Is the Google Search API free?
Not for a new project. Google's Custom Search JSON API gives 100 queries a day free and charges $5.00 per 1,000 after that, up to 10,000 a day, but it no longer takes new customers and Google ends it on January 1, 2027. The free route to Google results now is a SERP API's free tier: the largest that renew give 10,000 searches a month on Decodo Web Scraping API (organic results and top stories only) and 5,000 on Bright Data SERP API. For 100,000 searches a month the cheapest paid bill is $60.00 on DataForSEO SERP API, queued (results in about 5 minutes on average).
Worked out from each vendor's own pricing page; each vendor page on this site shows the day its price was read. Free searches are each allowance divided by the vendor's own search rate.| SERP API | Free searches a month | Card | After the free tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Decodo Web Scraping API Returns organic results and top stories only | 10,000 | not needed | $19 a month |
| Bright Data SERP API | 5,000 | not needed | pay as you go at $1.50 per 1,000 requests; plans from $499 a month |
| ScrapingAnt | 1,000 | not needed | $19 a month for 100,000 credits |
| Scrappa | 500 | not needed | credit packs from $10 for 33,000 credits |
| SERPHouse | 400 | not needed | $29.99 a month for 400,000 credits |
| SerpApi | 250 | not published | $25 a month for 1,000 searches |
| cloro | 166 | not needed | $30 a month for 37,500 credits |
| HasData | 100 | not needed | $59 a month for 200,000 credits |
| Scrape.do | 100 | not needed | $29 a month for 250,000 credits |
| serpstack | 100 | not published | $29.99 a month for 5,000 searches |
| Zenserp | 50 | not published | $49.99 a month for 25,000 searches |
A search on a SERP API is one Google results page parsed into JSON, the job Google's own API did. What one search returns differs: some count only successful searches, some bill deeper result pages as more searches, and a few return organic results only. The SERP page prices any volume, live or queued.
What Google offers
Google’s search API for developers is the Custom Search JSON API, which returns web results from a Programmable Search Engine as JSON. Its pricing section now opens: “The following pricing applies only to existing Custom Search JSON API customers until the service discontinuation on January 1, 2027. This API is not available for new customers.” Existing customers keep 100 free queries a day and pay $5 per 1,000 above that, up to 10,000 a day (Custom Search JSON API overview, checked Oct 12, 2026). A project that starts today cannot sign up, and one that already uses it needs a replacement before January.
The free route left
A SERP API fetches Google’s results page for your query and returns it parsed into JSON: organic results, ads, maps and the other blocks, depending on the vendor. Most sell a monthly plan and many give a free allowance that renews, which is what the table counts. A free allowance in credits buys fewer searches than its headline: Scrape.do’s 1,000 free credits cover 100 Google searches, because a Google request costs 10 credits (Scrape.do request costs, checked Oct 12, 2026). The table divides each allowance by the vendor’s own search rate.
When the free searches run out
For a few thousand searches a month a free tier or a small plan is enough. At 100,000 a month the price per search decides it, and so does delivery: a queued search costs less but arrives minutes later, which suits a nightly rank check and not a live app. The SERP API page prices any volume, live or queued, and the answer on SERP prices per 1,000 searches lists every rate.