Serpent API Documentation

Complete guide to integrating search results into your application.

Getting Started

Serpent API provides programmatic access to search results from Google, Bing, Yahoo, and DuckDuckGo, plus AI ranking and social media data. It supports three categories of endpoints:

SERP Endpoints

  • Quick Search — 1 page, ~10 results. Flat per-call pricing. Use pages= to fetch up to 10 pages (max 100 results). "Web search" here means SERP results from Google · Bing · Yahoo · DuckDuckGo.
  • Deep Search — Up to 10 pages (~100 results) with related searches, ads, PAA, featured snippets, and AI overviews. Defaults to 5 pages.
  • News Search — News articles with sources, timestamps, and snippets
  • Image Search — Images with thumbnails, originals, dimensions, and sources
  • Video Search — Video results with titles, thumbnails, durations, and views

AI Ranking Endpoints

  • Combined AI Rank — Check how AI models (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity) cite your domain
  • Single Engine Rank — Query a specific LLM for citation analysis

Social Media Endpoints

  • YouTube Search — Search for videos, channels, and playlists
  • YouTube Video/Channel — Get detailed video and channel information
  • Instagram Profile — Scrape public profile data and recent posts

Quick Start

  1. Create an accountSign up with your Google account (free)
  2. Generate an API key — Go to the API Keys page and create a key
  3. Make your first request — Use your API key to search
curl "https://apiserpent.com/api/search?q=hello+world" \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY"

You get 10 free web searches to try the API. No credit card required. Free calls work on Quick Search and Deep Search (any engine). News, Images, Videos, Social, and AI Ranking require paid credits from call 1 (minimum $10 deposit).

Base URL

All API requests use the following base URL:

https://apiserpent.com

All endpoints are relative to this base. For example, the web search endpoint is:

https://apiserpent.com/api/search

Authentication

All search endpoints require an API key. You can authenticate in two ways:

Option 1: HTTP Header (Recommended)

X-API-Key: sk_live_your_api_key_here

Option 2: Query Parameter

GET /api/search?q=keyword&api_key=sk_live_your_api_key_here
Keep your API key secret. Never expose it in client-side code or public repositories. The header method is strongly preferred for security — query parameters may appear in server logs and browser history.
Credit cost: Flat per-category pricing — engine and page count don't change the rate. Web from $0.60/10K pages Default, $0.06/10K pages Growth, $0.03/10K pages Scale. New accounts get 10 free web searches. Deposit $100+ for Growth (10× off) or $500+ for Scale (20× off). See Pricing for full details.

Free Tier

Every new account receives 10 free web searches with no credit card required. Free calls are available on the following endpoints:

  • Quick Search (/api/search/quick) — all engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, DDG)
  • Deep Search (/api/search) — all engines
  • News Search (/api/news) — all engines
  • Image Search (/api/images) — all engines
  • Video Search (/api/videos) — DDG, Yahoo, Bing
  • YouTube Search (/api/social/youtube/search)
  • YouTube Video Details (/api/social/youtube/video)
  • YouTube Channel Details (/api/social/youtube/channel)
  • Instagram Profile (/api/social/instagram/profile)
Only Web Search (Quick + Deep, any engine) is free-tier eligible. News, Images, Videos, YouTube, Instagram, and AI Ranking all require paid credits from call 1 — minimum deposit is $10.

Deep Search

Perform a deep web search that returns up to 100 organic results with related searches, ads, People Also Ask, featured snippets, AI overviews, and more. For more than 10 results, the API automatically scrapes multiple pages. This endpoint is free-tier eligible.

GET /api/search

Parameters

ParameterTypeDescription
q required string The search query (max 2,048 characters)
num integer Number of results: 10–100 (default: 10). Automatically determines pages to scrape. Rounded up to the nearest 10 (e.g., num=15 returns up to 20).
engine string google, bing, yahoo, or ddg (default: "google")
country string Country code for localized results (default: "us"). See Country Support.
format string Response format: full or simple (default: "full"). Simple returns just position, title, and URL.
pages integer Number of pages to scrape: 1–10 (default: 1). Alternative to num.
freshness string Time filter: h/1h (hour), d/1d (day), 7d (week), w, m/1m, y/1y (optional)
safe string SafeSearch: off, moderate, or strict (optional)
language string 2-letter ISO language code (e.g., en, es, de, fr, ja). Restricts results to that language. Supported by Google, Yahoo, and DDG. (optional)
pixel_position BETA boolean When true, every item in the response (organic, AI Overview, PAA, ads, featured snippet, knowledge panel, local pack, shopping, videos) gets two sibling fields: a pixel_position integer (y-coordinate in pixels from the top of the rendered desktop SERP) and a pixel_box object with the element's full bounding rectangle ({ x, y, w, h }). Supported on all four engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing, DuckDuckGo) on desktop, US locale. Paid tiers only — free-tier responses include metadata.pixelPositionUnavailable: 'free_tier'. No price increase. Full spec →
Use num or pages, not both. If you pass num=50, the API will automatically scrape 5 pages. Each page yields ~10 results. Pricing is flat per call — page count does not multiply the cost.

