It is vague and you are not the first to be puzzled. When I did my research I found this blog post helpful.
Assume you are talking about Custom Search Engine (terms you noted in your Q) and NOT Google Site Search (paid from the start). The reason I ask is that the XML function is only for Google Site Search customers. There is the JSON/Atom API and Custom Search API available for CSE.
For Q1, one Query = one request. You can use as many keywords or other parameters in your request (see comments in the blog post I referenced), but you will always be limited to 100 results.
For Q2, the billing is enabled through the API console. Once enabled (and in order to allow the 101st query) your code must include both your cx and API key. So in theory you could set up multiple search engines within your API and stay under the 100 request limit, but I have not seen a way to allow an API to support multiple cx keys.
Answer from edswartz on Stack OverflowGoogle
developers.google.com › search console api › pricing
Pricing | Search Console API | Google for Developers
All use of Google Search Console API is free of charge.
Google Support
support.google.com › programmable-search › answer › 9069107
Programmable Search Engine Versions - Programmable Search Engine Help
Programmable Search Engine has four offerings available for use. Please use this chart to help you select which offering is best for your site. Offering Standard Search Element
Google Custom Search Engine pricing - Stack Overflow
The pricing regarding CSE is a little bit vague: For CSE users, the API provides 100 search queries per day for free. If you need more, you may sign up for billing in the API Console. Additional More on stackoverflow.com
Why people are paying for API to do google searches? Why people won't use simple Python scrapy/requests script instead of paying 200 dollars for 200k searches?
Why people are paying for hairdresser? They have scissor, why pay $60 then? 1\ You need residential proxy otherwise result are not accurate - you hit random cache regarding the query and location of IP (google use city level to personalize the results) - it can depends of the needs 2\ Google block / ratelimit - so you need to rotate IP / cool - learn how it's working, what's they are doing So, engineers pay + proxy pool to rent + servers to rent + time each month to maintain and so on, from a company perspective, $200 to access data instantly or invest in one month project and still have expensive every month to maintain it - that's will be way more than $200. Also service are able to scale "on demand" company needs, whereas company have to invest more to tackle scaling issue. More on reddit.com
10
1
February 1, 2022Google Places API new pricing. From $0 to $2,180 per month??
They're removing the 150 000 free API calls per day, and replacing it with $200 free credit per month. Basic details cost $17 per 1000 calls , so you far exceed that. A lot of people have been surprised by the price increase, but that's Google in a nutshell for you. More on reddit.com
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July 3, 2018Why is Google Maps Platform API's pricing so ridiculous?
How is a company of Google's size and resources not able to provide their data for a reasonable price? You're looking at this backwards: companies that charge above market rates typically don't do so because they can't charge a more reasonable rate - if that were the case, their customers would go to their competitors and they'd go out of business relatively quickly. Rather, it's because they can get away with charging a premium for their services, and people will pay it. Consider yourself - OpenStreetMaps is cheaper, so if they're equivalent services why worry about Google Maps being more expensive? The only reason it matters is if you have a preference towards Google Maps over OpenStreetMaps. Sure, in your case that preference might not be worth paying almost 50x more, but all Google needs is a very small percentage of potential customers to believe it is for that disparity in price to be worth while. More on reddit.com
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November 29, 2019Videos
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High CPC Keywords on Google Ads: $700+ Cost Per Click! - YouTube
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How to LOWER Your Google Ads CPC (Cost-Per-Click) - YouTube
SerpApi
serpapi.com › pricing
SerpApi: Plans and Pricing
Explore all search engines we support or check out our complete API list. Google Search API · Google Light Search API · Google Ads Transparency API · Google AI Mode API · Google AI Overview API · Google Autocomplete API · Google Events API · Google Forums API ·
Google AI
ai.google.dev › gemini api › gemini developer api pricing
Gemini Developer API pricing | Gemini API | Google AI for Developers
3 weeks ago - You will be charged for each individual search query performed.
Reddit
reddit.com › r/learnprogramming › why people are paying for api to do google searches? why people won't use simple python scrapy/requests script instead of paying 200 dollars for 200k searches?
r/learnprogramming on Reddit: Why people are paying for API to do google searches? Why people won't use simple Python scrapy/requests script instead of paying 200 dollars for 200k searches?
February 1, 2022 -
Hi. I am going currently through different SaaS's things and I found business that is selling access to API to do google searches. And I don't understand who is paying for this.
First of all, I thought that google is selling access to their own search through their own API, but apparently it was deleted for some reason?
Out of curiosity, I checked out how hard it would be with Python and Scrapy and it is around 10 lines of code to get search response from google.
