Google Patents API
The Google Patents API for developers
Search Google Patents by keyword, assignee, or inventor across any issuing country and get publication number, filing and grant dates, status, and a PDF link back as structured JSON — 1 credit per query, the same rate as every other search type.
{ "searchTime": 0.17, "totalResults": 85000, "page": 1, "organic": [ { "position": 1, "title": "31.10. Connection Pools and Data Sources", "link": "www.postgresql.org/docs/…", "domain": "postgresql.org", "snippet": "For an environment without an application se…" }, { "position": 2, "domain": "medium.com", … }, { "position": 3, "domain": "stackoverflow.blog", … } ], "credits": 1}Is there a free Google Patents API, and what does a paid one cost?
Partly. USPTO's Open Data Portal — the free API that PatentsView migrated to in March 2026 — is a genuine official alternative, but it requires a free registered API key and only covers US patents. Searlo's /search/patents endpoint searches globally — any issuing country, any status — by keyword, assignee, or inventor, returning publication number, filing/grant dates, and a PDF link at $0.30 per 1,000 queries, versus SerpAPI's $15.00 per 1,000 on its Developer plan.
If you only need US patent data and don't mind requesting your own free API key, the USPTO's Open Data Portal is worth using directly. Searlo's angle is different: one endpoint, one JSON shape shared with the rest of Searlo's API, and coverage that isn't bounded to a single country's patent office — the same tradeoff every other Searlo search type makes against its narrower official equivalent.
- Cost per query
- $0.0003 (=$0.30 per 1,000)— our pricing
- Free to start
- 3,000 credits, no card— our pricing
- Free official alternative (US only)
- USPTO Open Data Portal (PatentsView migrated here Mar. 2026) — free API key required, covers published applications + issued patents— uspto.gov
- SerpAPI Google Patents (Developer tier)
- $15.00 per 1,000 ($75/5,000/mo)— serpapi.com/pricing
Third-party figures on this page last verified against the sources linked above. Prices change; if you find one of these stale, tell us and we will correct it.
"Google patents api" is a phrase with real, priced competitor precedent: SerpAPI, SearchAPI.io, and ScrapingDog each sell a dedicated Google Patents engine as its own product. That's a different situation from Scholar — Patents isn't a case of zero official access, it's a case of narrow official access. USPTO's Open Data Portal — the free API that PatentsView migrated to in March 2026 — covers published applications and issued patents with real inventor and assignee data, with a free registered API key.
The gap the ODP leaves is coverage: it's US-only. Searlo's /search/patents endpoint searches globally — country takes any issuing authority, or a comma-separated list — covering applications as well as grants via status, in the same organic-array JSON shape every other Searlo search type uses. 1 credit per query, no separate pricing tier for patents the way SerpAPI runs one.
The filters map onto how patent search actually works: assignee and inventor as free-text name search, status (GRANT or APPLICATION) and type (PATENT or DESIGN) as exact filters, and before / after as date bounds against whichever of priority, filing, or publication date you care about.
Features
Full bibliographic data
Publication number, priority/filing/grant dates, status, and a PDF link come back on every result.
Search by assignee
Filter to patents assigned to a specific company or organization by name.
Search by inventor
Filter to patents naming a specific inventor, for portfolio or prior-art lookups.
Any issuing country
country accepts a single authority or a comma-separated list (e.g. US,EP) — not limited to the US.
Status and type filters
status narrows to GRANT or APPLICATION; type narrows to PATENT or DESIGN.
$0.30 per 1,000 queries
The same headline rate as web search — no separate pricing tier for patents.
Get started in one request
One GET request returns the organic array of patents. assignee, inventor, status, and the before/after date bounds narrow it server-side before you parse a single result.
curl -G "https://api.searlo.tech/api/v1/search/patents" \
-H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
--data-urlencode "q=solid-state battery" \
--data-urlencode "assignee=Tesla" \
--data-urlencode "status=GRANT" \
--data-urlencode "limit=10"import requests
resp = requests.get(
"https://api.searlo.tech/api/v1/search/patents",
headers={"x-api-key": "YOUR_API_KEY"},
params={
"q": "solid-state battery",
"assignee": "Tesla",
"status": "GRANT",
"limit": 10,
},
)
data = resp.json()
for patent in data["organic"]:
print(patent.get("title"))
print(" publication:", patent.get("publicationNumber"))
print(" filed:", patent.get("filingDate"), "granted:", patent.get("grantDate"))
print(" pdf:", patent.get("pdfLink"))const params = new URLSearchParams({
q: "solid-state battery",
assignee: "Tesla",
status: "GRANT",
limit: "10",
});
const resp = await fetch(
`https://api.searlo.tech/api/v1/search/patents?${params}`,
{ headers: { "x-api-key": "YOUR_API_KEY" } },
);
const data = await resp.json();
for (const patent of data.organic) {
console.log(patent.title);
console.log(" publication:", patent.publicationNumber);
console.log(" filed:", patent.filingDate, "granted:", patent.grantDate);
console.log(" pdf:", patent.pdfLink);
}Searlo vs SerpAPI
SerpAPI sells google_patents as its own priced engine, the same as Searlo does. The difference is the rate, and how far the coverage reaches.
