SerpApi vs Bing Search API for AI agents
SerpApi is an API that scrapes and parses Google and other search engines into structured JSON. Microsoft's Bing Search APIs were retired on August 11, 2025 and are no longer available.
The short answer
- SerpApi: Structured results from many search engines and verticals, including Google Maps and Shopping, through one API.
- Bing Search API: Nothing for new projects: it is retired; Microsoft points customers to Grounding with Bing Search inside Azure AI Agents.
Side by side
| SerpApi | Bing Search API | |
|---|---|---|
| Searches | Google (many verticals) plus Bing, Baidu, DuckDuckGo, Yahoo, Yandex, Naver, Brave, and sites like Amazon, eBay, YouTube, Walmart, Tripadvisor. | – |
| Returns | Structured JSON (or Markdown): organic results, maps and local results, shopping, direct answers, knowledge graph, with links, addresses, prices, ratings and reviews. | – |
| Before the first call | An account and an API key. | – |
| Free | 250 searches a month. | – |
| Paid | $25/month for 1,000 searches (Starter); only successful searches count. | – |
| Acting on a result | Through the web page each result links to | – |
| MCP server | Official MCP server: https://mcp.serpapi.com/mcp (code: https://github.com/serpapi/serpapi-mcp) | – |
Questions people ask
What do I need before I can use SerpApi?
An account and an API key.
Is SerpApi free?
250 searches a month.
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, read on October 15, 2026:
- serpapi.com/pricing: “Only successful searches are counted toward your monthly searches. Cached, errored, and failed searches are not.”
- serpapi.com: “Regular organic results are available as well as Maps, Local, Stories, Shopping, Direct Answer, and Knowledge Graph.”
- github.com/serpapi/serpapi-mcp: “A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server implementation that integrates with SerpApi”
- 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”
Bing Search API, read on October 15, 2026:
- learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/announcements/bing-search-api-retirement: “Bing Search APIs will be retired on August 11, 2025.”
- learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/announcements/bing-search-api-retirement: “the product will no longer be available to be used or new customer signup.”
- learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/announcements/bing-search-api-retirement: “Customers are encouraged to migrate to Grounding with Bing Search as part of Azure AI Agents.”