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# Apify Google Search Scraper alternatives in 2026: answers for $0.005

Compared on Nov 10, 2026. The page: https://specstream.ai/alternatives/apify-google-search

Apify's Google Search Scraper costs $1.80 to $2.50 per 1,000 Google results pages, on plans from $19 to $999 a month. A run writes one record per results page, about 10 results each, to a dataset your code reads.

SpecStream is the live web data engine for teams and agents. One call with a question in plain words returns the answer, the page it was read on and the ranked sources. It scores 97.9 on SimpleQA Verified, at $5 per 1,000 searches.

[Get an API key](https://specstream.ai/signup?src=alternatives-apify-google-search&utm_source=alternatives-md&utm_campaign=apify-google-search&returnTo=%2Fworkspace%2Fsearch%3Froute%3Dgoogle) New accounts get $10 of credit, no card. It covers 2,000 searches.

## SpecStream and Apify Google Search Scraper side by side

| | SpecStream | Apify Google Search Scraper |
|---|---|---|
| What you send | A question in everyday words, in any language, up to 2,000 characters: `GET https://api.specstream.ai/v1/web-search?q=<the question>` with your key as a Bearer token | A run of the actor with your queries. The results land in a dataset, read at `https://api.apify.com/v2/datasets/[DATASET_ID]/items` |
| What comes back | `answer` with the value, the page it was read on and the time it was read. `rows` with each result and the facts the request asks for. `sources` in rank order, each with its `url`, `title`, `snippet` and `published` date | One record per Google results page, with `organicResults`, `paidResults` and `paidProducts` |
| Price | $5 per 1,000 searches of up to 10 results, the same rate on every plan. `num=100` costs $0.059 a call | Per results page scraped: $2.50 per 1,000 on Starter at $19 a month, $1.95 on Scale at $199 a month and $1.80 on Business at $999 a month. Platform usage is not charged |
| Results in one call | 1 to 100 results in one search, set with `num`, and `page` (1 to 10) continues the same ranked list. Up to 10 results cost $0.005, and each started block of 10 more adds $0.006 | About 10 results a page. 100 results for a query take `maxPagesPerQuery` set to 10, billed as 10 pages |
| Free to start | $10 of credit, no card. That is 2,000 searches, or up to 200 rows at 5¢ | $5 of credit a month on the Free plan, up to 1,111 results pages |
| Search accuracy | 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 official SimpleQA Verified questions (978 correct). 64.0 item F1 and 43.4 row F1 on all 200 official WideSearch tasks. Scores and method on the [benchmarks](https://specstream.ai/benchmarks?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=apify-google-search) page | The results Google shows on each page, in Google's order |
| Buying through a cloud marketplace | Pay as you go from one balance, on a card. The same rate for 1 search or 1 million | The Apify platform on AWS Marketplace: Proof of Concept at $5,000, the Business Plan at $12,000 a year and Enterprise from $60,000 a year |
| The text of the pages | Add `passages=true` to the search and each source carries an excerpt of its page, up to about 3,500 characters. The Extract API returns the main text of up to 20 pages or documents (PDF, Word, Excel) a call, at $0.80 per 1,000 pages | Google's text for each result on the results page |
| Other search APIs on the same key | Calls written for Tavily, Exa, Serper, Brave, Bing v7, Google Custom Search, Firecrawl and SearXNG are answered in their own JSON at `api.specstream.ai`. Change the base address and the key | One actor per source. The Google results come from this actor's runs |
| Every match as structured rows | Deep Search: a request in plain words returns every match on the live web as rows that meet each condition you wrote, at 5¢, 15¢ or $1 a row, plus 5¢ for an email and 15¢ for a phone. The most a run can cost is quoted before it starts, and nothing runs until you approve it | One record per results page. Your code joins the pages into records |
| Data already held | Public databases read every morning at [specstream.ai/data](https://specstream.ai/data?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=apify-google-search): every company that filed a Form D since 2023 with its filing history, nearly 2 million US nonprofits, every US bank failure since 1934, federal rules, open federal contracts and grants, and local businesses. Signals such as funding rounds, new executives and layoffs at [specstream.ai/signals](https://specstream.ai/signals?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=apify-google-search) | No database of records. Each run scrapes Google results pages |
| Reruns and change labels | Hourly to yearly. Each row comes back labeled changed, unchanged or no longer matching. A changed row costs half its rate, an unchanged row 1¢ | Each run scrapes the pages again at the per page rate |
| Where the data goes | Google Sheets, Excel, Airtable, Notion, monday.com, HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Attio, Slack, Teams, Zapier, Make, n8n and signed webhooks. Agents use the MCP server, the REST API, the Python and TypeScript SDKs, a CLI and A2A | The run's dataset, read through the Apify API |

