The blog
Field notes from the search API trenches
Pricing, shutdowns, migrations and honest comparisons, written by Daniel after 15 years in web scraping. Every price checked on the vendor's own page.
Alternatives · Sep 30, 2026 · 5 min SerpApi alternatives: cheaper Google SERP APIs compared SerpApi starts at $25 per 1,000 searches. Serper, DataForSEO, HasData, Zenserp, SearchApi and Bright Data cost a fraction of that. Here's how they compare, and when SerpApi is still worth it. Pricing · Sep 16, 2026 · 4 min Perplexity API pricing explained: Search API vs Agent API Perplexity's Search API costs $5 per 1,000 requests, or $1 in Fast mode, with no token charges. How that differs from the Agent API's tools and token pricing, and the one trick that cuts the bill 5×. Alternatives · Sep 2, 2026 · 6 min Tavily alternatives: 8 search APIs for AI agents, compared Cheaper, faster or more accurate than Tavily? Prices, free tiers and SimpleQA claims for Exa, Parallel, Keirolabs, Linkup, Brave, You.com, Perplexity and Firecrawl, plus a migration you can ship today. Buyer's guide · Aug 19, 2026 · 5 min Best SERP APIs in 2026 (and what a SERP API actually is) A SERP API rents you Google's results page as JSON. Here's how they work, what separates the good ones, and the right pick for rank tracking, agents, SEO tools and enterprise geo-targeting. Pricing · Aug 5, 2026 · 8 min SERP API pricing: every provider, per 1,000 searches The same Google results page costs anywhere from $0.30 to $25 per thousand depending on who you rent it from. Here's every price, the fine print that moves it, and which one to pick. How-to · Jul 8, 2026 · 4 min How to get a Brave Search API key (and what the free credits cover) Step-by-step Brave Search API signup, why it asks for a credit card, what $5 of free monthly credits buys, pricing, rate limits, and your first request in under five minutes. Myth-busting · Jun 24, 2026 · 4 min Is there a DuckDuckGo search API? (No. Here's what to use) DuckDuckGo has no official web search API. What the Instant Answer API really returns (we tested it), why the ddgs Python package isn't one, and the real alternatives. Shutdown · Jun 3, 2026 · 5 min Google Custom Search API is shutting down: what to use before January 1, 2027 The last official way to get Google results through an API has an expiry date. What changes, what breaks, what it costs to replace, and a migration you can do this week. Migration · May 12, 2026 · 6 min Bing Search API is retired: what to use instead For fifteen years, "web search API" meant Bing. Then Microsoft switched it off. Here's what replaced it, what didn't, and how to migrate your code in an afternoon.