DataForSEO API

API Paid Caution SEO

Pricing

$50 min deposit

Pay as you go, no subscription. SERP from $0.0006 per SERP.

Free tier

Trial only: $1 credit + sandbox

Auth

Basic

HTTP Basic auth with API login and API password (not your account password).

Data it gives

Live SERP results
Keyword data
Backlink data
On-page and domain data

Pricing checked on 23 Oct 2026 · Pricing page · Docs · Sign up

Description

DataForSEO offers a large set of SEO data APIs, including live SERP results, with no subscription. You add funds and pay for what you use. SERP results start at $0.0006 per SERP, per their pricing page.

It fits builders who run many queries and want to control cost per call, such as rank trackers or keyword research tools.

Requests are POST calls with JSON bodies. There is a free sandbox that returns sample data, so you can test code before spending.

Key endpoints

POST /serp/google/organic/live/advanced: live Google organic SERP

Example request

curl -X POST "https://api.dataforseo.com/v3/serp/google/organic/live/advanced" \
  -u "YOUR_LOGIN:YOUR_API_PASSWORD" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '[{"keyword":"rank tracker api","location_code":2840,"language_code":"en","depth":10,"device":"desktop"}]'

Tech details

API style: REST
Base URL: https://api.dataforseo.com/v3
Rate limits: Live SERP: up to 10,000 API calls per minute, one task per call.
Official SDKs: See docs

Use Cases

Live SERP results

Keyword data

Backlink data

On-page and domain data

Editor’s note What our review found

Editorial research, reviewed 23 Oct 2026. We read the DataForSEO pricing, authentication and SERP docs pages. We did not run live calls. This listing is not an endorsement.

Cost: pay as you go, with a $50 minimum top-up and no subscription. New accounts get a $1 trial credit. The sandbox is free but returns sample data only.

Credentials and data: HTTP Basic auth with an API login and a generated API password, sent in the Authorization header only. Store them in an environment variable or secret manager. Your keywords and targets are sent to DataForSEO.

Good to know: the $1 trial credit is needed to test paid functions on real data. The Live SERP endpoint allows one task per call, up to 10,000 calls a minute.