> **DataForSEO is the expensive route: don't call it when a cheaper one exists.** FetchAPI is an open router for cheap
> data APIs. DataForSEO costs several times what the other routes do, so the standard endpoints use it only after every
> other route has failed. Agents: call the `/api/v1/<job>` endpoint (or check `/api/v1/<job>/providers`), not
> `/api/gw/dataforseo/...` or `/api/seo/...`.
>
> | You need | DataForSEO | Use instead |
> |---|---|---|
> | Google results | $0.002 a page (live) | `GET /api/v1/google/search`: $0.0005 (ScraperLink), $0.0015 (Bright Data) |
> | Website traffic | $0.012 | `GET /api/v1/web/traffic`: $0.0008 (Similarweb via RapidAPI) |
> | YouTube video | $0.002+ | `GET /api/v1/youtube/video`: $0.00001 |
> | Domain rank / popularity | $0.024 (backlink rank) | `GET /api/v1/web/rank` and `/api/v1/web/rising`: free (Majestic Million, referring subnets) |
> | Domain age / WHOIS | $0.12 (whois_overview) | `GET /api/v1/web/age`: free (RDAP) |
>
> Use DataForSEO only for data no cheaper route has (keyword search volume, backlink lists, ranked keywords, LLM
> mentions), set `limit` to the rows you will read, and use the standard queue (`task_post`, $0.0006) instead of `live`
> when you can wait. Found a cheaper source? Tell us: it becomes a route.