Google Custom Search API: the shutdown, and what to use instead
The Google Custom Search API is closed to new signups, and existing customers have until January 1, 2027 to move off it. Here is what it cost, its limits, and a replacement.
The Custom Search JSON API is winding down
The overview page at developers.google.com now says it directly. Checked July 27, 2026.
Google's Custom Search JSON API, the programmatic side of Programmable Search Engine, is closed to new customers, and Google states that existing customers have until January 1, 2027 to transition to an alternative solution. If your product calls this API today, it has a hard deadline. If you were planning to sign up, that door is already shut.
The pricing and limits you are leaving
For everyone migrating, here is the baseline being replaced, from Google's own documentation.
| Term | Custom Search JSON API |
|---|---|
| Price | $5.00 per 1,000 queries after the free allowance |
| Free allowance | 100 queries per day |
| Hard ceiling | 10,000 queries per day, total |
| Results per request | 10 maximum |
| Results per query | Never more than 100; paging past that errors |
Those limits shaped a lot of products: the 10-result page, the 100-result wall, the daily ceiling you could not buy your way past. Whatever replaces it should clear that bar, not just match it.
A drop-in way to keep getting Google results
One GET request, clean JSON back, one credit per search. No engine IDs to configure, no daily ceiling on your credits.
CrustAPI's web endpoint returns Google organic results with title, link, snippet, date, and position, plus the extras the old API never carried: people-also-ask entries and related searches on the same response. Billing is 1 credit per search, flat. At $49 for 25,000 credits that is $1.96 per 1,000 queries against Google's $5.00, and the free tier is 3,000 credits a month instead of 100 a day you lose at midnight.
Unused queries vanish at midnight, and the paid ceiling stops hard at 10,000 a day.
Spend them any day of the month. Paid credits on top never expire, with no daily ceiling.
A 50,000-query month, both ways
The migration math at a common workload.
One request, real response
The organic results as CSV first:
Sample rows as CSV, exactly as exported
| title | link | position |
|---|---|---|
| Light Electric Bike Reviews | EBR | https://electricbikereview.com/category/light/ | 1 |
| Best Electric Bikes 2026 - Don't Buy Until You Read This! | https://electricbikereport.com/best-electric-bikes/ | 2 |
| I want your electric bike reviews. What are your top picks ... | https://www.reddit.com/r/ebikes/comments/1hh3ymr/i_want_your_electric_bike_reviews_what_are_your/ | 3 |
| Electric Bike Review | Unbiased, In-Depth Analysis of the Best ... | https://electricbikereview.com/ | 4 |
| ElectricBikeReview.com | https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcJGe_WM6xKnB_J8ynIYx2A | 5 |
| I Reviewed 100's of "Affordable" Ebikes, These are the BEST | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5-2oqy0vSg | 6 |
And one record as JSON:
Old API vs the replacement
The comparison that matters for a migration plan.
| Custom Search JSON API | CrustAPI web search | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Closed to new customers; ends Jan 1, 2027 | Live |
| Price per 1,000 | $5.00 | $1.96 entry, falling to about $0.40 |
| Free volume | 100 / day, use it or lose it | 3,000 credits / month, and credits never expire |
| Daily ceiling | 10,000 queries / day | Spend your credits at your pace |
| Setup | API key + search engine ID | API key |
| Extras on the response | Results only | People-also-ask, related searches |
If your usage is tiny, do not rush: under 100 queries a day, the old API stays free until your deadline, and a calm migration beats a hurried one. Also, if what you actually used was site-restricted search over your own domain, test that use case specifically before you switch anything.
Related: Google Search API · SERP API · Web Search API · SerpApi alternative
Common questions
Clay
Move before the deadline moves you
Point one request at the new endpoint and compare the JSON before January 2027 arrives. 3,000 free credits a month.
Get 3,000 free credits