Bright Data pricing, explained with real numbers
Bright Data pricing spreads across many products, each with its own meter. For Google results, the SERP API runs $1.50 per 1,000 requests pay-as-you-go. Here is how the model works.
The SERP API numbers
Bright Data publishes its SERP pricing. These figures are from brightdata.com/pricing/serp, checked July 27, 2026.
| Plan | Price | Included | Per 1,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free tier | $0 | 5,000 records / month | $0 |
| Pay as you go | Per use | Billed on success | $1.50 |
| Scale (committed) | $499 / month | 380,000 requests | About $1.31 |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Quoted |
Credit where due: $1.50 per 1,000 on pay-as-you-go is a sharp rate, and billing only on success is the right model. The committed Scale plan shaves it to about $1.31 per 1,000, in exchange for $499 leaving your account every month whether you search or not.
Why the Bright Data bill has several meters
The SERP API is one line in a very large catalog, and each line is priced differently.
Bright Data sells proxy networks billed per gigabyte, datasets billed per record, and scraper APIs billed per thousand requests, most with both pay-as-you-go and committed tiers. It is built for enterprise procurement: many products, many meters, volume discounts on each. That breadth is the product. If what you actually need is Google results, you are buying one line from a catalog priced for teams that buy many.
The data, one flat credit per search
One request against the web endpoint, real Google results back as clean JSON.
The organic results as CSV first:
Sample rows as CSV, exactly as exported
| title | link | date | position |
|---|---|---|---|
| The 15 Best Running Shoes of 2026 | https://www.runnersworld.com/gear/a19663621/best-running-shoes/ | Jul 6, 2026 | 1 |
| What are the best running shoes that you'd actually buy ... | https://www.reddit.com/r/runninglifestyle/comments/1u5x7mx/what_are_the_best_running_shoes_that_youd/ | 1 month ago | 2 |
| 100+ Running Shoe Reviews | https://runrepeat.com/catalog/running-shoes | 3 | |
| The Best Running Shoes 2026 | https://theruntesters.com/running-shoes/the-best-running-shoes-to-buy/ | 4 | |
| Best Running Shoes of the Year: 6 Top-Shelf Models | https://sixminutemile.com/post/six-of-the-best-running-shoes-of-the-year/ | Dec 12, 2025 | 5 |
| The Best Running Shoe From Every Brand in 2026! | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qv6rh34rXU | 1 month ago | 6 |
And one record as JSON:
Where each side wins on price
Their PAYG rate beats our entry pack. From the 100k pack on, prepaid is cheaper, without the monthly commitment.
| Bright Data SERP | CrustAPI | |
|---|---|---|
| Pay-as-you-go rate | $1.50 / 1,000 | $1.96 / 1,000 entry, falling to $0.40 |
| Better committed rate | $499 / month for ~$1.31 | $549 once for $1.10, no monthly bill |
| Free tier | 5,000 records / month | 3,000 credits / month |
| Unused volume | Committed spend is monthly | Credits never expire |
| Buying experience | Enterprise catalog, many meters | Self-serve packs, one meter |
| Beyond web results | Priced per product line | Same key, same credits: Maps, News, Reviews, more |
Being specific about the crossover: at entry volume Bright Data's $1.50 per 1,000 is below our $1.96, and their free tier is larger. From the 100k pack on, prepaid slips under their PAYG rate: $1.49 per 1,000 at the 100k pack, $1.10 at 500k, $0.80 at 2.5M, about $0.40 at the largest, with no $499 monthly commitment on the way.
Five million searches, both ways
A year-scale job priced on each side's cheapest published route.
On their pay-as-you-go rate instead, 5M searches at $1.50 per 1,000 is $7,500.
Pick Bright Data when you need the whole platform: proxy infrastructure across many sites, packaged datasets, a court-tested legal record, and enterprise procurement support. For a multi-site scraping program at scale it is the safe default. For Google results alone, you are paying platform prices for one product line.
One product, one meter
Prepaid credits that cover the entire Google menu under one key.
Every web search costs 1 credit, flat, no matter how many results come back, and a search that returns nothing costs nothing. Start free with 3,000 credits every month, no card. Paid packs are prepaid and self-serve: 25k for $49 · 100k for $149 · 500k for $549 · 2.5M for $1,999 · up to 250M, ex-tax. That is about $1.96 per 1,000 at the entry pack, falling to roughly $0.40 per 1,000 at the largest. Credits never expire.
Related: Bright Data alternative · Bright Data LinkedIn alternative · SERP API · Web Search API
Common questions
Clay
Price the job, not the platform
If the job is Google results, run it on the free tier and compare the bill. 3,000 credits a month, no card.
Get 3,000 free credits