# SERP API Benchmark: Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo

> SERP API benchmark, 4 October 2026: 40 queries on Google, Bing and DuckDuckGo. 117 of 120 full pages on the first call, 2.92 s median, from $0.50 per 1,000.

[Home](https://quanticdata.io/)/[Blog](https://quanticdata.io/blog/)/SERP API Benchmark: Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo

# SERP API benchmark: Google, Bing and DuckDuckGo, tested on 150 calls

SERP & searchOct 4, 2026·6 min read·By [Aldo Morese](https://quanticdata.io/about/), founder of QuanticData

Three bars compare the median response time of one SERP API call on 4 October 2026: DuckDuckGo 2.67 s, Bing 3.21 s, Google 3.31 s, over the same 40 queries; the scorecard shows 117 of 120 full pages on the first call, 1,152 organic results, a 2.92 s overall median and a price from $0.50 per 1,000 searches.

On this page [What we measured](/blog/serp-api-benchmark-tested/#what-we-measured) [Success rate and latency by engine](/blog/serp-api-benchmark-tested/#success-rate-and-latency-by-engine) [What each engine returns](/blog/serp-api-benchmark-tested/#what-each-engine-returns) [Google from five other countries](/blog/serp-api-benchmark-tested/#google-from-five-other-countries) [Repeat queries come back in under a second](/blog/serp-api-benchmark-tested/#repeat-queries-come-back-in-under-a-second) [Cost per 1,000 searches](/blog/serp-api-benchmark-tested/#cost-per-1-000-searches) [Limits of this benchmark](/blog/serp-api-benchmark-tested/#limits-of-this-benchmark) [The exact call, and what to buy](/blog/serp-api-benchmark-tested/#the-exact-call-and-what-to-buy)

A SERP API benchmark with the rows attached: on 4 October 2026 we sent the same 40 queries to Google, Bing and DuckDuckGo through the QuanticData SERP API. 117 of 120 calls returned a full results page on the first attempt, the median call took 2.92 seconds, and 1,000 searches cost $0.50 on Bing or DuckDuckGo and $2 on Google.

Benchmarks of search APIs are usually published as rankings. This one is a measurement of one product: we tested our own API, with the method, the sample and the date stated, and the summary by engine is [results-2026-10-04.csv](https://quanticdata.io/blog/serp-api-benchmark-tested/results-2026-10-04.csv?v=20261004c).

## What we measured

| Item | Setting |
| --- | --- |
| Date and time | 4 October 2026, 08:29 to 08:37 UTC |
| Endpoint | POST /v1/serp on the production API, default options, desktop, country US |
| Core set | 40 queries on each of Google, Bing and DuckDuckGo: 120 calls, one at a time per engine |
| Query mix | 10 informational, 10 commercial, 5 local, 5 navigational, 5 fresh (scores, weather, prices), 5 technical |
| Country set | 4 queries on Google from the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Brazil and Japan: 20 calls |
| Repeat set | 10 of the Google queries sent a second time a few minutes later |
| Latency | Wall-clock time of the HTTPS call from a client in Europe, in milliseconds |
| Full page | HTTP 200 with organic results in the JSON |

That is 150 calls in total. Nothing was tuned for the test: no warm-up and no cherry-picked queries. If you want the mechanics behind a call (localization, the identity layer, parsing), read [how a SERP API works, end to end](https://quanticdata.io/blog/how-a-serp-api-works/).

**Try it on your own targets.** Every QuanticData account gets $2 of free API usage per month.

[Start free — $2/month included](https://quanticdata.io/signup/?utm_source=blog&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=blog-inline&utm_content=serp-api-benchmark-tested)[Explore SERP API](https://quanticdata.io/serp-api/)

## Success rate and latency by engine

| Engine | Full page, first call | Median | Organic results per page |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Google | 38 of 40 | 3.31 s | 9.9 |
| Bing | 39 of 40 | 3.21 s | 9.8 |
| DuckDuckGo | 40 of 40 | 2.67 s | 9.8 |
| **All three** | **117 of 120** | **2.92 s** | **1,152 in total** |

The 117 full pages carried 1,152 organic results, between 9.8 and 9.9 per page on each engine, and the typical call is a three-second call. Calls are independent, so a batch runs in parallel rather than in sequence.

