PacketStreamCompare · AI web search and fetch
PacketStream vs. SerpApi
PacketStream and SerpApi both return Google results as structured data, bill only successful searches, and offer a remote MCP server for AI agents. PacketStream charges $0.0025 per successful search, or $2.50 per 1,000, from a prepaid balance with a $50 minimum purchase and no monthly plan, and adds a page-reading tool at the same price. SerpApi sells monthly plans that worked out to $25 down to about $9.17 per 1,000 searches on October 10, 2026, and its pricing page lists no tool for reading the pages a search finds.
Checked against each provider’s public pages on .
At a glance
| 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. |
| 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. Errored and failed searches are not counted. |
| Rate limit | 20 requests per second per key, bursts of 200, shared with fetch and MCP calls | Up to 6,000 searches an hour, on the $275 Big Data plan |
| 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. |
| 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, from $25 for 1,000 to $275 for 30,000.
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.
Why choose PacketStream
- 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.
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.
Which AI clients work with the PacketStream MCP server?
Any MCP client that can send a custom Authorization header. Claude custom connectors can sign in with your PacketStream account instead of a key. PacketStream publishes set-up guides for Claude Code, Codex CLI, Cursor, VS Code, Claude Desktop through mcp-remote, and Claude custom connectors.
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.
Sources, checked 2026-10-10
- SerpApi: Pricing
- SerpApi: MCP server
- PacketStream: Search API
- PacketStream: Search API errors and limits
- PacketStream: MCP client setup
Prices are as listed on the date shown and may have changed since. SerpApi is a trademark of its owner, used here only to identify its products. PacketStream facts come from our pricing and documentation.
Give your agent Google search and page reading.
Also compare: Firecrawl.