FastAF vs SerpApi
Short answer: choose SerpApi if you need its very wide engine catalogue (Google Flights, Hotels, Patents, Bing, Baidu, Yandex, Apple App Store…) or its U.S. Legal Shield. Choose FastAF if your agent needs Google results plus a few other sources as JSON without a monthly subscription, or wants to pay per call in USDC over x402 with no account.
At a glance
| FastAF | SerpApi | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | One-time packs, no subscription: $10 = 20,000 credits … $799 = 3,000,000 credits; valid 12 months. Google search = 5 credits ($2.50→$1.33 per 1,000 by pack). x402 Google search: $0.003 (promo through November 9, 2026 inclusive, then $0.005) in USDC, independent of prepaid credits (llms.txt) | Month-to-month plans: Free $0 = 250 searches/month; Starter $25/month = 1,000 searches; Developer $75/month = 5,000 searches (serpapi.com/pricing, 2026-10-25) |
| Signup | Optional: email signup gives 2 free calls, then prepaid credits. Not needed for x402 | Account + API key required (pricing) |
| Pay-per-call | Yes: x402, $0.003 (promo through November 9, 2026 inclusive, then $0.005) per Google search | No pay-per-call option found on the pricing page (monthly plans) – unknown beyond that |
| x402 / USDC | Yes, all 16 endpoints, USDC on Base | No x402 mention on pricing page or llms.txt (2026-10-25) – not found |
| MCP | Hosted MCP, 16 tools, API key for tool calls | Yes, hosted MCP at mcp.serpapi.com with the API key in the URL (serpapi.com/mcp) |
| Unused quota | Credits valid 12 months, nothing renews | Monthly searches per plan; rollover unknown |
| Failed requests | Never charged (llms.txt) | Plan describes “successful searches” throughput; billing of failures not verified |
When to choose SerpApi
- You need engines FastAF does not cover (Flights, Hotels, Patents, Bing, Yandex, Baidu, app stores…).
- You want a legal-coverage add-on (U.S. Legal Shield, listed on their pricing page).
- You run a steady, predictable monthly volume.
When to choose FastAF
- Bursty or experimental usage: one-time credits valid 12 months instead of a monthly plan.
- An autonomous agent must pay by itself: x402, no account, $0.003 (promo through November 9, 2026 inclusive, then $0.005) per search, settled only on success.
- You also need Amazon, Walmart, eBay, Zillow, YouTube transcripts, public LinkedIn/X profiles, page scraping or screenshots from the same balance. See all endpoints on /apis/.
FAQ
Is FastAF a SerpApi alternative without a monthly plan? Yes. Credits are bought once (from $10) and never renew; or pay per call over x402.
How much is one Google search? FastAF: 5 prepaid credits, or $0.003 (promo through November 9, 2026 inclusive, then $0.005) over x402, $1.33–$2.50 per 1,000 on packs. SerpApi Starter: $25 for 1,000 searches per month (2026-10-25).
Does FastAF have a free tier? 2 free calls after email verification. SerpApi lists 250 free searches per month.
Can my agent use it via MCP? Both offer hosted MCP servers that need a key for calls.
More guides on the FastAF blog.
Sources: see bottom of file. Competitor facts read 2026-10-25 from serpapi.com/pricing and serpapi.com/mcp.
Sources (all read 2026-10-25)
FastAF: https://fastaf.co/llms.txt, https://api.fastaf.co/.well-known/x402, https://api.fastaf.co/openapi.json, live unpaid GETs to https://api.fastaf.co/x402/v1/<endpoint> (HTTP 402, captured 2026-10-25 20:53 UTC).
SerpApi: https://serpapi.com/pricing ; https://serpapi.com/mcp
Exa: https://exa.ai/pricing ; https://exa.ai/docs/llms.txt ; https://exa.ai/docs/integrations/payments/x402/quickstart.md ; https://exa.ai/llms.txt
Tavily: https://www.tavily.com/pricing ; https://docs.tavily.com/documentation/api-credits ; https://docs.tavily.com/documentation/machine-payments/x402.md ; https://docs.tavily.com/documentation/keyless.md ; https://docs.tavily.com/documentation/mcp
Firecrawl: https://www.firecrawl.dev/pricing ; https://docs.firecrawl.dev/mcp-server ; https://www.firecrawl.dev/agents ; https://docs.firecrawl.dev/llms.txt