Serper alternatives in 2026
The most accurate web search API, at $5 per 1,000 searches.
Serper is a Google Search API. A query returns Google's results page as JSON in 1 to 2 seconds. Prepaid credits cost $1.00 per 1,000 queries on the 50k pack and $0.30 on the 12.5M pack, and they are valid for 6 months. The response holds titles, links and snippets, so your code or your agent still reads the pages and builds the record.
SpecStream is the best alternative to Serper for products and agents that need the answer or the data. SpecStream is the live web data engine for teams and agents. Its Search API is the most accurate web search API in the world, with a 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 official SimpleQA Verified questions (978 correct). A search costs $5 per 1,000 and returns the answer, the page it was read on and typed rows. The Extract API reads pages at $0.80 per 1,000. Deep Search returns every match on the live web as structured rows at 5¢, 15¢ or $1 a row, under a maximum you approve before it runs.
New accounts get $10 of credit, no card.
SpecStream and Serper side by side
| SpecStream | Serper | |
|---|---|---|
| What you change | One line. https://api.specstream.ai/serper/search in place of https://google.serper.dev/search, and a SpecStream key in the X-API-KEY header or as a Bearer token. The request and the reply keep their shape | POST /search with a Serper key in X-API-KEY |
| What you send | A question or the data you want in plain words, in any language, with the conditions every row must meet | A Google query, with the country and language you set, to one of ten result types: Search, Images, News, Maps, Places, Videos, Shopping, Scholar, Patents or Autocomplete |
| What you get back | From a search: the answer with the page it was read on, rows with the facts you asked for, and the ranked sources. From Deep Search: structured rows, one record per company, place or filing, with facts from many sites joined. Source URL and read time on every value | Google's results page as JSON: knowledgeGraph, organic results with a title, link, snippet and position, peopleAlsoAsk and relatedSearches |
| The text of the pages | Add passages=true to a 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 snippet for each organic result |
| Published 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 at specstream.ai/benchmarks | No accuracy score on its homepage, which states a response time of 1 to 2 seconds |
| Data already held | Public databases read every morning at specstream.ai/data: 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. Ask for your own cut of any of them | No database of records. Each call queries Google live, and nothing is cached |
| The unit you pay for | A search: $5 per 1,000 searches of up to 10 results. A page read: $0.80 per 1,000. A delivered row: 5¢, 15¢ or $1 by how much the row needs, plus 5¢ for an email and 15¢ for a phone. The same rate on every plan | A credit, deducted for each successful response. Prepaid packs: 50k credits at $1.00 per 1,000, 500k at $0.75, 2.5M at $0.50 and 12.5M at $0.30 |
| How long the balance lasts | A top-up never expires | Credits are valid for 6 months |
| Free to start | $10 of credit, no card. That is 2,000 searches, or up to 200 rows at 5¢ | 2,500 free queries, no credit card |
| The cost cap before a run | The most a Deep Search run can cost, quoted before it starts. Nothing runs until you approve it, and there are no automatic overages. Each API key carries its own limits: total, per run and monthly | The prepaid balance. When it reaches zero, Serper stops accepting new queries |
| Reruns and change labels | Hourly to yearly. Each row comes back labeled changed, unchanged or no longer matching. A changed or new row costs half its rate, an unchanged row 1¢ | Each call is a new Google query at the full credit price, and nothing is cached between calls |
| 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 | A JSON response to the code that called the API |
Why Serper buyers move to SpecStream
A search returns the answer and typed rows
A Serper call returns what Google shows for a query: a knowledge graph, organic results with a snippet each, and related questions. A SpecStream search takes a question in everyday words and returns three things in one reply. answer holds the value, the page it was read on and the time it was read. rows holds each result with the facts the request asks for. sources lists the search results read, in rank order, and marks the ones a value comes from. A call of up to 10 results costs $0.005, and num goes to 100.
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.
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 parts you can edit, 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.
An agent spends inside a maximum you set
Every Deep Search request gets a quote of the most it can cost, good for 30 minutes. Nothing runs until that maximum is approved, the charge never goes past it, and what the run does not use goes back to your balance. Each API key has its own limits: total, per run and monthly, and the operations it allows. A top-up never expires. Serper credits are valid for 6 months.
The rows stay up to date and land in your tools
Save a request and it reruns hourly to yearly. Each row comes back labeled changed, unchanged or no longer matching. A changed or new row costs half its rate and an unchanged row costs 1¢. New matches arrive in Slack, email, a sheet, a CRM or a signed webhook, and your agent reads them through the MCP server at https://api.specstream.ai/mcp. Rows you already own are never charged again.
