I'm working on a software that primarily aggregates Google reviews, but I'm also interested in other review sources. I've been using the Serp API for this purpose, but I quickly hit the limit of the free trial and can't afford their paid plans since I'm on a tight budget. I'm not very technical, so I'm unsure if I'm out of luck or if there are other affordable alternatives available. Any recommendations?
4 Answers
You might want to check out SerpStack or Zenserp; they're usually cheaper than SerpAPI. If you're just after reviews, the Google Maps Places API could be a great option because it pulls the reviews directly without needing to scrape. Give those a try!
You could also consider just paying for the infrastructure instead of the service itself. Using cheaper proxy services, such as Bright Data, can help cut costs. Browser tools like Puppeteer are worth exploring too; just remember they can be a bit limited if you're pulling a lot of reviews.
If you're looking to save costs, think about using cheaper APIs like Serper.dev or Oxylabs' SERP Lite, which offer decent free tiers or pay-as-you-go options. For a legit option, the Google Places API is stable and free within its limits. It might be worth learning to scrape data if you're willing to pick up some basics with tools like Puppeteer or Playwright.
If you're open to a DIY approach, you could create your own bots using Playwright or Puppeteer. It allows you to scrape data from Google SERP and other sites, but just be cautious about the legality of crawling sites since you might run into rules about their 'robots.txt'.
Yeah, I've heard the same! Just make sure you're aware of those rules if you go the DIY route.