Example Request

curl "https://apiserpent.com/api/search?q=best+seo+tools&num=30&engine=google&country=us" \
  -H "X-API-Key: sk_live_your_api_key"

Example Response

{
  "success": true,
  "query": "best seo tools",
  "engine": "google",
  "country": "us",
  "pagesScraped": 3,
  "results": {
    "organic": [
      {
        "position": 1,
        "title": "10 Best SEO Tools for 2026",
        "url": "https://example.com/seo-tools",
        "snippet": "Discover the top SEO tools...",
        "displayedUrl": "example.com"
      }
    ],
    "relatedSearches": [{ "query": "free seo tools" }],
    "ads": { "top": [], "bottom": [], "totalCount": 0 },
    "peopleAlsoAsk": [],
    "featuredSnippet": null,
    "aiOverview": null,
    "richSnippets": [],
    "videos": [],
    "shopping": []
  },
  "metadata": {
    "totalOrganicResults": 30,
    "hasAds": false,
    "hasRelatedSearches": true,
    "hasPeopleAlsoAsk": false,
    "hasVideos": false,
    "hasShopping": false,
    "hasFeaturedSnippet": false,
    "hasAiOverview": false,
    "source": "google"
  },
  "meta": {
    "totalOrganic": 30,
    "requestedNum": 30,
    "elapsed": "8500ms",
    "timestamp": "2026-03-10T10:30:00.000Z"
  }
}

News Search API

Search for news articles from various sources. Returns article titles, sources, publication times, and snippets.

GET /api/news

Parameters

ParameterTypeDescription
q required string The search query
num integer Number of articles: 1–50 (default: all available)
pages integer Number of pages to scrape: 1–5 (default: 1). Alternative to num.
engine string google, bing, yahoo, or ddg (default: "google")
country string Country code for localized news (default: "us")
freshness string Time filter: h/1h (hour), d/1d (day), 7d (week), w, m/1m, y/1y (optional)
language string 2-letter ISO language code (e.g., en, es, de). Supported by Google, Yahoo, and DDG. (optional)
sort string Sort order: relevance or date (optional, Yahoo/Bing only)
safe string SafeSearch: off, moderate, or strict (optional, Yahoo/Bing only)
format string full (default) or simple. Simple returns position, title, url, and source only.

Example Request

curl "https://apiserpent.com/api/news?q=artificial+intelligence&num=20&country=us" \
  -H "X-API-Key: sk_live_your_api_key"

Example Response

{
  "success": true,
  "query": "artificial intelligence",
  "type": "news",
  "engine": "google",
  "country": "us",
  "pagesScraped": 2,
  "results": {
    "articles": [
      {
        "position": 1,
        "title": "AI Breakthroughs Reshape Industry",
        "url": "https://example.com/ai-news",
        "source": "Tech News Daily",
        "publishedTime": "2 hours ago",
        "snippet": "Major advances in AI...",
        "image": "https://example.com/ai-news-thumb.jpg",
      }
    ],
    "totalResults": 20
  },
  "meta": {
    "totalArticles": 20,
    "elapsed": "1800ms",
    "timestamp": "2026-03-03T10:30:00.000Z"
  }
}

Image Search API

Search for images across the web. Returns thumbnails, original image URLs, and source websites. A single request can return up to 100 images.

GET /api/images

Parameters

ParameterTypeDescription
q required string The search query
num integer Number of results: 1–100 (default: all available)
engine string google, bing, yahoo, or ddg (default: "google")
country string Country code for localized results (default: "us")
size string Filter by image size: small, medium, large, wallpaper (optional)
type string Filter by image type: photo, clipart, lineart, animated, face (optional)
color string Filter by color: red, blue, green, yellow, etc. (optional)
aspect string Aspect ratio: square, wide, or tall (optional)
layout string Layout: square, tall, or wide (optional, DDG only)
license string License filter: cc, public, share, sharecommercial, modify, modifycommercial, any (optional)
people string People filter: face, portrait, or nonportrait (optional, Yahoo only)
time string Time filter: day, week, month, year (DDG/Yahoo only)
language string 2-letter ISO language code (e.g., en, es, de). Restricts image results by language. Supported by Google and Yahoo. (optional)
format string full (default) or simple. Simple returns position, title, original, and thumbnail only.

