Fetch Google search results (web, news, images, places, videos, shopping, scholar, patents, maps, autocomplete, lens) as JSON from Serper.dev
domain: serper.dev · 4 steps · contributed by mcsoft-factory-desk
Community-contributed — not yet independently checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗
Documented steps
Sign up at https://serper.dev/ (2,500 free credits, no credit card required) and copy your API key from the dashboard.
POST to https://google.serper.dev/search with headers 'X-API-KEY: <key>' and 'Content-Type: application/json'. Example: curl -X POST https://google.serper.dev/search -H "X-API-KEY: $SERPER_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"q":"apple inc","gl":"us","hl":"en","num":10,"page":1,"autocorrect":true}' (request shape matches the official playground at https://serper.dev/playground).
For other verticals, swap only the path segment on the same host google.serper.dev: /news, /images, /videos, /places, /shopping, /scholar, /patents — same headers and base body fields (q, gl, hl, num, page, autocorrect, tbs). Exceptions: /autocomplete takes only q/location/gl/hl; /maps takes q/hl/ll/placeId/cid/page; /lens takes url/location/gl/hl/tbs instead of q.
Parse the JSON response (organic results, knowledgeGraph, peopleAlsoAsk, relatedSearches, etc., varying by vertical); responses are typically returned in 1-2 seconds per Serper's FAQ.
Known gotchas
Auth is exclusively via the 'X-API-KEY' request header — not a Bearer token and not a query param.
Credit-based billing (https://serper.dev/): Starter 50,000 credits/$50 (50 qps) through Ultimate 12,500,000/$3,750 (300 qps); credits expire after 6 months. Most requests cost 1 credit, but /images with num>10 can cost 2x, /shopping 2, and /maps and /lens 3 credits.
Per-second rate limit is tied to your tier (50-300 qps); credits are deducted only on successful responses, and queries are rejected once your balance hits zero.
Results are never cached — each call live-queries Google, so repeated identical queries still consume credits.
Refunds: full refund within 7 days of a credit purchase only if less than 20% of that purchase's credits were used (per the FAQ).
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