# Google Search Console API vs Moz API

> Google Search Console API scores 59 (C) on agent readiness against Moz API's 45.3 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Moz API leads on reliability. Both do seo rankings. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-search-console-vs-moz-api
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-search-console-vs-moz-api.md (~2,200 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-search-console-vs-moz-api.min.md (~780 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-search-console-vs-moz-api.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-09

Google Search Console API scores 59 (C) on agent readiness against Moz API's 45.3 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Moz API leads on reliability. Both do seo rankings.

- Google Search Console API: grade C, 59/100, rank #508 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/google-search-console.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/google-search-console.json
- Moz API: grade E, 45.3/100, rank #770 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/moz-api.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/moz-api.json

## Which one, for what

### Google Search Console API (C)

Good for: An agent reporting on or monitoring search performance and index status for sites its user owns, with first-party click and impression counts.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 75 against 50
- Agent ergonomics, 82 against 74
- Security & auth, 56 against 38
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 20
- Maintenance & community, 71 against 28

Watch for: Data covers only properties the signed-in user has owner, full or read access to. It cannot be asked about any other domain

### Moz API (E)

Good for: Agents that need Domain Authority, backlink lists, link intersects, keyword volume and difficulty, search intent and ranking keywords at a low entry price, on a read-only data set.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 42 against 37

Watch for: No working public status page was found, and moz.statuspage.io reports the Moz Status page as inactive


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Google Search Console API | Moz API | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 37 | 42 | Moz API +5 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 75 | 50 | Google Search Console API +25 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 82 | 74 | Google Search Console API +8 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 56 | 38 | Google Search Console API +18 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 20 | Google Search Console API +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 71 | 28 | Google Search Console API +43 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 58 | 59 | Moz API +1 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **59 · C** | **45.3 · E** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Google Search Console API | Moz API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Google | SEOmoz, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://searchconsole.googleapis.com` | `https://api.moz.com/jsonrpc` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth | API key |
| Pricing | Free | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under the Google APIs Terms of Service. The client libraries are Apache-2.0 | Proprietary service under the Moz API General Conditions (effective 12 August 2026 for new subscribers). Displaying Moz data to others requires attribution under the API legal page |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| Last release | 2026-09-23 | 2026-08-14 |
| Terms last updated | 2021-11-09 | 2026-08-12 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-10-01 | 2025-04-08 |
| Customer content may train models | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | yes |
| Popularity | 12k stars, 70k npm/wk, 31.8M PyPI/wk | none |

## Verdicts

**Google Search Console API.** The API is free, with published quotas of 1,200 Search Analytics queries a minute per site and typed filters that accept regular expressions. It covers only properties the signed-in user manages, returns at most 50,000 rows a day per search type, and has no status page, SLA or dedicated changelog. A person must complete OAuth consent first.

**Moz API.** The JSON-RPC API documents every error code, its rate limits and the row cost of each method, and failed validation uses no quota. No working status page, SLA, machine-readable spec or official SDK was found. Tokens carry no scopes, and the free plan needs a credit card.

## Before you call either

### Google Search Console API

1. URL-encode the property in the path. A URL-prefix property needs its trailing slash, and a Domain property is written `sc-domain:example.com`
2. Query one day at a time and page with `startRow` in steps of 25,000 until a response has no rows
3. Leave `page` and `query` out of `dimensions` when totals must be accurate. Grouping by either drops some data
4. Ask for `webmasters.readonly` unless the task adds or deletes properties or sitemaps
5. After a quota exceeded error wait 15 minutes. If it repeats, the daily load quota is spent, so shorten date ranges and drop page or query grouping

### Moz API

1. Send a request `id` of at least 24 characters (letters, numbers and hyphens). A UUID works. Shorter ids are rejected with -32654.
2. Stop on a 401. Ten 401 or 403 responses in five minutes block the caller for 30 minutes.
3. On 429 with code -32658 wait the `Retry-After` seconds. On code -32650 no wait time is given, so back off exponentially.
4. Call `quota.lookup` (free) before large pulls. List methods charge one row per result, and `limit` is capped at 50 on link lists.
5. Poll `async.call.lookup` for `data.keyword.serp.generate`, and collect the result within 20 seconds of first seeing it complete.

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Google Search Console API or Moz API?

Google Search Console API scores 59 (C) on agent readiness against Moz API's 45.3 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Moz API leads on reliability.

### Do Google Search Console API and Moz API need an API key?

Google Search Console API uses an OAuth sign-in. Moz API needs an API key.

### Can an agent call Google Search Console API and Moz API without installing anything?

Yes. Google Search Console API has a hosted endpoint at https://searchconsole.googleapis.com and Moz API at https://api.moz.com/jsonrpc.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-search-console-vs-moz-api.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-search-console-vs-moz-api.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "google-search-console", "b": "moz-api"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare google-search-console moz-api`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/google-search-console.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/moz-api.json

## Other comparisons with Google Search Console API or Moz API

- [Ahrefs vs Google Search Console API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ahrefs-vs-google-search-console.md)
- [Ahrefs vs Moz API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ahrefs-vs-moz-api.md)
- [DataForSEO vs Google Search Console API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dataforseo-vs-google-search-console.md)
- [DataForSEO vs Moz API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dataforseo-vs-moz-api.md)
- [Manifold vs Moz API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/manifold-mcp-vs-moz-api.md)
- [Moz API vs SE Ranking API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/moz-api-vs-se-ranking.md)
- [Moz API vs Semrush API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/moz-api-vs-semrush.md)
- [Moz API vs Similarweb](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/moz-api-vs-similarweb.md)
- [Google Search Console API vs Manifold](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-search-console-vs-manifold-mcp.md)
- [Google Search Console API vs SE Ranking API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-search-console-vs-se-ranking.md)
- [Google Search Console API vs Semrush API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-search-console-vs-semrush.md)
- [Google Search Console API vs Similarweb](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-search-console-vs-similarweb.md)