When Microsoft announced significant changes to Bing’s SERP API access in late 2024, it sent shockwaves through the developer community. As someone who spent 4 years at ByteDance building search-dependent features for TikTok and Douyin, I’ve had to navigate these API transitions firsthand. Here’s my analysis of where the industry stands in 2025 and what options developers have.
Quick Navigation: Bing API Alternatives | SERP API Comparison | Migration Case Study
What Happened to Bing’s SERP API?
For those who missed it, here’s the timeline:
Q3 2024
Microsoft announced restructuring of Bing API access
Q4 2024
Free tier significantly reduced, pricing increased
Q1 2025
Many developers forced to migrate to alternatives
The changes weren’t a complete shutdown, but the new pricing and restrictions made Bing’s official API impractical for many use cases, especially:
- High-volume applications
- Startups with limited budgets
- AI agents requiring real-time search
Why This Matters
At ByteDance, we relied heavily on search APIs for:
Content Discovery
Features for discovering relevant content
Trend Analysis
Systems for analyzing emerging trends
AI-Powered Recommendations
Intelligent recommendation engines
Fact-Checking
Pipelines for verifying information accuracy
When a major API provider changes terms, it can break production systems overnight. I’ve seen teams scramble to migrate millions of daily API calls on short notice. It’s not fun.
The Current Landscape: 2025 SERP API Options
After evaluating dozens of providers for various projects, here’s my honest assessment:
Tier 1: Best Overall Value
SearchCans
| Aspect | Rating | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | $0.55/1K �?Best in market | |
| Speed | <1.5s average response | |
| Reliability | 99.65% uptime | |
| Features | Search + Reader API | |
| Rate Limits | None |
My take: This is what I recommend to most developers now. The pricing is unbeatable, and the no-rate-limit policy is crucial for AI applications. I migrated three of my side projects here after the Bing changes.
# SearchCans integration example
import requests
response = requests.get(
"https://www.searchcans.com/api/search",
headers={"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_KEY"},
params={"q": "latest tech news", "engine": "google", "num": 10}
)
results = response.json()
Tier 2: Established Players
SerpApi
| Aspect | Rating | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ~$10/1K �?Expensive | |
| Speed | Good | |
| Reliability | Excellent track record | |
| Features | Most search engines | |
| Rate Limits | Plan-dependent |
My take: Great if you need exotic search engines (Yandex, Baidu, etc.) and have budget. But 10-20x more expensive than alternatives.
Serper
| Aspect | Rating | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ~$1-5/1K | |
| Speed | Good | |
| Reliability | Solid | |
| Features | Google-focused | |
| Rate Limits | Has limits |
My take: Decent middle-ground option, but rate limits can be problematic for AI agents.
Tier 3: Enterprise Solutions
Bright Data, Oxylabs, etc.
These are enterprise-focused with:
- Complex pricing structures
- Minimum commitments
- Sales-driven onboarding
My take: Overkill for most developers. Only consider if you’re a large organization with specific compliance requirements.
Migration Guide: From Bing to Alternatives
Based on my experience migrating ByteDance projects, here’s a practical guide:
Step 1: Audit Your Usage
Before migrating, understand:
- Daily/monthly API call volume
- Which endpoints you use
- Response fields you depend on
- Latency requirements
Step 2: Map Response Formats
Different APIs return data differently. Create a normalization layer:
def normalize_search_result(result, source):
"""Normalize results from different providers"""
if source == "searchcans":
return {
"title": result.get("title"),
"url": result.get("url"),
"snippet": result.get("snippet"),
}
elif source == "serpapi":
return {
"title": result.get("title"),
"url": result.get("link"),
"snippet": result.get("snippet"),
}
# Add more providers as needed
Step 3: Implement Fallback Logic
Never depend on a single provider:
PROVIDERS = ["searchcans", "serpapi", "serper"]
async def search_with_fallback(query):
for provider in PROVIDERS:
try:
result = await search(query, provider)
if result:
return result
except Exception as e:
log.warning(f"{provider} failed: {e}")
continue
raise Exception("All providers failed")
Step 4: Monitor and Optimize
Track:
- Cost per query by provider
- Response times
- Error rates
- Cache hit rates
Cost Comparison: Real Numbers
Here’s what I actually paid across different projects in 2024-2025:
| Project | Monthly Calls | Bing (Old) | SearchCans | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Side Project A | 50K | $25 | $28 | -$3 |
| Side Project B | 500K | $250 | $250 | $0 |
| Client Project | 2M | $1,000 | $666 | $334 |
Note: Bing’s new pricing would be significantly higher
For high-volume applications, the savings with SearchCans are substantial.
What I Use Now
For my current projects:
- Primary: SearchCans �?Best price/performance ratio
- Backup: Serper �?For redundancy
- Special cases: SerpApi �?When I need Yandex or Baidu
This setup gives me:
- 99.9%+ effective uptime
- Lowest possible costs
- Coverage for edge cases
Lessons Learned
After years of building search-dependent systems:
- Never rely on a single provider �?APIs change, companies pivot
- Abstract your integrations �?Make switching providers easy
- Monitor costs actively �?Small per-request differences add up
- Test alternatives regularly �?Know your options before you need them
- Cache aggressively �?Reduce API calls where possible
Conclusion
The Bing API changes were disruptive, but they pushed the industry toward better alternatives. Services like SearchCans have emerged to fill the gap with better pricing and developer experience.
If you’re still on Bing’s API or paying too much elsewhere, now is a good time to evaluate alternatives. The migration is straightforward, and the cost savings are real.
David Liu spent 4 years at ByteDance as a full-stack engineer, working on search and recommendation systems for TikTok and Douyin. He now consults on AI infrastructure and writes about developer tools.
Related Resources
Migration Resources:
- Bing SERP API Alternatives - Alternative providers
- Bing Search API Integration Guide - Technical guide
- Migration from SerpAPI Case Study - Real savings
API Comparisons:
- Complete SERP API Comparison 2025 - Provider comparison
- SERP API Pricing Comparison - Cost analysis
- What is SERP API? - Introduction
Implementation:
- SERP API Documentation - API reference
- Integration Best Practices - Production tips
- Building SEO Tools - Use cases
Ready to migrate? Try SearchCans free → with 100 credits to test your integration.