Head to head
Serper Scale or Perplexity Search API, Fast Search?
One million searches a month returned in real time (no queue), with at least 3,000 requests per minute. These are the two cheapest plans of different providers that meet every condition.
- 1,000,000 searches a month
- At least 3,000 requests per minute
- Real-time search results
- Preferred: failed requests not billed
- Preferred: billed per successful request
- Preferred: official mcp server
- Preferred: vendor-hosted remote mcp endpoint
- Preferred: zero data retention
- Preferred: soc 2 report
- Preferred: page content in the search response
Checked 2026-11-11 · All plans for this request
Monthly cost
| Plan | Monthly cost | Billing | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| ScaleSerper | $500/month | prepaid pack | Pricing pageOpens the provider's pricing page; choose this plan there or after signing up. |
| Search API, Fast SearchPerplexity | $1,000/month | pay as you go | Pricing pageOpens the provider's pricing page; choose this plan there or after signing up. |
Serper Scale costs $500 a month less at this workload.
Where they differ
Billed per successful request
- UnknownSerper ScaleFlat unlimited not stated.
Every time you receive successful responses to queries, we will deduct credits from your account balance.
serper.dev · checked 2026-11-11 - MetPerplexity Search API, Fast SearchProvider failures billed: no, target errors billed: not stated, flat unlimited: no (needs flat unlimited: no, provider failures billed: no).
Invalid requests, rate-limited requests, and upstream failures are not billed.
docs.perplexity.ai/docs/getting-started/pricing · checked 2026-11-11
Official MCP server
- UnknownSerper ScaleNot stated on the official pages we checked.The official pages state no sentence for this.
- MetPerplexity Search API, Fast SearchOfficial: yes (needs official: yes).
Remote MCP server (recommended): hosted by Perplexity at https://api.perplexity.ai/mcp . No installation, nothing to update, works with any client that supports remote MCP servers. Sign in with your…
docs.perplexity.ai/guides/mcp-server · checked 2026-11-11
Vendor-hosted remote MCP endpoint
- UnknownSerper ScaleNot stated on the official pages we checked.The official pages state no sentence for this.
- MetPerplexity Search API, Fast SearchRemote: yes (needs remote: yes).
Remote MCP server (recommended): hosted by Perplexity at https://api.perplexity.ai/mcp . No installation, nothing to update, works with any client that supports remote MCP servers. Sign in with your…
docs.perplexity.ai/guides/mcp-server · checked 2026-11-11
Zero data retention
- UnknownSerper ScaleNot stated on the official pages we checked.The official pages state no sentence for this.
- Not metPerplexity Search API, Fast SearchAvailability: enterprise only; needs availability: available.
Zero Data Retention is not default: ZDR is available only to eligible customers through an account-level configuration under a written agreement with Perplexity.
docs.perplexity.ai/docs/resources/privacy-security · checked 2026-11-11
SOC 2 report
- UnknownSerper ScaleNot stated on the official pages we checked.The official pages state no sentence for this.
- MetPerplexity Search API, Fast SearchHeld: yes (needs held: yes).
SOC 2 Type II Report - Comprehensive security controls audit covering security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy
docs.perplexity.ai/docs/resources/privacy-security · checked 2026-11-11
Search response includes page content
- UnknownSerper ScaleNot stated on the official pages we checked.The official pages state no sentence for this.
- MetPerplexity Search API, Fast SearchSearch response includes page content: available.
Search the web and retrieve relevant web page contents.
docs.perplexity.ai/api-reference/search-post · checked 2026-11-11
What is the same
Both meet: monthly_volume, rate_limit, serp_response_mode, failed_request_billing.