Example Request

curl "https://apiserpent.com/api/images?q=mountain+landscape&num=20" \
  -H "X-API-Key: sk_live_your_api_key"

Example Response

{
  "success": true,
  "query": "mountain landscape",
  "type": "images",
  "engine": "google",
  "country": "us",
  "results": {
    "images": [
      {
        "position": 1,
        "title": "Beautiful Mountain View",
        "thumbnail": "https://example.com/thumb/...",
        "original": "https://example.com/image.jpg",
        "width": null,  // reserved, not currently populated
        "height": null, // reserved, not currently populated
        "source": "example.com",
        "pageUrl": "https://example.com/gallery"
      }
    ],
    "totalResults": 20
  },
  "meta": {
    "totalImages": 20,
    "elapsed": "2100ms",
    "timestamp": "2026-03-03T10:30:00.000Z"
  }
}

Video Search API

Search for videos from DuckDuckGo or Yahoo/Bing. Returns video titles, thumbnails, durations, view counts, and source URLs. Available with engine=ddg (default) or engine=yahoo/engine=bing.

GET /api/videos

Parameters

ParameterTypeDescription
q required string The search query
num integer Number of results: 1–100 (default: all available)
engine string ddg, yahoo, or bing (default: "ddg"). Google video search is not supported — Google videos appear inline in web search results.
country string Country code for localized results (default: "us")
duration string Filter by duration: short, medium, or long (optional, DDG & Yahoo/Bing)
resolution string Filter by resolution: high or standard (DDG); 360p, 480p, 720p, hd, 1080p (Yahoo/Bing) (optional)
time string Time filter: day, week, month, year (optional, Yahoo/Bing)
freshness string Time filter: h/1h (hour), d/1d (day), 7d (week), w, m/1m, y/1y (optional)
safe string SafeSearch: off, moderate, or strict (optional)
format string full (default) or simple. Simple returns position, title, url, and duration only.

Example Request

curl "https://apiserpent.com/api/videos?q=python+tutorial&num=20&engine=ddg" \
  -H "X-API-Key: sk_live_your_api_key"

Example Response

{
  "success": true,
  "query": "python tutorial",
  "type": "videos",
  "engine": "ddg",
  "country": "us",
  "results": {
    "videos": [
      {
        "position": 1,
        "title": "Python Tutorial for Beginners",
        "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=...",
        "thumbnail": "https://tse2.mm.bing.net/th?...",
        "duration": "6:14:07",
        "viewCount": 45000000,
        "publishedTime": "2023-08-09T00:00:00.0000000",
        "publisher": "YouTube"
      }
    ],
    "totalResults": 20
  },
  "meta": {
    "totalVideos": 20,
    "elapsed": "3800ms",
    "timestamp": "2026-03-10T10:30:00.000Z"
  }
}

Pixel Position BETA

Add pixel_position=true to /api/search or /api/search/quick and every item in the response — organic, AI Overview, PAA, ads, featured snippet, knowledge panel, local pack, shopping, videos — gets two extra fields: a pixel_position integer (y-coordinate in pixels from the top of the rendered desktop SERP) and a pixel_box object with the element's full bounding rectangle ({ x, y, w, h }). Useful for above-the-fold analysis, share-of-voice scoring, and SERP layout audits.

Supported on all four engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing, DuckDuckGo) on desktop, US locale. Paid tiers only — free-tier responses include metadata.pixelPositionUnavailable: 'free_tier' instead of the pixel fields. No price increase over a normal call. Not supported on News, Images, or Videos endpoints. Full spec →

AI Ranking API — Combined

Check how AI language models cite and rank your domain or brand. This endpoint queries multiple LLMs (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity) simultaneously and returns citation analysis for each.

GET /api/ai/rank

Parameters

ParameterTypeDescription
keyword required string The search keyword/topic to query. Also accepts q as an alias.
domain string Your domain to track in citations (e.g., example.com) (optional)
engines string Comma-separated list of AI engines: claude, chatgpt, gemini, perplexity (default: all four)
prompt_type string Prompt style: standard, deep, or brand (default: "standard")

Example Request

curl "https://apiserpent.com/api/ai/rank?keyword=best+seo+tools&domain=ahrefs.com&engines=claude,chatgpt" \
  -H "X-API-Key: sk_live_your_api_key"

Per-Engine Response Fields

FieldTypeDescription
target_foundbooleantrue if the requested domain (or any of its subdomains) appears in this engine's citations
target_positioninteger | null1-indexed citation position where the domain was first matched. null if not found.
target_match_typestring | null"exact" (cited domain equals domain after stripping www.), "subdomain" (a subdomain of domain was cited — e.g. docs.example.com for example.com), or null if not found.
target_matched_domainstring | nullThe actual domain that matched. Equals domain for exact matches; equals the subdomain hostname for subdomain matches.
citationsarrayList of citations returned by this engine, each with position, url, title, domain.
total_citationsintegerNumber of citations parsed.
response_textstringThe full LLM response text used to derive the citations.
latency_msintegerTime the engine took to answer, in milliseconds.

Subdomain matching is implicit — the API tries an exact match first, then falls back to a subdomain match. Use target_match_type on the client to differentiate the two when displaying ranking results.

AI Ranking endpoints require paid credits. They are not eligible for the free tier. Pricing varies by engine — see Pricing for details.

