Google Custom Search JSON API alternatives in 2026

What happened to the Google Custom Search JSON API?

Google’s overview page now says the API is closed to new customers. Existing customers have until January 1, 2027 to move to another solution.

Until then, existing customers keep the old terms: 100 free queries a day, then $5 per 1,000 queries, up to 10,000 queries a day. Google suggests Vertex AI Search for searching up to 50 domains. For full web search, it asks you to contact Google through a form.

Can I switch to the Bing Search API instead?

No. Microsoft retired the Bing Search APIs on August 11, 2025 and decommissioned existing instances. Its suggested replacement is Grounding with Bing Search for Azure AI agents, which feeds web results into an LLM answer inside Microsoft’s agent service. It does not hand you a plain list of results the way the old API did.

What are the alternatives and how do you pay for them?

Pick by what you used Custom Search for. Some options return Google’s results, some run their own index, and some return an answer instead of links. Billing terms and free allowances checked November 10, 2026. For more on Google SERP APIs, see the cheapest SERP API guide.

• What's the cheapest SERP API?
• AI web search for agents

Which alternative is closest to a Programmable Search Engine?

If your engine searched your own sites, Google’s own answer is Vertex AI Search, which covers up to 50 domains. Any web search API can also restrict results to your domains, through a site: operator or an include-domains filter.

If your engine searched the whole web and you need Google’s ranking, use a Google SERP API such as Serper, SerpApi or DataForSEO. Watch operator costs: DataForSEO’s worked example shows a search operator multiplies the SERP price by 5.

If you fed results to an LLM, an independent index such as Brave, Exa or Parallel often returns cleaner text for the model, and Gemini grounding skips the result list entirely.

Which replacements can an agent call through Locus Pro?

Through Locus Pro, an agent pays for each search from one prepaid balance, with no account at each search provider. It sees each price before the call, and a call can carry a credit ceiling. Endpoints listed in the Locus catalog on November 10, 2026.

One balance covers every engine below, so an agent can try two of them on the same query without a second signup. At high volume on a single engine, Brave can cost less per search with your own Brave account and API key.

How do I move a Custom Search integration?

Treat it as a data migration, since result sets will differ.

• List what your engine did: whole web or your sites, web or image results, how many results per query, and how deep you paged.
• Map each of those to the new API’s query, domain filter, result count and paging fields.
• Run 50 of your real queries through two candidates and compare the top results before you switch.
• Check the bill unit. DataForSEO bills per 10 results, SerpApi per search, Gemini grounding per search request plus tokens.
• Switch before January 1, 2027, the date Google gives for discontinuing the service.

Which Custom Search replacement should I choose?

Choose by the job the old engine did.

• Search across your own sites: Vertex AI Search.
• Google rankings at high volume: Serper or DataForSEO.
• Many engines and result types: SerpApi.
• Results for an LLM to read: Brave, Exa or Parallel.
• A grounded answer from a Gemini app: Grounding with Google Search.
• An agent that needs a few searches across several engines with one bill: Locus Pro.