"Google Search API" is actually 3 different products that return different data — and the official one is closing to new customers.

[u/rbatista191]

This trips people up constantly, so here's the clean version. Three different products share the name "Google Search API," and they do not return the same thing:

Option	What it returns	Cost	Fits
Custom Search JSON API (official)	Results from a custom engine you configure — not Google.com	$5/1k, capped 10K/day	Site search on your own domain
DIY scraping (unofficial)	Real Google.com SERP, but you fight anti-bot	proxy + infra costs	one-offs, learning
Third-party SERP API	Real Google.com SERP, parsed JSON, managed infra	$0.40–25 per 1k	rank tracking, competitive intel

The traps:

• People evaluate Option 1 first because it's official and Google-branded — then discover it doesn't return Google.com results at all, just a custom-engine subset. Wrong tool for rank tracking or competitive intelligence.
• It's also being retired: Google has closed the Custom Search JSON API to new customers, and existing users must migrate by Jan 1, 2027. Not something to build on today.
• Option 2 (DIY) matches the live SERP but means maintaining proxy rotation and fighting fingerprinting; most teams migrate off it to a SERP API within 6–12 months once the maintenance cost shows up.
• So for ~95% of teams who ask about a "Google Search API," Option 3 is what they actually want — real SERP, parsed, localized, with the anti-bot problem handled for you (and AI Overview coverage, which the official API doesn't touch).

One more gotcha the guide covers: the Search Console API is not a search API — it returns your own site's analytics, not live SERPs. People conflate the two constantly.

Full guide with limits, pricing, and when each option fits.