AI Ranking API — Single Engine

Query a specific AI engine for citation analysis. Available engines: claude, chatgpt, gemini, perplexity.

GET /api/ai/rank/:engine

URL Paths

PathEngineCost per 1K
/api/ai/rank/claudeAnthropic Claude$12.00
/api/ai/rank/chatgptOpenAI ChatGPT$10.00
/api/ai/rank/geminiGoogle Gemini$2.20
/api/ai/rank/perplexityPerplexity$20.00

Prices shown are Default tier. Growth (10× off, $100+ deposit) and Scale (20× off, $500+ deposit) tiers available.

Parameters

ParameterTypeDescription
keyword required string The search keyword/topic. Also accepts q as an alias.
domain string Your domain to track in citations (optional)
prompt_type string Prompt style: standard, deep, or brand (default: "standard")

Example Request

curl "https://apiserpent.com/api/ai/rank/claude?keyword=best+crm+software&domain=hubspot.com" \
  -H "X-API-Key: sk_live_your_api_key"

YouTube Video Details

Get detailed information about one or more YouTube videos, including statistics (views, likes, comments), descriptions, and tags. This endpoint is free-tier eligible.

GET /api/social/youtube/video

Parameters

ParameterTypeDescription
id string A single YouTube video ID (e.g., dQw4w9WgXcQ)
ids string Comma-separated list of video IDs (max 50). Use id or ids, not both.

Example Request

curl "https://apiserpent.com/api/social/youtube/video?id=dQw4w9WgXcQ" \
  -H "X-API-Key: sk_live_your_api_key"

YouTube Channel Details

Get channel information including subscriber count, video count, total views, and optionally recent videos. This endpoint is free-tier eligible.

GET /api/social/youtube/channel

Parameters

ParameterTypeDescription
id string YouTube channel ID (e.g., UCBcRF18a7Qf58cCRy5xuWwQ)
handle string YouTube handle (e.g., @mkbhd). Use id, handle, or url.
url string Full YouTube channel URL
include_videos boolean Include recent videos (true or 1) (default: false)
video_count integer Number of recent videos to include: 1–50 (default: 10)

Example Request

curl "https://apiserpent.com/api/social/youtube/channel?handle=@mkbhd&include_videos=true&video_count=5" \
  -H "X-API-Key: sk_live_your_api_key"

Instagram Profile API

Scrape public Instagram profile data including follower counts, bio, and recent posts. This endpoint is free-tier eligible.

GET /api/social/instagram/profile

Parameters

ParameterTypeDescription
username required string Instagram username (e.g., natgeo). Also accepts handle (with @) or url.

Example Request

curl "https://apiserpent.com/api/social/instagram/profile?username=natgeo" \
  -H "X-API-Key: sk_live_your_api_key"
Instagram profile scraping works with public profiles only. Private profiles will return a 404 error. Credits are automatically refunded if the profile cannot be accessed.

Search Engines

Serpent API supports four search engines: Google (default), Bing, Yahoo, and DuckDuckGo. Use the engine parameter on any SERP endpoint to choose.

EngineValueSupported Endpoints
Google google Web, News, Images. Includes ads, PAA, featured snippets, AI overviews, inline videos, shopping.
Bing bing Web, News, Images, Videos. Includes ads, PAA, inline videos, shopping data.
Yahoo yahoo Web, News, Images, Videos. Includes ads, PAA, inline videos, shopping data.
DuckDuckGo ddg Web, News, Images, Videos. Includes ads and related searches.
Pricing varies by both engine and endpoint type. Google web search costs more than DDG web search due to higher infrastructure requirements. Video search is only supported on DDG, Yahoo, and Bing — Google videos appear inline in web search results.

Country/Region Support

Get localized search results by specifying a country code. This affects the language, regional rankings, and availability of results.

GET /api/countries

Returns a list of all supported country codes programmatically. This endpoint does not require an API key.

Example Response

{
  "success": true,
  "count": 112,
  "countries": [
    { "code": "us", "region": "us" },
    { "code": "uk", "region": "uk" },
    ...
  ]
}

Supported Countries

We support 112 countries for localized search results (gb is an alias for uk).

gb is accepted as an alias for uk — both work and return United Kingdom results.

Popular Countries

CodeCountryCodeCountry
usUnited StatesukUnited Kingdom
caCanadaauAustralia
deGermanyfrFrance
inIndiajpJapan
View All Supported Countries

English-Speaking (12)

CodeCountryCodeCountry
usUnited StatesukUnited Kingdom
gbUnited Kingdom (alias)caCanada
auAustralianzNew Zealand
ieIrelandsgSingapore
phPhilippinesmyMalaysia
inIndiazaSouth Africa

Western Europe (10)

CodeCountryCodeCountry
deGermanyfrFrance
esSpainitItaly
nlNetherlandsbeBelgium
atAustriachSwitzerland
ptPortugalluLuxembourg

Nordics (5)

CodeCountryCodeCountry
seSwedennoNorway
dkDenmarkfiFinland
isIceland

Eastern Europe (18)

