Openpath

Comparisons · Local business data APIs · read on October 15, 2026

Openpath vs SerpApi Google Maps API for AI agents

SerpApi Google Maps API is a third-party API that scrapes Google Maps search results and returns them as structured JSON. Openpath is an open directory of real-world listings built for AI agents: each result is one listing, with the employer’s Apply link for a job or an Openpath inbox address for a business’s owner. It needs no key.

The short answer

  • SerpApi Google Maps API: Getting Google Maps listing data (phone, website, hours, ratings) as JSON without Google's billing or display rules. Legal risk from the scraping model sits partly with you.
  • Openpath: Giving an agent a job to apply for or a local business to message, with no key.

Openpath covers far less today: jobs in Austin, Texas, and remote, and businesses in and around Austin. Where it has what the agent is looking for, it is free and needs no sign-up.

SerpApi Google Maps API and Openpath, side by side

SerpApi Google Maps APIOpenpath
SearchesWhatever Google Maps returns for a query and location (ll parameter), including local businesses, place details and reviews.Live jobs from employers’ own job boards (Austin, Texas, and remote) and local businesses in Austin
ReturnsJSON local_results with fields such as title, address, phone, website, hours, rating, reviews and description, plus place IDs.Plain Markdown, one listing per result: its facts, its source and the day it was checked. Typed JSON on request.
Before the first callA SerpApi account and API key.One empty request to /v1/connect, which returns a token. No account, email or card.
FreeFree plan: 250 searches a month (50 an hour throughput). Cached, errored and failed searches are not counted.Free: 600 searches a minute and 20,000 a day for each connected agent
PaidStarter costs $25 a month for 1,000 searches. Developer costs $75 a month for 5,000. Production costs $150 a month for 15,000.Free for agents
Acting on a resultResults include the business phone and website as shown on Google Maps. There is no messaging.A job has the employer’s Apply link; a business, and every listing its owner added, has an Openpath inbox address. An agent writes to it and the owner answers there. Openpath doesn’t notify owners who haven’t joined yet, so a message to them waits 30 days.
Limits on keeping or showing resultsNot stated on its pagesAgents read listings and act on them; the terms say reading a listing doesn’t give the right to reuse it freely.
AI in its termsNot stated on its pagesBuilt for AI agents. An agent may act only with its owner’s permission, and the terms don’t let Openpath train AI models on what owners post.
CoverageFollows Google Maps. SerpApi warns that results are not guaranteed to fall within the location given.Jobs in Austin, Texas, and remote; businesses in Austin, for now
MCP serverSerpApi MCP Server, hosted at https://mcp.serpapi.com/mcp (API key) and open source at https://github.com/serpapi/serpapi-mcphttps://api.openpath.sh/mcp/search, with no sign-in

Try Openpath

Connect, then search:

curl https://api.openpath.sh/v1/connect \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data-binary '{}'
curl -G https://api.openpath.sh/v1/search \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OPENPATH_TOKEN" \
  --data-urlencode "q=plumber near Austin, TX"

Or let the JavaScript client connect for you. The Python client, openpath-sh, works the same way.

npm install @openpath/sdk

import { search } from "@openpath/sdk";
console.log(await search("plumber near Austin, TX"));

Agent apps that take MCP servers can add https://api.openpath.sh/mcp/search, which needs no sign-in. The local businesses docs have the full code, every parameter and each line of the answer.

One result, as it read on October 15, 2026:

## Wilson Plumbing, plumber in Austin

At 906 E 47th St, Austin, TX 78751.

Contact: https://openpath.sh/to/r16wy7rs084r
The owner hasn't joined Openpath, and Openpath doesn't notify owners yet, so a reply is unlikely for now. A message waits 30 days in case they join.
Source: Overture Maps, checked yesterday.
Data: Meta via Overture Maps, CDLA-Permissive-2.0.
Link: https://api.openpath.sh/v1/listings/c705c92b-8d0d-4b03-8bbb-aa9442843ec5

What Openpath doesn’t do yet

  • Jobs come from the job boards of a growing list of companies, in Austin and remote.
  • Businesses are in Austin, Texas, for now.
  • It shows no phone numbers or websites: owners are reached through their Openpath inbox.

Questions people ask

What do I need before I can use Openpath?

One empty request to /v1/connect, which returns a token. No account, email or card.

Is Openpath free?

Free: 600 searches a minute and 20,000 a day for each connected agent.

What do I need before I can use SerpApi Google Maps API?

A SerpApi account and API key.

Is SerpApi Google Maps API free?

Free plan: 250 searches a month (50 an hour throughput). Cached, errored and failed searches are not counted.

Sources

Every line about another company comes from its own pages. Prices and terms change, so check the source before you rely on one.

SerpApi Google Maps API, read on October 15, 2026: