Pay as you go
One-off pack
prepaid balance, $50 minimum top-up, never expires
API included
Plan details
n/a - requests fail when balance is empty
API review
DataForSEO API review
Pay-as-you-go SEO and search data APIs: SERPs (Google, Bing, YouTube, AI Mode), keyword volumes, backlinks, DataForSEO Labs, on-page crawls, business listings/reviews, domain technologies and LLM brand-mention data. Best for cheap bulk SERP pulls via the Standard queue.
What a call costs
The actions you pay for, as DataForSEO prices them.
| Action | Cost | Per |
|---|---|---|
| Google Organic SERP (10 results) | $0.0006 Standard / $0.0012 Priority / $0.002 Live | SERP |
| Google AI Mode SERP | $0.0012 / $0.0024 / $0.004 | task |
| Google Maps SERP (100 results) | $0.0006 / $0.0012 / $0.002 | SERP |
| Google Ads keyword data | $0.06 Standard / $0.09 Live | task |
| DataForSEO Labs (most endpoints) | $0.012 + $0.00012 per item (historical rank overview, historical bulk traffic estimation, domain metrics by categories: $0.12 + $0.0012) | task |
| Backlinks | $0.024 + $0.000036 per row | task |
| Content Analysis | $0.024 + $0.000036 per row | task |
| OnPage crawl | $0.00015 base (up to $0.0051 with browser rendering) | page |
Show all 20 priced actionsHide the rest
| Action | Cost | Per |
|---|---|---|
| Lighthouse | $0.005 | task |
| Domain Technologies (one domain) | $0.012 | task |
| Business Listings | $0.012 + $0.00036 per item | task |
| ChatGPT LLM Scraper | $0.0012 / $0.0024 / $0.004 | result |
| LLM Mentions | $0.1 + $0.001 per row | task |
| Amazon ASIN | $0.0015 / $0.003 / $0.005 | product |
| SERP AI summary add-on | $0.01 | result |
| SERP screenshot | $0.004 | result |
| Clickstream DataForSEO / global search volume | $0.18 | task (Live) |
| LLM Responses | $0.0006 Live / $0.0002 Standard, plus the LLM provider's own charge | task |
| AI keyword search volume | $0.01 + $0.0001 per keyword | task |
| Google AI Mode SERP turnaround | Standard ~5 min avg (45 min target) / Priority up to 1 min / Live up to 6 s | task |
Pricing, plan by plan
US dollars, as DataForSEO's pricing page shows them on 25 Oct 2026. Monthly and annual billing are shown apart.
Free tier $1 free trial credit on registration, usable for an unlimited period (e.g. 800+ priority SERPs); free Sandbox returns sample responses; creating extra trial accounts violates the ToS and gets the account suspended
Rate limits
10,000 API calls per minute per account (live user_data rates.limits.minute.total = 10000; X-RateLimit-Limit header = 10000).
More on limitsLess
Per-endpoint ceilings are returned in X-RateLimit-Limit / X-RateLimit-Remaining. Standard-method endpoints accept up to 100 tasks per POST (so up to 1,000,000 tasks/min). Accounts also carry a daily spend cap (ours: $1,000/day in money.limits.day). Increases via support.
How to get an API key
DataForSEO uses Basic auth. The steps below follow DataForSEO's own docs.
- Create a DataForSEO account. API access starts on the Pay as you go plan.
- Register, then copy the API login and password shown at app.dataforseo.com/api-access
- Send it with every request: header Authorization: Basic base64(login:api_password).
- Make a first call: Trends, Bing Ads and clickstream search volume. Keep the key in an environment variable, never in the command.
curl -X POST "https://api.dataforseo.com/v3/keywords_data/{google_trends|dataforseo_trends|bing|clickstream_data}/*" \ -u "$DATAFORSEO_LOGIN:$DATAFORSEO_API_SECRET" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{}'
Where the docs live
| What | Where |
|---|---|
| Documentation | docs.dataforseo.com/v3 |
| API reference | docs.dataforseo.com/v3 |
| llms.txt | dataforseo.com/llms.txt |
| Base URL | https://api.dataforseo.com/v3 |
| MCP server | https://mcp.dataforseo.com/v3/mcp |
| SDKs | Python client (official), TypeScript client (official), C# client (official), Java client (official), PHP client (jovixv/DFSClient-v3, recommended), Postman collection |
Strengths and limits
Where it fits
- Cheap bulk SERP pulls via the Standard queue ($0.60 per 1K SERPs)
- Keyword volumes, competitor and ranking research (Labs, Google Ads, Clickstream)
- AI visibility / GEO: ChatGPT LLM Scraper, LLM Mentions, AI keyword volume
- Technographics and local-business lists (Domain Technologies, Business Listings, Google Maps SERP)
- Usage-based billing with no subscription and a balance that never expires
Where it falls short
- Contact data (emails, phones) or person-level enrichment
- Real-time interactive use at Standard-queue prices (Standard target turnaround is 45 minutes; Live costs ~3.3x)
- Anyone who cannot prepay; minimum top-up is $50
Worth knowing
- The remote MCP's api_request tool can call any paid endpoint, so an agent with the MCP connected can spend balance without per-module limits; gate it like the REST API.
