Decodo Alternative for Google Search Scraping

Decodo is one of the popular APIs for Google search scraping.

The company has been around since 2018, back when Google SERP APIs were not really a thing. At that time, Decodo did not exist by that name. It operated as Smartproxy, and used to and still offers a proxy network including 125 million+ IP addresses across 195+ global locations.

That early focus mattered. Smartproxy built serious infrastructure and, more importantly, a strong base of users who already trusted the service. So when the company decided to evolve in 2025, the transition worked in their favor. The rebrand to Decodo came with a broader offering, including web scraping APIs. Adding products on top of an existing audience gave them a real advantage. They did not have to convince people from scratch. The users were already there.

Today, Decodo’s SERP API is widely used. It shows up in SEO workflows, rank tracking tools, and competitive research setups. It is popular for a reason. It does the job for many teams.

Still, popularity does not mean it fits every use case.

If you are here looking for an alternative, you are probably not bored. You might be exploring new options. You might have hit a limit. Or you might want something that works differently than what Decodo offers today. Whatever the reason, this blog is for you.

I’m Josseline, the founder of Web API Group. I spend my days building, testing, and fixing APIs, then sleep and do it again. I have tested Decodo’s API in projects. I also built Autom in-house, which gives me a clear view of where the two differ.

Yes, Autom is our product. And yes, I am a little obsessed with it.

In this blog, you will see why Autom can be a strong alternative to Decodo for SERP scraping. And if things go as planned, you might walk away slightly obsessed too, for reasons that actually help your product and business scale.

What You Get with Decodo’s SERP API

Decodo’s SERP API

Decodo’s SERP API sits under its broader Web Scraping API and focuses on pulling real-time search results from Google and other engines without forcing you to manage proxies yourself.

If you have used Decodo before, most of this will sound familiar. Still, it helps to pause and recheck what the Google SERP API actually offers 👇

Real-time SERP access: Google results are scraped live, and it takes 4 to 5 seconds of a single SERP page to scrape.

High success rate and uptime: Decodo reports a 99.99% success rate. CAPTCHAs, retries, and failures are handled automatically.

Proxy network baked in: Requests run on Decodo’s proxy pool with coverage across 195 plus locations.

Flexible output formats: Data can be returned in JSON, CSV, Markdown, HTML, PNG, or XHR. That makes it easier to plug results into different workflows without extra parsing.

Prebuilt Google templates: Targets are available for Google Search, Ads, Images, Maps, Shopping, Lens, and AI Mode. You pass the query, locale, device type, and domain, then receive structured results.

JavaScript rendering: Dynamic SERP elements are captured using headless browsers, which helps when rendered content matters.

Task scheduling and scale: Jobs can be scheduled and run concurrently, making it suitable for large keyword sets and recurring checks.

Developer-friendly setup: Provides ready-to-use code snippets in Python, Node.js, and cURL to keep integration effortless and straightforward.

Pricing

7-day free trial to test the SERP API and evaluate performance.
Starting price around $0.88 per 1,000 requests on lower-volume plans.
Lower CPM at scale, dropping to about $0.70 per 1,000 requests for millions of requests per month
Monthly billing with usage-based tiers.
Charges apply only to successful requests, helping control wasted spend.

Why Autom Is a Strong Alternative to Decodo’s SERP API

Strong Alternative to Decodo’s

Autom is a newer entrant in the Google SERP API space. It is part of Web API Group, a product-focused group building APIs with a clear emphasis on speed, pricing, and developer usability.

Below is what actually makes Autom a strong alternative to Decodo's SERP API.

Fast SERP responses, consistently: Most Google search queries return in milliseconds. In edge cases where Google needs a retry, responses may stretch to one to four seconds. That is still fast enough for production systems that depend on real time search data.

Real-time data, no caching: Every request hits Google directly. Results are always fresh. Nothing is stored, reused, or replayed later. If rankings shift, you see it immediately.

High uptime and throughput: Autom runs with a 99.9 percent uptime and supports thousands of requests per second depending on your plan. It is designed for workloads that do not politely wait their turn.

Clear, developer-first integration: The API is REST based, with clean documentation and SDKs for Python, Node.js, PHP, and more. Authentication is token based. You can see usage, remaining credits, and request logs directly in the dashboard.

Accurate, structured SERP data: Results are parsed and returned in clean JSON, ready for analytics, dashboards, or models. The API handles organic results, ads, local packs, direct answers, and knowledge graph data without extra configuration.

Flexible location targeting: You can set country, language, and more granular locations like cities. This matters when local intent changes rankings more than keywords do.

Support that actually responds: Technical support is available, with responses usually within one business day.

One API, multiple search engines: With Autom, Google is not the end of the line. The same API can pull results from Google, Bing, Brave, and Perplexity. If your product needs to compare sources or switch engines without rewriting logic, this setup removes a lot of friction.

Autom Pricing

1,000 free credits available for testing, no credit card required.
Starts at $0.001 per search, keeping CPM low from the start.
At scale, the CPM drops sharply to $0.30 per 1,000 requests. This rate is available under the Ultimate pack, which includes 12.5 million requests. Other packages also offer lower CPMs than the starter tier, depending on volume, with pricing stepping down as usage increases.
Plus, CPM drops further at higher volumes, without locking you into fixed monthly bundles.
Pay-as-you-go model, credits are deducted only for successful requests.

Autom vs Decodo: Google SERP API Comparison

Here’s a quick side-by-side view of how Autom and Decodo compare when it comes to speed, pricing, and overall SERP data handling, so you can see where each one fits before deciding.

Aspect	Decodo Google SERP API	Autom Google SERP API
Average response time	Around 4–5 seconds per Google SERP page	Usually milliseconds, up to 1–4 seconds on retries
Data freshness	Real-time scraping	Real-time scraping, no caching
Success rate / uptime	99.99% success rate	99.9% uptime with high throughput
Output format	JSON, CSV, Markdown, HTML, PNG, XHR	Structured JSON optimized for apps and pipelines
JavaScript rendering	Supported	Not required for most SERP use cases
Search engines	Primarily Google and Bing focused	Google, Bing, Brave, Perplexity
Location targeting	Country and region-level targeting	Country, language, city-level targeting
Integration	Python, Node.js, cURL	REST API + SDKs (Python, Node.js, PHP, more)
Pricing model	Monthly usage tiers	Monthly Packs and Pay-as-you-go credits
Entry CPM	~$0.88 per 1,000 requests	$1.00 per 1,000 requests
CPM at scale	~$0.70 per 1,000 requests	Drops to $0.30 per 1,000 requests
Free access	7-day free trial	1,000 free credits

Final Words:

Decodo is widely used for Google search scraping, and for good reason. It has been around, it works, and many teams rely on it daily.

That said, once speed, CPM, and control start affecting product decisions, it is natural to look beyond what you already know and evaluate other options.

Autom exists as a strong alternative for Decodo SERP API, built for teams who want faster responses, clearer pricing, and fewer trade-offs as usage grows.

You can test it yourself with 1,000 free credits, no card required. That is usually enough to see how it behaves inside your workflow.

👉 Sign up and try Autom now

If you want to go deeper, here are a few resources worth your time: