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Google Programmable Search / Custom Search JSON API

developers.google.com/custom-search/v1/overviewSearch APIcrawler-scraper/google-custom-searchJSON compare report an error provider JSON

Free allowance: 100 queries a day for existing customers only
Verdict: deadthe offer or the service no longer exists
Cost: free tier
Identity: cardcard required, no phone
Binding limit: request-rate100 queries a day free, then USD 5 per 1,000 up to 10,000 a day, for existing customers
Evidence: documented1 source; a first-party page was read and the sentence quoted
Freshness: checked 2026-10-22checked 2026-10-22 (live)

Free tier	100 queries a day for existing customers only unit requests; metered on request-count
Price	none stated
Limits	request-rate (binding) 100 queries a day free, then USD 5 per 1,000 up to 10,000 a day, for existing customers source per-object-cap 10,000 queries a day hard cap source
Identity	card billing had to be enabled past 100 queries a day
Egress	not applicable: JSON answers
Per-object cap	not applicable: the unit is a query
Retention	the service is discontinued on 2027-01-01
Interface	rest REST with a key and a search engine id
Tooling	not stated
Composes with	not established
Reliability	no reliability event recorded
Notes	Two closures in one page: closed to new customers now, discontinued in 2027. The free tier is real and unreachable, which is the fails-identity shape in a vendor that never asks for an identity.

Evidence 1

date	source	what it proved
2026-10-22	developers.google.com/custom-search/v1/overview	the Custom Search JSON API is closed to new customers; the pricing applies only to existing customers until the service discontinuation on 2027-01-01; 100 queries a day free, USD 5 per 1,000 beyond

Unknown values 2

$.reliability_note nothing of this kind was observed
$.tooling a source was read and is silent on this field