# DataForSEO (slim)

> SEO data API from DataForSEO OÜ in Estonia. It returns search results pages, keyword volumes, backlinks, ranked keywords and traffic estimates as JSON, billed per request from a prepaid balance, with an official MCP server.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/dataforseo.md (~8,550 tokens) · this version ~2,280 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/dataforseo.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/dataforseo
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · Updated: 2026-10-08

**B · 64.9/100 · rank #244 of 629 · #1 in SEO & search visibility · not agent-ready · confidence medium**


Assessment: Per-request prices are public for every endpoint, a $1 credit and a free sandbox need no payment, and the status feed shows no incident since 15 June 2026. The REST API accepts one account-wide login and password with no scopes, and no SLA or security certification was found in the reviewed pages.

## Facts

- Kind: HTTP API · vendor: DataForSEO OÜ · category: SEO & search visibility · legal entity: DataForSEO OÜ · provenance 83/100
- Endpoint: `https://api.dataforseo.com/v3/` (HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio)
- Auth: OAuth or key · pricing: Pay per use · x402: no · licence: Proprietary service under DataForSEO's terms of service. The MCP server is Apache-2.0 and the Python client is MIT
- Probe metrics: not measured yet (probes haven't run)
- Surface graded: The public REST API v3 at https://api.dataforseo.com/v3/. The official MCP server (four tools, hosted or run locally) calls the same API and is noted where it differs
- Data sets: SERP (Google, Bing, YouTube, Yahoo, Baidu, Naver, Seznam), Keywords Data (Google Ads, Bing Ads, Google Trends, clickstream), Backlinks, DataForSEO Labs (ranked keywords, historical rank, search intent, bulk traffic estimation), Domain Analytics, On-Page, Content Analysis, Merchant, Business Data, App Data and AI Optimisation
- Methods: Standard (task_post, then task_get, tasks_ready, or a pingback or postback webhook), with normal and high priority, and Live (one POST). Up to 100 tasks in a Standard POST, one in most Live calls
- Freshness: SERP results are collected per task. The pricing page gives turnaround of about 5 minutes for the standard queue, up to 1 minute for priority and up to 6 seconds for Live, as vendor averages. The Google Ads status endpoint reports whether last month's keyword data has been updated
- Credentials: REST. One API login and generated password over HTTP Basic, never in the URL. MCP. OAuth 2.0 with PKCE (S256), dynamic client registration, refresh tokens and a revocation endpoint, scopes `api` and `profile`, or the same Basic credentials
- Rate limits: 2,000 requests a minute in general, reported in `X-RateLimit-Limit` and `X-RateLimit-Remaining`. 30 simultaneous requests on database-backed APIs (Labs, Backlinks, Content Analysis, On-Page and others). Live Google Ads 12 a minute, Tasks Ready 20, API Status and Errors 10, User Data 6
- Errors: HTTP 200 except for 401, 402, 404 and 500. Internal `status_code` values from 20000 to 50402 at response and task level, listed with messages in the appendix and from GET /v3/appendix/errors. 40202 is the rate limit and 40209 too many simultaneous requests
- Response sizing: `.ai` path suffix, `limit` (default 100 and maximum 1,000 on Backlinks), `offset` up to 20,000, `search_after_token`, up to 8 `filters` and 3 `order_by` rules. The MCP server takes a field configuration keyed by endpoint path
- Result storage: Standard results 30 days, Live results not stored (SERP JSON 30 days in both methods), HTML results 7 days, per the docs introduction
- Spend controls: Daily cost limits by API and endpoint, hourly and daily duplicate-task limits, IP whitelist and auto-recharge threshold, all set in the dashboard. Each response carries `cost` in USD
- SDKs: Official Python and TypeScript clients at 2.1.8 (30 September 2026), plus C#, Java and PHP. MCP server dataforseo-mcp-server 3.1.3 (2 October 2026), Apache-2.0
- Payment: Paddle or FastSpring as reseller. Cards, PayPal and Amazon Pay below $5,000, wire or ACH above. 30-day refund on a first purchase of API credits per the terms
- Status: status.dataforseo.com, the vendor's own page, with API V3, Dashboard, Website and 13 API components. The feed lists 13 incident days from 8 October 2025 to 8 October 2026, the last on 15 June 2026 (dashboard only)
- Processors: 14 listed in the privacy policy with countries, among them Google and Microsoft Azure (infrastructure, US), Hetzner (data centre, Germany), Intercom, Twilio, Paddle and FastSpring
- Prices: Google Organic SERP, standard queue, per 1,000 results pages $0.60 per 1,000 requests; Google Organic SERP, priority queue, per 1,000 results pages $1.20 per 1,000 requests; Google Organic SERP, Live, per 1,000 results pages $2 per 1,000 requests; Backlinks API, per request $0.024 per call; Google Ads keyword data, standard task $0.06 per call; DataForSEO Labs Google, most endpoints, per task $0.012 per call; Minimum payment $50 per transaction

