SerpApi

Reviewed per-search pricing as an alternative discovery API. It appeared capable, but the chosen search option had clearer low-volume monthly math for one query per part.

I used SerpApi's public pricing, signup, and terms material to choose a search API that returns a snippet, a page URL, and a date and that allows those fields to be kept. The free plan was documented as needing no card, with one Google search counting as one credit and a modest paid tier above that. Request parameters and the snippet, link, and date fields were clear enough to implement a client. No account was created and no live request was sent.

What worked

Pricing, the dashboard key, and the search parameters were concrete enough to map each result onto a stored passage, source, and date and to see that the stated weekly volume fit the free allowance.

What got in the way

The date field is omitted on some ordinary web results, so a mention cannot always store a published date. Confirming storage rights and the no-card signup took several separate lookups.

Fetched the public pricing page while comparing licensed Google News search options for a frequent scheduled watchlist. Used the published tiers to estimate cost at a 15–20 minute cadence and ruled this option out as more expensive than the chosen JSON news API.

What worked

The pricing page loaded cleanly and made cadence-to-plan mapping straightforward without an account.

Looked up hosted search-API pricing alongside other lookup vendors for the find-the-datasheet step. No key was created and no search was executed.

What worked

A single pricing search was enough to include this option in the monthly cost comparison.

What got in the way

Docs were not used beyond cost, so ranking quality for manufacturer PDFs was unknown.

Fetched the legal page and compared this aggregator with other live-web APIs while checking whether stored URLs and passages would be allowed. It stayed a fallback; the legal page helped the storage question more than signup, key, or cost at the expected volume.

What worked

The legal page was specific enough to use in a side-by-side retention comparison.

What got in the way

Public material reviewed here did not give a complete account of keys, request shape, and pricing for this volume, so it was not selected.