CodeCountryCodeCountry
plPolandroRomania
czCzech RepublicskSlovakia
huHungarybgBulgaria
hrCroatiasiSlovenia
eeEstonialvLatvia
ltLithuaniauaUkraine
ruRussiagrGreece
trTurkeybaBosnia and Herzegovina
mkNorth MacedoniageGeorgia

Asia (14)

CodeCountryCodeCountry
jpJapantwTaiwan
hkHong KongkrSouth Korea
cnChinaidIndonesia
thThailandvnVietnam
bdBangladeshlkSri Lanka
mmMyanmarkhCambodia
laLaosnpNepal

Middle East (14)

CodeCountryCodeCountry
ilIsraelsaSaudi Arabia
pkPakistanaeUnited Arab Emirates
qaQatarkwKuwait
omOmanbhBahrain
joJordanlbLebanon
iqIraqirIran
sySyriayeYemen

North Africa (5)

CodeCountryCodeCountry
egEgyptmaMorocco
tnTunisialyLibya
dzAlgeria

Sub-Saharan Africa (10)

CodeCountryCodeCountry
ngNigeriakeKenya
ghGhanaetEthiopia
tzTanzaniaugUganda
zwZimbabwebwBotswana
naNamibiasnSenegal

Latin America (18)

CodeCountryCodeCountry
mxMexicobrBrazil
arArgentinaclChile
coColombiapePeru
veVenezuelaecEcuador
boBoliviapyParaguay
crCosta RicapaPanama
doDominican RepublicgtGuatemala
hnHondurasniNicaragua
svEl SalvadorprPuerto Rico

Caribbean (3)

CodeCountryCodeCountry
cuCubajmJamaica
ttTrinidad and Tobago

Other (3)

CodeCountryCodeCountry
mtMaltaamArmenia
azAzerbaijan

All 112 codes shown above. Use GET /api/countries for the programmatic list.

Example: Search in Germany

curl "https://apiserpent.com/api/search?q=beste+seo+tools&country=de" \
  -H "X-API-Key: sk_live_your_api_key"

Language Support

Restrict search results to a specific language by passing a 2-letter ISO 639-1 code to the language parameter. Supported by Google, Yahoo / Bing, and DuckDuckGo across web, news, and image search.

Tip: language filters by content language; country sets the geographic search context. Combine both for the best localization (e.g., country=de&language=de for German searches in Germany).

Common Languages

CodeLanguageCodeLanguage
enEnglishesSpanish
frFrenchdeGerman
ptPortugueseitItalian
jaJapanesezhChinese
arArabichiHindi
View All Supported Languages

Germanic

CodeLanguageCodeLanguage
enEnglishdeGerman
nlDutchsvSwedish
daDanishnoNorwegian
isIcelandicafAfrikaans

Romance

CodeLanguageCodeLanguage
esSpanishfrFrench
itItalianptPortuguese
roRomaniancaCatalan
glGalician

Slavic

CodeLanguageCodeLanguage
ruRussianplPolish
csCzechskSlovak
ukUkrainianbgBulgarian
srSerbianhrCroatian
bsBosnianmkMacedonian
slSlovenian

Baltic / Celtic / Other European

CodeLanguageCodeLanguage
ltLithuanianlvLatvian
elGreeksqAlbanian
cyWelshgaIrish
euBasquemtMaltese

Uralic / Turkic

CodeLanguageCodeLanguage
fiFinnishetEstonian
huHungariantrTurkish
azAzerbaijanikkKazakh
uzUzbek

Indic / Iranian

CodeLanguageCodeLanguage
hiHindibnBengali
urUrdupaPunjabi
mrMarathiguGujarati
neNepalisiSinhala
faPersianpsPashto
kuKurdish

Dravidian

CodeLanguageCodeLanguage
taTamilteTelugu
knKannadamlMalayalam

East & Southeast Asian

CodeLanguageCodeLanguage
zhChinesejaJapanese
koKoreanmyBurmese
viVietnamesethThai
kmKhmerloLao
idIndonesianmsMalay
tlFilipino

Semitic / African

CodeLanguageCodeLanguage
arArabicheHebrew
amAmharicswSwahili
haHausayoYoruba
igIgbozuZulu
xhXhosasoSomali

Caucasian

CodeLanguageCodeLanguage
kaGeorgianhyArmenian

Pass any valid ISO 639-1 code as language. Engine support varies — Google has the broadest coverage.

Example: French-Language Search in France

curl "https://apiserpent.com/api/search?q=meilleurs+outils+seo&country=fr&language=fr" \
  -H "X-API-Key: sk_live_your_api_key"

Check Status

Check your API key status, credit balance, free search usage, and pricing tier.

