DataForSEO alternative: how Fenlight compares, and how to switch the SERP calls

DataForSEO is a broad data platform: SERPs, keyword data, backlinks and more, paid for as you go. Fenlight does one slice of that, Google results and AI visibility, and mirrors one of DataForSEO's endpoints so that a client can change over by changing the base URL and the authorization header. This page compares them on price, modes, limits and coverage, says where DataForSEO is the stronger fit, and shows the exact change.

We make Fenlight, so read this with that in mind. Everything we state about DataForSEO was checked 19 October 2026 against its own pages, which are linked below.

The short version

• Stay with DataForSEO for keyword volumes, DataForSEO Labs, backlinks, other engines or queued modes, none of which Fenlight has, or if you need more than 60 requests a minute on one key.
• Consider Fenlight if you call POST /v3/serp/google/organic/live/advanced and also want AI answers from ChatGPT and Claude, a Reddit and Quora radar, Arabic keyword ideas or MCP access.
• In live mode, Fenlight's published price ranges from $2.00 to $3.80 per 1,000 pages, against $2.00 per 1,000 for DataForSEO: Studio is level and Forager, Builder and Scale are higher. Fenlight has no queued mode, and DataForSEO's are priced differently: against its standard queue ($0.60 per 1,000), Forager, Builder, Scale and Studio are higher; against its priority queue ($1.20 per 1,000), Forager, Builder, Scale and Studio are higher.
• The auth header changes. DataForSEO accepts HTTP Basic only; Fenlight takes Authorization: Bearer or X-API-Key and does not accept Basic. Change the header as well as the base URL.

Side by side

Price per 1,000 Google results

DataForSEO's published prices for Google Organic (DataForSEO Google Organic SERP API pricing):

Fenlight's credits come from a Vera plan (Vera pricing), at about $0.00029 to $0.00054 a credit:

• Different commitments. DataForSEO charges for what you use, with a $50 minimum top-up. A Vera plan is a monthly subscription, and its price per page assumes you use the plan's credits (unused credits roll over while your account is open).
• Different depth rules. Both charge by the ten results. DataForSEO's depth goes to 200; Fenlight's to 100. On Fenlight the first page is 7 credits and each page after it 14.
• Add-ons. Fenlight charges +14 credits for the local pack and +7 for shopping, once per request and only when they return something.
• The cost field. A Fenlight response reports cost as credits × $0.001. It is not what your Vera plan charges: a live page reports $0.007 (7 credits).

Where DataForSEO is stronger

• Breadth. Keywords Data (search volumes and Google Ads, Google Trends and Bing Ads data), DataForSEO Labs, Backlinks, On-Page, Business Data, Merchant, App Data, Domain Analytics, Content Analysis and Reviews. Fenlight has none of these, and its keyword ideas carry no search volumes.
• Engines. SERP APIs for Bing, Yahoo, Baidu, Naver, Seznam and YouTube as well as Google. Fenlight's other engines are in beta or experimental.
• Queued modes. A standard queue at $0.60 per 1,000 and a priority queue at $1.20. Fenlight has no task_post or task_get.
• Volume. Up to 2,000 live calls a minute. Fenlight allows 60 requests a minute and at most 5 at once, per key.
• Google's AI features. A Google AI Mode SERP API and an ai_overview item type. Fenlight does not measure Google's AI Overview and has no AI Mode.
• AI visibility data. An AI Optimization API with LLM Mentions, LLM Responses, LLM Scraper and AI keyword search volume. Fenlight has one endpoint, /v1/ai/answers, for ChatGPT and Claude.
• Pay as you go. No subscription, and a balance that does not expire.
• Result items. DataForSEO lists dozens of item types, including paid, images and top_stories. Fenlight returns organic, people_also_ask, related_searches, featured_snippet, knowledge_graph and video, and local_pack and shopping on request.

Where Fenlight fits

• Live price. In live mode, Fenlight's published price ranges from $2.00 to $3.80 per 1,000 pages, against $2.00 per 1,000 for DataForSEO: Studio is level and Forager, Builder and Scale are higher.
• Batches. Up to 20 tasks in one live request, where DataForSEO takes one.
• AI answers. Ask ChatGPT and Claude a buyer's question and get a mention rate with a 95% interval, competitors and citations.
• The radar and Arabic keyword ideas. Reddit and Quora threads for a category, and keyword ideas in Arabic, with Gulf cities by their Arabic names.
• MCP. 8 tools at https://fenlight.waggle.ae/mcp.

