February 28, 2025
Scraping search results sounds easy. In reality, it is anything but. Captchas, proxy bans, and broken HTML make in-house scrapers a time sink. SERP APIs take the pain away, giving structured data at scale. We tested five popular services to see how they perform. Our goal is to give you clear data so you can choose the right API for your project. This review focuses on speed, cost, and data quality.
Let’s not bury the point. HasData SERP API is the fastest and cleanest option we tested. Median latency stays around 2.0 seconds, even past 100K requests. Output is flat JSON with no duplicates, nulls, or base64 clutter. It also includes screenshots when needed. Pricing starts at $1.22 per 1,000 requests, cheaper than many premium providers. HasData is built for real-time apps, dashboards, and AI pipelines that need data without extra cleanup.
Other providers can work, but each has a weakness- slower speeds, messy output, or higher costs at scale.
HasData uses key-based authentication and plain REST endpoints. The docs are brief and practical. An online Playground lets you build queries, preview JSON, and export ready-made code for Python or Node.js.
Performance was best in class. Median latency 2.0s, P95 at 2.6s, zero failures across tests. Even at 100K requests, we saw no throttling or retries. That stability matters when dashboards or AI workflows depend on constant delivery.
The output is easy to work with: organic results, ads, maps, news, AI overview, and knowledge panels, all in flat JSON. No heavy nested blocks. Optional screenshots help when debugging or presenting to non-technical stakeholders.
Pricing starts at $1.22 per 1K requests. That beats SerpAPI and Bright Data while giving cleaner output than low-cost services.
Best fit: real-time SEO monitoring, competitor tracking, and AI pipelines.
What users say: HasData holds a 5-star average on Capterra. Many users praise its reliability and speed under heavy load. One noted that what used to take their in-house scraper more than five minutes now returns in two seconds without downtime. That matches our latency findings and confirms its performance under real stress.
SearchAPI aims for wide SERP coverage. It includes organic, ads, videos, forums, and related searches. Docs are decent and include a code converter for multiple languages.
Latency was mixed: P50 at 2.7s is fine, but P95 climbed to 8.2s. For dashboards or live tools, those spikes hurt. Output is detailed, but heavier than HasData. Blocks for favicons and discussions add parsing overhead. For some users, that extra data is a plus. For most, it’s just noise.
Pricing starts at $3 per 1K requests. You pay more for the extra fields, even if you don’t need them.
Best fit: projects that demand full SERP coverage, not just core results.
What users say: Users on ProductHunt note that SearchAPI covers a broad mix of search engines and data types - Google Search, Shopping, Trends, YouTube, Amazon, which can simplify multi-source scraping. That aligns with its rich feature set.
Serply is simple to set up. Add an API key header, make a REST call, and you’re in. Docs have examples in several languages. You can test geo variations and user-agent changes, which is useful for localized SERPs.
Performance was uneven. Median latency 2.6s is acceptable, but P95 at 4.7s sometimes spiked as high as 60 seconds. That makes it risky for real-time workflows. Output is barebones JSON with titles, links, and descriptions. No rich blocks, no AI overview, no knowledge panel.
At $3.20 per 1K requests, it is overpriced given the gaps in data.
Best fit: quick experiments where location or device testing is the main goal.
What users say: Serply markets itself as blazing fast, under 1800 ms average on hundreds of millions of requests. That claim clearly conflicts with our test, which found higher latency. We assume that those results may reflect caching or ideal conditions. Real-world performance shows more variation and slower responses.
AvesAPI offers broad Google coverage: web, images, videos, news, and shopping. You can set parameters for country, city, device, and language. That flexibility helps in market research and local SEO audits.
Output is clean JSON or HTML, with fields for ads and query metadata. Docs exist but are less polished. No SDKs, so you write direct HTTP calls. That slows onboarding compared to HasData or SearchAPI.
Latency was slower: median 5.2s, P95 at 13.8s. That’s acceptable for batch analytics, not for live dashboards. Pricing starts at $2 per 1K requests, mid-range but better than Serply.
Best fit: bulk research jobs where cost matters more than speed.
What users say: Reviewers point out the ease of use and very helpful support. One review praised its pay-per-request pricing, which aligns with our view that it suits batch workflows. Another user appreciated how shopping data extracts are simple, which fits its parsing capabilities.
Bright Data is a giant in proxy services. Its SERP API extends that network, supporting Google, Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, and more. Targeting works at country and city levels. Data types include organic, maps, images, and shopping.
Docs lean toward proxy setup, which can confuse new users. JSON is available, but sometimes includes base64-encoded images, bloating payload size. Some fields were mislabeled in tests - for example, AI overview blocks tagged as related questions.
Latency was solid: median 2.6s, P95 at 4.9s. Reliable, but output requires extra cleaning.
Pricing is $1.50 per 1K requests. Not extreme, but higher than HasData once you factor in parsing time.
Best fit: teams already invested in Bright Data’s proxy ecosystem.
What users say: Users on G2 say Bright Data saved them hours in setup, since proxy, CAPTCHA, and fingerprint logic were already in place. That matches its enterprise strength. Other reviewers note the platform is complex and costly. That fits our findings: powerful but heavier.
The choice depends on your use case.
Across all tests, HasData offered the best balance: low latency, clean output, predictable pricing, and scale without issues.
Running your own scraper means capchas, bans, and broken HTML. Outsourcing to an API should solve those problems, not add new ones. When we tested HasData, SearchAPI, Serply, AvesAPI, and Bright Data, one API stayed consistent across all metrics.
HasData was faster, cleaner, and more stable. It handled real-time loads, returned JSON that needed no cleanup, and scaled past 100K requests without breaking. Others have strengths - SearchAPI for extra detail, Serply for location tests, AvesAPI for cost, Bright Data for enterprise proxy integration. But none matched HasData’s mix of speed, clarity, and reliability.
If your project depends on SERP data that works out of the box, HasData is the best choice in 2025.
HasData stands out due to its exceptional speed, consistently low latency, clean and flat JSON output, and competitive pricing at $1.22 per 1,000 requests. It is highly reliable for real-time applications and AI workflows.
Running your own scraper often leads to issues like CAPTCHAs, IP bans, and broken HTML, which can be significant time sinks. SERP APIs are designed to handle these challenges, providing structured data at scale without the hassle.
SearchAPI offers broad SERP coverage, including various data types beyond core results. However, its latency can be inconsistent, with noticeable spikes, and its detailed output can be heavier. It costs $3 per 1,000 requests.
Based on tests, Serply showed uneven performance with significant latency spikes, sometimes reaching as high as 60 seconds. This makes it risky and generally unsuitable for real-time workflows where consistent, fast responses are crucial.
AvesAPI is best suited for bulk research jobs and market analysis where cost is a primary concern and speed is less critical. Its extensive Google coverage and flexible parameters are useful for local SEO audits and large-scale data collection.
When selecting a SERP API, consider speed, data quality, cost, and ease of integration. Look for low latency, clean and structured output, predictable pricing, and clear documentation with SDKs or code examples to ensure it meets your project's specific requirements.
