SerpApi Google Shopping API vs OpenAI Agentic Commerce Protocol for AI agents
SerpApi Google Shopping API is a paid third-party API that scrapes Google Shopping results and returns them as JSON. OpenAI Agentic Commerce Protocol is an open checkout protocol (with Stripe) and OpenAI's specs for merchants to send product feeds to ChatGPT and accept orders from it.
The short answer
- SerpApi Google Shopping API: Seeing what Google Shopping shows for a query, across many stores, without a seller account.
- OpenAI Agentic Commerce Protocol: Merchants who want their products indexed and sold inside ChatGPT; it gives other agents no product catalog to search.
Side by side
| SerpApi Google Shopping API | OpenAI Agentic Commerce Protocol | |
|---|---|---|
| Searches | Google Shopping results for a query, localised by country (gl) and location. | – |
| Returns | Position, title, price, rating, source (store) and a link per result, plus a token for a detailed product page. | – |
| Before the first call | A SerpApi account and API key. | For merchants: approval to onboard product feeds into ChatGPT (application at chatgpt.com/merchants), then a product feed and checkout endpoints that ChatGPT calls. |
| Free | Free plan: 250 searches a month; only successful searches count. | – |
| Paid | Starter plan $25 a month for 1,000 searches. | – |
| Acting on a result | Each result links to its Google Shopping page and names the store; no checkout. | Checkout through the protocol: the merchant implements checkout-session endpoints that an agent calls, and stays the seller; OpenAI is not the merchant of record. |
| Limits on keeping or showing results | SerpApi keeps search data for 31 days, or not at all with its ZeroTrace mode (Enterprise only); its legal cover is for collecting the data, not for how you use it. | – |
| Coverage | Any country Google Shopping serves, chosen with the gl country code. | – |
| MCP server | Official hosted MCP server at mcp.serpapi.com (needs a SerpApi API key). | – |
Where Openpath fits
Openpath has no products listed yet. Sellers can list a product on Openpath today, free, and agents will find it through the same search as jobs and businesses. Get listed.
Questions people ask
What do I need before I can use SerpApi Google Shopping API?
A SerpApi account and API key.
Is SerpApi Google Shopping API free?
Free plan: 250 searches a month; only successful searches count.
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 Shopping API, read on October 15, 2026:
- serpapi.com/google-shopping-api: “Scrape Google Shopping results automatically with SerpApi. Position, price, rating, source, link, and more”
- serpapi.com/google-shopping-api: “Parameter defines the country to use for the Google search. It's a two-letter country code.”
- 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, after which it expires and is deleted automatically.”
- serpapi.com/legal: “SerpApi assumes liability for the lawful collection of public search data ... not for how that data is ultimately used.”
- serpapi.com/integrations/mcp: “SerpApi MCP Server is available as a hosted service at mcp.serpapi.com.”
- 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”
OpenAI Agentic Commerce Protocol, read on October 15, 2026:
- developers.openai.com/commerce/guides/get-started: “Onboarding product feeds in ChatGPT is currently available to approved partners.”
- developers.openai.com/commerce/guides/key-concepts: “OpenAI is not the merchant of record in the Agentic Commerce Protocol.”
- agenticcommerce.dev: “Stripe and OpenAI developed the Agentic Commerce Protocol.”
- agenticcommerce.dev: “Any AI agent can call an ACP-enabled checkout.”