Google Images API - $0.10 per 1,000 - Fast Image API

Scrape Google Images in bulk and get clean, structured JSON: the full-size image URL with width and height, a thumbnail, the source site and domain, the page the image appears on, and Google's reference URL. Search many queries at once and export thousands of images. Pay per image from $0.10 per 1,000 results, with no setup or per-run fee.

This is the fast, cheap option. It talks to a structured image search API instead of driving a slow, breakable headless browser, so it is quick and reliable, and it is 10x cheaper than the cheapest mainstream alternative. If you need reverse-image search, visual de-duplication, or downloading the raw image files, this is not the tool, see the comparison below.

What you get

One clean row per image:

• title of the image as shown on the results page
• imageUrl to the full-size file, plus imageWidth and imageHeight
• thumbnailUrl with thumbnailWidth and thumbnailHeight
• source site name and domain
• link to the page where the image appears
• googleUrl reference link, plus the query and position it was found at

What you do NOT get

• Downloading or re-hosting the raw image files
• Reverse-image search (find where an image appears)
• Visual de-duplication or perceptual hashing
• EXIF metadata extraction or face/object detection

Need those? hooli/google-images-scraper is the deep-feature incumbent for reverse-image and bulk-download workflows. This Actor is the fast, cheap complement for everyone who just needs the image search data in bulk.

How this compares

Actor	Price per image	Per 1,000 images
This Actor	$0.0001	$0.10
crawlerbros/google-images-scraper	$0.001	$1.00
hooli/google-images-scraper	$0.00125 to $0.0035	$1.25 to $3.50
easyapi/google-images-scraper	$0.005	$5.00

Rule of thumb: bulk image search at the lowest price, MCP-ready -> this Actor; reverse-image search and raw file downloads -> hooli/google-images-scraper.

Use cases

• Build large image datasets for computer-vision or AI training pipelines
• Pull product, brand, or competitor imagery for SEO and marketing research
• Source reference images for content, design, and moodboards at scale
• Feed an AI agent image results for a topic in one MCP call
• Monitor how a brand or product appears in image search over time

Input

Field	Type	Description
queries	array of strings	One or more image search queries, e.g. golden retriever puppy. Each is searched independently. Required.
maxResultsPerQuery	integer	Images per query. Minimum 1, default 100.
gl	string	Optional two-letter country code, e.g. us, gb, de. Default us.
hl	string	Optional two-letter language code, e.g. en, es, de. Default en.

Example input

{
  "queries": ["golden retriever puppy", "eiffel tower at night"],
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 100,
  "gl": "us",
  "hl": "en"
}

Sample output

{
  "query": "golden retriever puppy",
  "position": 1,
  "title": "Golden Retriever Puppy",
  "imageUrl": "https://images.example.com/products/57215/golden-retriever-puppy.jpg",
  "imageWidth": 1047,
  "imageHeight": 699,
  "thumbnailUrl": "https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9Gc...",
  "thumbnailWidth": 275,
  "thumbnailHeight": 183,
  "source": "Photowall",
  "domain": "www.photowall.com",
  "link": "https://www.photowall.com/us/golden-retriever-puppy-wallpaper",
  "googleUrl": "https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=..."
}

Pricing

Pay-per-result: you are charged a flat $0.0001 per image returned, which is $0.10 per 1,000 images. No per-run fee, no setup fee, no monthly minimum. You only pay for the images you receive.

That is 10x below the cheapest mainstream alternative and up to 50x below the premium tiers, so bulk image search stops being a budget line.

How to get started

1. Open Google Images Scraper on the Apify Store.
2. Enter one or more queries.
3. Set maxResultsPerQuery (and optionally gl / hl), then run the Actor.
4. Export the dataset as JSON, CSV, or Excel, or pull it from the API.

Prefer code? See johnvc's GitHub for setup guides and code examples.

Run from the API

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/johnvc~google-images-api/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"queries":["golden retriever puppy"],"maxResultsPerQuery":50,"gl":"us","hl":"en"}'

🔌 Use this API from Claude (MCP)

This Actor is compatible with the Model Context Protocol (MCP), so AI agents can call it as a tool. Add it through the hosted Apify MCP server using this Actor-specific URL:

https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=actors,docs,johnvc/google-images-api

If you run agents from Claude Code (free trial) or Claude Cowork (free trial), add the Apify MCP server and call this Actor directly with requests like "get me 100 image results for vintage road bikes."

Setup walkthrough:

Apify MCP integration docs: https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp

MCP setup, step by step

Visual setup guides for each client (source and more assets: ApifyPublicData on GitHub):

Claude Cowork Desktop (free trial)

Claude Code (free trial)

Claude (website)

Cursor

ChatGPT

FAQ

Does it download the actual image files? No. It returns each image's imageUrl and thumbnailUrl. Follow the link to fetch the file yourself.

Does it do reverse-image search? No. For reverse-image lookups and bulk file downloads, use hooli/google-images-scraper.

How many images per query? Set maxResultsPerQuery (minimum 1, default 100). Results come in pages and a query stops early when it runs out of images, so you only pay for what exists.

Why did I get fewer results than I asked for? maxResultsPerQuery is a ceiling, not a guarantee. Niche queries simply have fewer matching images.

Can I search many queries at once? Yes. Pass multiple queries; each is searched independently and tagged with its source query in the output.

Can I localize results? Yes. Set gl (country) and hl (language) to localize the image results.

Last Updated: 2026.06.01