Multi Engine Search API

Multi Engine Search API is a multi engine search api that sends one search phrase to ten web search platforms in one call and returns every platform's own ranked results as rows in one Dataset, built for developers and data teams. It is a search across several platforms, not a batch of queries against one index: each row names the platform that returned it and the rank it held there, and the result page travels with the row as Markdown.

• Ten platforms in one call — Google, Bing, Baidu, Yandex, Naver, Sogou's WeChat search, Seznam, So.com, DuckDuckGo and Brave share one input and one 13-field output.
• Every platform's own ranking, kept — a page three platforms returned is three rows, each with that platform's real position; paid placements are flagged with is_ad and never take an organic rank.
• Per-platform result budgets — max_results applies to each platform you select, so ten platforms at 20 can return up to 200 rows.
• Page text on every readable row — each result page is read once, content_status records whether it could be read, and readable pages arrive as Markdown with a word count.

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The smallest useful test is two rows from one platform: $0.04 for the Actor Start plus 2 × $0.00250, or $0.04500 on the FREE tier.

What does Multi Engine Search API do?

It sends one search phrase to up to ten web search platforms at the same time and returns every platform's results as rows in one Dataset. Each platform is paged until it has the rows you asked for or stops producing new URLs, and each row records the platform that returned it, the rank it held there, and the destination page as Markdown when the page could be read.

Nothing is blended. A page returned by four platforms arrives as four rows sharing one url, so agreement between platforms is something you count rather than something the Actor asserts.

What it does not do: it returns the organic result blocks and any sponsored rows a platform prints above them, flagged with is_ad; it does not return shopping units, People Also Ask panels, knowledge panels or per-country targeting. It is not affiliated with any platform it reads. Brave documents an independent index and DuckDuckGo states that its traditional links are largely sourced from Bing; both result sets are kept with their platform labels so you can measure the overlap yourself.

How do I run Multi Engine Search API?

1. Open the Actor. All three inputs arrive prefilled with a working example, so the first run needs no editing.
2. Set keyword to your search phrase and max_results to the rows you want from each platform you select.
3. List specific platforms in platforms, or clear the field to query all ten.
4. Press ▷ Start, then read the Dataset tab or export to JSON, CSV, XLSX, XML or HTML.

The smallest useful runnable input:

{
  "keyword": "web scraping api",
  "max_results": 2,
  "platforms": ["bing"]
}

Result limits apply per platform, per run: ten platforms at max_results 20 return up to 200 rows. Rows are written the moment their page has been read, so they arrive in reading order; sort by platform and position afterwards.

What data does Multi Engine Search API return?

One row is one result from one platform, with the destination page read when it could be. Every row carries the same 13 fields.

Field	Type	Description
title	string or null	Result headline as the platform rendered it
snippet	string or null	Description the platform printed under the result, when it printed one
url	string or null	Result address, and the key to group on when comparing platforms
source_name	string or null	Publisher or site name the platform credited, when it showed one
date_text	string or null	Freshness text exactly as the platform printed it, unnormalized
platform	string or null	Which platform returned this result
position	integer or null	Organic rank on that platform; sponsored rows carry null
is_ad	boolean or null	Whether the platform served the row as a paid placement
markdown	string or null	The result page rendered as Markdown when it could be read
word_count	integer or null	Words in that Markdown rendering
content_status	string or null	ok, empty, too_large, unconvertible or unavailable
processor	string or null	Actor URL that produced the row
processed_at	string or null	UTC timestamp when the row was produced

An abbreviated row from the web scraping api scenario, with markdown truncated to one line:

{
  "title": "15 Best Web Scraping APIs in 2026 for Developers - Geekflare",
  "snippet": "Aug 11, 2026 · This post will go through the top managed web scraping APIs that will help you scrape webpages into Markdown, …",
  "url": "https://geekflare.com/guides/best-web-scraping-apis/",
  "source_name": null,
  "date_text": null,
  "platform": "bing",
  "position": 2,
  "is_ad": false,
  "markdown": "[Skip to content](#main-content)\n\n* [Products](https://geekflare.com) ...",
  "word_count": 3367,
  "content_status": "ok",
  "processor": "https://apify.com/username/actor_name",
  "processed_at": "2026-09-04T04:29:57+00:00"
}

A value the platform did not print stays empty: snippet is absent on image and video results, source_name and date_text appear only where shown, and markdown is empty whenever content_status is not ok.

