SERP API limits: when you hit one
23 provider limits with the provider's own sentence and check date. The link in each section gives the verdicts at twice a typical monthly workload.
Bright Data: Credits run out
No extra usage: when the included credits are used up, calls stop until the next period or a new plan.
- Free Tier: no extra usage
A free tier account has a hard stop when credits are exhausted, never a surprise bill.
Source: docs.brightdata.com/general/account/billing-and-pricing/free-tier.md
Checked 2026-11-11
Plans that clear it: Bright Data Scale (extra usage allowed); Firecrawl Hobby (extra usage allowed); Firecrawl Standard (extra usage allowed).
Bright Data: Requests are rejected with 429
A request rate above the limit is refused.
- Free Tier: 1000 requests per minute
Accounts operating on the free tier (unfunded) are restricted to a default rate limit of 1,000 requests per minute across the SERP API, Web Unlocker API and Proxy products.
Source: docs.brightdata.com/general/account/billing-and-pricing/free-tier.md
Checked 2026-11-11
Plans that clear it: SearchCans Ultimate (135600 requests per hour); Perplexity Search API, standard web search (50 requests per second); Firecrawl Growth (5000 requests per minute).
DataForSEO: Requests are rejected with 429
A request rate above the limit is refused.
- Standard Queue: 1000000 requests per minute
- Priority Queue: 1000000 requests per minute
- Live Mode: 10000 requests per minute
You can send up to 10000 API calls per minute, with each POST call containing no more than 100 tasks.
Source: docs.dataforseo.com/v3/serp/google/organic/task_post/
Alternatively, we can send them to you as soon as they are ready if you specify the postback_url or pingback_url when setting a task.
Source: docs.dataforseo.com/v3/serp/google/organic/task_post/
URL for sending task results optional field once the task is completed, we will send a POST request with its results compressed in the gzip format to the postback_url you specified
Source: docs.dataforseo.com/v3/serp/google/organic/task_post/
Checked 2026-11-11
Exa: Credits run out
No extra usage: when the included credits are used up, calls stop until the next period or a new plan.
- Starter (Free), Auto Search: no extra usage
- Developer (Pay as you go), Auto Search: no extra usage
- Starter (Free), Lite Search: no extra usage
- Developer (Pay as you go), Lite Search: no extra usage
If your team exhausts its credits, requests return 402 Payment Required
Source: exa.ai/docs/admin/billing
Checked 2026-11-11
Plans that clear it: Bright Data Scale (extra usage allowed); Firecrawl Hobby (extra usage allowed); Firecrawl Standard (extra usage allowed).
Exa: Requests are rejected with 429
A request rate above the limit is refused.
- Starter (Free), Auto Search: 10 requests per second
- Developer (Pay as you go), Auto Search: 10 requests per second
- Starter (Free), Lite Search: 10 requests per second
- Developer (Pay as you go), Lite Search: 10 requests per second
10 Search Queries Per Second (QPS)
Source: exa.ai/pricing
Pay as you go Prepaid credits with no subscription or minimum spend 10 QPS, up to 25 QPS
Source: exa.ai/docs/admin/billing
Checked 2026-11-11
Plans that clear it: SearchCans Pro (44400 requests per hour); Bright Data Free Tier (1000 requests per minute); SearchCans Ultimate (135600 requests per hour).
Firecrawl: Credits run out
No extra usage: when the included credits are used up, calls stop until the next period or a new plan.
- Free: no extra usage
| Free | 500 searches or 1,000 pages scraped | Not available |
Source: firecrawl.dev/pricing.md
Checked 2026-11-11
Plans that clear it: Bright Data Scale (extra usage allowed); Firecrawl Hobby (extra usage allowed); Firecrawl Standard (extra usage allowed).
Firecrawl: Requests are rejected with 429
A request rate above the limit is refused.
- Hobby: 100 requests per minute
- Standard: 500 requests per minute
- Growth: 5000 requests per minute
- Scale: 10000 requests per minute
- Free: 10 requests per minute
| Rate limit, /scrape, /map and /search | 10 / min | 100 / min | 500 / min | 5,000 / min | 10,000 / min | Custom |
Source: firecrawl.dev/pricing.md
Rate limits of 10 requests per minute
Source: docs.firecrawl.dev/billing
Checked 2026-11-11
Plans that clear it: Serper Scale (200 requests per second); Serper Ultimate (300 requests per second); DataForSEO Standard Queue (1000000 requests per minute).
Firecrawl: Too many requests at once
Calls above the concurrency cap wait or are refused.
- **Concurrency**: 5 concurrent requests
Source: firecrawl.dev/pricing.md
- **Concurrency**: 25 concurrent requests
Source: firecrawl.dev/pricing.md
- **Concurrency**: 50 concurrent requests
Source: firecrawl.dev/pricing.md
Checked 2026-11-11
Plans that clear it: SearchCans Ultimate (113 at once); Scrapingdog Premium (150 at once); ScraperAPI Scaling (200 at once).
