Best SERP APIs for Scraping Google in 2025
Justas Vitaitis
Last updated -
In This Article
Search Engine Results Page (SERP) is what Google or other search engines return after a query is entered. The user gets results with relevant websites based on their search term, location, and other metrics. All online businesses invest money and work hours to appear in those search results.
Without SERP data, it’s difficult to know whether their efforts pay off. Search Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are the best tools for collecting such information from Google search.
While there are challenges to overcome when using such tools, all can be resolved with proxies and a good API for SERPs.
What Is a SERP API?
You don’t need to be a programmer to understand what an API is . Simply put, it’s a program that allows you to control other programs. Unlike an ordinary user interface, an API uses commands instead of graphical interface elements and is commonly used for automation.
A SERP API automates the task of data collection from search results. It’s the most efficient way to gather accurate SERP data for various purposes, such as SEO monitoring, market research, news monitoring, and other use cases. A SERP API can also be integrated into existing software tools to perform needed tasks periodically.
Google SERP API solutions are the most common since Google search is the most popular, but all SERP APIs work similarly under the hood. First, the API performs web scraping on search engine pages to collect raw data. This can be page rankings, search volume, URLs, product listings, snippets, and more.
To scrape the needed data, the API performs a Google search by sending queries with appropriate parameters. For example, changing the geolocation of your Google search API with quality proxies will allow you to collect accurate data as if searching from different places.
Once the raw search engine data is collected, the API extracts the relevant pieces (a process called parsing) and converts them into a structured, human-readable format. The most common ones are HTML, CSV, XML, and JSON.
Top SERP APIs for Google Scraping
You could build your own web scraping tool to collect data from Google search results, but it requires extensive knowledge and resources. In most cases, it’s far easier to integrate a pre-built SERP API into an existing system.
We gathered six worthwhile options for beginners and those already experienced in SERP scraping.
SerpApi
SerpApi stands out with a high number of supported search engine APIs. They have tools for Google Images, Lens, Trends, and Scholar, as well as Yandex, Naver, and Yelp. SerpApi is easy to integrate with support for various coding languages and even has a “Legal US shield” to supposedly help protect your company from potential legal issues.
Conveniently, SerpApi includes a free plan with 100 searches per month. Other plans include 5,000, 15,000, and 30,000 searches and cost $75, $150, and $275, respectively.
Pros
- Great quality-of-life features
- Fast response time
- Generous free trial
Cons
- Some might find the documentation lacking
- Could have more pricing tiers
Zenserp
Zenserp positions itself as a scraper that can collect data from all SERP types with the newest snippets. It’s also one of the fastest SERP APIs in the market for all types of popular search engines. Such features make Zenserp one of the best options for real-time Google SERP monitoring.
Zenserp gives a free plan with 50 searches. Paid plans range from $49.99 to $499.99 per month. The basic plan gives 5,000 searches, and the most advanced includes 120,000 searches and a custom queue for greater scraping speeds.
Pros
- Easy to use
- Collects data from various SERP types
- Allows SERP scraping projects to be scaled well
Cons
- There are reports of unresponsive customer support
- Not enough guides and documentation
Serpstack
Serpstack is the best option if you want to see what SERP APIs are all about without paying any money. Their free forever plan gives 100 searches with Google Search API for all search types. Additionally, Serpstack apparently takes measures to ensure bank-level security for your data transfers.
The cheapest plan gives 5,000 monthly searches and costs $29.99. Costlier plans only give more monthly searches - 20,000 ($99.99) and 50,000 ($199.99).
Pros
- One of the best free trial offers
- Great documentation
- Highly customizable
Cons
- Better customer support costs more
- Costly for large-scale projects
SerpsBot
SerpsBot, by ProAPIs, provides an enterprise-level tool to scrape the Google Search Engine. Real-time data extraction is incredibly reliable and allows lots of flexibility for various customization needs, integration options, and proxies.
SerpsBot also gives out sample datasets to let users see what the final result of this tool will look like. To try the tool for yourself, you’ll need a paid plan. They range from $12.5 to $1,500 per month, so there’s a lot of room to scale your scraping efforts with SerpsBot.
Pros
- Accurately collects data from Google, Bing, Yandex, and DuckDuckGo
- Unlimited concurrent API calls
- Wide range of plans
Cons
- No free trial
- Some complain of difficult integration
Bright Data SERP API
Bright Data offers decent SERP APIs to gather Bing, DuckDuckGo, Yandex, Baidu, and Google Search Results. It stands out with the playground trial, which allows you to test various search parameters and preview the API code before you start paying.
