---
title: "The cheapest SERP API in 2026: 9 priced per 1,000 searches"
category: "comparisons"
url: https://keirolabs.cloud/blog/cheapest-serp-api
---

## The 60-second version

**The cheapest Google SERP API in 2026 is Keirolabs at $0.10 per 1,000 searches, followed by Scrapingdog's Light endpoint (from $0.14 at high volume), Serper ($0.30 to $1.00) and DataForSEO's standard queue ($0.60).** SerpApi is the most expensive at $1.96 to $25 per 1,000, because it sells 40+ engines and the full SERP feature set.

- **Under $0.50 per 1,000:** Keirolabs ($0.10), Scrapingdog Light at volume, Serper's biggest pack ($0.30).
- **$0.50 to $2:** DataForSEO standard queue ($0.60), Bright Data ($1.31 to $1.50), SearchAPI.io at volume ($1.00 to $1.80).
- **Above $2:** DataForSEO live mode ($2.00), SerpApi ($3.75 at one million a month, $25 at the bottom), Brave's own index ($5.00).

Every price below was read from the vendor's pricing page in October 2026 and links to it.

## Cheapest SERP APIs, priced per 1,000 searches

| Vendor | Price per 1,000 | How you pay | Free start |
|---|---|---|---|
| **Keirolabs SERP** | **$0.10** | Monthly plans or credit packs | 1,250 credits a month, no card |
| Scrapingdog (Light) | $1.00 down to $0.14 | Monthly credits, 5 credits per search ([pricing](https://www.scrapingdog.com/pricing/)) | 100 credits (20 searches) |
| Serper | $1.00 down to $0.30 | Prepaid packs, credits valid 6 months ([guide](/blog/serper-api-guide-2026)) | 2,500 queries, one time |
| DataForSEO (standard queue) | $0.60 | Pay as you go, results in minutes ([pricing](https://dataforseo.com/pricing/google-serp/google-organic-serp-api)) | Trial deposit |
| DataForSEO (live) | $2.00 | Pay as you go, results in seconds | Trial deposit |
| Bright Data | $1.50 PAYG, ~$1.31 on Scale ($499 for 380k) | Successful requests only ([pricing](https://brightdata.com/pricing/serp)) | 5,000 requests a month |
| SearchAPI.io | $4.00 down to $1.00 | Monthly plans ([pricing](https://www.searchapi.io/pricing)) | 100 requests |
| SerpApi | $25.00 down to $1.96 | Monthly plans, no overage ([full pricing](/blog/serpapi-pricing)) | 250 searches a month |
| Brave Search API | $5.00 | Prepaid credit, own index, not Google ([pricing](https://brave.com/search/api/)) | $5 credit a month |

**The headline rate is rarely the rate you pay.** Scrapingdog's $0.14 needs the $9,000-a-month plan; at $40 a month it is $1.00. Serper's $0.30 needs a $3,750 prepaid pack. SerpApi's $3.75 needs a million searches a month. Read the next table before choosing.

## What does a month cost at real volumes?

**At 10,000, 100,000 and one million searches a month, using the cheapest plan that covers each volume:**

| Vendor | 10k / month | 100k / month | 1M / month |
|---|---|---|---|
| **Keirolabs SERP** | **$1** | **$10** | **$100** |
| DataForSEO standard | $6 | $60 | $600 |
| Serper | $10 (from the $50 pack) | $75 (Standard pack) | $500 (Scale pack) |
| Scrapingdog Light | $40 (Lite plan) | $90 (Standard) | $350 (Premium) |
| Bright Data | $15 | $150 | ~$1,310 |
| SearchAPI.io | $40 | $250 (BigData) | $1,500 (Octo 1M) |
| SerpApi | $150 (Production) | $725 (Searcher) | $3,750 (Cloud 1M) |

Plans that bundle more than you use still bill the full price, which is why small teams overpay on subscription vendors. Prepaid credit (Serper, Brave, Keirolabs packs) and pay-as-you-go (DataForSEO, Bright Data) track usage more closely. Try your own numbers in the [SERP and search API pricing calculator](/tools/search-api-pricing-calculator).

## The hidden costs that change the ranking

**Four rules decide your real bill more than the headline rate does.**

1. **Pagination.** Google stopped serving 100 results per page in September 2025. Every vendor now bills extra pages: DataForSEO charges one base price per extra 10 results, SerpApi one search per page, Serper two credits for queries beyond 10 results. Tracking positions 1 to 100 costs up to ten times the top-10 price.
2. **Credit expiry.** Serper credits and Keirolabs pack credits expire after six months; SerpApi searches reset with each billing cycle. Buying a big pack to hit a low rate only pays if you use it in time.
3. **Failed requests.** Bright Data, SerpApi and Scrapingdog bill only successful requests. Check the policy before you retry aggressively.
4. **Queue vs live.** DataForSEO's $0.60 is the standard queue, where results arrive in minutes. If your product needs the answer while a user waits, the live price ($2.00) is the real comparison.

## Which cheap SERP API fits your use case?

- **Rank tracking at scale:** DataForSEO standard queue or Keirolabs SERP. Neither needs results within the second, and both price the deep pages predictably. See [SERP tracking APIs](/blog/serp-tracking-api).
- **Real-time Google results inside an app:** Serper or Keirolabs, both typically return in about a second.
- **Many engines and SERP features (Maps, Shopping, Scholar):** SerpApi or SearchAPI.io; you pay for the coverage.
- **AI agents:** a raw SERP gives the agent links and snippets, then it has to fetch every page. A search API that returns page content in the same call usually costs less per answered question; see [search API vs scraping API](/blog/search-api-vs-scraping-api-for-llms).

## Free tiers that actually recur

**Only three of these free tiers refill every month: Keirolabs (1,250 credits), Bright Data (5,000 requests) and SerpApi (250 searches).** Brave gives a $5 credit each month, about 1,000 requests. Serper's 2,500 queries, SearchAPI.io's 100 requests and Scrapingdog's 100 credits are one-time trials. For a staging environment that runs forever, pick a recurring tier. More options are in [free web search APIs](/blog/best-free-web-search-apis-2026).

## The cheapest option for agents: search plus content

**If your code fetches the pages behind the SERP, the SERP is only half your bill.** Keirolabs sells both halves on one key: raw Google organic results at $0.10 per 1,000, and `/search/content`, which returns ranked results with clean page text in one call. The free tier is 1,250 credits a month with no card, enough to run your own comparison before you pay anyone. Moving off SerpApi? [SerpApi alternatives](/blog/serpapi-alternatives) has the step-by-step migration.