What inputs can I configure?

Three public inputs, in schema order. keyword and max_results are required; platforms is optional.

Input	Type	Required	Description
keyword	string	Yes	The search phrase, passed to every selected platform exactly as sent. No platform-specific syntax is added or removed.
max_results	integer	Yes	Rows to return from each selected platform. Minimum 1, no maximum; each platform is paged until it has that many distinct URLs or stops producing new ones.
platforms	array	No	Which of the 10 platforms to search: google, bing, baidu, yandex, naver, sogou_weixin, seznam, so360, duckduckgo, brave. Empty queries all ten.

A platform name this build no longer serves is skipped with a notice and the rest of the selection still runs.

What platforms and markets does Multi Engine Search API cover?

Ten platforms across several language markets: Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo and Brave cover the general web; Baidu and So.com the Chinese web; Yandex the Russian web; Naver the Korean web; Seznam the Czech web; and Sogou's WeChat search reaches public articles inside that ecosystem that no general crawler holds.

Coverage per query is source-dependent: a platform may return nothing outside its market, and the run reports that separately from a platform that did not respond. Nine of the ten support a page parameter and the run walks it; DuckDuckGo's lightweight interface contributes one page.

Why use Multi Engine Search API?

Breadth with the bookkeeping already done: one request, one response shape, every row traceable to its platform and rank.

Capability	What it gives you
Ten platforms in one call	One request and one response shape, not ten layouts and ten page parameters
Per-platform ranking	Every row carries the platform that returned it and the rank it held there
Verifiable agreement	Group by url: the group size is the corroboration count
Per-platform budgets	Equal depth from every platform, rather than one loud platform consuming a shared total
Page text included	Ranking and page Markdown in one row, so a retrieval pipeline needs one pass
Ads made explicit	Sponsored rows carry is_ad: true and a null position

The trade-off: fewer columns per result than a single-platform SERP product — no related questions, feature panels or per-country rank.

Who is Multi Engine Search API for?

Developers and data teams building retrieval, monitoring or research pipelines that need more than one search platform behind them.

• Retrieval and grounding pipelines — a URL list and every readable page as Markdown in one call, with the per-url row count as a corroboration filter.
• Cross-market SEO visibility — pivot platform against position for your own domain to get a rank table across markets a single-platform tracker cannot see.
• Regional research — the Chinese, Russian, Korean or Czech web, answered by the platforms that actually crawl them.
• Long-tail discovery — pages returned by exactly one platform are often the most interesting part of the result set.

Not for you if you need shopping listings, SERP feature panels, per-country targeting, or one platform with maximum per-result detail.

How can I use Multi Engine Search API through the API or MCP?

Use the Actor ID vWEeCpz09B2M4NoTQ in API clients and integrations; the truefetch/multi-engine-search-api name form resolves to the same Actor and is what an MCP client selects. Start the run, poll it, then read the Dataset; this asynchronous flow is the production path because a run is never bounded by one HTTP connection (Apify runs and builds).

RUN=$(curl -s -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/vWEeCpz09B2M4NoTQ/runs?token=APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"keyword":"web scraping api","max_results":2,"platforms":["bing"]}' \
  | python -c "import sys,json; print(json.load(sys.stdin)['data']['id'])")

curl -s "https://api.apify.com/v2/actor-runs/$RUN?token=APIFY_TOKEN"

curl -s "https://api.apify.com/v2/actor-runs/$RUN/dataset/items?token=APIFY_TOKEN"

Poll the second call until data.status is SUCCEEDED, or register an ACTOR.RUN.SUCCEEDED webhook. Generated SDK and OpenAPI examples are on the Actor API page.

Quick test only: POST /v2/acts/vWEeCpz09B2M4NoTQ/run-sync-get-dataset-items returns rows on one connection, safe here only because a two-result run finishes well under the limit. The platform cuts a sync connection at 300 seconds without aborting the run, a client-side timeout never stops a billed run, and each client or gateway retry starts another billed run.

For MCP, point a client at https://mcp.apify.com and call the Actor by name:

{
  "actor": "vWEeCpz09B2M4NoTQ",
  "input": {
    "keyword": "web scraping api",
    "max_results": 2,
    "platforms": ["bing"]
  }
}

How much does Multi Engine Search API cost?

