# Crawl4AI vs Serper

Both give AI apps Google search results. Serper sells prepaid credit packs that last 6 months. Crawl4AI adds the pages behind the results on the same key, charges by the work each page needed, never charges a failed call, and comes from the team that wrote the open-source crawler.
Facts last checked 12 Nov 2026

Crawl4AI vs Serper: the short answer
Serper returns Google results; Crawl4AI returns Google results and the pages behind them on the same key. A query plus the text of its top 5 pages costs $1.50 per 1,000 on Crawl4AI and 11 Serper credits ($3.30 to $11.00), because a Serper page typically costs 2 credits. Crawl4AI's /serp returns Google's whole results page in one call, with ads, the AI overview and the local pack, for 1 credit. Credit you buy on Crawl4AI never expires; Serper's credits are valid for 6 months. Crawl4AI runs in the EU, Singapore and the US with teams and an audit log from the $99 Builder plan, and agents set it up from one message with 17 MCP tools.

## Which one fits

Different tools fit different jobs. Here is when each one is the better choice.

### Choose Serper if

- You run search alone at high volume: from the $375 pack a query costs $0.30 to $0.75 per 1,000.
- You need Google Scholar, Patents, Lens or Autocomplete as their own calls, such as a reverse image search.
- You need many queries a second: 50 to 300 a second, by pack.

### Choose Crawl4AI if

- You build with AI agents: one message sets Crawl4AI up in Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Windsurf, Gemini CLI or OpenCode, and 17 MCP tools let the agent run recipes, price a call first and manage its budget.
- Your agent reads the pages, not only the links: a plain page costs 0.1 credit, against Serper's 2 to 10 credits.
- You want Google's whole results page as data in one call: organic, ads, AI overview, local pack and People also ask.
- You want to pay for the work a page needed, nothing for a failed or blocked call, and half price for a repeat.
- You want money that stays yours: start at $10 or free, 14-day refunds, and credit you buy never expires.
- You need named sites as rows: 93 recipes, a LinkedIn profile for 1 credit.
- You need data in the EU, Singapore or the US, and a team with an audit log from Builder.

For enterprise teams

## The controls your security team asks for

Crawl4AI's Enterprise plan next to Serper's. Serper's side restates its own pages; click a line to see the quote.

| Control | Crawl4AI Enterprise | Serper Enterprise |
|---|---|---|
| SSO (SAML, OIDC) | **✓ Yes** | Not published |
| SCIM user sync | **✓ Yes** | Not published |
| Teams, roles and audit log | **✓ From Builder ($99), no seat limit** | One account per customer |
| Zero data retention | **✓ Yes** | Not published |
| IP allowlist and key limits | **✓ Yes** | Not published |
| Static exit IPs | **✓ Yes** | Not published |
| Where data is processed | EU, Singapore or US, your choice | May be stored outside the EEA |
| Deployment | Cloud, dedicated fleet, inside your network, managed pipeline; one engine | Hosted API; other options not published |
| DPA and invoice billing | **✓ Every Enterprise plan** | Not published; cards and PayPal |
| Refunds | 14 days, if no credits were used | 7 days, if under 20% of credits used |
| Status page | Hourly uptime per service, public | One API component; 31 incidents in 12 months |
| Uptime and response SLA | Typical: 99.9% a month; service down: first answer within 1 hour, 24/7; part broken: 4 business hours; a question: 1 business day; 5% of the month's fee back if missed, 10% under 99% | Not published; service "as is" |
| Support | A named engineer | A contact link |
| Security assurance | Controls monitored every day in Drata, with the evidence kept; dependencies watched for known vulnerabilities; SOC 2 audit by Sensiba under way, report target January 2027. Security pack on request: policies, audit status, DPA, questionnaire answers. | No security page; "at your own risk" |

## Same job, two calls

5 jobs an agent does every day. The call on each side, and the price of 1,000 of them at list. The label marks the side that costs less for that job.
**01 · Search, 10 results**one query
**Crawl4AI $1.00/ 1,000

```
curl "https://api.crawl4ai.com/search?q=best+crm" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $KEY"
```

1 credit a search. $0.79 on the Builder rate, $0.67 on Scale.

**Serper costs less$0.30–$1.00/ 1,000

```
curl https://google.serper.dev/search \
  -H "X-API-KEY: $KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"q":"best crm"}'
```

1 credit a search: $1.00 on the $50 pack, $0.30 on the $3,750 pack.

**02 · Google results with ads and maps**one results page, Austin
**Crawl4AI costs less$1.00/ 1,000

```
curl "https://api.crawl4ai.com/serp?q=best+crm&location=Austin%2C+TX" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $KEY"
```

/serp: 1 credit a Google page, with organic, ads, AI overview and local pack. A repeat page costs half.

**Serper $1.20–$4.00/ 1,000

```
curl https://google.serper.dev/search \
  -H "X-API-KEY: $KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"q":"best crm",
       "location":"Austin, Texas, United States"}'
curl https://google.serper.dev/maps \
  -H "X-API-KEY: $KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"q":"best crm"}'
```

Search 1 credit plus Maps 3 credits, two calls. Ads and AI overview: Not published.

