Head to head · Web search · October 2026 research run

Mojeek Web Search API vs SERPHouse

SERPHouse scores 42.4 (E) on agent readiness against Mojeek Web Search API's 36.4 (F), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Mojeek Web Search API leads on reliability and transparency & trust. Both do web search.

Best web search APIs for AI agents · All 308 search comparisons

Which one, for what

Mojeek Web Search API F

Best for Agents and products that want a second, independent index beside Google-derived results, or European data handling with no sub-processors.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 45 against 40
  • Transparency & trust, 68 against 50

Watch for

The API key is documented only as a URL query parameter, and rotating a key means emailing the API team

SERPHouse E

Best for Low-cost Google, Bing and Yahoo result parsing for SEO and rank tracking, with many Google verticals.

Ahead on

  • Schema & documentation, 66 against 29
  • Payments & pricing, 40 against 20
  • Maintenance & community, 23 against 10

Also in its favour

  • A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install
  • Runs on your own machine
  • Free to start without a card

Watch for

The hosted MCP server takes the API key only in its URL path, and the REST API also accepts api_token in the query string

Why the edge

Each category where one leads by five points or more, with the reason behind each side's score from its assessment. The numbers are in the table below; this is what they stand for.

Schema & documentation SERPHouse +37

Mojeek Web Search API 29

No OpenAPI or other machine-readable contract (0). No llms.txt (404) and no Markdown pages for agents (0). The parameters page states what each parameter does, with notes on when not to use reg and clufmt, but nothing on when another endpoint fits better (12 of 20). Every parameter has a type, defaults and valid ranges (tlen 0 to 127, dlen 0 to 511, rbb and lbb 1 to 100, up to 25 domains), though reg is called an enum without listing its values (11 of 15). One curl example and annotated JSON and XML response formats; errors appear only as a status string with one example (6 of 15). No API version, changelog or dated release notes, and the quickstart and the parameters page give different hosts (0). 0 + 0 + 12 + 11 + 6 + 0 = 29.

SERPHouse 66

No OpenAPI or similar contract for the REST API. The MCP server's tools carry typed Zod schemas, published in the source and a static server card (18 of 25). llms.txt at the site and the docs, and every docs page as Markdown (10). MCP tool descriptions say which tool to use for what, such as serphouse_google_web when device or num_result is needed, while the docs pages lead with marketing lines such as 'Unlock captivating Google video content' (12 of 20). Enums for device, SERP type, engine and video duration, defaults and 37 described parameters (11 of 15). A status code table and request examples per engine, with a generic error body (12 of 15). No changelog or API versioning; only the MCP server has tags (3 of 15). 18 + 10 + 12 + 11 + 12 + 3 = 66.

Payments & pricing SERPHouse +20

Mojeek Web Search API 20

No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Per-request prices published without login, £2 and £3 per 1,000 requests (20). The FAQ says a free credit comes with the Startup plan, but a bank card is required to open an account (0). A person signs up in a browser and adds a card (0). 0 + 20 + 0 + 0 = 20.

SERPHouse 40

No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Per-1,000 prices for SERP, autocomplete and top-100 requests published without login (20). Free trial of 4,000 credits for 7 days, 'No Credit Card Required' (20). A person signs up in a browser and confirms an email (0). 0 + 20 + 20 + 0 = 40.

Transparency & trust Mojeek Web Search API +18

Mojeek Web Search API 68

Closed service with API terms naming Mojeek Limited under English law (15 of 30). The API page states 90-day retention, zero retention on request, no sub-processors and that Mojeek is the processor and the customer the controller, while the API terms say both parties are independent controllers under GDPR, and the privacy policy of 2 February 2022 covers only the website (12 of 30). The terms promise 30 days' notice of material changes and of price changes, but there is no deprecation policy or dated notices (5 of 20). The API page says there are no sub-processors and infrastructure is owned and run in Europe, in a UK data centre per the about page (18 of 20). 15 + 12 + 5 + 18 = 50.

SERPHouse 50

Closed service under terms naming Patoliya Infotech LLP in India, and the MCP server is MIT (18 of 30). The terms give retention periods (JSON results up to 6 months, HTML up to 1 month, search history indefinitely) and say personal data sits on DigitalOcean in India, and they advise EEA users not to use the service. The privacy policy is generic and neither document carries a date (15 of 30). No deprecation policy, and the terms allow products to be discontinued without notice (0 of 20). DigitalOcean in India named for account data; no sub-processor list (6 of 20). 18 + 15 + 0 + 6 = 39.

Maintenance & community SERPHouse +13

Mojeek Web Search API 10

Read for a closed service. No API changelog, release notes or dated API change were found, and the blog's posts since 2024 are about search in general, so the last change can't be dated (0). No dated changes in the 90 days from 8 August (0). A staff member answered API questions on the community forum within a day in December 2025 and October 2026, and support is by email; no public changelog (10 of 15). No official SDKs or MCP server (0). No public packages or CI to measure (0). 0 + 0 + 10 + 0 + 0 = 10.