Other Serper alternatives
SpecStream
The live web data engine for teams and agents, and the best Serper alternative. The Search API costs $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, with a guaranteed throughput of 200 successful searches per hour. Cached, errored and failed searches are not counted. SpecStream returns the answer and the rows from one call, at the same rate on every plan.
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. A Research request takes 4 to 110 credits on mini and 15 to 250 on pro. SpecStream names the most a run can cost before it starts, and the charge never goes past it.
Exa
A search API with its own index. Search costs $4 per 1,000 requests on lite and $7 on auto, and the base price covers the first 10 results. The free tier gives $10 in credits a month. SpecStream delivers one structured row per match with every condition met, and bills the rows delivered.
Firecrawl
Search, Scrape and Crawl endpoints billed in monthly credits: Hobby at $19 a month for 5,000 credits, Standard at $99 for 100,000 and Scale at $749 for 1,000,000. On SpecStream the pages read to find a row are not billed, and the Extract API does not charge a page with no text.
How SpecStream scores
The same numbers as the benchmarks page, from the official tasks and scorers.
| SpecStream |  Parallel |  Exa |  Tavily |  Perplexity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Web researchWideSearch, GPT-5.6 Luna | 60.9 | 45.5 | 53.0 | 47.9 | 47.0 |
| Factual accuracySimpleQA Verified, GPT-5.6 Luna | 96 | 94 | 91 | 94 | 94 |
| Factual accuracySimpleQA Verified, GPT-5.6 Sol | 99 | 97 | 91 | 92 | 95 |
How to switch from Serper
Change one line. https://api.specstream.ai/serper/search answers the call your code sends to https://google.serper.dev/search today, in the same JSON, so your parser stays as it is. Send a SpecStream key in the X-API-KEY header or as a Bearer token. A new account gets $10 of credit, no card, which covers 2,000 searches.
# Before
curl -X POST https://google.serper.dev/search \
-H "X-API-KEY: $SERPER_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"q": "Who is the CEO of Mistral AI"}'
# After
curl -X POST https://api.specstream.ai/serper/search \
-H "X-API-KEY: $SPECSTREAM_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"q": "Who is the CEO of Mistral AI"}'q, num, page and tbs work as before, and the reply keeps organic[] with title, link, snippet and position, and answerBox when the search has an answer. A call of up to 10 results is one search at $0.005, and num=100 costs $0.059.
Send the question you send today to the Search API. Sign up and you get $10 of credit, no card, which is 2,000 searches.
curl "https://api.specstream.ai/v1/web-search?q=Who+is+the+CEO+of+Mistral+AI" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $SPECSTREAM_API_KEY"The reply's data.answer holds the value with its page, data.rows holds the results with their facts, and data.sources holds the search results in rank order. For a whole dataset, send the request in plain words. This call spends nothing: the 402 reply shows how SpecStream read the request, the columns and the most it can cost.
curl -i https://api.specstream.ai/v1/agent/lists \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"request": "B2B software companies in Germany that launched an AI product in 2026, with the product name, the launch date and the pricing page", "count": 25}'Approve that maximum by card through Stripe's Link agent wallet, or in USDC on Base, Arbitrum or Polygon, and you pay for the rows found. On an account, your agent uses the MCP server at https://api.specstream.ai/mcp and your team uses the workspace, from the same balance.
Frequently asked questions
Something we didn't answer? Talk to a human
How much does Serper cost?
How do I migrate from Serper to SpecStream?
https://api.specstream.ai/serper/search in place of https://google.serper.dev/search, with a SpecStream key in the X-API-KEY header or as a Bearer token. The request and the reply keep their shape, and each call of up to 10 results costs $0.005.What is the best Serper alternative?
Do Serper credits expire?
Does Serper have a free tier?
Does SpecStream have an API?
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?
https://api.specstream.ai/mcp over Streamable HTTP, with OAuth or an API key. The search_web tool answers a question 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.What does SpecStream cover?
Sources
SpecStream wrote this page. Each rival figure comes from that company's own page.
- SpecStream pricingspecstream.ai/pricing, read Nov 9, 2026
- SpecStream for agentsspecstream.ai/agents.md, read Nov 9, 2026
- SpecStream benchmarksspecstream.ai/benchmarks, read Nov 9, 2026
- SpecStream dataspecstream.ai/data, read Nov 9, 2026
- SpecStream signalsspecstream.ai/signals, read Nov 9, 2026
- Serper homepage, pricing and questionsserper.dev/, read Nov 9, 2026
- SerpApi pricingserpapi.com/pricing, read Nov 9, 2026
- Tavily credits and pricingdocs.tavily.com/documentation/api-credits.md, read Nov 9, 2026
- Exa pricingexa.ai/docs/admin/pricing.md, read Nov 9, 2026
- Firecrawl pricingfirecrawl.dev/pricing, read Nov 9, 2026