Plans with decent response time and major functionalities start from $1,000 (Business) and $2,000 (Enterprise) per month. There’s also a pay-as-you-go option that costs $4 per thousand results.
Pros
- Pay-as-you-go possibility
- Available in many languages
- Decent response time with more expensive plans
Cons
- Lacks value-for-money proxies
- Limited free trial
Nimble SERP API
Nimble is best for large-scale projects when you can already invest adequate sums for accurate search engine data to be gathered quickly. It includes useful parsing templates, advanced CAPTCHA bypassing capabilities, thorough analytics, and even a dedicated account manager.
The quality of Nimble costs a lot, with the professional plan priced at $3,000 per month. Perhaps the cheapest plan is the best way to go with the pay-as-you-go option, which costs you $8 per GB.
Pros
- Pay-as-you-go option
- AI scraping tools
- Great tools against anti-scraping measures
Cons
- Expensive
- Might not be beginner-friendly
Benefits of Using a SERP API
- Accurate and up-to-date SERP data
The quantity of data in search results is enormous, and it quickly gets outdated. API users get the most accurate and up-to-date information from Google SERP when making business decisions. Most Google SERP API solutions can be set to monitor the needed data on search results continuously and update it when there are changes.
- Increased efficiency and reliability
SERP APIs are much faster and have a better success rate at retrieving data when compared to self-made web scraping tools. Business use cases like background check automation require the SERP data to be delivered and collected without delay.
- Customization
Collecting data from search results requires a great deal of customization, as the amount and type of information varies. Most API solutions, including the ones in our list, offer customization options for changing parameters, endpoints, data formats, and more. The more use cases Google search API fits, the better it is.
- Scalability
A good Google SERP API must handle large datasets and high data volumes and support many users. Good scalability means that your data collection capacity can grow with your business without losing accuracy. Often, your choice of proxy provider becomes a large part of scaling data collection.
- Lower costs
The initial investment for web scraping data from the Google search engine is quite big, and additional maintenance is required frequently. Working with a search results API will cost a steady monthly subscription. Most importantly, a good SERP API will cover the infrastructure costs and provide technical support or updates.
Challenges of Scraping Google Search Results
Legal Implications
SERP APIs face similar legal challenges as web scraping in general. The practice is legal when you collect publicly available data. Although data on SERPs is public, Google’s terms of service complicate the matter by prohibiting automated access to their services, including SERP APIs.
Whether you are breaking any laws with a search engine API depends on your particular use case. It’s best to seek legal counsel if you are in doubt.
Rate Limiting
Automated tools, like SERP APIs, send hundreds of requests to collect data in mass. Google imposes limits as an anti-scraping measure, and exceeding them might lead to your IP address being banned.
Following best web scraping practices and using proxies to change your IP will not only allow you to avoid rate limiting but will also help gather better-quality data.
CAPTCHAs
Even if your IP isn’t banned for exceeding request rates, Google might require solving CAPTCHAs if it suspects automated activity. Failure to solve CAPTCHAs might lead to restricted access or IP address bans. Imitating human behavior, rotating proxies, and solving CAPTCHAs are some of the ways to bypass CAPTCHA-related anti-scraping measures.
Change of Layouts and Algorithms
Design and algorithm changes are not just a problem when ranking websites on Google search results. Even a slight change might cause some data collection methods to malfunction. Quality SERP APIs are constantly updated to solve these issues, which is why it’s cheaper to use a search engine API with constant support from professionals.
Conclusion
We provide some of the best Google SERP APIs to make your business decisions more efficient. Any of them will solve the common problems of web scraping. The next step is to start collecting data from Google SERPs with premium quality proxies to find which Google Search API is most efficient for your needs.
Author
Justas Vitaitis
Senior Software Engineer
Justas is a Senior Software Engineer with over a decade of proven expertise. He currently holds a crucial role in IPRoyal’s development team, regularly demonstrating his profound expertise in the Go programming language, contributing significantly to the company’s technological evolution. Justas is pivotal in maintaining our proxy network, serving as the authority on all aspects of proxies. Beyond coding, Justas is a passionate travel enthusiast and automotive aficionado, seamlessly blending his tech finesse with a passion for exploration.
Learn More About Justas Vitaitis