Pick Apify if
teams who will burn the Free $5 prepaid usage on a Store Actor or a Crawlee job, then buy Starter at $19/month ($17 billed annually) when they need chat support and 32 concurrent runs.
Read the Apify pageApify vs Serper
Our take
Pick Apify if teams who will burn the Free $5 prepaid usage on a Store Actor or a Crawlee job, then buy Starter at $19/month ($17 billed annually) when they need chat support and 32 concurrent runs. Pick Serper if builders who will stay on the 2,500 free queries while they run a first playground search — then the $50 Starter pack when prod volume starts, not Bright Data Unlocker from $1/1k first unless they need a
Best for
Apify Scrapes, browsers, and published Actors metered in prepaid usage
Serper A SERP you start at a public $
Free plan
Apify $0 · $5 prepaid usage / month. No card. $0.2/CU. 16 GB max RAM. 5 concurrent runs. Community support. No Store discount. When prepaid is gone, the account blocks until next cycle
Serper $0 · 2,500 queries. “Get 2,500 free queries” / “No credit card required.”
Lowest paid
Apify Creator $1/mo
Serper Scale $1
Next step up
Apify Proxy (list) $8
Serper Ultimate $3
Runs where
Apify Hosted
Serper
Watch out
Apify Free blocks when the $5 is gone
Serper Free quota is small for prod
Last checked
Apify 2026-10-22 · apify.com/pricing
Serper 2026-10-23 · serper.dev
Which one, then?
Pick Serper if
builders who will stay on the 2,500 free queries while they run a first playground search — then the $50 Starter pack when prod volume starts, not Bright Data Unlocker from $1/1k first unless they need a proxy zone.
Read the Serper page