Google Search (via Apify)

Google Custom Search JSON API alternative: same requests, same JSON

Google Custom Search API Alternative is an Apify Actor that replaces Google's Custom Search JSON API, which Google has closed to new customers and retires on 1 January 2027. It answers the same /customsearch/v1 requests with the same JSON (items with title, link, displayLink and snippet, plus image search), built from live Google results, at $5 per 1,000 searches with no daily cap.

Price: $5 per 1,000 searches of up to 10 results ($4 on Gold and above) · Run it: https://apify.com/automationnation/google-custom-search-api · Guide: https://retracn.github.io/automationnation-actors/google-custom-search-api/

Quick facts

• Drop-in endpoint: replace https://www.googleapis.com/customsearch/v1 with https://automationnation--google-custom-search-api.apify.actor/customsearch/v1 and send your Apify token (token=… or Authorization: Bearer) instead of key=.
• Same parameters: q, num, start, gl, hl, lr, cr, safe, dateRestrict, siteSearch, exactTerms, excludeTerms, orTerms, fileType and searchType=image with its image filters; cx is accepted and ignored.
• Open WebUI: pick the External web search engine with URL https://automationnation--google-custom-search-api.apify.actor/search and your Apify token as the key, to keep Google results now that Google PSE is closed to new customers.
• SearXNG-compatible route for AnythingLLM and other SearXNG clients: https://automationnation--google-custom-search-api.apify.actor/searxng?token=YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN returns Google results in SearXNG's JSON format.
• Same JSON: kind, queries.request and nextPage, searchInformation and items[] with title, htmlTitle, link, displayLink, snippet, htmlSnippet and formattedUrl (image items add mime and image.contextLink, width, height, byteSize, thumbnailLink).
• Web searches use Google's "Web" results view: ten plain results per page without the AI Overview, ads or video and forum boxes, close to what the API returned.
• Differences: it searches the whole web (pass site lists as siteSearch or site: operators), totalResults is a lower bound, there is no pagemap, and a request takes about 4–10 seconds.
• Price: $5 per 1,000 searches of up to 10 results, the price Google charged; searches with no results are free and there is no daily cap.

Use it as a drop-in Custom Search JSON API

Change the endpoint and the key; keep the rest of your code:

curl "https://automationnation--google-custom-search-api.apify.actor/customsearch/v1?q=best+crm+for+startups&num=10&token=$APIFY_TOKEN"

Python (examples/cse_requests.py) and JavaScript (examples/cse_fetch.mjs) versions are in examples/. The response is the API's JSON: items[].title, link, displayLink, snippet, queries.nextPage and searchInformation; searchType=image works too.

Example input

{

"queries": [ "best project management software" ], "maxResultsPerQuery": 10 }

Run it from code

REST API

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/automationnation~google-custom-search-api/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \

-H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"queries": ["best project management software"], "maxResultsPerQuery": 10}'

Python — see examples/python_example.py

# pip install apify-client

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN") run = client.actor("automationnation/google-custom-search-api").call(run_input={ "queries": [ "best project management software" ], "maxResultsPerQuery": 10 }) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item.get("title"), item.get("link"), item.get("displayLink"), item.get("snippet"))

JavaScript — see examples/node_example.mjs

// npm install apify-client

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN' }); const run = await client.actor('automationnation/google-custom-search-api').call({ "queries": [ "best project management software" ], "maxResultsPerQuery": 10 }); const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems(); for (const item of items) console.log(item.title, item.link, item.displayLink, item.snippet);

Use it with AI agents (MCP)

Hosted MCP server URL (Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and other clients with remote MCP support):

https://mcp.apify.com?tools=automationnation/google-custom-search-api

Local config for Claude Desktop / Cursor — mcp/claude_desktop_config.json:

{

"mcpServers": { "google-custom-search-api": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "-y", "@apify/actors-mcp-server", "--tools", "automationnation/google-custom-search-api" ], "env": { "APIFY_TOKEN": "YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN" } } } }

FAQ

When does the Custom Search JSON API stop working? Google closed it to new customers and says existing customers have until 1 January 2027 to move to an alternative.

Do I have to rewrite my code? No. Change the endpoint to https://automationnation--google-custom-search-api.apify.actor/customsearch/v1 and send an Apify API token instead of the Google key; the parameters and the JSON response stay the same.

Can I keep my Programmable Search Engine's site list? Not through cx, which is ignored. Pass one site as siteSearch, or several in the query as site:a.com OR site:b.com.

What does it cost? $5 per 1,000 searches of up to 10 results ($4.50 on Silver, $4 on Gold and above), with no daily cap. Google charged $5 per 1,000 after 100 free queries a day; Apify's free plan includes $5 of monthly credit, about 1,000 searches.

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