GET /api/status

Example Response

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "plan": "paid",
    "credits": 45.50,
    "costPerSearch": 0.0001,
    "priceTier": "default",
    "freeSearches": {
      "used": 87,
      "limit": 100,
      "remaining": 13
    }
  }
}

Pricing

Flat per-call pricing — engine doesn't matter, page count doesn't matter. Three tiers triggered by total amount deposited. Pay-as-you-go — no subscriptions.

Pricing Tiers

TierMin DepositDiscount
Default$0Full price
Growth$10010× off all endpoints
Scale$50020× off all endpoints + dedicated support

Per-Category Pricing (per 1,000 calls — Default / Growth / Scale)

CategoryDefaultGrowth ($100+)Scale ($500+)
Web (Quick + Deep, all engines, any pages)$0.60$0.06$0.03
News (all engines)$0.20$0.02$0.01
Images (all engines)$3.00$0.30$0.15
Videos (all engines)$0.30$0.03$0.015
YouTube (search/video/channel/playlist)$0.20$0.02$0.01
Instagram profile$1.00$0.10$0.05
AI Ranking — single LLM$20.00$2.00$1.00
AI Ranking — all 4 combined$40.00$4.00$2.00
Flat per-call: A 10-page Deep Web search costs the same as a single Quick search. Engine choice (Google/Yahoo/Bing/DDG) doesn't change the price. Failed requests (non-2xx) are auto-refunded.
Full pricing details available programmatically at GET /api/pricing (no API key required). New accounts get 10 free web searches; minimum deposit is $10.

Response Format

All responses are JSON. Every response includes a success boolean. Search responses include engine, country, and a meta object with timing info.

Full Response (Web Search)

The default format=full response includes all available data:

{
  "success": true,
  "query": "best seo tools",
  "engine": "google",
  "country": "us",
  "pagesScraped": 5,
  "results": {
    "organic": [{ "position", "title", "url", "snippet", "displayedUrl" }],
    "relatedSearches": [{ "query": "free seo tools" }, ...],
    "ads": { "top": [], "bottom": [], "totalCount": 0 },
    "peopleAlsoAsk": [],
    "featuredSnippet": null,     // Google only
    "aiOverview": null,          // Google only
    "richSnippets": [],
    "videos": [],               // Google, Yahoo/Bing
    "shopping": []              // Google, Yahoo/Bing
  },
  "metadata": {
    "totalOrganicResults": 50,
    "hasAds": false,
    "hasRelatedSearches": true,
    "hasPeopleAlsoAsk": false,
    "hasVideos": false,
    "hasShopping": false,
    "hasFeaturedSnippet": false,
    "hasAiOverview": false,
    "source": "google"
  },
  "meta": { "totalOrganic", "requestedNum", "elapsed", "timestamp" }
}
SERP features: Google web search may include featuredSnippet, aiOverview, videos, and shopping data. Yahoo/Bing includes peopleAlsoAsk, videos, and shopping. DDG includes ads and relatedSearches. All fields are always present in the response (empty arrays/null when not available).

Simple Response

Use format=simple for a lightweight response. Available on all five search endpoints (quick search, deep web search, news, images, videos).

Important: with format=simple, the results field is a flat array [{position, title, url}, …] — not an object. With format=full (the default), results is an object with organic, peopleAlsoAsk, relatedSearches, aiOverview, etc. A safe parser is: const organic = Array.isArray(r.results) ? r.results : (r.results?.organic || []);

format only changes the response shape — the same scraping work, proxy bandwidth, and compute cost happens either way. To actually save cost per request, use /api/search/quick instead of /api/search.

Web Search (/api/search)

Returns position, title, url. With pixel_position=true, each item also carries a pixel_position integer and a pixel_box object (see Pixel Position):

{
  "success": true,
  "query": "best seo tools",
  "engine": "google",
  "country": "us",
  "results": [
    { "position": 1, "title": "...", "url": "..." },
    // with pixel_position=true:
    {
      "position": 2,
      "title": "...",
      "url": "...",
      "pixel_position": 847,
      "pixel_box": { "x": 180, "y": 847, "w": 600, "h": 96 }
    }
  ],
  "meta": { "total": 50, "requestedNum": 50, "elapsed": "2450ms" }
}

News Search (/api/news)

Returns position, title, url, source:

{
  "success": true,
  "query": "artificial intelligence",
  "type": "news",
  "engine": "google",
  "country": "us",
  "results": [
    { "position": 1, "title": "...", "url": "...", "source": "..." }
  ],
  "meta": { "total": 20, "elapsed": "1800ms" }
}

Image Search (/api/images)

Returns position, title, original, thumbnail:

{
  "success": true,
  "query": "mountain landscape",
  "type": "images",
  "engine": "google",
  "country": "us",
  "results": [
    { "position": 1, "title": "...", "original": "...", "thumbnail": "..." }
  ],
  "meta": { "total": 50, "elapsed": "1200ms" }
}

Error Codes

All error responses include an error field with a human-readable message. Some errors also include a message field with additional details.

CodeMeaningDescription
400 Bad Request Missing or invalid parameters (e.g., no q param, invalid engine)
400 num must be a positive integer The num parameter must be a positive integer (1 or greater). Values like 0, -1, or non-numeric strings are rejected.
401 Unauthorized Invalid or missing API key
402 Payment Required Insufficient credits. Free searches exhausted and no credit balance.
404 Not Found Endpoint does not exist
429 Too Many Requests Rate limit exceeded. See Rate Limits for tier-specific limits.
500 Server Error Internal error — try again or contact support
502 Bad Gateway Search backend returned no results. Retry with a different query or engine.

Error Response Example

// 400 Bad Request
{ "error": "Query parameter \"q\" is required" }

// 401 Unauthorized
{ "error": "Unauthorized", "message": "API key required. Provide X-API-Key header or api_key query parameter." }

// 402 Payment Required
{ "error": "Payment Required", "message": "Insufficient credits", "credits": 0, "costPerSearch": 0.0001 }

// 502 Bad Gateway
{ "error": "Search returned no results", "message": "Backend unavailable" }

Rate Limits

Rate limits are per account (shared across all your API keys) and scale with your current credit balance. Every account gets four ceilings — max concurrent in-flight requests, and max requests per minute, per hour, and per day. Higher brackets also get higher priority in the processing queue under load.

BracketConcurrentPer minutePer hourPer dayQueue priority
Free (no deposit)110100500Lowest
Balance < $1003202001,000Standard
Balance $100–$49910 → unlimited100 → unlimited1,000 → unlimited8,000 → unlimitedHigh
Balance $500+100 → unlimited500 → unlimited5,000 → unlimited30,000 → unlimitedHighest
Published figures are standard allocations and "up to" maximums, not guaranteed floors — actual throughput may be lower when the platform is under heavy load. "→ unlimited" means the listed number is the standard starting allocation for that bracket and scales upward toward unlimited; higher custom limits are provided on request. The per-minute, per-hour and per-day windows reset on fixed UTC boundaries (top of each minute/hour, and 00:00 UTC for the day). A 429 response names which window you hit and includes a Retry-After header — back off and retry. Your bracket follows your live credit balance — topping up raises your limits immediately; spending down can lower them. This is separate from the permanent pricing discount tiers (Growth / Scale), which are unlocked by a single qualifying deposit and never downgrade. Need higher or custom limits? Contact us.
Other limitsValue
Demo API key10/hour per IP

Typical Response Times

EndpointTypical Speed
Quick search (DDG)2–5 seconds
Quick search (Yahoo/Bing)4–8 seconds
Quick search (Google)10–20 seconds
Web search (50–100 results)10–30 seconds
News search (Google RSS)0.5–2 seconds
News search (DDG/Yahoo)4–12 seconds
Image search (DDG)5–12 seconds
Image search (Google)15–25 seconds
Video search3–8 seconds
AI Ranking (single engine)40–70 seconds
YouTube Search1–3 seconds
Instagram Profile3–10 seconds

Code Examples

JavaScript / Node.js

const API_KEY = 'sk_live_your_api_key';
const BASE = 'https://apiserpent.com';
const headers = { 'X-API-Key': API_KEY };

// Quick web search (free-tier eligible)
async function quickSearch(query, engine = 'google') {
  const res = await fetch(
    `${BASE}/api/search/quick?q=${encodeURIComponent(query)}&engine=${engine}`,
    { headers }
  );
  return (await res.json()).results.organic;
}

// Deep web search (up to 100 results)
async function webSearch(query, options = {}) {
  const params = new URLSearchParams({
    q: query,
    num: options.num || 10,
    engine: options.engine || 'google',
    country: options.country || 'us',
  });
  const res = await fetch(`${BASE}/api/search?${params}`, { headers });
  const data = await res.json();
  if (!data.success) throw new Error(data.error);
  return data.results.organic;
}

// News search
async function newsSearch(query, num = 20) {
  const res = await fetch(
    `${BASE}/api/news?q=${encodeURIComponent(query)}&num=${num}`,
    { headers }
  );
  return (await res.json()).results.articles;
}

// Video search
async function videoSearch(query, engine = 'ddg') {
  const res = await fetch(
    `${BASE}/api/videos?q=${encodeURIComponent(query)}&engine=${engine}`,
    { headers }
  );
  return (await res.json()).results.videos;
}

// AI Ranking check
async function aiRank(keyword, domain) {
  const res = await fetch(
    `${BASE}/api/ai/rank?keyword=${encodeURIComponent(keyword)}&domain=${domain}`,
    { headers }
  );
  return (await res.json());
}

// YouTube search (free-tier eligible)
async function ytSearch(query, num = 10) {
  const res = await fetch(
    `${BASE}/api/social/youtube/search?q=${encodeURIComponent(query)}&num=${num}`,
    { headers }
  );
  return (await res.json());
}

