excluding tax and annual discounts. Derived means our own division of a plan price by its volume. We did not run speed or accuracy tests for this post.

Cost per 1,000 Google searches at every public tier

One standard Google web search, page 1, no add-ons:

Notes:

• Serper and CrawlerData have identical pack prices, credit amounts and 6-month validity. Neither is cheaper than the other on a plain Google search.
• ValueSERP: the page’s stated per-1,000 figures and the arithmetic disagree on the smaller tiers. For example, $50 for 25,000 searches is $2.00, but the page states $1.60. We show both where they differ. From the 200,000-search tier up ($1.20 down to $0.50 at 20M), they match.
• Scrapingdog has 28 tiers. We list the ones in our notes, so the dots hide some intermediate tiers. At 5 credits per search, its larger plans are the cheapest per 1,000 in this table.
• Oxylabs: we derived the mapping of price columns to plans from the volume caps on its page, and one Starter cap looks inconsistent there.
• ScraperAPI: its credits page says Google domains cost 25 credits. Whether its structured Google endpoint uses the same weight is not stated, so treat its row as an estimate.

Hidden multipliers

The per-1,000 price is only the base. These multipliers apply on top, per each provider’s pages as of October 2026:

On depth: SerpApi counts 100 results as one search. Serper’s cost for more than 10 results is not stated on its pricing section. CrawlerData returns one page per request on the Google Search API (pages 1 to 10), so fetching deeper means one credit per page.

Failed requests and empty results: who charges

A successful request that returns an empty result is a success on nearly every API, CrawlerData included, so it is charged.

Credit expiry and rollover

DataForSEO’s non-expiring balance beats our 6 months. If your usage is seasonal, it matters more than a few cents per 1,000.

Monthly cost at 25k, 250k and 2.5M searches

Assumptions.

• Pack providers (Serper, CrawlerData): you buy the pack that minimises cost while using credits within 6 months. Monthly cost = pack price ÷ months it covers, up to 6.
• Subscription providers: the smallest public plan that covers the volume.
• DataForSEO: Standard, Priority and Live separately.
• In every case: page 1, 10 results, no add-ons.

Some details behind the numbers:

• CrawlerData and Serper at 250k. 250k a month for 6 months is 1.5M. A Scale pack ($1,250, 2.5M) would cover that but works out to $208 a month with 1M credits expiring. Standard packs are cheaper here.
• At 2.5M a month, one Ultimate pack covers 5 months.
• DataForSEO has a $50 minimum deposit, so in practice 25k a month at Standard means topping up every few months.
• Scrapingdog at 250k needs 1.25M credits. Pro is the smallest tier in our notes that covers it, and a closer tier may exist.

Cheapest by scenario

• Batch work that can wait. DataForSEO Standard at $0.60 per 1,000, with a balance that never expires. Up to roughly 300,000 searches a month it is the cheapest list price in this comparison by our arithmetic, with one exception among the tiers we list: at about 150,000–200,000 a month, Scrapingdog’s Standard plan ($90 for 1M credits, about 200,000 searches) costs less. Above 300,000, $0.30–$0.50 packs and Scrapingdog’s large plans come in under it, but watch DataForSEO’s depth and operator multipliers either way.
• Live results at volume. Serper and CrawlerData at $0.30 on the Ultimate pack. Oxylabs non-JS at $0.50 (Enterprise) and ValueSERP at $0.50 (20M tier) are close. Scrapingdog’s larger plans go lower per 1,000 by our arithmetic.
• Small monthly volume, live. A $50 pack from Serper or CrawlerData, Bright Data pay as you go ($1.50), or Scrapingdog Lite ($40 a month).
• Many Google verticals in one plan. SerpApi and SearchApi cost more per search but list about 40 engines each.
• Google Shopping. This needs a different comparison, because sellers are paginated. See Google Shopping API pricing compared.

Where CrawlerData is and isn’t cheapest

Where we’re not the cheapest:

• On Google search, our price is identical to Serper’s: same packs, same credits, same 6-month validity. We are not cheaper than Serper.
• DataForSEO’s Standard queue ($0.60) is cheaper than our Starter and Standard packs, and its balance never expires.
• Scrapingdog’s larger plans are cheaper per 1,000 by our arithmetic.

Where we differ is in how the other endpoints are priced:

• Google News and Google Local cost 1 credit per request, like search.
• The Google Shopping Sellers API returns every seller for a product in one request, with no pagination. It costs 1 credit per 10 sellers returned, rounded up, minimum 1: a product with 30 sellers is 3 credits, $0.003 on the Starter pack down to $0.0009 on Ultimate.
• Fast and Regular queues cost the same as Live.

Where CrawlerData is weaker

• A newer product, with a shorter track record than most providers here.
• Far fewer endpoints: 8 Google endpoints, against about 40 engines at SerpApi and SearchApi.
• 31 countries, country level only. There is no city-level or uule targeting, which SerpApi, Bright Data and DataForSEO offer.
• A small trial: 50 credits for 30 days, and it needs a verified work email. Serper gives 2,500 free queries, and SerpApi 250 a month.
• Lower rate limits: 100 requests per minute and 20 per second per API key. Serper publishes 50–300 queries per second per pack.
• Slow Shopping product requests. Google Shopping product and sellers requests can take tens of seconds. Shopping search, Images and Autocomplete return page 1 only.

Related comparisons

• SerpApi alternatives, for teams moving off a SerpApi subscription.
• Serper vs SerpApi vs DataForSEO, a closer look at three of the providers above.
• DataForSEO alternatives, if you need live results instead of a task queue.

Try it

1 credit per search, $1.00 to $0.30 per 1,000, and failed requests are free. Start with 50 free credits on the Google Search API, or see the pricing page for the full packs.

Changelog

• 2026-10-12: First published. All prices checked on 2026-10-12.
• 2026-10-12: Updated CrawlerData seller pricing (1 credit per 10 sellers).