**03 · A query and its top 5 pages**results plus the text behind them
**Crawl4AI costs less$1.50/ 1,000

```
curl "https://api.crawl4ai.com/search?q=best+crm" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $KEY"
# then each of the top 5 links:
curl https://api.crawl4ai.com/scrape \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $KEY" \
  -d '{"url":"https://example.com","format":"md"}'
```

1 credit for the search, 0.1 for each plain page. $3.50 if all 5 need a real browser. A failed page costs nothing.

**Serper $3.30–$11.00/ 1,000

```
curl https://google.serper.dev/search \
  -H "X-API-KEY: $KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"q":"best crm"}'
# then each of the top 5 links:
curl https://scrape.serper.dev \
  -H "X-API-KEY: $KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"url":"https://example.com",
       "includeMarkdown":true}'
```

1 + 5 × 2 = 11 credits; more when a page costs 6 or 10.

**04 · One page to Markdown**a plain page
**Crawl4AI costs less$0.10/ 1,000

```
curl https://api.crawl4ai.com/scrape \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $KEY" \
  -d '{"url":"https://example.com","format":"md"}'
```

0.1 credit. $0.08 per 1,000 on Builder.

**Serper $0.60–$2.00/ 1,000

```
curl https://scrape.serper.dev \
  -H "X-API-KEY: $KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"url":"https://example.com",
       "includeMarkdown":true}'
```

Typically 2 credits a page; the price is known after the call, in the response.

**05 · A site that blocks bots**proxies and a real browser
**Crawl4AI costs less$2.00/ 1,000

```
curl https://api.crawl4ai.com/scrape \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $KEY" \
  -d '{"url":"https://hard-site.example",
       "proxy":"extra"}'
```

2 credits for a hard page, $1.34 on the Scale rate. A page we cannot get costs nothing.

**Serper $1.80–$10.00/ 1,000

```
curl https://scrape.serper.dev \
  -H "X-API-KEY: $KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"url":"https://hard-site.example",
       "includeMarkdown":true}'
```

6 or 10 credits, by their difficulty rule. Proxy level and country for the page: Not published.

## Crawl4AI vs Serper, side by side

Each Serper cell restates Serper's own pages, read on 12 Nov 2026. Click it to see the quote and the page. "Not published" means those pages say nothing about it, not that it is missing.

|  | Crawl4AI Cloud | Serper |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing |  |  |
| How you pay | Credits in every plan: Free, Starter $10, Builder $99, Scale $499 | Prepaid packs from $50, no plan |
| Free start | 1,000 credits a month, no card | 2,500 free queries, no card |
| 1,000 searches | $1.00 · $0.79 Builder · $0.67 Scale | $1.00 to $0.30, by pack |
| Google page with ads and maps | 1 credit, one /serp call | Search 1 + Maps 3 credits; ads not published |
| 1,000 plain / browser / hard pages | $0.10 / $0.50 / $2.00 | 2 credits; harder pages 6 or 10 |
| Failed calls | Free, blocked pages included | Charged on successful answers |
| A repeat query or page | Half price | Full price, no cache |
| Credit you buy | Never expires | Valid for 6 months |
| Refunds | 14 days, if no credits were used | 7 days, if under 20% of credits used |
| What you get back |  |  |
| Web search | /search, 1 credit | Organic, knowledge graph, People also ask |
| Google results page | /serp: organic, ads, maps, AI overview and more blocks | Ads and AI overview: Not published |
| Full pages | /scrape: Markdown, HTML, links, media, metadata, tables; engine and cache on every answer | Markdown, images, links, videos |
| Whole site | /site deep crawl (500 pages a call); /scan up to 50,000 URLs | Not published |
| Named sites | 93 recipes; a LinkedIn profile 1 credit | Google surfaces only |
| Extraction | /extract: JSON by your schema or plain words | Not published |
| Documents | PDF, Word and Excel; a PDF costs one page | Not published |
| Change monitoring | Watch (beta) | Not published |
| Agents |  |  |
| MCP | Hosted, no install; key or OAuth; 17 tools | Not published; a Jan AI page links one |
| Setup | One message sets it up in 7 coding agents | Wrappers kept by LangChain, CrewAI, Haystack |
| Agent budget | Estimate, balance, spend cap and top-up as tools; cost on every answer | Not published as an API |
| llms.txt | Yes; with a key it shows what your account can use | Not published |
| Open source |  |  |
| License | Apache 2.0, 87,236 GitHub stars | No public code found |
| Self-host | The same engine as the Cloud | Not published |

Crawl4AI's prices come from its live price list, GET /v1/prices. Prices change; check each product's own pricing page before you decide.

The trade-off

## What each one does better

### Where Serper does best

1. **Google surfaces as their own calls.** Scholar, Patents, Lens, Autocomplete, Images and Shopping search.
2. **Low price for search alone.** $0.30 per 1,000 queries on the $3,750 pack.
3. **High query rate.** 50 to 300 queries a second, by pack.
4. **Speed for search.** Their page says most queries return in 1 to 2 seconds.

