Scraping API PricesBrave Search API vs Google Custom Search JSON API
The eligibility, free-allowance, and paid-query boundary between two web search APIs.
Brave Search API
Google Custom Search JSON API
The difference
Both paths, one ruler
Brave Search API
Successes you want
100,000 standard searches
Your stated workload. Every vendor on this site is priced against this same number.
- × 1
Attempts you are billed for
100,000 standard searches
Brave Search API does not bill failed fetches, so failures cost nothing here.
- × 1
What the meter counts
100,000 requests
One attempt is one billed unit for this workload.
- =
Metered cash this month
$500.00 /mo
Search. Cheapest of every eligible purchase option, not the first plan that fits.
Bars share one linear scale across the 3 counted stages, so a multiplier shows as length. Units differ by stage and are labelled. Cash is not on that scale.
Google Custom Search JSON API
Successes you want
100,000 standard searches
Your stated workload. Every vendor on this site is priced against this same number.
- ÷ 1
Attempts you are billed for
100,000 standard searches
Google Custom Search JSON API bills failed fetches. This workload assumes none fail, so nothing is added here.
- × 1
What the meter counts
100,000 requests
One attempt is one billed unit for this workload.
- =
Metered cash this month
$500.00 /mo
Additional queries for existing customers. Cheapest of every eligible purchase option, not the first plan that fits.
Bars share one linear scale across the 3 counted stages, so a multiplier shows as length. Units differ by stage and are labelled. Cash is not on that scale.
Both ladders share one linear scale, topping out at 100,000 counted units, so a longer bar means more billed work rather than a different drawing.
These figures are for one stated workload: 100,000 standard search calls with one default-depth result set per call. This site has not computed a crossover volume for this pair, and does not claim one. Move the volume on either product page to see where the answer moves.
Decision boundary: for a new buyer, the line is eligibility rather than volume. Google Custom Search JSON API is closed to new customers, so Brave Search API is the only one of this pair available through a current self-serve signup. For an existing Google customer, the paid request rates tie at $5 per 1,000. Google supplies 100 queries free each day, while Brave applies $5 of credit each month, equal to 1,000 standard Search requests at the public rate. Google is cheaper when its daily free allowance covers more of a distributed workload, but it caps paid use at 10,000 queries per day and is scheduled to discontinue on January 1, 2027. (Brave Search API pricing, Google Custom Search overview, retrieved 2026-07-26)
The two products also search different scopes. Google Custom Search JSON API queries a configured Programmable Search Engine and returns web or image results in JSON. Brave Search API exposes Brave’s web index and can return URLs, text, news, images, alternate snippets, enriched metadata, and optional LLM-oriented context. A configured-site search and a broad web retrieval call are not interchangeable just because both cost $5 per 1,000 paid queries. (Google Custom Search overview, Brave Search API, retrieved 2026-07-26)
Billing models side by side
Brave Search is pay as you go at $5 per 1,000 successful Search requests. The account receives $5 in automatically applied credit each month, and the public Search offer lists capacity of 50 queries per second. The separate Answers product has a request fee plus token charges, so those amounts must not be added to a raw Search request. Enterprise handles custom capacity, endpoints, support, invoicing, and contract terms. (Brave Search API pricing, retrieved 2026-07-26)
Google Custom Search gives eligible existing customers 100 free queries each day, then charges $5 per 1,000 additional queries up to 10,000 per day. It has no monthly plan purchase in the reviewed overview. A request needs an API key and a Programmable Search Engine identifier. New accounts cannot buy this API, and existing users have a stated transition deadline. (Google Custom Search overview, retrieved 2026-07-26)
Free capacity cannot be converted into one universal monthly number without assuming traffic distribution. Thirty days of evenly spread use can draw more Google free queries than one burst on a single day, while Brave’s credit is one monthly dollar balance. The boundary should therefore be modeled by day for Google and by month for Brave. (Brave Search API pricing, Google Custom Search overview, retrieved 2026-07-26)
What each provides that the other does not
Brave is the only one of this pair with a currently open raw web-search API, a published 50-query-per-second self-serve capacity, Search Goggles for reranking or filtering, alternate snippets, and a separately purchasable grounded Answers endpoint. Its standard terms place restrictions on storage, redistribution, resale, and model training or evaluation unless different rights are granted. (Brave Search API, Brave Search API terms, retrieved 2026-07-26)
Google is the only one of this pair whose reviewed API searches a buyer-configured Programmable Search Engine and explicitly offers both web and image results through an OpenSearch-shaped JSON response. That product is now a migration-only option for existing customers, not a procurement path for a new application. (Google Custom Search overview, retrieved 2026-07-26)
Who should pick which
Pick Brave for any new deployment, for broad Brave-index retrieval, or when the required daily volume exceeds Google’s current cap. An existing Google customer can keep Google for a bounded configured-engine workload while the 100-query daily allowance is valuable, but should treat the January 1, 2027 date as a hard migration boundary. If result retention, redistribution, or model use is required, negotiate the applicable rights rather than assuming the self-serve response can be used without restriction. (Brave Search API pricing, Brave Search API terms, Google Custom Search overview, retrieved 2026-07-26)
Google’s failed-request billing and API-specific downstream data-use rules were not verified in the reviewed overview. Brave’s public terms do not publish one fixed retention duration because the standard storage restriction is framed more broadly. No value is assigned to either unknown. (Google Custom Search overview, Brave Search API terms, retrieved 2026-07-26)