PacketStream vs. SerpApi: Google Search API Comparison

At a glance

PacketStream compared with SerpApi
Feature	PacketStream	SerpApi
Price	$0.0025 per successful search ($2.50 per 1,000) at any volume	Monthly plans: Starter $25 for 1,000 searches, Developer $75 for 5,000, Production $150 for 15,000, and Big Data $275 for 30,000. That is $25 down to about $9.17 per 1,000. Enterprise by quote.
Billing model	Prepaid balance shared with proxy traffic. $50 minimum purchase. No subscription.	Month-to-month subscription. Cancel at any time.
Free use	No free tier. Trial credits for Search, Fetch, and MCP on request.	Free plan with 250 searches a month
What is billed	Successful searches, including ones that find no results. Errors are free, with one rare documented exception.	Successful searches, including empty result sets. Cached, errored, and failed searches are not counted.
Search engines	Google: web, news, shopping, places, autocomplete, Scholar, and AI Mode	Google plus Bing, DuckDuckGo, Yahoo, Baidu, Yandex, Amazon, eBay, YouTube, Walmart, and more
Output	JSON or Markdown. Up to 10 web results per page.	JSON, with a Markdown output option
Rate limit	5 requests per second per key, bursts of 10, shared with fetch and MCP calls	Guaranteed throughput per hour by plan: 50 on Free up to 6,000 on Big Data
Reading web pages	Fetch API and MCP tool return a page’s main content as Markdown, at $0.0025 per page	Its APIs return search engine and marketplace results. Reading arbitrary pages is not listed on its pricing page.
MCP server	Remote server, API key in an Authorization header. Set-up guides for Claude Code, Codex CLI, Cursor, VS Code, and Claude Desktop.	Hosted at mcp.serpapi.com, with the key in a header or the URL path. Can also be self-hosted, or installed as a Claude Desktop extension.
Data retention	Does not store query text or results	Offers a ZeroTrace mode that, when enabled, does not retain search parameters, queries, or results

How they differ

Pricing model. PacketStream bills each successful search at $0.0025 from a prepaid balance that also pays for proxy traffic and page fetches. You add funds with a $50 minimum purchase. SerpApi sells month-to-month plans with a set number of searches, and the price per search falls on larger plans.

Coverage. SerpApi covers many search engines and marketplaces. PacketStream covers Google only, across web, news, shopping, places, autocomplete, Scholar, and AI Mode.

Search plus reading. An agent usually needs to open the pages it finds. PacketStream’s Fetch API and MCP server return a page’s main content as Markdown on the same key and balance, so one setup covers both steps.

Which should you choose?

Choose PacketStream if

You want to pay per search without a monthly plan. $2.50 per 1,000 was below the per-search price of every SerpApi monthly plan on October 10, 2026.
Your usage is uneven. A prepaid balance carries over between months, with no plan to resize.
Your agent needs to read the pages it finds, not only the result list. One key and balance cover search and page reading.
You already buy PacketStream residential proxies and want one balance for everything.

Choose SerpApi if

You need search engines other than Google, such as Bing, Baidu, Yandex, Amazon, or YouTube.
You want a free monthly allowance, or a mature product rather than an early beta.
Your MCP client cannot send custom headers. SerpApi’s hosted server also accepts the key in the URL path.
You need SerpApi’s compliance programs, such as its U.S. Legal Shield, SOC 2 Type II report, or ISO 27001 certification.

Frequently asked questions

Is PacketStream cheaper than SerpApi?

Per search at published prices, yes. PacketStream charges $0.0025 per successful search, or $2.50 per 1,000, with a $50 minimum purchase that covers 20,000 successful searches. On October 10, 2026, SerpApi’s monthly plans worked out to between $25 and about $9.17 per 1,000 searches, and its free plan included 250 searches a month.

Which search engines does PacketStream support?

Google only: web results, news, shopping, places, autocomplete, Google Scholar, and AI Mode. SerpApi covers Google and many other engines and marketplaces.

Which AI clients work with the PacketStream MCP server?

Any MCP client that can send a custom Authorization header. PacketStream publishes set-up guides for Claude Code, Codex CLI, Cursor, VS Code, and Claude Desktop through mcp-remote. Connectors added on claude.ai or ChatGPT on the web are not supported, because the server has no OAuth sign-in.

Am I charged for failed searches?

Generally no. PacketStream bills only successful searches, and errors are free. One rare exception: a 500 internal_error can follow a charge that went through just before the failure, so your account balance is authoritative. A search that succeeds but finds no results is billed. SerpApi also counts only successful searches.

Is the PacketStream Search API production-ready?

It is in early beta. It is billed per successful search like any other PacketStream product, and the API documents its limits and error codes.

Sources, checked 2026-10-10

Prices and plans change. Check SerpApi’s own site before you buy. SerpApi is a trademark of its owner, used here only to identify its products. PacketStream facts come from our pricing and documentation.

PacketStream vs. SerpApi