October 26, 2026
DuckDuckGo API · three things share the name, and one returns search results
DuckDuckGo’s own API is free and sends back short answers with no list of web results. For DuckDuckGo results in code, SearchApi is $40 a month billed monthly for 10,000 searches, and SerpApi costs less below about 1,000 searches a month.
Three different tools go by the name “DuckDuckGo API.” Only one of them sends your code a list of DuckDuckGo search results, and it costs money.
The short answer
Pick DuckDuckGo’s free Instant Answer API if you only need short facts on well-known topics. An instant answer is the small box of facts, such as a Wikipedia summary, that sits above search results. The API needs no account and no API keys, and it returns no list of web results.
Pick SearchApi if you need DuckDuckGo’s web results in code and run 1,000 searches a month or more. SearchApi is a SERP API, a paid service that runs a search and sends back the results page as data. Developer is $40 a month, billed monthly, for 10,000 searches, and only successful searches count.
Pick SerpApi if you run fewer than about 1,000 searches a month. Starter is $25 a month, billed monthly, for 1,000 searches, and the free plan gives 250 searches a month.
Skip the free ddgs Python library for work you ship to customers. Its own README calls it a tool “for educational purposes only.”
What DuckDuckGo’s free API sends back
On October 26, 2026 at 09.48 IST, a test search for “firecrawl” on the Instant Answer API came back with 0 results, 0 related topics and an empty summary.
A test search for “python programming language” came back with a Wikipedia summary, 1 result and 21 related topics. Related topics are links to nearby subjects.
So the free API answers “what is this?” for famous topics. It can’t answer “which pages talk about this?” for a product or a company.
DuckDuckGo said as much years ago. An accepted Stack Overflow answer by mrnfrancesco on May 11, 2015 quotes DuckDuckGo’s own API docs:
“That is, it is not a full search results API or a way to get DuckDuckGo results into your applications…”
DuckDuckGo API docs, quoted by mrnfrancesco on Stack Overflow, May 11, 2015
The three tools called “DuckDuckGo API”
| Tool | Cost | What you get | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Instant Answer API | Free | Short facts and related topics | No list of web results |
| ddgs Python library | Free | Search results from a mix of engines | May not ask DuckDuckGo at all |
| SearchApi DuckDuckGo engine | $40 a month, billed monthly, for 10,000 searches | DuckDuckGo results as data | You pay per successful search |
The ddgs library is a metasearch tool, which means one tool that sends your search to several search engines. PyPI is the public site where Python libraries are shared. As of October 26, 2026, ddgs version 9.16.1 is on PyPI under the MIT license.
SearchApi’s DuckDuckGo engine returns organic results, the regular links apart from ads. It also returns ads, the AI overview and the knowledge graph, the fact panel about a person, place or brand. You can set the region with the locale setting, which defaults to US English.
What DuckDuckGo results cost at 1,000, 3,000 and 10,000 searches
SearchApi Developer is $40 a month, billed monthly, for 10,000 searches, or $4 per 1,000. Production is $100 a month, billed monthly, for 35,000 searches.
SerpApi plans are billed month to month. Starter is $25 a month for 1,000 searches, billed monthly. Developer is $75 a month for 5,000, billed monthly. Production is $150 a month for 15,000, billed monthly.
The math: on October 26, 2026 prices, all billed monthly, the cheaper plan at each volume is:
- 1,000 searches a month: SerpApi Starter at $25 a month billed monthly, against SearchApi Developer at $40 a month billed monthly.
- 3,000 searches a month: SearchApi Developer at $40 a month billed monthly, against SerpApi Developer at $75 a month billed monthly.
- 10,000 searches a month: SearchApi Developer at $40 a month billed monthly, against SerpApi Production at $150 a month billed monthly.
The lines cross near 1,000 searches a month. Below that, SerpApi costs less, and its free 250 searches come back every month.
Why an empty result still costs a search
SearchApi charges only for successful searches, the ones that come back with a 200 status code. A status code is the number a server sends to say whether a request worked.
SerpApi counts only successful searches too. Its pricing FAQ adds one detail: a search that returns an empty result set still counts as 1 search.
So test your search terms on the free plan first. On SerpApi, terms that return nothing on DuckDuckGo still use up your monthly searches.
How to tell which engine answered a ddgs search
The ddgs library has a setting called backend, the search engine that answers your request. Its default backend setting is auto.
As of October 26, 2026, ddgs on auto can send your search to Bing, Brave, Google, Yahoo or another engine on its list. A result set labelled DuckDuckGo in your code may come from somewhere else.
Set backend to duckduckgo if you need DuckDuckGo’s own results. Then check the results by hand against a DuckDuckGo search in your browser.
What to do this week
Run your top 20 search terms through DuckDuckGo’s free Instant Answer API. If they come back empty, you need a SERP API.
Count the searches your app runs in a month. Under about 1,000, start on SerpApi’s free 250 searches a month. At 1,000 or more, move to SearchApi and run the same 20 terms with engine=duckduckgo.
Next · SearchApi covers the full tool · Web search APIs ranks the wider field · SerpApi pricing prices every SerpApi plan · Brave Search API pricing covers another engine with its own index.
Sources · Instant Answer test for firecrawl and Instant Answer test for python programming language, both run October 26, 2026 · SearchApi pricing and SearchApi DuckDuckGo engine docs, both checked October 26, 2026 · SerpApi pricing, checked October 26, 2026 · ddgs on PyPI, read October 26, 2026 · Stack Overflow answer quoting DuckDuckGo’s docs, May 11, 2015.