Each row costs $0.00250 on the FREE tier and each run adds $0.04 of Actor Start, so the smallest useful test — two rows from one platform — totals $0.04500.

Event	FREE	BRONZE	SILVER	GOLD	PLATINUM	DIAMOND
Result (one row)	$0.00250	$0.00225	$0.00200	$0.00188	$0.00188	$0.00188
Actor Start (per GB of run memory)	$0.01	$0.01	$0.01	$0.01	$0.01	$0.01

The billing unit is one Dataset row, and max_results is per platform, so the ceiling is exact: ten platforms at 12 is at most 120 rows. A page five platforms returned is five rows and is billed as five; sponsored rows count toward max_results and are billed like any other row. Actor Start is charged once per gigabyte of run memory with a minimum of one event; this Actor runs at 4 GB, so every run pays four events, 4 × $0.01 = $0.04, on every tier. Reading the result page carries no separate charge, and a page several platforms returned is downloaded once.

Prices can change; live figures are on the Actor pricing page.

How does Multi Engine Search API compare with alternatives?

Querying each platform by hand works for one phrase against one platform and does not scale to ten, leaving no rank comparison and no export.

Building the integration yourself means ten response shapes, ten paging parameters and per-platform redirectors that hide the destination — recurring work, since those layouts change independently.

The platforms' own official APIs are the honest comparison and are better when one platform is enough: richer per-result data, documented quotas, provider support. None of them reaches another company's results.

Single-platform SERP products trade breadth for depth. Choose one for a single market and platform, or if you need feature panels or per-country targeting.

What are the limits and troubleshooting steps?

• Fewer rows than max_results — the selected platforms hold no more distinct pages for that phrase. Select more platforms or broaden it.
• The log names a platform that produced nothing — reported separately from a platform that did not respond, so you can tell an empty market from an outage.
• Sponsored rows arrived where you expected the ranking — the platform printed ads above the organic block and max_results filled from the top. Raise max_results or filter the export on is_ad.
• sogou_weixin returns unfamiliar results — that platform covers WeChat articles, not the general web. Deselect it for web pages only.
• DuckDuckGo returns one page only — its lightweight interface has no page-forward for this request. Select other platforms for depth.
• A url still looks like a platform's own address — a few platforms publish a redirector whose destination cannot be recovered without following it. The link still reaches the page.
• content_status is not ok — the page refused the fetch, was too large, was empty or held no convertible text. The search row is still returned.
• Two runs of the same phrase differ — search rankings are not stable, which is why processed_at is stamped on every row.

Report a bug on the Issues tab with the run ID, exact input JSON and selected platforms; do not paste API tokens.

Frequently asked questions

Can I search bing baidu and yandex from one api call?

Yes. Set platforms to ["bing","baidu","yandex"] and all three are queried in parallel from one run. A page all three returned arrives as three rows sharing a url, each carrying that platform's own rank.

Is there a web search api with results from multiple indexes?

That is what this Actor is: ten web search platforms queried in one call, returned as rows in one Dataset with one response shape instead of ten result sets to reconcile.

Is there a free web search API?

Several platforms publish official APIs with free tiers, better when one platform is enough. This Actor adds the breadth: ten platforms in one call and one schema, which no single-platform API offers.

Can I schedule runs to monitor search results over time?

Yes. Apify's Scheduler runs the Actor on a cron expression, and because every row carries processed_at, consecutive runs build a rank history across markets a single-platform tool cannot see.

How do I see which pages several platforms agreed on?

Group the Dataset by url. A page returned by five platforms is five rows sharing that url, each with its own platform and position, so the group size is the agreement count.

Are sponsored results included?

Yes, when a platform prints them. They carry is_ad: true and a null position, so they never enter the organic ranking, and one filter on is_ad leaves you the organic set.

Related TrueFetch Actors

• Google Trends Explore — measures demand for a phrase, which pairs with the supply side this Actor returns.
• Google Trending Now — surfaces rising queries worth running across ten platforms before they are widely covered.
• Reddit Search API — searches discussion rather than the indexed web, for questions where forum answers beat pages.

Support

Store listing, API reference and pricing. Report reproducible bugs on the Issues tab with the run ID and exact input JSON; ask questions in the TrueFetch community on Telegram.

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Last Updated: September 3, 2026