I am wondering what am I missing? I was thinking about 2 obvious(?) problems:
How well would Scrapy/Requests with let's say FastAPI scale. How slow it would be.
How much would google tolerate. I can only guess that if 1 ip will be making new search every 3 - 5 seconds non-stop. Google would ban this ip. So the more requests, the biggest IP pool would be needed?
But other than that, what am I missing? Why someone is paying 200 dollars for 200k google searches?
Top answer 1 of 5
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Why people are paying for hairdresser? They have scissor, why pay $60 then? 1\ You need residential proxy otherwise result are not accurate - you hit random cache regarding the query and location of IP (google use city level to personalize the results) - it can depends of the needs 2\ Google block / ratelimit - so you need to rotate IP / cool - learn how it's working, what's they are doing So, engineers pay + proxy pool to rent + servers to rent + time each month to maintain and so on, from a company perspective, $200 to access data instantly or invest in one month project and still have expensive every month to maintain it - that's will be way more than $200. Also service are able to scale "on demand" company needs, whereas company have to invest more to tackle scaling issue.
2 of 5
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Have you calculated what it would cost you for the infrastructure and infra maintenance to avoid google blocking you, which they'll do if you try to do 200k searches. 200 dollars is barely 2 hours of sw engineer work, the actual infra cost on top of that. There is still a google seach api btw, just under different name, it's 5 dollar/1000 searches with 10k limit per day.
Google Cloud
cloud.google.com › vertex ai search › pricing
Pricing | Vertex AI Search | Google Cloud
Prices are listed in US Dollars (USD). Pricing for listed Generally Available (GA) functionality is invoked on Sep 1, 2023. Vertex AI Search lets developers, even those with limited machine learning skills, tap into the power of Google's foundation ...
Google Support
support.google.com › websearch › answer › 16421135
How to check pricing for local businesses with AI in Google Search - Google Search Help
On your search results page, tap Have AI check pricing. Add details about the service you need and when you need it in the form. Once you fill the form with your details, tap Submit. Google will call multiple service providers near you.
Google Cloud
cloud.google.com › vertex ai search for commerce › pricing
Pricing | Vertex AI Search for commerce | Google Cloud
Let's calculate the price for one month of usage. Because this retailer's number of prediction requests this month doesn't exceed 20,000,000, requests will all be charged at the first tier of pricing, $0.27 per 1000 requests.
Safegraph
safegraph.com › guides › google-places-api-pricing
Google Places API Pricing: Is It Worth It for Your Business?
Place details are called when a ... search, as explained in the above section). These requests will do that: ... Remember that these requests will also call different data types (Basic, Contact, or Atmosphere) depending on what data fields are specified in the request. If no fields are specified, all types of data on a place will be called, and you will be charged for them. So the Google Places API price level could ...
Radar
radar.com › blog › google-maps-api-cost
The true cost of the Google Maps API and how Radar compares in 2026
1 month ago - Google's pay-as-you-go pricing structure charges customers based on the specific features they use. The platform's SDKs and APIs are each priced individually based on usage per month, with pricing ranging from $2 to $30 per 1,000 requests.
Google Workspace
workspace.google.com › pricing
Compare Flexible Pricing Plan Options | Google Workspace
Final price will be shown before completing sign-up.
Google
business.google.com › en-all › ad-tools › keyword-planner
Research Keywords for Campaigns with Keyword Planner – Google Ads
Google Keyword Planner is a free keyword search tool to help advertisers build keyword lists for search campaigns. It also includes a keyword generator tool to find related keyword ideas, and can estimate costs to help you refine your marketing strategy. With Keyword Planner, you can get keyword ideas, suggestions on how to better set up the ad groups in your campaign, see how keywords might perform, and choose the right budgets for your campaign.
Google One
one.google.com › home › about › google ai
Google AI Plans with Cloud Storage - Google One
1 month ago - Explore Google AI Plans. Access our most advanced AI, generate videos from text, and secure cloud storage.
Google
developers.google.com › google maps platform › documentation › pricing & billing › google maps platform core services pricing list
Google Maps Platform core services pricing list | Pricing and Billing | Google for Developers
Each Google Maps Core service price is determined on a cost per billable event. Service usage is calculated on a monthly basis.
Google AppSheet
about.appsheet.com › pricing
Pricing | Google AppSheet
Google AppSheet plans start as low as $5 per user per month for Starter or $10 per user per month for Core. Enterprise pricing is also available on request.
Google Maps Platform
mapsplatform.google.com › pricing
Google Maps Platform Pricing - Subscriptions and Pay as you go
Offering subscription plans of our most popular APIs or Pay as you go where you can mix and match across 3 API and SDK product categories.