DataForSEO alternatives: 6 Google search APIs compared on price and switching effort

The main DataForSEO alternatives for Google results are SerpApi, Serper, SearchApi.io, Bright Data, Zenserp and Serplify. Of these six, only Serplify accepts DataForSEO’s requests unchanged, so your code keeps working. Which one costs less depends on how many results you need per keyword.

We make Serplify, so read our entry with that in mind. We checked every price below on the provider’s own page on October 9, 2026.

Why teams look for a DataForSEO alternative

DataForSEO sells SEO data by the request, with no subscription. Its Google Organic API has a standard queue, a priority queue and a live mode. Page-one prices are low, and many teams stay for that. Teams that leave usually have one of these reasons:

• Depth billing. Since September 19, 2025, every 10 results count as one page. A top-100 live check costs $0.02, ten times a page-one check.
• The $50 minimum. Fine for an agency. A lot for one developer testing an idea.
• The queue. The cheapest mode is a queue that DataForSEO lists at about 5 minutes. That suits overnight jobs, not a user who is waiting.
• Search operators. Queries with site: or inurl: cost five times the base price.

None of these is about bad data. They are about fit and cost.

DataForSEO alternatives compared

The table shows the price of 1,000 checks at two depths. Page one is about 10 results. Top 100 is about 10 Google pages.

Two things stand out. For page-one checks, DataForSEO is very hard to beat. Only Serper’s biggest pack costs less. For the top 100 results, Serplify costs less than any DataForSEO mode.

Deep pulls cost more almost everywhere now. In September 2025, Google stopped showing 100 results on one page. So a top-100 check takes about 10 page loads, and most APIs bill for each one.

The alternatives, one by one

Serplify: same requests, one price per SERP

Serplify is the API we build. Its /v3 endpoints copy DataForSEO’s Google Organic API. That covers live regular, advanced and html, task_post, tasks_ready, task_get, and the locations and languages lists. The request array, the tasks envelope and the five-digit status codes match.

One SERP costs $0.005 for up to 100 results, live or queued. A live request is billed only when the SERP comes back. A queued task is billed when you submit it, like task_post. Retries after a Google block are free. The full rates are on our pricing page.

Good fit: DataForSEO users who pull deep results and want to keep their code. Watch for: the price is flat, so page-one checks cost more than DataForSEO’s queue. Only Google Organic is covered.

SerpApi

SerpApi sells monthly plans. They run from $25 for 1,000 searches to $275 for 30,000, which is $9.17 per 1,000. Bigger plans cost less per search. Only successful searches count, and your searches reset each billing cycle.

It has separate APIs for Google Maps, Shopping, Scholar and other search engines. Paid plans include its U.S. Legal Shield. We compare it with other options in our guide to SerpApi alternatives.

Good fit: teams that need many Google products from one vendor. Watch for: a top-100 pull takes about 10 searches.

Serper

Serper sells prepaid credit packs from $50. A query costs $1.00 per 1,000 on the smallest pack and $0.30 on the largest. Credits last six months, and new accounts get 2,500 free queries.

Good fit: cheap page-one lookups. Watch for: credits expire after six months.

SearchApi.io

SearchApi.io sells monthly plans, from $40 for 10,000 searches to $5,000 for 5 million. Only searches that return a 200 status code are charged.

Good fit: steady volume that fills a monthly plan. Watch for: you pay for the plan whether you use it or not.

Bright Data SERP API

Bright Data charges $1.50 per 1,000 requests pay as you go, or $499 a month for 380,000. Its pricing page says only successful requests are billed.

Good fit: teams that already buy proxies or data from Bright Data. Watch for: per-request pricing adds up at depth.

Zenserp

Zenserp has 50 free searches a month. Paid plans start at $49.99 for 25,000 searches and reach $899 for 1 million.

Good fit: small, steady projects. Watch for: a big gap between plan sizes.

If you use DataForSEO for keyword data

Many teams use DataForSEO for more than results pages, such as search volume or backlinks. A SERP API does not replace those. Keep DataForSEO for that part, or look at the keyword and backlink APIs from Semrush or Ahrefs.

How to switch from DataForSEO without breaking your parser

The risk in a switch is your parser, not the HTTP call. Your code expects one JSON shape. A small change in that shape can corrupt stored data without any error.

With Serplify’s /v3 endpoints, the shape stays the same. Here are the steps:

1. Swap the base URL from api.dataforseo.com to api.serplify.io.
2. Swap the auth. DataForSEO uses a login and password. Serplify uses a Bearer key.
3. Keep your request bodies and your parser as they are.
4. Test one live advanced call from end to end.
5. Run a side-by-side test. Send the same 50 to 100 keywords to both, from the same location and device. Compare the parsed items field by field.
6. Move traffic over in steps. Keep the old account active until the numbers match.

Only the host and the auth header differ from a DataForSEO call:

curl -X POST https://api.serplify.io/v3/serp/google/organic/live/advanced \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer live_your_key_here" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '[
    {
      "keyword": "best running shoes",
      "location_code": 2840,
      "language_code": "en",
      "device": "desktop"
    }
  ]'

The full checklist is in the DataForSEO migration docs. New to Serplify? Our first SERP API request, step by step covers keys and the response.

A switch to any other API here means new code. Map each field you store to its new name, and keep both feeds running until they agree. To see what each parsed field means, read how we parse SERP features into JSON.

Which DataForSEO alternative fits you

• You check page one only, at high volume. Stay on DataForSEO’s queue, or try Serper.
• You track the top 100 and want to keep your code. Serplify.
• You need Google Maps, Shopping or other engines from one vendor. SerpApi.
• You already buy proxies from Bright Data. Its SERP API keeps you with one vendor.
• You want an official search API instead. Few are left. Google’s Custom Search JSON API ends on January 1, 2027, as our guide to the Custom Search API shutdown explains. Microsoft retired the Bing Search APIs in August 2025. See Bing Search API alternatives for what replaced them.

For the three best-known options in one table, see Serplify vs SerpApi vs DataForSEO. If you track rankings at scale, how to track rankings in bulk covers the schedule and storage side. Every endpoint is listed on the Serplify SERP API page.