SearchAPI

SearchAPI on xpay — Real-time SERP scraping without the signup friction

SearchAPI is a real-time search results and metadata scraping API that lets you query YouTube, Google, Amazon, TikTok, Instagram, Reddit, eBay, Airbnb, and over 100 other platforms from a single interface. Developers reach for SearchAPI when they need to extract live search results, product listings, video metadata, comments, transcripts, or ad library data—without building and maintaining their own scrapers or dealing with rate limits and blocking.

On xpay, you call SearchAPI's 18 tools directly through an MCP connection. No SearchAPI account signup. No subscription. You pay $0.02 per call, only for what you use, and billing rolls up into your xpay account.

What's available

• YouTube tools: searchapi_youtube_video_details, searchapi_youtube_channel, searchapi_youtube_channel_videos, searchapi_youtube_comments, searchapi_youtube_transcripts — fetch video metadata, channel info, comments, and full transcripts/captions.
• E-commerce search: searchapi_amazon_search, searchapi_ebay_search, searchapi_airbnb_search, searchapi_apple_app_store_search, searchapi_tripadvisor_search — search products, listings, and reviews across major marketplaces.
• Ad library & social: searchapi_reddit_ad_library, searchapi_meta_ad_library — access archived ads from Reddit and Meta/Facebook for competitive intelligence and compliance research.
• Google & general search: Full SERP scraping for Google and other search engines (exact tool names available via xpay_discover("searchapi") when connected).

When SearchAPI is the right tool

• You need live search results or product data from multiple platforms and want a unified API instead of building separate integrations.
• You're building a competitive intelligence tool, price monitoring system, or market research dashboard.
• You need YouTube metadata, transcripts, or comment data for content analysis or SEO auditing.
• You're scraping ad libraries for compliance, brand safety, or political/social research.
• You want to avoid the overhead of maintaining your own scrapers and handling platform-specific rate limits and anti-bot measures.
• You're prototyping quickly and don't want to commit to a subscription or long-term contract.

When to choose something else

• If you only need Google organic search results, a lighter-weight general search API (like Tavily or Perplexity) may be more cost-effective.
• If you need real-time stock prices, crypto data, or financial information, SearchAPI is not a financial data provider—use a dedicated finance API.
• If you're doing large-scale, continuous scraping (millions of calls/month), negotiating a direct SearchAPI contract may offer volume discounts that xpay's per-call model won't match.
• If you need custom parsing or post-processing of results, you may prefer to build your own scraper or use a data pipeline tool.
• If your use case is limited to a single platform (e.g., only YouTube), a platform-specific API might be simpler and cheaper.

Pricing snapshot

All 18 SearchAPI tools on xpay are uniformly priced at $0.02 per call. You receive a $5 free credit upon signup to test before committing.

Quickstart

Step 1: Get your xpay API key

Sign up at https://xpay.tools with your email or Google account. Copy your API key from the dashboard.

Step 2: Add the SearchAPI MCP endpoint to Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http searchapi "https://searchapi.mcp.xpay.sh/mcp?key=YOUR_XPAY_KEY"

Replace YOUR_XPAY_KEY with your actual key.

Step 3: Use SearchAPI tools in Claude

Once connected, Claude can call SearchAPI tools by name. For example, ask Claude: "Search for 5-star hotels in Paris on Airbnb" or "Get the transcript of this YouTube video: [URL]". Claude will invoke searchapi_airbnb_search or searchapi_youtube_transcripts with the appropriate arguments, and you'll be billed $0.02 per call.

Alternative: Use the unified xpay endpoint (all providers in one connection)

claude mcp add --transport http xpay "https://mcp.xpay.sh/mcp?key=YOUR_XPAY_KEY"

With the unified endpoint, you can also use xpay_discover("searchapi") to list all available SearchAPI tools, or xpay_details("searchapi/youtube_video_details") to see the full schema and pricing for a specific tool.

For Cursor, Windsurf, Cline, or VS Code (Copilot):

Add a server entry to your mcp.json configuration file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "searchapi": {
      "url": "https://searchapi.mcp.xpay.sh/mcp?key=YOUR_XPAY_KEY"
    }
  }
}

Why route SearchAPI through xpay?

• No SearchAPI signup: xpay holds the upstream credentials. You authenticate once with xpay and get instant access to SearchAPI's full toolkit.
• Pay only for what you use: $0.02 per call, no subscription, no minimum. Stop paying when you stop calling.
• MCP-native: SearchAPI tools integrate seamlessly into Claude Code, Cursor, and other MCP-compatible AI agents. Your agent can discover and invoke tools programmatically.
• Unified billing: If you use multiple xpay providers (Tavily, Apollo, Perplexity, etc.), one invoice covers everything. No juggling multiple vendor dashboards.
• Instant provisioning: Start using SearchAPI in seconds. No waiting for account approval or credit card processing from SearchAPI directly.
• Transparent pricing: Every call is itemized in your xpay dashboard. No hidden fees or surprise charges.