- Auth is Basic (base64 of login:password from app.dataforseo.com/api-access), not Bearer.
- Live mode costs ~3.3x Standard for SERPs ($0.002 vs $0.0006); Standard targets 45 minutes (pricing/serp/google-organic-serp-api).
- Cost multipliers hide in parameters: each search operator x5, depth +1 base per extra 10 results, calculate_rectangles x2, include_clickstream_data x2 on Labs, OnPage browser rendering raises a page from $0.00015 to $0.0051 (per-API pricing pages).
- LLM Responses is $0.0006 plus whatever the LLM itself charges (pricing/ai-optimization/llm-responses).
5 moreShow fewer
- Duplicate tasks are your error: identical tasks are billed and not refunded (terms-of-service 8.2). Refunds: 30-day no-question refund on first-time API credit purchases only; none on database purchases (terms-of-service 5.1).
- Live results are not stored; Standard results kept 30 days, HTML 7 days (docs/v3/).
- Prepaid wallet with $50 minimum top-up; the free trial is $1 and multiple trial accounts get suspended (pricing; help-center free trial).
- No public OpenAPI file; the reference is HTML/markdown docs under docs.dataforseo.com/v3/.
- The marketing pages are product pages, not the API reference.
Our take
For our own AI-visibility check we sent 20 questions to the ChatGPT LLM Scraper as one task_post array at $0.0012 each, charged when posted, and collected the answers with the free tasks_ready and task_get calls. In the brand results, the brand name sits in the markdown field; the title field holds ChatGPT's description of the brand.
Who should use it
- Use DataForSEO for
- Cheap bulk SERP pulls via the Standard queue ($0.60 per 1K SERPs)
- Look elsewhere for
- Contact data (emails, phones) or person-level enrichment
If DataForSEO is not the answer
Other Research and scraping tools in this directory, each with its own review.
Exa
Research and scraping
Free planOfficial MCP
Best for agent web search and RAG grounding with token-efficient contents.
Exa API review
Parallel AI
Research and scraping
Free planOfficial MCP
Best for row-level account/contact research and enrichment with per-field citations and confidence.
Parallel AI API review
Tavily
Research and scraping
Free planOfficial MCP
Best for agent web search with LLM-ready snippets at 1-2 credits per query.
Tavily API reviewBefore you build
Four things to settle first, each read off DataForSEO's own pages.
- Confirm the API is on your planAPI access starts on the Pay as you go plan. Free tier: $1 free trial credit on registration, usable for an unlimited period (e.g.
- Keep the key out of your codeBasic auth. It is sent as: header Authorization: Basic base64(login:api_password).
- Design around the rate limit10,000 API calls per minute per account (live user_data rates.limits.minute.total = 10000; X-RateLimit-Limit header = 10000).
- Know the catch before you scaleThe remote MCP's api_request tool can call any paid endpoint, so an agent with the MCP connected can spend balance without per-module limits; gate it like the REST API.
Want us to build it for you?
Tell us what you want DataForSEO to do in your stack. We will show you how we would wire it into your data, outbound or CRM, and what we would check first.
Read from dataforseo.com/pricing, docs.dataforseo.com/v3 and docs.dataforseo.com/v3/auth.md. Verified 25 Oct 2026.
All 15 endpointsFor developers: method, path, what it does and what it costs.
| Method | Path | What it does | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| POST+GET / POST LIVEasync | /serp/google/organic/task_post, /tasks_ready, /task_get/{regular|advanced|html}/{id}, /live/{regular|advanced|html} | Google organic SERP (one SERP = up to 10 results) | $0.0006 Standard, $0.0012 Priority, $0.002 Live per SERP; search operators x5; each extra 10 results +1 base; calculate_rectangles / load_async_ai_overview x2; People Also Ask click +$0.00015 |
| POST+GET / POST LIVEasync | /serp/google/ai_mode/* | Google AI Mode results | $0.0012 Standard, $0.0024 Priority, $0.004 Live per task |
| POST+GET / POST LIVEasync | /serp/google/{maps|local_finder|news|images|jobs|autocomplete|...}/*, /serp/bing/organic/*, /serp/youtube/*, /serp/{yahoo|baidu|naver|seznam}/* | Other SERP types and engines | mostly $0.0006 Standard / $0.0012 Priority / $0.002 Live per SERP (Maps and Images SERP = 100 results; News/Jobs/Local Finder = 10) |
| POST+GET / POST LIVEasync | /keywords_data/google_ads/{search_volume|keywords_for_site|keywords_for_keywords|ad_traffic_by_keywords}/* | Google Ads keyword volume, CPC, competition, ideas | $0.06 per task Standard (1-3 h), $0.09 per task Live |
| POSTasync | /keywords_data/{google_trends|dataforseo_trends|bing|clickstream_data}/* | Trends, Bing Ads and clickstream search volume | Google Trends $0.0027 Standard / $0.011 Live per task; DataForSEO Trends explore $0.0012; Bing $0.06/$0.09 per task; Clickstream bulk $0.012 + $0.00012 per keyword |
| POST | /dataforseo_labs/google/*/live | Labs: keyword ideas, ranked keywords, competitors, domain intersection, traffic estimates, search intent, historical SERPs | $0.012 per task + $0.00012 per item for most endpoints; exceptions at $0.12 per task + $0.0012 per item: historical_rank_overview, historical_bulk_traffic_estimation, domain_metrics_by_categories; historical_serps $0.00012 per SERP; search_intent $0.012 + $0.00012 per keyword; include_clickstream_data=true doubles cost (plain bulk_traffic_estimation stays $0.012 + $0.00012) |
| POST | /backlinks/*/live | Backlink profiles, referring domains, anchors, competitors, bulk metrics | $0.024 per task + $0.000036 per row |
| POSTasync | /on_page/task_post, /on_page/instant_pages, /on_page/content_parsing/live, /on_page/page_screenshot, /on_page/lighthouse/* | Site crawls / technical SEO, single-page parse, Lighthouse | $0.00015 per crawled page base (+$0.0003 load_resources, +$0.00135 JS, +$0.00495 browser rendering); screenshot $0.0048; Lighthouse $0.005 per task |
| POST | /content_analysis/*/live | Brand/keyword citations and sentiment across the web | $0.024 per task + $0.000036 per row |
| POST | /domain_analytics/technologies/*, /domain_analytics/whois/overview/live | Technographics (by domain or find domains using a technology) and Whois | Domain Technologies $0.012 per domain; other technology endpoints $0.012 + $0.0012 per item; Whois $0.12 + $0.0012 per domain |
| POSTasync | /business_data/business_listings/{search|categories_aggregation}/live, /business_data/google/{my_business_info|reviews}/*, Trustpilot, Tripadvisor, Hotels | Local business records, Google Business Profiles, reviews | Listings $0.012 + $0.00036 per item (up to 1,000 items/response); GBP info $0.0015 per profile Standard; Google Reviews $0.00075 per 10 reviews Standard |
| POSTasync | /merchant/amazon/*, /merchant/google/* | Amazon and Google Shopping products, sellers, ASINs | Amazon $0.0015 Standard / $0.003 Priority / $0.005 Live per product (ASIN); Google Shopping products $0.001 per 40-product SERP Standard |
| POSTasync | /app_data/{apple|google}/* | App Store and Google Play info, search, reviews | App info $0.0006 per result Standard |
| POSTasync | /ai_optimization/{chat_gpt|...}/llm_scraper/*, /ai_optimization/*/llm_responses/*, /ai_optimization/llm_mentions/*, /ai_optimization/ai_keyword_data/keywords_search_volume/live | AI visibility: ChatGPT search answers with sources, model responses, brand mentions in LLMs, AI search volume | LLM Scraper $0.0012 Standard / $0.0024 Priority / $0.004 Live per result; LLM Responses $0.0006 Live + the LLM's own charge ($0.0002 + $0.01 advance Standard); LLM Mentions $0.1 per task + $0.001 per row; AI keyword volume $0.01 + $0.0001 per keyword |
| GET | /appendix/user_data, /appendix/errors, */locations, */languages, */id_list, */tasks_ready | Account balance + price book, errors, lookups, completed-task lists | free |
No endpoint matches that filter.