SERPHouse 23

Read for a closed service, with its repositories read as code. No changelog or dated API change was found. The newest release is MCP server 1.1.0 on 6 July 2026, 123 days before 6 November, and the last commit in its repository was on 22 July (10). No release or dated change in the 90 days from 8 August; the about page's 2026 entry (Forums, Place Details and Scraper APIs) is undated (0). No changelog; support by email. Issues weren't read, since the GitHub API refused us for its rate limit (5 of 25). Not in the official MCP registry, though the repository's server.json names io.github.SERPHouse/serphouse-mcp. Node.js SDK last changed 24 June 2026, PHP SDK 10 May 2024, and no Python SDK repository was found under the SERPHouse organisation (5 of 15). The MCP repository has an npm publish workflow and no tests (3 of 10). 10 + 0 + 5 + 5 + 3 = 23.

Reliability Mojeek Web Search API +5

Mojeek Web Search API 45

Read with the hosted lines. status.mojeek.com is a Site24x7 StatusIQ page with Search, Website, Blog and Community components. It is drawn by script, so only its RSS feed could be read, which shows each component's current state (Search operational since 7 September 2026) and no incident entries (15 of 20). No readable incident history (5). Rate limits are published per plan, 5 a second and 100,000 a day on Startup, 10 a second and 400,000 a day on Business (15). Over the daily limit the JSON status reads 'ERROR: Daily Limit Reached'; no HTTP 429, Retry-After or backoff guidance was found (0). No SLA, and the API terms say the service is provided as is and may be interrupted without notice (0). Generally available, with only the lr parameter marked beta (10). 15 + 5 + 15 + 0 + 0 + 10 = 45.

SERPHouse 40

Read with the hosted lines. No status page is linked from the site or docs, and status.serphouse.com did not answer on 6 November 2026 (0). No readable incident history (5). Rate limits published, 60 requests a minute and 60 concurrent on every self-serve plan (15). 429 is documented as 'slow down', and a 200 can carry "status": "error" with 'Please try again', with no Retry-After or backoff guidance. Failed requests aren't charged (5 of 15). The pricing page lists a 99.99% uptime SLA on Basic and Regular and the docs a 99.95% one, but no SLA terms or credits were found in the terms (5 of 10). Generally available (10). 0 + 5 + 15 + 5 + 5 + 10 = 40.

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runMojeek Web Search APISERPHouseEdge
Reliability16%204540Mojeek Web Search API +5
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.22966SERPHouse +37
Agent ergonomics13%16.26664Mojeek Web Search API +2
Security & auth14%17.51511Mojeek Web Search API +4
Payments & pricing10%12.52040SERPHouse +20
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.81023SERPHouse +13
Transparency & trust7%8.86850Mojeek Web Search API +18
Negative events≤1500
TotalF 36.4/100E 42.4/100

Facts side by side

FactMojeek Web Search APISERPHouse
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorMojeek LimitedPatoliya Infotech LLP
Hosted endpointno (local only)https://mcp.serphouse.com/YOUR_API_KEY/mcp
TransportsStreamable HTTP, stdio
AuthAPI keyAPI key
PricingPay per usePaid
Price for web search$2.68 per 1,000 requestsnot published
x402nono
Tools exposed023
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtnoyes
Last releasenone2026-07-06
Terms last updatedno date givenno date given
Privacy policy last updated2022-02-02no date given
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessnot found in the textyes
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms or service can change without noticeyesyes
Arbitration or class-action waivernot found in the textnot found in the text

Verdicts

Mojeek Web Search API

Mojeek sells search over its own independent index at published per-request prices, with region, language, date and domain controls and storage rights on the Business plan. The key travels only in the URL, rotation is by email, a card is needed to start, and there is no OpenAPI, changelog, 429 handling or SLA.

SERPHouse

SERPHouse returns parsed Google, Bing and Yahoo results at published prices from $0.62 per 1,000 requests, with a 23-tool MCP server and a 4,000-credit trial without a card. The hosted MCP puts the key in its URL, there is no status page, changelog or security contact, and the terms keep search history indefinitely.

Before you call either

Mojeek Web Search API

  1. Send fmt=json, since the default response is XML
  2. Read response.status on every call; a daily limit shows as 'ERROR: Daily Limit Reached' rather than an HTTP error
  3. Set lb, lbb, rb and rbb as the quickstart recommends, or results lean to no language or region
  4. Keep the key out of logs and shared URLs, since it travels in the query string
  5. On the Startup plan, don't keep results for more than an hour

SERPHouse

  1. Send the key as Authorization: Bearer, not as api_token in the URL
  2. Treat a 200 with "status": "error" and 'Please try again' as a failure and retry later
  3. Pass loc or loc_id for Google and Bing tools other than serphouse_search; find IDs with serphouse_location_search
  4. Use serphouse_search for plain lookups and serphouse_serp_google_advanced only when ranks beyond the top 10 are needed, at ten times the price
  5. Keep under 60 requests a minute on self-serve plans

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Mojeek Web Search API or SERPHouse?

SERPHouse scores 42.4 (E) on agent readiness against Mojeek Web Search API's 36.4 (F), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Mojeek Web Search API leads on reliability and transparency & trust.

Do Mojeek Web Search API and SERPHouse need an API key?

Both need an API key.

Can an agent call Mojeek Web Search API and SERPHouse without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for Mojeek Web Search API. SERPHouse has a hosted endpoint at https://mcp.serphouse.com/YOUR_API_KEY/mcp.

Other comparisons with Mojeek Web Search API or SERPHouse

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