Linkup: Requests are rejected with 429
A request rate above the limit is refused.
- Pay as you go, Search (flash, fast and standard depth): 10 requests per second
- Pay as you go, Search (deep depth): 10 requests per second
For our Search and Fetch endpoints, our rate limits are currently set at 10 queries per second per organization.
Source: docs.linkup.so/pages/documentation/development/rate-limits
Checked 2026-11-11
Plans that clear it: SearchCans Pro (44400 requests per hour); Bright Data Free Tier (1000 requests per minute); SearchCans Ultimate (135600 requests per hour).
Parallel: Requests are rejected with 429
A request rate above the limit is refused.
- Pay as you go, Advanced and Basic mode: 600 requests per minute
- Pay as you go, Turbo and Fast mode: 600 requests per minute
| Rate limits | 600 requests / min |
Source: parallel.ai/products/search
Checked 2026-11-11
Plans that clear it: SearchCans Pro (44400 requests per hour); Bright Data Free Tier (1000 requests per minute); SearchCans Ultimate (135600 requests per hour).
Perplexity: Credits run out
No extra usage: when the included credits are used up, calls stop until the next period or a new plan.
- Search API, standard web search: no extra usage
- Search API, Fast Search: no extra usage
If you run out of credits, your API keys will be blocked until you add to your credit balance.
Source: docs.perplexity.ai/docs/getting-started/projects
Checked 2026-11-11
Plans that clear it: Bright Data Scale (extra usage allowed); Firecrawl Hobby (extra usage allowed); Firecrawl Standard (extra usage allowed).
Perplexity: Requests are rejected with 429
A request rate above the limit is refused.
- Search API, standard web search: 50 requests per second
- Search API, Fast Search: 50 requests per second
POST /search 50 query units per second 50 query units
Source: docs.perplexity.ai/docs/admin/rate-limits-usage-tiers
Checked 2026-11-11
Plans that clear it: Firecrawl Growth (5000 requests per minute); Serper Standard (100 requests per second); DataForSEO Live Mode (10000 requests per minute).
ScraperAPI: Credits run out
No extra usage: when the included credits are used up, calls stop until the next period or a new plan.
By default, scraping pauses until your credits renew.
Source: scraperapi.com/pricing/
On Scaling, Professional, Advanced, and Enterprise, you can use pay-as-you-go to keep scraping at a fixed per-credit rate, up to a monthly cap you set.
Source: scraperapi.com/pricing/
Checked 2026-11-11
Plans that clear it: Bright Data Scale (extra usage allowed); Firecrawl Hobby (extra usage allowed); Firecrawl Standard (extra usage allowed).
ScraperAPI: Too many requests at once
Calls above the concurrency cap wait or are refused.
- Hobby: 20 at once
- Startup: 50 at once
- Business: 100 at once
- Scaling: 200 at once
- Professional: 300 at once
- Advanced: 500 at once
20 Concurrent Threads
Source: scraperapi.com/pricing/
50 Concurrent Threads
Source: scraperapi.com/pricing/
100 Concurrent Threads
Source: scraperapi.com/pricing/
Checked 2026-11-11
Plans that clear it: ScrapingBee Enterprise 24 (600 at once); ScrapingBee Enterprise 41 (700 at once); ScrapingBee Enterprise 69 (800 at once).
ScrapingBee: Too many requests at once
Calls above the concurrency cap wait or are refused.
- Hobby: 25 at once
- Freelance: 50 at once
- Startup: 100 at once
- Business: 200 at once
- Business +: 400 at once
- Enterprise 14: 500 at once
- Enterprise 24: 600 at once
- Enterprise 41: 700 at once
- Enterprise 69: 800 at once
Hobby $19 /mo 75,000 25
Source: scrapingbee.com/pricing/
Freelance $49 /mo 250,000 50
Source: scrapingbee.com/pricing/
Startup $99 /mo 1,000,000 100
Source: scrapingbee.com/pricing/
Checked 2026-11-11
Scrapingdog: Too many requests at once
Calls above the concurrency cap wait or are refused.
- Free: 1 at once
- Lite: 5 at once
- Standard: 50 at once
- Pro: 100 at once
- Premium: 150 at once
- Business: 200 at once
- Business Plus: 250 at once
- Business Pro: 300 at once
- Corporate: 350 at once
FREE $0 forever 100 Requests Credits 1 Concurrency Access To All APIs No Credit Card Required
Source: scrapingdog.com/pricing/
LITE $40 /month 200,000 Requests Credits 5 Concurrency Access To All APIs Geotargeting
Source: scrapingdog.com/pricing/
STANDARD $90 /month 1,000,000 Requests Credits 50 Concurrency Access To All APIs Geotargeting
Source: scrapingdog.com/pricing/
Checked 2026-11-11
Plans that clear it: ScrapingBee Business + (400 at once); ScraperAPI Advanced (500 at once); ScrapingBee Enterprise 24 (600 at once).
