Serper vs Perplexity Search API for AI agents
Serper is a low-cost API that returns Google search results as JSON. Perplexity Search API is raw ranked web results from Perplexity's own index (Search API), plus Sonar models that return cited AI answers.
The short answer
- Serper: The cheapest way on this list to get raw Google results in JSON.
- Perplexity Search API: Fresh, ranked web snippets from a large independent index, or a cited answer when you want one.
Side by side
| Serper | Perplexity Search API | |
|---|---|---|
| Searches | Google results: web, images, news, maps, places, videos, shopping, scholar, patents, autocomplete. | Perplexity's own web index, which it says covers hundreds of billions of webpages. |
| Returns | JSON shaped like a Google results page: organic results with title, link and snippet, knowledge graph, People Also Ask, related searches; places with address, rating and phone. | Search API: JSON results with title, URL, ranked snippet text and date. Sonar: an LLM answer with citations. |
| Before the first call | An account and an API key; no credit card for the free queries. | An account and an API key from the API console; pay-as-you-go, no subscription. |
| Free | 2,500 free queries, no credit card (the page does not say they renew monthly). | Not stated on its pages |
| Paid | $50 for 50,000 credits ($1.00 per 1,000), credits valid 6 months; down to $0.30 per 1,000 at volume. | Search API $5 per 1,000 requests ($1 per 1,000 with Fast Search), no token costs; Sonar models are priced per token plus a per-request fee. |
| Acting on a result | Through the web page each result links to | Through the web page each result links to |
| Limits on keeping or showing results | Not stated on its pages | Output may be displayed only within your own applications; rights are non-sublicensable and non-transferable. |
| AI in its terms | Not stated on its pages | Perplexity says it will not use customer content to train or fine-tune generative AI models. |
| MCP server | No official server listed | Official MCP server: https://github.com/perplexityai/modelcontextprotocol (npm @perplexity-ai/mcp-server) |
Questions people ask
What do I need before I can use Serper?
An account and an API key; no credit card for the free queries.
Is Serper free?
2,500 free queries, no credit card (the page does not say they renew monthly).
What do I need before I can use Perplexity Search API?
An account and an API key from the API console; pay-as-you-go, no subscription.
Is Perplexity Search API free?
Its pages listed no free use when we read them on October 15, 2026.
Sources
Every line about another company comes from its own pages. Prices and terms change, so check the source before you rely on one.
Serper, read on October 15, 2026:
- serper.dev: “Get 2,500 free queries”
- serper.dev: “No credit card required”
- serper.dev: “50k credits ($1.00/1k)”
- serper.dev: “Credits valid for 6 months”
- serper.dev: “The World's Fastest & Cheapest Google Search API”
Perplexity Search API, read on October 15, 2026:
- docs.perplexity.ai/getting-started/pricing: “The Search API charges per successful request, including a successful request with multiple queries, with no token costs.”
- docs.perplexity.ai/getting-started/pricing: “Total cost per query = token costs + a per-request fee (Sonar, Sonar Pro, and Sonar Reasoning Pro)”
- docs.perplexity.ai/getting-started/quickstart: “Pay-as-you-go pricing for all APIs. No subscription required.”
- perplexity.ai/hub/blog/introducing-the-perplexity-search-api: “With an index covering hundreds of billions of webpages”
- docs.perplexity.ai/guides/search-quickstart: “real-time, ranked web results as structured data”
- perplexity.ai/hub/legal/perplexity-api-terms-of-service: “display such Output, in each case, solely within the Customer Applications”
- perplexity.ai/hub/legal/perplexity-api-terms-of-service: “Perplexity shall not use (or authorize third parties to use) Customer Content to train, retrain, fine-tune”
- docs.perplexity.ai/guides/mcp-server: “https://github.com/perplexityai/modelcontextprotocol”
- docs.perplexity.ai/getting-started/pricing: “Search API $5.00 Raw web search results with advanced filtering”
- docs.perplexity.ai/getting-started/pricing: “Search API with Fast Search $1”