Google Search Scraper — Google Custom Search API Alternative

A Google search scraper built as a Google Custom Search API alternative: same CSE-style JSON, results straight from the Google SERP.

SERP Results & Web Search API

CSE replacement: a Google Custom Search Engine substitute for programmatic SERP.

📊 Sample Output

kind	url	queries	context	searchInformation	items
customsearch#search	{'type': 'application/json', 'template': 'https://www.googleapis.com/…	{'request': [{'title': 'Google Search', 'totalResults': '0', 'searchT…	{'title': 'NexGenData CSE Replacement'}	{'searchTime': 52.052, 'formattedSearchTime': '52.05', 'totalResults'…	[]
customsearch#search	{'type': 'application/json', 'template': 'https://www.googleapis.com/…	{'request': [{'title': 'Google Search', 'totalResults': '1', 'searchT…	{'title': 'NexGenData CSE Replacement'}	{'searchTime': 6.16, 'formattedSearchTime': '6.16', 'totalResults': '…	[{'kind': 'customsearch#result', 'title': 'Custom Search JSON API | G…

Real rows from run cpC5JFmJZOxXmIxw4 on build 0.0.42 (2026-09-25), unedited apart from masked emails/phones and shortened long text; fields the source does not publish are empty.

⚙️ Sample inputs

This is the Store example input — the same input Apify's automated check runs — so it is proven to return rows on the current build. Paste it into the input form, or send it through the API, CLI or a schedule:

{
  "queries": [
    "apify scraper",
    "google custom search alternative"
  ],
  "num": 10,
  "start": 1,
  "gl": "us",
  "hl": "en",
  "safe": "off"
}

🔧 Input reference

Field	Type	Default	What it does
queries (required)	array	["apify scraper", "google custom search alternative"]	One or more web-search queries. Each query is run independently and returns a CSE-compatible JSON object (one dataset record per query).
num	integer	10	Number of results to return per query. Mirrors the CSE num parameter. Max 100 (matches CSE max).
start	integer	1	1-based start index of the first result. Use start=11, num=10 to get page 2, etc. Mirrors the CSE start parameter.
gl	string	"us"	Two-letter country code biasing results toward that region. Mirrors CSE gl. Examples: us, gb, de, fr, ca, au, jp, br, in.
hl	string	"en"	Two-letter language code for the Google UI and results. Mirrors CSE hl. Examples: en, es, fr, de, ja, pt.
safe	string (off, medium, high)	"off"	Safe search level. off = no filtering, medium = moderate, high = strict (adult content filtered).
site	string	""	Restrict results to a single domain, e.g. github.com. Equivalent to appending site: to the query. Mirrors CSE siteSearch.

🧾 JSON sample record

One real record from run cpC5JFmJZOxXmIxw4 (emails/phones masked, long text shortened):

{
  "kind": "customsearch#search",
  "url": {
    "type": "application/json",
    "template": "https://www.googleapis.com/customsearch/v1?q={searchTerms}&num={count?}&start={startIndex?}&gl={gl?}&hl={hl?}&safe={safe?}"
  },
  "queries": {
    "request": [
      {
        "title": "Google Search",
        "totalResults": "0",
        "searchTerms": "apify scraper",
        "count": 0,
        "startIndex": 1,
        "inputEncoding": "utf8",
        "outputEncoding": "utf8",
        "safe": "off",
        "cx": "nexgendata-cse-replacement",
        "gl": "us",
        "hl": "en"
      }
    ]
  },
  "context": {
    "title": "NexGenData CSE Replacement"
  },
  "searchInformation": {
    "searchTime": 52.052,
    "formattedSearchTime": "52.05",
    "totalResults": "0",
    "formattedTotalResults": "0"
  },
  "items": []
}

💰 Pricing

Event	Price (USD)	When it is charged
Web search query (CSE-compatible) (search-query)	$0.02	One Google SERP fetch + parse + CSE-envelope response. $0.02 per query ($20 per 1,000); Google's retired Custom Search JSON API charged $5 per 1,000.

Pay-per-event: you pay only for what the run delivers. A run that delivers nothing bills no result events (only the actor-start event, when the actor defines one). Example: a run that delivers 100 results costs 100 × $0.02 = $2.00 plus the start fee.

🔗 Related Actors

More from the NexGenData Data APIs family:

• China A-Share Screener — 中国股票 Eastmoney API
• FINMA + MAS + SFC Enforcement Records API
• Google Ads Transparency Competitor Ad Intelligence
• Lighthouse Bulk Checker — Performance at Scale
• Google SERP Scraper — Rankings & Keywords
• Google Shopping Scraper — Product Prices & Sellers API

27 more in this family on the NexGenData Store page.

📊 What you get

Clean JSON output (6 fields):

• query — Query
• position — Position
• title — Title
• url — Url
• snippet — Snippet
• source — Source

Pricing: $0.020 per result (Pay-Per-Event) — about 50 results per $1.

🤖 Use with AI agents

Point Claude, the OpenAI Agents SDK, an n8n flow or any MCP-aware client at it.

Sample agent prompt:

Run Google Search Scraper on my input and return the structured results.

Agentic payments (x402): Supports agentic payment via x402 — call this actor with USDC, no API key required.

🔗 Related tools — Search & SERP tools

Google SERP Scraper · SERP Rank Tracker

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A NexGenData utility actor.