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Leaving Google's Custom Search JSON API

Google has closed the Custom Search JSON API to new customers, and existing ones have until 1 January 2027 to move. Serpbit answers the same request at the same path, in the same JSON, from Google's own results page.

Get 1,000 free credits See the change

Google's note on its Custom Search JSON API page, as of 11 November 2026: closed to new customers; existing customers have until 1 January 2027 to transition; Vertex AI Search suggested for searching up to 50 domains, and a full web search solution on request.

The change is a host and a key

Your parser stays as it is: items[] keep title, link, displayLink, snippet and their HTML forms, and queries.nextPage pages on as before.

# before
https://www.googleapis.com/customsearch/v1?key=GOOGLE_KEY&cx=…&q=coffee

# after
https://api.serpbit.com/customsearch/v1?key=SERPBIT_KEY&q=coffee

Three ways off it

Vertex AI Search

Google's own suggestion for searching your sites, up to 50 domains: a different API, with results from those sites only.

Google's full web search

Google asks those who need the whole web to contact it about this solution. Its terms and price are not public.

Serpbit

The whole web as Google's results page shows it, at the same path in the same format. Open to anyone, from 1,000 free credits a month.

What a month of searches costs

Custom Search's price for those who still have it, against ours, at full use.

Searches a month	Serpbit	Custom Search JSON API
10,000	$10$1.00 per 1,00050k pack, spent in 5 months	$35$3.50 per 1,0003,000 free, 7,000 at $5 per 1,000
25,000	$25$1.00 per 1,000Starter plan	$110$4.40 per 1,0003,000 free, 22,000 at $5 per 1,000
100,000	$75$0.75 per 1,000Developer plan	$485$4.85 per 1,0003,000 free, 97,000 at $5 per 1,000
300,000	$150$0.50 per 1,000Production plan	$1,485$4.95 per 1,00010,000 a day, the cap
1,000,000	$470$0.47 per 1,000Scale plan and a 1M pack, spent in 5 months	—Over the cap of 10,000 a day

Custom Search: 100 queries a day free and $5 per 1,000 after, 10,000 a day at most, over 30 days, from Google's page on 11 November 2026. Serpbit: the cheapest plan that holds the volume, or a plan and credit packs spent within six months; a query with up to 10 results is one Google page, 1 credit, and an image search 2.

Side by side

What	Serpbit	Custom Search JSON API
Open to	Anyone	Existing customers, until 1 January 2027
Results from	Google's results page: the whole web	Your Programmable Search Engine
Search engine ID	Not needed; `cx` is accepted	Required
Free	1,000 credits a month	100 queries a day
Price per 1,000	$1.00 to $0.44	$5
Daily cap	None; plans set a rate a minute	10,000 queries a day
Image search	`searchType=image`	`searchType=image`
On the same key	AI Overview, AI Mode, Shopping, Maps, News, Videos, Autocomplete	—

What stays and what does not

The whole list of parameters is in the reference.

Stays the same

The path, /customsearch/v1, and key as a parameter.
q, num, start, gl, hl, lr, safe, filter, dateRestrict, exactTerms, excludeTerms, orTerms, hq, siteSearch, fileType.
searchType=image with its size, type and colour filters.
Errors in Custom Search's shape; running out of credits is 429 quotaExceeded.

Changes

Results are the whole web's, not your engine's sites. For one site use siteSearch; for several, write site: operators into q.
No pagemap in items[].
totalResults is the last result known, not Google's estimate.
cr, sort, linkSite, rights, lowRange and highRange are answered 400.

Questions

When does Custom Search stop?: Google's page gives existing customers until 1 January 2027 to move, and takes no new ones. Moving before then lets you compare both on the same queries.
Do I need a new parser?: Not for items[], queries or errors. Only code that reads pagemap or Google's totalResults estimate needs a look.
What happens to my cx?: It is accepted and not needed. The results come from Google's results page for the whole web; to keep to your sites, use siteSearch or site: in the query.
Is Serpbit part of Google?: No. Serpbit is not affiliated with Google; Google is a trademark of Google LLC.

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