| Capability | Searlo | SerpAPI |
|---|---|---|
| Price per 1,000 queries | $0.30 | $15.00 (Developer tier) |
| 100,000 queries | $43.97 one-time ($0.44/1K) | $725/mo Searcher ($7.25/1K) |
| Free credits to start | 3,000 | 250/month |
| Country coverage | Any issuing authority via one param | Not verified |
A free official alternative exists — for US patents only
Unlike Scholar, Patents isn't a category with zero official access. USPTO's PatentsView API migrated to the USPTO Open Data Portal (ODP) in March 2026; the ODP is free with a registered API key, and covers published patent applications and issued patents with real assignee and inventor data — it's a genuinely good option, and the honest recommendation if US-only data is all you need.
It has one real edge, though: it's US-only. Patents filed or granted anywhere else — EPO, WIPO, JPO, any of it — aren't in the ODP at all. Searlo's /search/patents endpoint covers that gap — country takes any issuing authority, or a comma-separated list — and returns the same JSON shape as every other Searlo search type, in exchange for a per-query price instead of the ODP's free model.
Filtering by status, type, and date
status and type are exact-match filters straight from Google Patents' own facets: status narrows to GRANT or APPLICATION, type to PATENT or DESIGN. before and after bound a date range against whichever field you name — priority, filing, or publication — in the literal form the upstream expects, like before=priority:20240101 for "priority date before Jan 1, 2024."
That makes a query like "design patents Apple has been granted since 2023" a single call: assignee=Apple, type=DESIGN, status=GRANT, after=publication:20230101 — no separate lookups to combine.
- status — GRANT or APPLICATION
- type — PATENT or DESIGN
- before / after — priority:YYYYMMDD, filing:YYYYMMDD, or publication:YYYYMMDD
- country — a single authority or a comma list, e.g. US,EP
Searching by assignee and inventor
assignee and inventor are free-text name filters, which is what most real patent-research questions actually start from: "what has this company filed" or "what does this inventor hold," not a publication number you already have. Combine either with country or a date bound to scope a specific competitive question — a competitor's grants in the last year, or one inventor's filings across every authority they've used.
What people build on the Patents API
- Prior-art search before filing a new application
- Competitive intelligence — tracking a competitor's new grants and pending applications
- Patent-landscape and technology-trend analysis by assignee or date range
- Due-diligence data pulls for M&A or investment research
- Cross-referencing an inventor's academic output (via the Scholar API) against their own patent filings
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is there an official Google Patents API?
Not a general one from Google. USPTO's Open Data Portal — the free API PatentsView migrated to in March 2026 — is a genuine official alternative, but it needs a registered API key and covers US patents only, no other countries.
What does the Patents endpoint cost?
1 credit per query — $0.30 per 1,000 queries, the same rate as every other search type. You start with 3,000 free credits.
Can I search by assignee or inventor?
Yes. assignee and inventor are both free-text name filters you can use together or separately, alongside any of the other filters.
Can I filter to granted patents only?
Yes — status=GRANT. Use status=APPLICATION for pending filings instead.
Can I filter by country?
Yes. country takes a single issuing authority (e.g. US) or a comma-separated list (e.g. US,EP) — coverage isn't limited to the US.
What date filters are available?
before and after, each in the form field:YYYYMMDD where field is priority, filing, or publication — e.g. after=filing:20200101.
Does it return design patents?
Yes, with type=DESIGN. Leave type unset to include both patents and designs, or set type=PATENT to exclude designs.
Does every result include a PDF link?
Where Google Patents shows one, yes — the response includes it alongside publication number and the filing/grant dates.
How is this different from USPTO's Open Data Portal (formerly PatentsView)?
The ODP is free but US-only. Searlo's endpoint is paid per query but covers any issuing country, in the same JSON shape as the rest of Searlo's search products.
Is there an MCP tool for patents search?
Not yet — patents search is REST-only today. Scholar has a dedicated MCP tool (scholar_search); Patents doesn't have one currently.