TL;DR
Benchmarked SerpAPI, SearchAPI, and Scrapingdog on Google Search & Shopping with the same Node test harness.
Success rate: all hit 100%.
Avg response time (Search / Shopping): Scrapingdog 3.32s / 3.22s; SerpAPI 3.34s / 7.20s; SearchAPI 4.55s / 3.67s.
Pricing: Scrapingdog economical ($1 → $0.054 per 1k), SearchAPI mid, SerpAPI highest.
Bottom line: Scrapingdog leads on speed + price; pick based on scale and support needs.
Choosing the right SERP API can make or break your data projects. With so many providers promising speed, accuracy, and reliability, developers often get stuck comparing feature lists instead of focusing on what really matters.
In this article, we’ll look at SearchApi, SerpApi, and Scrapingdog, three well-known names in the SERP API space. Each offers similar core functionality (getting structured search results from Google and other engines), but they differ in pricing, scale, and developer-friendliness.
If you’re evaluating which service to use for your project, whether it’s SEO monitoring, price intelligence, or building data-driven applications, this breakdown will give you a side-by-side comparison of where each API stands and help you decide which one fits your use case best.
Serpapi vs Searchapi vs Scrapingdog: Quick Comparison
API Provider | Starting Price Subscriptions | Success Rate (Key Sites) | Avg Response Time (Google Search / Shopping) | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Scrapingdog | $40 / month | 100% (Google Search & Shopping) | 3.32s / 3.22s | Fastest performance, best price, high scalability |
SerpAPI | $25 / month | 100% (Google Search & Shopping) | 3.34s / 7.20s | Robust support, good for reliable production use |
SearchAPI | $40 / month | 100% (Google Search & Shopping) | 4.55s / 3.67s | Mid-price, multiple search engines supported |
Testing & Comparison Criteria for SerpAPI, SearchAPI, and Scrapingdog
We’ll compare two APIs from each product and evaluate them based on the following points.
Speed
Success rate
Support
Scalability
Developer friendly
We will use these APIs from each product.
We will be using this code for testing each API. Every test result can be verified by using this code at your end.
1const axios = require("axios");2 3const google_serp_terms = ["shoes", "burger", "corona", "cricket", "tennis"];4const google_shopping_terms = ["jeans", "shoes", "shirts", "socks", "pants"];5const base_url = "https://api.example.com/google_shopping";6const total_requests = 10;7let success_count = 0;8let total_time = 0;9function getRandom(arr) {10 return arr[Math.floor(Math.random() * arr.length)];11}12const run = async () => {13 for (let i = 0; iSerpAPI
Serpapi is the oldest player in this industry and provides a robust search API around Google.
Details
On creating a new account, you get 250 free credits.
Per scrape cost starts from $0.015 and goes below $0.0075 with a higher volume.
Documentation is very clean and can be integrated easily in any production environment.
Support is available 24*7 through chats and emails.
They recently launched an API that allowed extracting 100 results at once, bypassing Google’s removal of the num=100 parameter. However, Google quickly blocked this API.
Testing Google Search API
Here we will make 10 requests to the Google search endpoint and see what success rate we can achieve.
Testing Google Shopping API
Here we will make 10 calls to the shopping API.
Test Summary
The Google Search API from SerpApi took an average of 3.34 seconds to complete each request.
The Shopping API took an average of 7.20 seconds to complete a single request.
SearchAPI
SearchAPI is another product that provides SERP APIs for seamless scraping of Google products.
Details
You get 100 free credits once you sign up.
Per scrape cost starts from $0.004 and drops below $0.001.
Docs are very clear and concise.
Support is available through chats and emails.
They also provide multiple other APIs around Bing and other search engines.
Testing Google Search API
Testing Google Shopping API
Test Summary
The Google Search API from SearchAPI took an average of 4.55 seconds to complete each request.
The Shopping API took an average of 3.67 seconds to complete a single request.
Scrapingdog
Scrapingdog offers high-performance Google APIs that let you scrape search results and other Google products with speed and reliability.
Details
You get 1000 free credits for testing the API. You can test any APi directly from the dashboard.