## What each engine returns

The JSON envelope is the same for the three engines, but the blocks inside follow what each engine shows. Counts are pages that carried the block, out of the full pages of the core set.

| Block or field | Google (38) | Bing (39) | DuckDuckGo (40) |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Organic: rank, title, link, display link, source, description | 38 | 39 | 40 |
| Sitelinks under a result | 24 | 11 | 0 |
| Result date | 0 | 19 | 0 |
| Highlighted words in the snippet | 0 | 0 | 38 |
| Related searches | 37 | 6 | 0 |
| AI Overview text | 21 | 0 | 0 |
| Inline videos | 0 | 21 | 0 |
| Ads | 0 | 1 | 14 |
| Knowledge panel | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Featured snippet | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Median HTML fetched per page | 121 KB | 517 KB | 35 KB |

Two readings matter for anyone building on this. First, Google's AI Overview arrived as text on 21 of 38 pages, and it followed intent: 17 of the 21 were on commercial and informational queries. If you track AI Overviews, sample by query type. Second, the engines disagree more than people assume: for the same query, the median overlap between Google's and Bing's first page was 3 domains out of 10, and the same 3 of 10 between Google and DuckDuckGo. One engine is one opinion.

The table lists what came back in this sample with default options. Verticals such as maps, shopping, news, images, scholar, hotels and flights are separate search types with their own blocks, and are not part of this benchmark; the Maps vertical is measured in [our Google Maps test of 1,644 places](https://quanticdata.io/blog/google-maps-scraper-tested/).

## Google from five other countries

The same four queries went to Google from the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Brazil and Japan: 18 of 20 calls returned a full page on the first call, with a median of 3.96 seconds. Four calls per country is a spot check, not a ranking of countries. The `country` parameter sets both the exit country and Google's locale, and `location` narrows it to a city.

## Repeat queries come back in under a second

The 10 Google queries we sent a second time a few minutes later returned in a median of 0.98 seconds, all 10 with a full page. The response says so itself: `search_metadata.from_cache` is true when a recent identical query is served from the short-lived cache. For rank tracking that wants a fresh fetch every time, vary the query parameters or space the calls; for an agent that asks the same thing twice in a conversation, it is free speed.

## Cost per 1,000 searches

| Engine | Price per search | Per 1,000 | Searches in the free $2 per month |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Bing | $0.0005 | $0.50 | 4,000 |
| DuckDuckGo | $0.0005 | $0.50 | 4,000 |
| Google and rich verticals | $0.002 | $2.00 | 1,000 |

Billing is per successful search with no subscription and no monthly minimum, and failed requests are never billed. At list prices this whole benchmark, 150 calls, cost about $0.18. Volume tiers lower the unit price; they are on the [pricing page](https://quanticdata.io/pricing/).

The useful comparison is with your own alternative. If you only need ten blue links and do not care which engine, DuckDuckGo was the fastest and the cheapest row in this test. If you need AI Overviews, related searches or Google's ordering, that is the $2 row, and it is the one that returned them.

## Limits of this benchmark

- One eight-minute window on one day, 40 queries per engine. It shows the shape, not a service-level figure.

- Latency is measured from one client in Europe to our API. Your network adds its own.

- Default options only: desktop, first page, 10 results. Deeper pages and the other verticals behave differently.

- English queries from a US exit in the core set. The country set is 4 queries per country.

- "Full page" means organic results present. We did not grade the correctness of every parsed field by hand.

- Search pages are public, but engines' terms restrict automated access and the law differs by country. Use the data responsibly.