## Why teams move from Apify Google Search Scraper to SpecStream

### One call returns the answer, with no run to wait for

An Apify run scrapes Google results pages into a dataset, and your code reads the dataset, picks the result, opens the page and reads the fact. A SpecStream search answers in the same call: the value with the page it was read on and the time it was read, then every source in rank order.

```
curl -G https://api.specstream.ai/v1/web-search \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SPECSTREAM_API_KEY" \
  --data-urlencode "q=Who is the CEO of Mistral AI" \
  -d num=10 -d passages=true
```

With `passages=true`, each of the first `num` sources carries an excerpt of its page, up to about 3,500 characters, so your model reads the evidence without a second call. Up to 100 results come back in one search for $0.059.

### The most accurate web search API in the world

The SpecStream Search API scores a 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 official SimpleQA Verified questions, with 978 correct. On WideSearch it scores 64.0 item F1 and 43.4 row F1 on all 200 official tasks, 100 in English and 100 in Chinese, in our run of November 8, 2026. The scores and the method are at [specstream.ai/benchmarks](https://specstream.ai/benchmarks?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=apify-google-search).

### Fast at 1 search a second and at 20

The fast search, which every drop-in route uses, was measured on production on November 9, 2026: a median of 0.82 s at 1 search a second and 1.07 s at 20 a second, with the 95th percentile between 1.09 and 1.73 s. It answered 718 of 720 calls. One account can send up to 8,800 fast searches a minute, and a call over that gets a `429` with `Retry-After` and is not charged.

### Your other search code keeps working

If your agent also calls another search API, point it at SpecStream by changing the base address and the key. The reply keeps that API's JSON, so the parser stays as it is.

```
https://api.tavily.com       ->  https://api.specstream.ai/tavily
https://api.exa.ai           ->  https://api.specstream.ai/exa
https://google.serper.dev    ->  https://api.specstream.ai/serper
https://api.search.brave.com ->  https://api.specstream.ai
https://api.firecrawl.dev    ->  https://api.specstream.ai/firecrawl
```

Each call is one web search at $0.005 for up to 10 results, on the same key, limits and history as `GET /v1/web-search`.

### One request returns the whole dataset

With a results API, a dataset is a loop your team writes: many queries, a read of every link, a check of every result and a join into one record. On SpecStream you write the request once, for companies, places, filings, tenders or products. SpecStream reads it back as the conditions every row must meet and the facts to bring back, then searches the live web, reads each page and joins what it finds into one record per match. A row with up to 5 facts costs 5¢, so 10,000 rows cost $500, and the searches and pages behind them are not billed.

### Keys with their own limits and zero retention

Each API key carries its own limits: total, per run and monthly, and the operations it allows. Set `zero_retention` on a key and a search made with it keeps no request text and no answer after the reply. Every other charged search stays in the account's history at `GET /v1/web-search/answers`, with its answer and the pages it came from, and reading the history costs nothing.

## Other Apify Google Search Scraper alternatives

### SpecStream

The live web data engine for teams and agents. Its Search API returns the answer with its page in one call for $5 per 1,000 searches and scores 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 official SimpleQA Verified questions. The Extract API costs $0.80 per 1,000 pages. Deep Search returns every match as structured rows at 5¢, 15¢ or $1 a row.

### SerpApi

A results page API for Google and other search engines, sold month to month. The Starter plan costs $25 a month for 1,000 searches and the Developer plan $75 a month for 5,000. Cached, errored and failed searches are not counted. SpecStream returns the answer and the pages it came from in one call, at $5 per 1,000 searches on every plan.

### SearchApi

A results page API for Google and other engines, sold by monthly plan. The Developer plan costs $40 a month for 10,000 searches, $4 per 1,000, and only searches with a `200` status are charged. SpecStream costs $5 per 1,000 searches with no monthly plan needed, and the reply carries the answer with its page.

### Serper

A Google results API sold as prepaid credits, from $1.00 per 1,000 queries on the 50k pack to $0.30 on the 12.5M pack, with 2,500 free queries. Credits are valid for 6 months. SpecStream answers Serper's own call at `https://api.specstream.ai/serper/search` in Serper's JSON, and a top-up never expires.

### Tavily

A search API for agents, billed in credits at $0.008 each pay as you go, with 1,000 free credits a month. A basic search costs 1 credit and an advanced search 2. SpecStream answers Tavily's call too, at `https://api.specstream.ai/tavily/search`, for $0.005 a search.

