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Free SERP APIs in 2026: 9 Free Tiers Compared and What Each Includes
The short answer: No SERP API is free for ongoing production use, but most have a free allowance that is enough to test with. Bright Data has the largest recurring free tier at 5,000 requests a month, and SerpApi gives 250 searches a month. Searlo (3,000 credits), Serper (2,500 queries), and Oxylabs ($5 in credits) have the largest one-time allowances. When you outgrow a free tier, the cheapest next step is a small prepaid purchase: PrismCrawl starts at $5 for 16,667 searches, with no subscription.
This comparison is published by PrismCrawl, which is one of the providers listed. Free allowances and prices come from each provider's public site, checked October 4 to 13, 2026. Free tiers change often, so check before you sign up.
Free SERP API tiers compared
| Provider | Free allowance | Renews | Card required | Engines | Cheapest paid step |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bright Data | 5,000 requests | Monthly | No | Google, Bing, and others | $1.50 per 1,000 pay as you go |
| Searlo | 3,000 credits, valid one year | One-time | No | $3.99 for 5,000 | |
| Serper | 2,500 queries | One-time | No | $50 for 50,000 | |
| Oxylabs | $5 in credits, about 5,000 Google results without JavaScript rendering | One-time | Not stated | Google, Bing, and others | $30 a month |
| SerpApi | 250 searches, 50 per hour | Monthly | No | Google, Bing, and others | $25 a month for 1,000 |
| PrismCrawl | 100 credits | One-time | No | 100+ endpoints across Google, Bing, and 10+ other engines and marketplaces | $5 for 16,667 |
| SearchApi | 100 requests | One-time | Not stated | Google, Bing, and others | $40 a month for 10,000 |
| Scrapingdog | 100 credits, about 20 Google Light searches | One-time | No | Google plus other scraping APIs | $40 a month |
| Google Custom Search JSON API | 100 queries a day | Daily | Google Cloud project | Google, via a Programmable Search Engine | Closed to new customers |
The free tiers in detail
Bright Data: the largest recurring free tier
Bright Data's SERP API includes 5,000 free requests a month, the most of any provider here, and it renews. Paid use is $1.50 per 1,000 pay as you go. Setup uses zones and constructed search URLs, so it takes more work than a single API call.
Searlo and Serper: the largest one-time allowances
Searlo gives 3,000 free credits, valid for one year, and Serper gives 2,500 free queries. Both are Google-only and need no card. Searlo's paid packs start at $3.99, and Serper's at $50.
SerpApi: a small monthly allowance
SerpApi's free plan includes 250 searches a month at up to 50 an hour. It is enough for a prototype that runs a few searches a day. Paid plans start at $25 a month for 1,000 searches. See the full SerpApi pricing breakdown.
PrismCrawl: small free allowance, cheapest paid step
PrismCrawl gives new accounts 100 free credits with no card, enough to test the endpoints and fields you need. Its advantage is the next step: a one-time $5 purchase buys 16,667 searches, with no subscription. Credits are valid for 90 days, and failed requests are free. The same credits cover Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Amazon, Maps, YouTube, Shopping, and more than 100 other endpoints.
Google Custom Search JSON API: closing
The Custom Search JSON API gave 100 free queries a day, but Google has closed it to new customers, and existing customers must move to an alternative by January 1, 2027. It also searched a Programmable Search Engine rather than returning the full Google results page.
Free tier, cheap tier, or self-hosted?
Free tiers are for testing. At 250 or 2,500 searches, a free allowance covers a prototype or a small evaluation. A rank tracker with 100 keywords checked daily needs about 3,000 searches a month.
Cheap prepaid credits are usually the next step. Prepaid packages let you pay only for what you use without a monthly commitment. PrismCrawl's $5 package covers 16,667 searches; at about $10, PrismCrawl delivers 37,038 searches and Searlo 20,000. The cheapest SERP API comparison shows what each provider's $10, $100, and $1,000 buy.
Self-hosting is not free. Open-source scrapers have no per-search fee, but you pay for proxies, CAPTCHA handling, servers, and the time to fix parsers when Google changes its page. The real cost of self-hosting a SERP API works through the numbers.
How to get the most from a free SERP API tier
- Write down 50 to 100 real queries for your use case, including the locations, languages, and devices you need.
- Run the same queries on two or three free tiers and compare the fields you need, such as organic results, ads, local results, and AI Overviews.
- Measure failures. Note how each provider reports blocked or failed requests and whether they count against your allowance.
- Estimate your monthly volume with the SERP API cost calculator, then price the smallest paid step for each finalist.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a free SERP API?
Several SERP APIs have free allowances, but none is free for ongoing production use. Bright Data gives 5,000 requests a month and SerpApi 250 searches a month, both renewing monthly. Searlo gives 3,000 one-time credits, Serper 2,500 queries, Oxylabs $5 in credits, PrismCrawl 100 credits, and SearchApi 100 requests.
Which SERP API has the largest free tier?
Bright Data has the largest recurring free tier at 5,000 requests a month. Among one-time allowances, Searlo's 3,000 credits and Serper's 2,500 queries are the largest.
Is the Google Custom Search JSON API free?
It included 100 free queries a day, but Google has closed it to new customers and existing customers must move to an alternative by January 1, 2027. See Google Custom Search API alternatives.
What is the cheapest SERP API after the free tier?
PrismCrawl has the lowest price per 1,000 Google searches in our comparisons at every budget: a one-time $5 purchase buys 16,667 searches ($0.30 per 1,000), falling to $0.15 per 1,000 on larger packages, with no subscription. See the best SERP API buyer's guide for a full comparison.