Serply alternatives in 2026

The answer, its page and 100 results in one call

A Serply call returns what Google shows for a query, 10 results at most. A SpecStream call takes the question in everyday words and returns the value with the page it was read on, the rows the question asks for, and up to 100 sources in rank order.

import requests

reply = requests.get(
    "https://api.specstream.ai/v1/web-search",
    params={"q": "Who is the CEO of Mistral AI", "num": 100},
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {SPECSTREAM_KEY}"},
    timeout=30,
).json()["data"]

print(reply["answer"])
for source in reply["sources"]:
    print(source["url"], source["title"])

num=100 costs $0.059 for one call. A call of up to 10 results costs $0.005.

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, and 64.0 item F1 and 43.4 row F1 on all 200 official WideSearch tasks. The Extract API scores 0.908 F1 on WCXB. The scores and the method are at specstream.ai/benchmarks.

About one second a search, with no limit per key

Every drop-in route, Serply's included, runs the fast search. On November 9, 2026 production took 1 to 20 fast searches a second and answered 718 of 720: the median was 0.82 s at 1 search a second and 1.07 s at 20 a second, and the 95th percentile stayed between 1.09 and 1.73 s. There is no limit per key and no daily limit; a busy call gets 429 with Retry-After and is not charged.

The pages behind the results, on the same key

A Serply result ends at its snippet. On SpecStream passages=true adds an excerpt of each page to its source, and 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. A page with no text is not charged, so a search and its pages are one bill from one balance.

One rate from the first search

A search of up to 10 results costs $0.005 on every account, from the first call to the millionth, and credit you buy never expires. Set spend_cap_cents on a key and that key never spends past it. New accounts get $10 of credit, no card, which is 2,000 searches with no 30 day limit.

Whole datasets as rows, kept up to date

When your product needs every match in place of ten links, the same key returns them. Deep Search takes a request in plain words, such as "the pricing page of every European project management software company, with each plan's name and monthly price", and returns every match on the live web as structured rows at 5¢, 15¢ or $1 a row, with a source URL on every value. The most a run can cost is approved before it starts. Save the request and it reruns hourly to yearly: a changed or new row costs half its rate and an unchanged row 1¢. Rows go to Sheets, a CRM, Slack, a signed webhook or your agent through the MCP server at https://api.specstream.ai/mcp.

Zero retention on any key

Set zero_retention when you create a key, or later. A call made with that key keeps no request text and no answer after the reply, and spend_cap_cents is the most the key can spend.

curl -X POST https://api.specstream.ai/v1/account/keys \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SPECSTREAM_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"name": "production", "scopes": ["account:read", "finds:spend"], "spend_cap_cents": 500000, "zero_retention": true}'

SpecStream

The live web data engine for teams and agents. The Extract API reads pages at $0.80 per 1,000 and scores 0.908 F1 on WCXB, the Search API costs $5 per 1,000 searches and scores 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 SimpleQA Verified questions, and Deep Search returns every match as structured rows at 5¢, 15¢ or $1 a row. One key, one balance that never expires.

Serper

Google results as JSON in credit packs from $1.00 per 1,000 on the 50k pack, with credits valid for 6 months. SpecStream answers Serper's call at https://api.specstream.ai/serper, and its credit never expires.

SerpApi

Search engine results pages as JSON on monthly plans: Starter is $25 a month for 1,000 searches. On SpecStream $25 pays for 5,000 searches, and SpecStream answers SerpApi's call at https://api.specstream.ai/serpapi.

Brave Search API

A search API on Brave's own index at $5 per 1,000 requests. SpecStream answers Brave's call at https://api.specstream.ai/res/v1/web/search and reads the pages behind the results on the same key.