## How to switch from Apify Google Search Scraper

1. Create a key under Agents & API in the workspace. A new account gets $10 of credit, no card, which covers 2,000 searches. Give the key a spending limit, and set `zero_retention` on it if your product must keep no query text.

2. Replace the actor run and the dataset read with one `GET https://api.specstream.ai/v1/web-search` carrying the question in `q`, `num` for how many results, and the key as a Bearer token.

```
import requests

reply = requests.get(
    "https://api.specstream.ai/v1/web-search",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {SPECSTREAM_KEY}"},
    params={"q": "Who is the CEO of Mistral AI", "num": 10, "passages": "true"},
).json()["data"]

print(reply["answer"])  # value, page and seen_at, or None
for source in reply["sources"]:
    print(source["url"], source["title"], source.get("excerpt") or source["snippet"])
```

3. Read `data.answer` for the value and the page it came from, and `data.sources` for the pages in rank order. In JavaScript the same call is one `fetch`.

```
const params = new URLSearchParams({ q: "Who is the CEO of Mistral AI", num: "10", passages: "true" });
const { data } = await fetch(`https://api.specstream.ai/v1/web-search?${params}`, {
  headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.SPECSTREAM_API_KEY}` },
}).then((r) => r.json());

console.log(data.answer, data.sources.map((s) => s.url));
```

4. Connect an agent through the MCP server at `https://api.specstream.ai/mcp`. Its `search_web` tool runs the same search for $0.005, from the same balance and inside the limits of its key.

## Frequently asked questions

### How much does Apify's Google Search Scraper cost?

$1.80 to $2.50 per 1,000 Google results pages. Starter is $2.50 per 1,000 pages at $19 a month, Scale $1.95 at $199 a month and Business $1.80 at $999 a month. The Free plan gives $5 of credit, up to 1,111 pages.

### What is the best Apify Google Search Scraper alternative?

SpecStream, at $5 per 1,000 searches. One call returns the answer with the page it was read on and the ranked sources, with no run or dataset to read, and the Search API scores 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 SimpleQA Verified questions. New accounts get $10 of credit, no card.

### How many results does a Google results page return on Apify?

About 10. For about 100 results you set `maxPagesPerQuery` to 10, and each page is charged. On SpecStream `num=100` returns up to 100 results in one search for $0.059.

### How accurate is the SpecStream Search API?

It scores a 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 official SimpleQA Verified questions, with 978 correct, and 64.0 item F1 on all 200 official WideSearch tasks. The scores and the method are on the [benchmarks](https://specstream.ai/benchmarks?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=apify-google-search) page.

### Does SpecStream have an API?

Yes, three. The Search API is `GET /v1/web-search` at $5 per 1,000 searches of up to 10 results. The Extract API is `POST /v1/extract` at $0.80 per 1,000 pages. Deep Search takes a request in plain words and returns structured rows. Python and TypeScript SDKs, a CLI and A2A cover the same calls.

### Does SpecStream have an MCP server?

Yes, at `https://api.specstream.ai/mcp` over Streamable HTTP, with OAuth or an API key. The `search_web` tool runs a search for $0.005, and connecting an agent is free on every plan. The agent spends from the same balance as your team, inside the limits you set on its key.

## Sources

SpecStream wrote this page. Each rival figure comes from that company's own page.

- [SpecStream pricing](https://specstream.ai/pricing), read Nov 10, 2026
- [SpecStream for agents](https://specstream.ai/agents.md), read Nov 10, 2026
- [SpecStream benchmarks](https://specstream.ai/benchmarks), read Nov 10, 2026
- [SpecStream data](https://specstream.ai/data), read Nov 10, 2026
- [SpecStream signals](https://specstream.ai/signals), read Nov 10, 2026
- [Apify Google Search Results Scraper](https://apify.com/apify/google-search-scraper), read Nov 9, 2026
- [Apify Google Search Results Scraper pricing](https://apify.com/apify/google-search-scraper/pricing), read Nov 9, 2026
- [Apify on AWS Marketplace](https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace/pp/prodview-t3cvd2xjhfj6m), read Nov 9, 2026
- [SerpApi pricing](https://serpapi.com/pricing), read Nov 9, 2026
- [SearchApi pricing](https://www.searchapi.io/pricing), read Nov 9, 2026
- [Serper homepage, pricing and questions](https://serper.dev/), read Nov 9, 2026
- [Tavily credits and pricing](https://docs.tavily.com/documentation/api-credits.md), read Nov 9, 2026