Google SERP API for Developers

Measured Latency (September 2026)

Measured Latency (September 2026)

Features

• 3,000 Free Credits to Start

  Sign up without a card and test on your own keywords. New-user credits are valid for one year.

• 98% Cheaper than SerpApi

  $0.30/1K vs $15.00/1K. Save thousands monthly at scale without sacrificing quality.

Integrate in 5 Minutes

Integrate in 5 Minutes

from searlo import SearloSearchTool
from langchain.agents import initialize_agent

# Initialize with your API key
search = SearloSearchTool(api_key="YOUR_API_KEY")

# Use with LangChain agent
agent = initialize_agent(
    tools=[search],
    llm=llm,
    agent="zero-shot-react-description"
)

# Run a search query
result = agent.run("What are the best laptops in 2026?")
print(result)

import { Searlo } from 'searlo';

const searlo = new Searlo({ apiKey: 'YOUR_API_KEY' });

// Perform a search
const results = await searlo.search('best laptops 2026', { gl: 'us', num: 10 });

// Ranked results: position, title, link, snippet, domain
for (const r of results.organic) console.log(r.position, r.title, r.link);
console.log(results.totalResults, results.nextPage);

Compare SERP API Providers

Compare SERP API Providers

Features

• What is a Google SERP API?

  A Google SERP (Search Engine Results Page) API returns Google's results pages as structured data. You send a search query via HTTP request and receive structured JSON data including organic results, images, news, videos, and shopping data. It's the foundation for SEO tools, AI applications, rank trackers, and market research platforms.

• How does Searlo compare to SerpApi and Serper?

  Searlo is significantly cheaper - $0.30 per 1K searches vs $15.00 (SerpApi, on their $75/mo Developer plan) and $1.00 (Serper). Unique features include AI-optimized TOON format (60% fewer tokens), native MCP Protocol support, streaming, and 195 country coverage.

• Is there a free tier for testing?

  Yes! Start with 3,000 free credits - no credit card required, valid for one year. This is perfect for testing, prototyping, and small projects. Serper's free allowance is a one-time 2,500 credits; ours is a one-time 3,000, so you get more to start with. When you're ready to scale, paid plans start at just $3.99 one-time.

• What is the best SERP API in 2026?

  It depends on what you need. Searlo stands out in 2026 on price ($0.30/1K), AI features (TOON format, native MCP) and one-time credit packs. SerpApi leads in search engine variety (80+), while DataForSEO offers the most comprehensive SEO tool suite. Serper is a good budget option but lacks advanced features. Choose based on your needs: Searlo for AI and price, SerpApi for multi-engine, DataForSEO for full SEO suite.

• What data does the SERP API return?

  Our API returns comprehensive SERP data: organic results (title, URL, snippet, position, date, domain, favicon), image results, news results, video results, shopping results, and metadata (total results, search time). All data is structured in clean, consistent JSON.

• Can I use Searlo for AI and LLM applications?

  Absolutely! Searlo is built with AI developers in mind. Our unique TOON (Token-Optimized Object Notation) format reduces token usage by up to 60% compared to raw JSON, significantly cutting costs for GPT-4, Claude, Gemini, and other LLM applications. We have native LangChain integration, LlamaIndex support, MCP Protocol compatibility, and work seamlessly with AutoGPT, CrewAI, and custom AI agents.

• What is the MCP Protocol and does Searlo support it?

  MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open standard by Anthropic for connecting AI assistants to external data sources and tools. Searlo offers official MCP integration, allowing you to add real-time web search to Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, or any MCP-compatible AI assistant. This enables AI agents to ground their responses with current search data, reducing hallucinations and providing up-to-date information.

• How do I integrate with LangChain?

  Integration takes minutes: 1) Set your API key as SEARLO_API_KEY environment variable, 2) Call the REST API directly or through the official Python or JavaScript SDK, 3) Wrap the response as a LangChain Tool. It's a drop-in replacement for SerpAPI or Serper at a lower per-query price. See our documentation for complete examples.

• How do I build a rank tracker with SERP API?

  Building a rank tracker is straightforward: 1) Store your target keywords and competitor domains, 2) Schedule periodic API calls to track each keyword (use our batch endpoint for efficiency), 3) Parse the results to find your domain's position, 4) Store historical data for trend analysis, 5) Build alerts for ranking changes. Searlo's affordable pricing and batch endpoint make it ideal for tracking thousands of keywords daily. See our rank tracker tutorial for complete implementation.

• Does Searlo support Google AI Overviews (SGE)?

  Yes. The full-SERP endpoint (GET /serp, 3 credits per page; 8 from November 1, 2026 when the AI Overview has to be completed by rendering the page) returns Google's AI Overview text and its cited sources by default (set aioverview=false to skip it), together with ads, People Also Ask, related searches and the knowledge graph. The standard /search/web endpoint (1 credit) stays organic-only. See the AI Overview tracking page for parameters and pricing.

• What programming languages are supported?

  Searlo works with any language that can make HTTP requests, and there are official SDKs for JavaScript/TypeScript and Python. Our REST API is simple enough to use with cURL, Postman, or any HTTP client.

• How fast is the API really?

  Measured on production traffic in September 2026 (384,550 successful calls), web search returned in 1.04 seconds at the median, 2.48 seconds at p90 and 5.46 seconds at p99. Image search took about 1.5 seconds at the median and 3 seconds at p90. Set a client timeout of 10 seconds or more to cover the slowest calls. We don't publish latency figures for other providers.

• How do I get started?

  Getting started takes less than 5 minutes: 1) Sign up for a free account at dashboard.searlo.tech (no credit card), 2) Copy your API key from the dashboard, 3) Make your first API request using cURL, Python, or JavaScript. Check our documentation for code examples in your preferred language.

• What is the TOON format for AI?

  TOON (Token-Optimized Object Notation) is our proprietary format designed specifically for LLM consumption. It uses abbreviated keys, removes redundant data, and structures information hierarchically to minimize token count while preserving all essential data. This reduces costs by up to 60% for GPT-4/Claude applications and improves response quality by reducing context length.

• What's the difference between SERP API and Google Custom Search API?

  Google's Custom Search JSON API is closed to new customers, and existing customers' "Search the entire web" option ends on 1 January 2027. A SERP API like Searlo returns live Google results pages as JSON and is open to new sign-ups, from $0.30 per 1,000 queries.

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