### Where Crawl4AI is the better choice

1. **The pages behind the results.** One key for search and full pages: 0.1 credit a plain page, nothing for a failed or blocked call.
2. **Google's whole page as data.** /serp returns organic, ads, AI overview and local pack in one call, 1 credit.
3. **Made for agents.** One message sets it up; 17 MCP tools cover recipes, jobs, cost estimates and the budget.
4. **Built for enterprise.** Three regions, teams and an audit log from Builder, SSO and SCIM, and 14-day refunds.

Switch in one prompt

## Move your Serper calls in minutes

Paste this into Claude Code, Cursor or Codex in your project. It finds your Serper calls and moves them to Crawl4AI, one endpoint at a time, and keeps both working until you check the results.
Move this project's Serper calls to Crawl4AI Cloud. Read https://crawl4ai.com/llms.txt first. 1. Find every call to the Serper API or SDK. 2. Map each one: google.serper.dev/search → GET /search · /serp · google.serper.dev/news → /serp top_stories · recipe google-news · google.serper.dev/maps, /places → /serp local_pack · recipe google-maps-places · google.serper.dev/reviews → recipe google-maps-reviews · google.serper.dev/videos → /serp videos · scrape.serper.dev → POST /scrape · X-API-KEY header → Authorization: Bearer. 3. Read the key from CRAWL4AI_API_KEY (YOUR_CRAWL4AI_API_KEY). 4. Keep the old path behind a flag; compare 20 real URLs on both; show me the diff.

| Serper |  | Crawl4AI |
|---|---|---|
| google.serper.dev/search | → | GET /search · /serp |
| google.serper.dev/news | → | /serp top_stories · recipe google-news |
| google.serper.dev/maps, /places | → | /serp local_pack · recipe google-maps-places |
| google.serper.dev/reviews | → | recipe google-maps-reviews |
| google.serper.dev/videos | → | /serp videos |
| scrape.serper.dev | → | POST /scrape |
| X-API-KEY header | → | Authorization: Bearer |

From both products' docs, 12 Nov 2026.

## Using both

Not either-or. A team could keep Serper for Scholar, Patents and Lens searches and use Crawl4AI for the pages behind the results, Google's ads and AI overview, recipes and EU data.

## Frequently asked questions
How much does Serper cost?

Serper sells prepaid packs: $50 for 50,000 credits, $375 for 500,000, $1,250 for 2.5 million and $3,750 for 12.5 million, valid for 6 months. A search costs 1 credit; a web page typically costs 2 credits, and 6 or 10 for harder pages. Crawl4AI starts free (1,000 credits a month) or at $10, a search costs 1 credit and a plain page 0.1 credit.
Is Serper cheaper than Crawl4AI?

For search alone on a large pack, yes: Serper costs $0.30 to $0.75 per 1,000 queries from the $375 pack. When the job also reads the pages, Crawl4AI costs less: a query plus its top 5 pages is $1.50 per 1,000 on Crawl4AI and $3.30 to $11.00 on Serper.
Does Serper charge for failed requests?

Serper's home page says it deducts credits "every time you receive successful responses to queries". Crawl4AI also charges nothing for a failed call, a blocked page included, and each answer says which effort level the page needed.
Do Serper credits expire?

Yes: every Serper pack says "Credits valid for 6 months". On Crawl4AI, credit you buy never expires, and a first payment is refundable within 14 days if none of its credits were used.
Does Serper return Google ads and the AI overview?

Serper's pages do not say so; its demo shows the knowledge graph, organic results, People also ask and related searches, and Maps is a separate call at 3 credits. Crawl4AI's /serp returns Google's whole results page as data, with ads, the AI overview and the local pack, for 1 credit a page.
Does Serper keep data in the EU?

Serper's privacy policy says data may be "transferred to and stored in countries outside the European Economic Area". Crawl4AI runs in the EU, Singapore and the US, and keeps account, usage and billing records in the EU.
What is a Serper alternative for AI agents?

Crawl4AI gives an agent search, Google results as data, full pages, JSON extraction and 93 site recipes on one key, through a hosted MCP server with 17 tools. The agent sets itself up from one message, checks its balance and prices a call before it runs. Serper's site links to framework integrations kept by LangChain, CrewAI, Haystack and Jan.

Sources and method

1. [Serper home: packs and FAQ ↗](https://serper.dev)
2. [Serper Playground: credits per call ↗](https://serper.dev/playground)
3. [Serper terms ↗](https://serper.dev/terms)
4. [Serper privacy policy ↗](https://serper.dev/privacy)
5. [Serper status ↗](https://serper.betteruptime.com)
6. [Serper status history (RSS) ↗](https://serper.betteruptime.com/feed.rss)
7. [Crawl4AI prices ↗](https://crawl4ai.com/v1/prices)
8. [Crawl4AI security ↗](https://crawl4ai.com/security/)
9. [Crawl4AI legal ↗](https://crawl4ai.com/legal/)

We read these pages on 12 Nov 2026. Crawl4AI's facts come from its live price list, docs and terms. Something wrong or out of date? Write to hello@crawl4ai.com and we fix it.