// Usage
const quick = await quickSearch('weather today');
const deep = await webSearch('best seo tools', { num: 50 });
const news = await newsSearch('artificial intelligence');
const videos = await videoSearch('python tutorial');
const ranking = await aiRank('best crm software', 'hubspot.com');
const yt = await ytSearch('machine learning');

Python

import requests

API_KEY = 'sk_live_your_api_key'
BASE = 'https://apiserpent.com'
HEADERS = {'X-API-Key': API_KEY}

# Quick search (free-tier eligible)
def quick_search(query, engine='google'):
    resp = requests.get(f'{BASE}/api/search/quick', headers=HEADERS,
        params={'q': query, 'engine': engine})
    return resp.json()['results']['organic']

# Deep web search (up to 100 results)
def web_search(query, num=10, engine='google', country='us'):
    resp = requests.get(f'{BASE}/api/search', headers=HEADERS,
        params={'q': query, 'num': num, 'engine': engine, 'country': country})
    data = resp.json()
    if not data.get('success'):
        raise Exception(data.get('error', 'Search failed'))
    return data['results']['organic']

# News search
def news_search(query, num=20):
    resp = requests.get(f'{BASE}/api/news', headers=HEADERS,
        params={'q': query, 'num': num})
    return resp.json()['results']['articles']

# Image search
def image_search(query, num=50):
    resp = requests.get(f'{BASE}/api/images', headers=HEADERS,
        params={'q': query, 'num': num})
    return resp.json()['results']['images']

# Video search
def video_search(query, engine='ddg'):
    resp = requests.get(f'{BASE}/api/videos', headers=HEADERS,
        params={'q': query, 'engine': engine})
    return resp.json()['results']['videos']

# AI Ranking
def ai_rank(keyword, domain=None, engines='claude,chatgpt'):
    params = {'keyword': keyword, 'engines': engines}
    if domain:
        params['domain'] = domain
    resp = requests.get(f'{BASE}/api/ai/rank', headers=HEADERS, params=params)
    return resp.json()

# YouTube search (free-tier eligible)
def yt_search(query, num=10):
    resp = requests.get(f'{BASE}/api/social/youtube/search', headers=HEADERS,
        params={'q': query, 'num': num})
    return resp.json()

# Instagram profile (free-tier eligible)
def ig_profile(username):
    resp = requests.get(f'{BASE}/api/social/instagram/profile', headers=HEADERS,
        params={'username': username})
    return resp.json()

# Usage
results = web_search('best seo tools', num=50, engine='google')
news = news_search('AI breakthroughs')
images = image_search('sunset beach')
videos = video_search('python tutorial')
ranking = ai_rank('best crm software', domain='hubspot.com')
yt = yt_search('machine learning')
ig = ig_profile('natgeo')

cURL

# Quick search (free-tier eligible)
curl "https://apiserpent.com/api/search/quick?q=weather+today&engine=google" \
  -H "X-API-Key: sk_live_your_api_key"

# Deep web search (30 results from Google in Germany)
curl "https://apiserpent.com/api/search?q=beste+seo+tools&num=30&engine=google&country=de" \
  -H "X-API-Key: sk_live_your_api_key"

# News search with freshness filter
curl "https://apiserpent.com/api/news?q=technology&num=20&freshness=w" \
  -H "X-API-Key: sk_live_your_api_key"

# Image search with filters
curl "https://apiserpent.com/api/images?q=mountain+landscape&num=50&size=large" \
  -H "X-API-Key: sk_live_your_api_key"

# Video search
curl "https://apiserpent.com/api/videos?q=python+tutorial&engine=ddg&duration=medium" \
  -H "X-API-Key: sk_live_your_api_key"

# AI Ranking (Claude + ChatGPT)
curl "https://apiserpent.com/api/ai/rank?keyword=best+crm+software&domain=hubspot.com&engines=claude,chatgpt" \
  -H "X-API-Key: sk_live_your_api_key"

# Single AI engine ranking
curl "https://apiserpent.com/api/ai/rank/gemini?keyword=best+seo+tools" \
  -H "X-API-Key: sk_live_your_api_key"

# YouTube search (free-tier eligible)
curl "https://apiserpent.com/api/social/youtube/search?q=machine+learning&num=10" \
  -H "X-API-Key: sk_live_your_api_key"

# YouTube video details
curl "https://apiserpent.com/api/social/youtube/video?id=dQw4w9WgXcQ" \
  -H "X-API-Key: sk_live_your_api_key"

# YouTube channel details
curl "https://apiserpent.com/api/social/youtube/channel?handle=@mkbhd&include_videos=true" \
  -H "X-API-Key: sk_live_your_api_key"

# Instagram profile (free-tier eligible)
curl "https://apiserpent.com/api/social/instagram/profile?username=natgeo" \
  -H "X-API-Key: sk_live_your_api_key"

# Check credits and usage
curl "https://apiserpent.com/api/status" \
  -H "X-API-Key: sk_live_your_api_key"

# Get pricing (no API key required)
curl "https://apiserpent.com/api/pricing"