Datacircle

Best image search API in 2026

Last updated:

Litescrape, SerpKite and PrismCrawl are the best image search API providers in our benchmark. We benchmarked 13 providers and rank all 13 by score. For the three we score highest, we show each one's top scoring plan, each part of the plan's score and what 1,000 searches cost. We rank 206 plans by price. Litescrape's top-up from $10 costs the least per 1,000 searches: $0.15.

Every image search API provider we score, ranked

  1. Litescrape, top-up from $10, Usage-based: Overall score 92.8, Data score 94, $0.15 per 1,000 searches
  2. SerpKite, $300 pack, Pro: Overall score 83.5, Data score 99, $0.60 per 1,000 searches
  3. PrismCrawl, $500 pack, Scale: Overall score 82.0, Data score 98, $0.17 per 1,000 searches
  4. SerpBase, $100 monthly: Overall score 80.7, Data score 97, $0.25 per 1,000 searches
  5. FlashData, $499 monthly, Pro: Overall score 76.5, Data score 97, $0.599 per 1,000 searches
  6. Serper, $375 pack: Overall score 72.0, Data score 97, $0.75 per 1,000 searches
  7. SERPHouse, $49.99 monthly, Regular: Overall score 71.9, Data score 96, $0.625 per 1,000 searches
  8. Autom, $375 pack, Standard: Overall score 69.7, Data score 95, $0.75 per 1,000 searches
  9. Scrapeless, $399 monthly: Overall score 68.1, Data score 97, $0.80 per 1,000 searches
  10. MapleSerp, $340 monthly: Overall score 67.8, Data score 98, $0.68 per 1,000 searches

Providers #11 to #13 are under the three cards below.

  1. #1 Litescrape: Image search API

    Litescrape, top-up from $10, Usage-based

    It returns all 5 key fields we check: Image, Size, Thumbnail, Page, Site.

    Overall score
    92.8
    $ per 1,000
    $0.15
    Price score
    88
    • $ per 1,000 searches that find nothing: the provider's pages don't say
    • Plans of this API we rank by price: 206
    • Plans cheaper per 1,000 searches than this plan: 0
    Data score
    94
    Cost to get started score
    93
    • How you pay: a top-up you pay first
    • Least to pay before your first result: $10
    Bundle score
    99
    • Also pays for, from the same budget: 190 other calls
    Performance score
    100
    • This call's median time on 30 October 2026, minus the baseline: 0.521 s
    • Litescrape, Bing Images, the fastest benchmarked provider: 0.521 s
    • On 30 October 2026, we sent this provider all 20 searches in our benchmark.
    • This plan scored 0.9441 out of 1 on those 20 searches. That gives this plan a Data score of 94 out of 100.

  2. #2 SerpKite: Image search API

    SerpKite, $300 pack, Pro

    It returns all 5 key fields we check: Image, Size, Thumbnail, Page, Site.

    Overall score
    83.5
    $ per 1,000
    $0.60
    Price score
    71
    • $ per 1,000 searches that find nothing: $0
    • Plans of this API we rank by price: 206
    • Plans cheaper per 1,000 searches than this plan: 69
    Data score
    99
    Cost to get started score
    69
    • How you pay: a pack you pay first
    • Least to pay before your first result: $300
    Bundle score
    95
    • Also pays for, from the same budget: Google News · Google Videos · Google Maps · Google Places · Google Place Details · Google Reviews and 15 more
    Performance score
    74
    • This call's median time on 30 October 2026, minus the baseline: 0.7 s
    • Litescrape, Bing Images, the fastest benchmarked provider: 0.521 s
    • On 30 October 2026, we sent this provider all 20 searches in our benchmark.
    • This plan scored 0.9916 out of 1 on those 20 searches. That gives this plan a Data score of 99 out of 100.

  3. #3 PrismCrawl: Image search API

    PrismCrawl, $500 pack, Scale

    It returns 4 of the 5 key fields we check: Image, Size, Thumbnail, Page.

    Overall score
    82.0
    $ per 1,000
    $0.17
    Price score
    86
    • $ per 1,000 searches that find nothing: $0.17
    • Plans of this API we rank by price: 206
    • Plans cheaper per 1,000 searches than this plan: 4
    Data score
    98
    Cost to get started score
    65
    • How you pay: a pack you pay first
    • Least to pay before your first result: $500
    Bundle score
    99
    • Also pays for, from the same budget: 125 other calls
    Performance score
    4
    • This call's median time on 30 October 2026, minus the baseline: 12.504 s
    • Litescrape, Bing Images, the fastest benchmarked provider: 0.521 s
    • On 30 October 2026, we sent this provider all 20 searches in our benchmark.
    • This plan scored 0.9758 out of 1 on those 20 searches. That gives this plan a Data score of 98 out of 100.

Every image search API provider we score, ranked: #11 to #13

  1. Serply, $375 pack: Overall score 62.8, Data score 76, $0.75 per 1,000 searches
  2. Scrapingdog, $350 monthly: Overall score 55.6, Data score 37, $0.583 per 1,000 searches
  3. Nimble, pay as you go: Overall score 49.5, Data score 97, $3.00 per 1,000 searches

The Data score on image search APIs

The Data score, out of 100, tells you how many images sit on pages that hold the words you searched. We count the first 10 images of each search. We read the page each image is on, after the run. The score is the share of images whose page holds the words you searched. An image whose page is gone counts as wrong. If a provider sends fewer than 10 images, we mark each missing image as wrong. We don't count an image whose site refused us or whose page has no text. We compare a provider that ran fewer searches than the others with the others on those same searches. A provider can't score higher by running only on easy searches. We lower the score when we test the call on fewer searches than the benchmark has.

Best GTM APIs