Serper and SerpApi Service Comparison | Generated by AI
Good questions. I did some digging into the two services you mentioned: Serper (via serper.dev) and SerpApi (via serpapi.com). Here’s a breakdown of how they compare, and my assessment of whether SerpApi is “a crook”.
✅ What each service appears to be
Serper (serper.dev):
- Marketing copy: “The World’s Fastest & Cheapest Google Search API”. (serper.dev)
- They highlight offering free queries (2,500 free queries, no credit card required) on their landing page. (serper.dev)
- The focus seems narrower: Google search results (web, images, news, maps, videos, shopping, places, patents) as listed on their site. (serper.dev)
- Pricing and full feature details may require deeper review (I didn’t verify them in full).
SerpApi (serpapi.com):
- More extensive service offering: They present themselves as an API that can “scrape Google and other search engines from our fast, easy, and complete API”. (SerpApi)
- They list a large set of supported “search engines” beyond Google (e.g., Bing, DuckDuckGo, etc) and many different API endpoints (Images, News, Local, Patents, etc). (SerpApi)
- They show formal company details: “Built with love in Austin, TX. © 2025 SerpApi, LLC.” (SerpApi)
- They appear to have “enterprise grade” features (SLA, legal statements, refund policy) included. (SerpApi)
🔍 Key differences
- Breadth of service: SerpApi offers a wider variety of search engines + endpoints; Serper seems more narrowly Google-search-results oriented.
- Corporate/Legal presentation: SerpApi gives a more formal corporate feel (LLC, address in Austin, legal liability statement) which suggests more mature business infrastructure.
- Marketing emphasis: Serper emphasises “fastest & cheapest” and free queries; SerpApi emphasises “complete”, and robust enterprise features.
- Transparency & documentation: SerpApi seems to provide extensive documentation/integrations listing; Serper still is functional but likely less rich in features (based on surface check).
- Pricing model: I saw in SerpApi’s site the pricing tiers (developer, production, etc) with clear numbers. Serper’s free queries are visible but full tier details might need more digging.
⚠️ Is SerpApi a “crook”?
No — based on the publicly available information, there’s no strong indication that SerpApi is a scam or “crook”. They appear to be a legitimate business offering search API services. A few reasons:
- They provide detailed documentation and terms (including refund policy, SLA) which is a positive sign.
- They show company address/contact details.
- They have a wide list of planned integrations/uses which suggests more than minimal effort.
However, a few caution points (which are prudent for any vendor):
- The legality of “scraping” search engines is always tricky. SerpApi states they “assume scraping and parsing liabilities … unless your usage is otherwise illegal”. (SerpApi) That means you still need to ensure your usage complies with the source search engine’s terms of service.
- “Complete” and “robust” claims: Just because they claim it doesn’t guarantee every feature works flawlessly in all geographies, or that edge cases / large volume work without issue.
- As with any paid service: check actual performance, reliability, and hidden costs (rate-limits, proxies, “CAPTCHA solving” overhead, etc).
- Free trials: If you test with the free tier, check what counts as “successfully used searches” (SerpApi gives some detail: cached/error/failed searches might not count). (SerpApi)
🎯 My suggestion for you
Since you have a strong technical background and likely evaluate API services critically, here’s how I’d approach it:
- Start with both services on their free tiers (or lowest cost) and implement a small test integration: test query correctness, latency, reliability (especially from your location in Guangzhou / Taiwan).
- Compare results: Are the API results accurate for your geographic use-case? Do they reflect what a manual Google search from that region would show?
- Check latency, error/rate-limit behaviour.
- Examine the terms of service: Are you allowed to use the results for your intended purpose? Are there restrictions (commercial use, volume, IP/country).
- Review cost scaling: As you scale up usage, how does pricing behave in each service?
- Evaluate support/service level: If you hit an issue (e.g., geolocation, captcha blockage), how responsive is the vendor?
If you like, I can dig up independent reviews/feedback (forums, GitHub issues) of both services (Serper vs SerpApi) so you can see what real users say (pros & cons). Would you like me to do that?