Per scrape cost starts from $0.001 and drops below $0.000054 on top plans.
The documentation is clear and easy to follow, and the API can be seamlessly integrated into any environment.
Scrapingdog provides support through chat and emails. Agents are available online 24*7 to solve any issue.
They recently launched a Universal Search API that collects data from all major search engines in a single API call. This allows users to gather data faster and at a lower cost.
Testing Google Search API
Testing Google Shopping API
Test Summary
The Google Search API from Scrapingdog took an average of 3.32 seconds to complete each request.
The Shopping API took an average of 3.22 seconds to complete a single request.
Speed Comparison (SerpAPI vs SearchAPI vs Scrapingdog)
Provider | Google Search API (Avg. Time) | Google Shopping API (Avg. Time) | Success Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
SerpApi | 3.34 s | 7.20 s | 100% |
SearchAPI | 4.55 s | 3.67 s | 100% |
Scrapingdog | 3.32 s | 3.22 s | 100% |
All three providers, SerpApi, SearchAPI, and Scrapingdog delivered a 100% success rate for both Google Search and Shopping APIs, showing solid reliability across the board.
When it comes to speed, Scrapingdog outperformed the others with the lowest average response times 3.32s for Search and 3.22s for Shopping.
SearchAPI performed moderately well, while SerpApi showed noticeably slower results, especially in the Shopping API tests where it took 7.20s on average.
Overall, Scrapingdog stood out as the most efficient option, maintaining consistency across both APIs while delivering faster responses. 🚀
Price Comparison
Provider | Starting Cost / Call | Lowest Cost / Call (High Volume) | Approx. Cost per 1K Calls |
|---|---|---|---|
SerpApi | $0.015 | $0.0075 | ~$7.50 – $15.00 |
SearchAPI | $0.004 | $0.001 | ~$1.00 – $4.00 |
Scrapingdog | $0.001 | $0.000054 | ~$0.05 – $1.00 |
All three APIs offer volume-based pricing, but the gap between them is significant. SerpApi remains the most expensive, with costs ranging from $7.50 to $15.00 per 1,000 calls. SearchAPI sits in the mid-range, priced between $1.00 and $4.00 per 1,000 calls.
In contrast, Scrapingdog delivers the most affordable solution, costing only $1.00 per 1,000 calls at entry-level and dropping to just $0.054 per 1,000 calls at high volume.
Overall, Scrapingdog provides the best value for developers and enterprises seeking scalable data extraction without high recurring costs.
Final Verdict
Fastest Performance: Scrapingdog delivered the quickest response times for both Search and Shopping APIs.
Best Pricing: It’s also the most cost-efficient, up to 10–150× cheaper than competitors at scale.
Reliability: All three APIs achieved a 100% success rate during testing.
Overall Winner: Scrapingdog stands out as the best-balanced choice for speed, stability, and affordability.
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
1. How do SerpAPI, SearchAPI, and Scrapingdog differ in performance?
All three APIs reliably return structured search results, but Scrapingdog generally responds faster in tests, especially for both Search and Shopping APIs, while SearchAPI and SerpAPI may be a little slower on some endpoints.
2. Which API is the most affordable for large-scale search scraping?
Scrapingdog is the most cost-effective option, with pricing much lower per 1,000 requests, SearchAPI sits in the mid-range, and SerpAPI tends to be the most expensive at scale.
3. Are all three APIs reliable for extracting Google search data?
Yes- SerpAPI, SearchAPI, and Scrapingdog all showed a 100% success rate in tests when retrieving Google Search and Shopping results, making them dependable choices for structured SERP data.
4. If I need to scrape data for 1,000 keywords daily for 30 days, which API is the most economical?
If you’re scraping 1,000 keywords every day for 30 days (around 30,000 requests per month), Scrapingdog is the most economical choice. It offers significantly lower pricing per 1,000 requests compared to SerpAPI and SearchAPI, making it better suited for large-scale, recurring scraping tasks. SearchAPI falls into a mid-range pricing bracket, while SerpAPI can become comparatively expensive at this volume, especially for long-term daily scraping projects.
Additional Resources
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