## The exact call, and what to buy

One endpoint, one key, the engine as a parameter. The same call is available as the `search` tool of the [MCP server](https://quanticdata.io/mcp-server/) for agents.

```
curl -X POST "https://api.quanticdata.io/v1/serp" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer qd_live_YOUR_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"query":"best running shoes 2026","engine":"google","country":"us"}'
```

Set `engine` to `google`, `bing` or `duckduckgo`, add `country` and optionally `location`, and read `payload.organic`, `payload.related_searches` and `payload.ai_overview`. Every parameter is in the [API documentation](https://quanticdata.io/docs/), a walkthrough with parsing examples is in [how to use a SERP API](https://quanticdata.io/blog/how-to-use-a-serp-api/), and the product page is the [QuanticData SERP API](https://quanticdata.io/serp-api/): pay per successful search from $0.0005, with $2 of free API usage per month.

### Sources & further reading

- [AI features and your website, Google Search Central](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features)

- [Find information in faster and easier ways with AI Overviews, Google Search Help](https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/14901683)

- [Where DuckDuckGo search results come from, DuckDuckGo Help Pages](https://duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/results/sources)

- [Bing Webmaster Guidelines](https://www.bing.com/webmasters/help/webmaster-guidelines-30fba23a)

## FAQ

Quick answers on serp api benchmark.

[Something else? Ask us](mailto:hello@quanticdata.io)

### How fast is a SERP API call?

In our benchmark of 4 October 2026 the median call took 2.92 seconds across Google, Bing and DuckDuckGo: 2.67 s on DuckDuckGo, 3.21 s on Bing and 3.31 s on Google. Repeat queries served from the short-lived cache returned in a median of 0.98 seconds.

### What success rate did the SERP API reach?

117 of 120 calls returned a full results page on the first attempt: 38 of 40 on Google, 39 of 40 on Bing and 40 of 40 on DuckDuckGo. Failed requests are not billed.

### How much do 1,000 searches cost?

$0.50 per 1,000 on Bing or DuckDuckGo and $2.00 per 1,000 on Google and the rich verticals, billed per successful search with no subscription. Every account gets $2 of free API usage per month, which is 4,000 Bing or DuckDuckGo searches or 1,000 Google searches.

### Does the SERP API return Google AI Overviews?

Yes, as text in the ai_overview field when Google shows one. In this test it was present on 21 of 38 Google pages, most often on commercial and informational queries.

### Do Google, Bing and DuckDuckGo return the same results?

No. For the same query, the median overlap between the first page of Google and the first page of Bing was 3 domains out of 10, and the same between Google and DuckDuckGo. The JSON envelope is identical, the results are not.

### Which engine is cheapest and fastest for plain web results?

In this test DuckDuckGo: 40 of 40 full pages, a 2.67-second median and $0.50 per 1,000 searches. Google costs $2.00 per 1,000 and is the engine that returned related searches and AI Overviews.

## Run the same 40 queries on your own key

Measured on 4 October 2026: 117 of 120 full pages on the first call, 2.92 s median across Google, Bing and DuckDuckGo. Pay per successful search from $0.0005, with $2 of free API usage per month.

[Start free — $2/month included](https://quanticdata.io/signup/?utm_source=blog&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=blog-end&utm_content=serp-api-benchmark-tested)[Explore SERP API](https://quanticdata.io/serp-api/)

## Related reading

[SERP & search How to Create a SERP API Key A practical walkthrough for creating a SERP API key: signup and verification, key generation, safe storage, a first authenticated request, and quota math. Read more](https://quanticdata.io/blog/how-to-create-a-serp-api-key/) [SERP & search How to Get a SERP API in Minutes A practical guide to getting a SERP API — sign-up, key generation, first request, free tier limits and the cost math that decides which provider fits. Read more](https://quanticdata.io/blog/how-to-get-serp-api/) [SERP & search How a SERP API Works, End to End The full path from query to JSON: localization parameters, the identity layer, HTTP vs rendered fetches, parsing rich blocks, verticals and pricing. Read more](https://quanticdata.io/blog/how-a-serp-api-works/)

---

Source: https://quanticdata.io/blog/serp-api-benchmark-tested/ · Site index for AI: https://quanticdata.io/llms.txt