What is mirrored, and what is not

Only POST /v3/serp/google/organic/live/advanced is mirrored, with up to 20 tasks in a request. These are not built: the queued endpoints (task_post and task_get), keyword volumes, Labs and AI Mode. A task that cannot run (no keyword, a location that is not found) is an error in its own slot, with a DataForSEO-style status, and costs nothing. A task with no location runs as the United States and says so.

The migration

A call to this endpoint in the shape DataForSEO documents (DataForSEO Google Organic Live Advanced documentation), with a keyword and a location in the Gulf:

curl -X POST https://api.dataforseo.com/v3/serp/google/organic/live/advanced \
  -H "Authorization: Basic $(printf 'LOGIN:PASSWORD' | base64)" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '[
  {
    "keyword": "specialty coffee dubai",
    "location_code": 2784,
    "language_code": "en",
    "depth": 10
  }
]'

The same call on Fenlight, with your Vera key in FENLIGHT_API_KEY. The body is unchanged, and so is the path:

curl -X POST https://fenlight.waggle.ae/v3/serp/google/organic/live/advanced \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FENLIGHT_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '[
  {
    "keyword": "specialty coffee dubai",
    "location_code": 2784,
    "language_code": "en",
    "depth": 10
  }
]'

The response has the DataForSEO envelope (version, status_code, tasks_count, tasks), and each task's result[0].items are numbered in page order. An abridged response, with the real field names:

{
  "version": "0.1.20240101",
  "status_code": 20000,
  "status_message": "Ok.",
  "cost": 0.007,
  "tasks_count": 1,
  "tasks_error": 0,
  "tasks": [
    {
      "status_code": 20000,
      "cost": 0.007,
      "data": {
        "api": "serp",
        "function": "live",
        "se": "google",
        "se_type": "organic",
        "keyword": "specialty coffee dubai"
      },
      "result": [
        {
          "keyword": "specialty coffee dubai",
          "se_domain": "google.com",
          "location_code": 2784,
          "language_code": "en",
          "item_types": [
            "organic"
          ],
          "items_count": 10,
          "items": [
            {
              "type": "organic",
              "rank_group": 1,
              "rank_absolute": 1,
              "title": "…",
              "url": "https://example.com/…",
              "domain": "example.com",
              "description": "…"
            }
          ],
          "fenlight": {
            "ai_overview": "unmeasured",
            "source": "fenlight",
            "cache_hit": false
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

result[0].fenlight is Fenlight's own block: ai_overview says unmeasured, and cache_hit says whether a repeat was served from your key's cache (1 credit instead of 7; add "fenlight_fresh": true to a task to search live).

1. Create a Vera account, and put its key in FENLIGHT_API_KEY.
2. Change the base URL and the authorization header, as above. Nothing else in the request changes.
3. Send a sample of your real keywords to both services for a week and compare item_types, items_count and the organic positions before you move the rest.
4. Check what your code reads. Anything that reads an item type Fenlight does not return, or a field it ignores, needs a change. Fenlight does not know where a feature sits among the organic results, so it lists the features first, in a fixed order, then the organic results, then the related searches, and rank_absolute follows that order.

Sources

Every fact about another company on this page was read from its own pages, checked 19 October 2026. Prices and features change, so check the source before you decide.

1. DataForSEO Google Organic SERP API pricing: the prices of the standard queue, the priority queue and live mode for Google Organic, what one SERP covers and how depth is charged.
2. DataForSEO pricing: pay-as-you-go billing, the minimum top-up, the balance that does not expire, the trial credit and the list of APIs.
3. DataForSEO Google Organic Live Advanced documentation: the endpoint, one task per live call, the limit of 2,000 calls a minute, depth up to 200 and the response items.
4. DataForSEO authentication documentation: HTTP Basic as the only way to authenticate.
5. DataForSEO APIs: the APIs the platform offers.
6. DataForSEO AI Optimization API overview: the AI Optimization API and its parts.
7. DataForSEO SERP API pricing index: the search engines of the SERP API, including Google AI Mode.
8. Vera pricing: Vera's plans, the free credits and what happens to unused credits.