SearchCans: Requests are rejected with 429
A request rate above the limit is refused.
- Standard: 2400 requests per hour
- Starter: 6000 requests per hour
- Pro: 44400 requests per hour
- Ultimate: 135600 requests per hour
This plan has 2 lanes, so 2 requests can run at the same time. When one finishes, that lane is ready again. ≈2,400 throughput per hour
Source: searchcans.com/pricing
Throughput (RPM) = Lanes × (60s / 3s avg. latency). At 3s average latency, 1 lane ≈ 20 RPM ≈ 1,200 requests/hour.
Source: searchcans.com/pricing
There are no hourly request caps. Your available Parallel Lanes determine how many requests can run at the same time. Actual throughput depends on endpoint and response time.
Source: searchcans.com/pricing
Checked 2026-11-11
Plans that clear it: Perplexity Search API, standard web search (50 requests per second); Firecrawl Growth (5000 requests per minute); Serper Standard (100 requests per second).
SearchCans: Too many requests at once
Calls above the concurrency cap wait or are refused.
Standard $18.00 ... 20K credits $0.90/1K credits Get 20,000 credits 2 Parallel Lanes
Source: searchcans.com/pricing
Starter $99.00 ... 132K credits $0.75/1K credits Get 132,000 credits 5 Parallel Lanes
Source: searchcans.com/pricing
Pro $597.00 ... 995K credits $0.60/1K credits ~1 Million credits 37 Parallel Lanes
Source: searchcans.com/pricing
Checked 2026-11-11
Plans that clear it: Scrapingdog Premium (150 at once); ScraperAPI Scaling (200 at once); Scrapingdog Business Plus (250 at once).
SerpApi: Requests are rejected with 429
A request rate above the limit is refused.
- Starter: 200 requests per hour
- Developer: 1000 requests per hour
- Production: 3000 requests per hour
- Big Data: 6000 requests per hour
- Free: 50 requests per hour
200 successful searches per hour is the guaranteed throughput for this plan.
Source: serpapi.com/pricing
1,000 successful searches per hour is the guaranteed throughput for this plan.
Source: serpapi.com/pricing
3,000 successful searches per hour is the guaranteed throughput for this plan.
Source: serpapi.com/pricing
Checked 2026-11-11
Plans that clear it: Firecrawl Standard (500 requests per minute); Exa Starter (Free), Auto Search (10 requests per second); SearchCans Pro (44400 requests per hour).
Serper: Requests are rejected with 429
A request rate above the limit is refused.
- Starter: 50 requests per second
- Standard: 100 requests per second
- Scale: 200 requests per second
- Ultimate: 300 requests per second
Starter $ 50 * 50k credits ($1.00/1k) Submit 50,000 queries 50 queries per second Real-time results Customize query location Credits valid for 6 months
Source: serper.dev
Standard $ 375 * 500k credits ($0.75/1k) Submit 500,000 queries 100 queries per second Real-time results Customize query location Credits valid for 6 months
Source: serper.dev
Scale $ 1250 * 2.5M credits ($0.50/1k) Submit 2,500,000 queries 200 queries per second Real-time results Customize query location Credits valid for 6 months
Source: serper.dev
Checked 2026-11-11
Plans that clear it: DataForSEO Standard Queue (1000000 requests per minute).
Tavily: Credits run out
No extra usage: when the included credits are used up, calls stop until the next period or a new plan.
- Researcher (Free): no extra usage
If you exhaust your monthly credits, requests will stop until your credits reset or you upgrade to a paid plan.
Source: tavily.com/pricing
Checked 2026-11-11
Plans that clear it: Bright Data Scale (extra usage allowed); Firecrawl Hobby (extra usage allowed); Firecrawl Standard (extra usage allowed).
You.com: Credits run out
No extra usage: when the included credits are used up, calls stop until the next period or a new plan.
- Pay as you go, Web Search API: no extra usage
If you run out of credits, your API calls will return a 402 Payment Required response. You can add credits at any time from your dashboard to resume immediately.
Source: you.com/pricing
Checked 2026-11-11
Plans that clear it: Bright Data Scale (extra usage allowed); Firecrawl Hobby (extra usage allowed); Firecrawl Standard (extra usage allowed).
You.com: Requests are rejected with 429
A request rate above the limit is refused.
- Pay as you go, Web Search API: 10 requests per second
| Web Search API | /v1/search | 10 requests/second |
Source: you.com/docs/rate-limits.md
Checked 2026-11-11
Plans that clear it: SearchCans Pro (44400 requests per hour); Bright Data Free Tier (1000 requests per minute); SearchCans Ultimate (135600 requests per hour).