- Scores: Reliability 84, Performance pending, Schema & documentation 86, Agent ergonomics 84, Security & auth 45, Payments & pricing 40, Task success pending, Maintenance & community 82, Transparency & trust 74 · negative events -6 · total over the 7 assessed categories
- Why: Reliability, Read with the hosted lines and scored on the REST API v3. status.dataforseo.com is the vendor's own page with API V3, Dashboard, Website and… · Schema & documentation, An OpenAPI 3.0.1 file of about 4.9 MB in dataforseo/OpenApiDocumentation with 564 operations, updated on 9, 20 and 30 September 2026 (25). · Agent ergonomics, Appending `.ai` to a Live or Task GET path drops empty fields and service metadata and sets `depth` and `limit` to 10. The MCP server has fo… · Security & auth, The REST API accepts one API login and generated password over HTTP Basic, covering every API on the account, with no scopes. · Payments & pricing, Read with the hosted rubric. · Maintenance & community, Two changelog entries on 6 October 2026, an organic result `checks` array and a Codex plugin (30). · Transparency & trust, The API is closed under public terms of service updated 12 June 2026. The MCP server is Apache-2.0 and the Python client MIT (18 of 30).
- Sources: 34, open questions: 8, both in the full twin
- Capabilities: seo.keywords, seo.backlinks, seo.serp, seo.rankings, seo.traffic, search.serp
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/dataforseo.json
- Verify (for the vendor): the badge `https://www.anchorterminal.com/badges/dataforseo.svg` or a link to https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/dataforseo from a page on dataforseo.com or one of its subdomains, or the README of github.com/dataforseo/mcp-server-typescript, then `POST https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/verify` `{"slug", "url"}` or `verify_listing` at /mcp; re-checked weekly, no effect on the grade. Snippets in the full twin.

## Before you call it

1. Check `status_code` on the response and on every task. HTTP 200 is returned for most errors, and 20000 or 20100 means success
2. Append `.ai` to Live and Task GET paths to get the trimmed response. The MCP `api_request` tool does this unless `noAiMode` is true
3. Build against https://sandbox.dataforseo.com/v3/ first. It is free and returns dummy data in the production structure
4. Use the standard queue (`task_post`, then `task_get` or a `postback_url`) for bulk work. Live Google Ads endpoints allow 12 requests a minute
5. Ask the account owner to set daily cost limits and an IP whitelist, since the credentials carry the whole prepaid balance

## Connect

```bash
npx dataforseo-mcp-server@latest
```

```bash
curl --location --request POST "https://api.dataforseo.com/v3/serp/google/organic/live/regular" --header "Authorization: Basic ${cred}" --header "Content-Type: application/json" --data-raw '[{"keyword":"dataforseo","location_code":2840,"language_code":"en"}]'
```

```bash
claude mcp add --header "Authorization: Basic <basic_auth_token>" --transport http dfs-mcp https://mcp.dataforseo.com/http
```
Full config and headless snippets are in the full page. Through letme (picks today, calling later): https://letme.dev/dataforseo

## Similar tools

| Tool | Grade | Score | Shared capabilities | Slim |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Manifold | C | 56.2 | seo.keywords, seo.backlinks, seo.serp, seo.rankings, seo.traffic, search.serp | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/manifold-mcp.min.md |
| Semrush API + MCP | D | 53.1 | seo.keywords, seo.backlinks, seo.rankings, seo.traffic, seo.serp | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/semrush.min.md |
| Ahrefs | D | 49.8 | seo.keywords, seo.backlinks, seo.serp, seo.rankings, seo.traffic | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ahrefs.min.md |
| Similarweb | D | 46 | seo.traffic, seo.keywords, seo.serp, seo.rankings | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/similarweb.min.md |
| Moz API | E | 45.3 | seo.keywords, seo.backlinks, seo.serp, seo.rankings | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/moz-api.min.md |


## Panel reviews (0, desk reviews from public material, no calls made)