Pricing, limits, and integration
SearchApi uses tiered subscription pricing with pay-per-success billing: $40/mo Developer (10,000 searches, $4 per 1k), $100/mo Production (35,000 searches, $3 per 1k), $250/mo BigData (100,000 searches, $2.50 per 1k), $500/mo Scale (250,000 searches, $2 per 1k), then Octo 500K at $900/mo through Octo 5M at $5,000/mo (rates drop to $1 per 1k at the top end). Only successful (200) requests are billed, so failed scrapes do not eat quota.
All plans expose the same engines and the same MCP server, so the choice is purely about volume. No tier-gated endpoints, no Enterprise-only AI Overview access, no separate MCP add-on. Authentication uses a single API key (query param or Bearer header). OpenAPI specs ship per engine for typed-client generation. No documented webhooks: integration patterns are synchronous request/response, which is fine for the sub-2-second average response time SearchApi advertises. No sandbox environment, so prototyping draws from your live credit balance from the first call.
How much does the SearchApi API actually cost?
SearchApi publishes an API, but per-tier gating wasn't extracted automatically.
- Most likely scenario: API access is either included in all paid plans, or it's gated to higher tiers and we need to verify on the live docs page.
- Until verified, treat the question "which plan unlocks the API" as open. Don't budget on the assumption it's free with the cheapest paid plan.
SearchApi API is sold as a standalone product with its own pricing — not bundled into a parent SaaS subscription. See the pricing details below and confirm current rates on the official API page.
API at a glance
Which AI clients can read SearchApi data?
Not every AI assistant supports MCP natively. Here's the per-client picture for SearchApi specifically.
| Client | Support | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Claude (Desktop/Web) | Native MCP | Connect via the dashboard-issued MCP URL using npx mcp-remote in claude_desktop_config.json. |
| Claude Code | Native MCP | One-line setup: claude mcp add searchapi <YOUR_MCP_URL> --transport http |
| ChatGPT | Via connectors | Works via ChatGPT custom connectors against the REST API. |
| Cursor | Native MCP | One-click deeplink install from the SearchApi integrations page. |
| Codex | Native MCP | — |
| Windsurf | Native MCP | — |
| Cline | Native MCP | — |
| Gemini | API-only (custom code) | Gemini chat has no native MCP client; call the REST API directly from Gemini Code Assist or custom code. |
| n8n | Native MCP | MCP HTTP node or direct REST call via SearchApi credentials. |
SearchApi also has an MCP server
If you're wiring SearchApi into Claude / Cursor / Codex, the MCP server is usually less code than the REST API.
See SearchApi MCP pageWhat you can build with the SearchApi API
Three personas, three different shapes of build. Pick the row that matches how you actually ship.
Glue SearchApi into your daily workflow
- Pull a digest of ranking changes into your morning Slack
- Trigger a one-off backfill when something looks off
- Pipe data into your own SQLite for ad-hoc queries
Sell SearchApi reporting at scale
- White-label SearchApi data into client-branded dashboards
- Run scheduled multi-account reports without logging into the SearchApi UI
- Cross-reference with the rest of the client's stack (CRM, analytics, ad spend)
Production pipelines for SearchApi
- Real-time sync into your warehouse on a cron
- Custom alerts the dashboard's built-in alerting can't express
- Backfill + idempotency handling for SearchApi data older than the dashboard exposes
Quickstart template
# Starter template — endpoint paths and SDK package names come from # the SearchApi API docs: https://www.searchapi.io/docs/google curl -X GET "https://www.searchapi.io/<your-endpoint>" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $YOUR_API_KEY" \ -H "Accept: application/json" | jq .
Template only. Endpoint paths, exact base URL, and auth header format come from searchapi.io/docs/google.
Limits and gotchas
- OpenAPI is published — auto-generated clients work out of the box. Saves writing wrappers by hand.
- No official SDK detected. Plan on hitting the API directly with your HTTP client of choice.
- Rate limits: always read the docs page before scaling — the published limit is usually lower than the practical one and overages can be expensive.
Agent-readiness verdict
Score: 9/10 on API-readiness. SearchApi covers everything that matters for an agent-native data API in 2026: single REST endpoint, single API key (no OAuth dance), per-engine OpenAPI YAML specs for typed-client generation, parsed JSON across 50+ engines, sub-2-second latency, and pay-per-success billing where failed scrapes never count against quota. The frequent complaint about 'no first-party SDKs' miscalibrates against an MCP-native tool: MCP is the SDK, and the OpenAPI specs generate typed clients in any language. Webhooks matter for long-running async jobs (audits, backlink crawls), but SearchApi calls return in under 2 seconds so there is nothing to webhook back. The score is not a 10 because there is no sandbox environment for credit-free prototyping and the API surface is SERP-only (no keyword volumes, no backlink graph, no on-page audits like DataForSEO's broader catalog).
Solid agent fit with official MCP support. SearchApi publishes its own MCP server and maintains OpenAPI documentation, making it straightforward to integrate into Claude and Cursor workflows. The main limitation is the absence of native structured outputs, which means you'll need to handle JSON parsing on your end rather than relying on the model to enforce response schemas.
SearchApi API FAQ
Does SearchApi have a public API?+
What auth does the SearchApi API use?+
Is there an OpenAPI / Swagger spec I can auto-generate clients from?+
Should I use the API or the MCP server for Claude / Cursor / Codex?+
Sources
- SearchApi official site: https://www.searchapi.io
- API docs: https://www.searchapi.io/docs/google
- OpenAPI spec: https://www.searchapi.io/openapi/google.yaml
- MCP server: https://www.searchapi.io/integrations/mcp
10+ years in digital marketing. I review marketing software for AI-stack fit: real pricing, MCP and API support, and how cleanly each tool drops into an AI agent workflow, cross-checked against verified data and real user feedback.