SerpApi Google Events API vs Luma for AI agents
SerpApi Google Events API is a paid API that scrapes Google's events results and returns them as JSON. Luma is Luma's JSON API for managing your own calendar's events and guests, plus a separate MCP server that can search public Luma events.
The short answer
- SerpApi Google Events API: Broad event discovery across many ticket sellers by reusing Google's events results.
- Luma: Hosts automating their own Luma calendars, and agents finding public Luma events such as tech and community meetups through the MCP server.
Side by side
| SerpApi Google Events API | Luma | |
|---|---|---|
| Searches | Whatever Google's events results show for a query and location: concerts, sports, local and community events. | The API covers only the calendar its key was created on. The MCP server can search upcoming public Luma events by keyword, location and date range. |
| Returns | Title, date, address, venue name and link, ticket sources with links, and a thumbnail. | Not stated on its pages |
| Before the first call | A SerpApi account and API key. | API: a Luma Plus subscription on the calendar and a per-calendar API key (200 requests a minute per calendar). MCP: any Luma account, signed in through OAuth. |
| Free | 250 searches a month on the free plan; only successful searches count. | The MCP server works with any Luma account, without Luma Plus. |
| Paid | Starter plan at $25 a month for 1,000 searches. | The API needs Luma Plus, listed at $59 a month billed annually. |
| Acting on a result | Ticket links: each result lists ticket sources with links (to the sellers Google shows). | Not stated on its pages |
| Limits on keeping or showing results | SerpApi keeps search data for 31 days on its side; its terms have no limit on how long you keep results. | Not stated on its pages |
| Coverage | Wherever Google shows events; set location at city level. | Not stated on its pages |
| MCP server | Official SerpApi MCP server (all engines, one search tool) at https://mcp.serpapi.com/YOUR_SERPAPI_API_KEY/mcp. | Official MCP server at https://mcp.luma.com (searches public Luma events and manages events you host). |
Where Openpath fits
Openpath has no event listings yet. Events are on its roadmap, from organizers who list them themselves. Get listed.
Questions people ask
What do I need before I can use SerpApi Google Events API?
A SerpApi account and API key.
Is SerpApi Google Events API free?
250 searches a month on the free plan; only successful searches count.
What do I need before I can use Luma?
API: a Luma Plus subscription on the calendar and a per-calendar API key (200 requests a minute per calendar). MCP: any Luma account, signed in through OAuth.
Is Luma free?
The MCP server works with any Luma account, without Luma Plus.
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 Events API, read on October 15, 2026:
- serpapi.com/google-events-api: “Use SerpApi's Google Events Engine Results API to scrape Google's Events Platform.”
- serpapi.com/google-events-api: “Event titles, dates, links, ticket info and more.”
- serpapi.com/pricing: “Only successful searches are counted toward your monthly searches. Cached, errored, and failed searches are not.”
- serpapi.com/legal: “Search data is retained for 31 days after the search is completed”
- serpapi.com/integrations/mcp: “Enabling AI agents to search and extract data from Google, Bing, and other search engines via Model Context Protocol.”
- serpapi.com/integrations/mcp: “https://mcp.serpapi.com/YOUR_SERPAPI_API_KEY/mcp”
- serpapi.com/pricing: “Free $ 0 / month Get Started 250 searches per month”
- serpapi.com/pricing: “Starter $ 25 / month Get Started 1,000 searches per month”
Luma, read on October 15, 2026:
- docs.luma.com/reference/getting-started-with-your-api: “To use the Luma API, you need a Luma Plus subscription.”
- docs.luma.com/reference/getting-started-with-your-api: “The Luma API is a JSON-based API that allows you to programmatically manage your events and guests.”
- docs.luma.com/reference/getting-started-with-your-api: “only grants access to the calendar it was created on”
- help.luma.com/p/luma-api: “The Luma API uses a per-minute rate limit shared across read and write requests:”
- luma.com/pricing: “$59 ... Per month, billed annually”
- luma.com/pricing: “API access”
- help.luma.com/p/mcp: “search upcoming public events on Luma by keyword, location, and date range.”
- help.luma.com/p/mcp: “Anyone with a Luma account can connect — you don’t need Luma Plus.”
- help.luma.com/p/mcp: “https://mcp.luma.com”