Getting started

Credits and pricing

Usage is counted in credits. Each API has a price in credits per call, so one balance works for every API.

What each call costs

Credits per API call
API	What you get	Credits
Google Search	Real-time Google results as JSON, priced per results page.	1 per results page

Each Google results page is one call, so a request with num_pages=3 costs three calls. Failed requests cost nothing. Some scraping APIs charge 5 to 25 credits for one Google search; here it is one.

When credits are charged

One credit per Google results page that comes back. A request with num_pages=3 costs three.
If fewer pages come back than you asked for, you pay only for the pages you get.
Errors, timeouts and requests stopped by a limit cost nothing.
A queued search holds its credits while it waits, and is charged the same way when it ends.
Locations, Account and reading a task result are free.

Plans

The Free plan gives 1,000 credits every month, without a credit card.
Pay as you go has a $10 monthly minimum that includes 33,000 credits, then a price per 1,000.
Monthly plans include more credits at a lower price per 1,000.

See every plan and work out your cost on the pricing page. On paid plans you can set a monthly spend limit, so a bill never grows past what you planned.

Tracking your credits

Every successful answer carries X-Credits-Charged, X-Credits-Used and, on capped plans, X-Credits-Left (see Response headers). The Account endpoint and your dashboard show the same numbers.