Google's Custom Search JSON API shuts down on Jan 1, 2027 (and a free alternative for your own rankings)

If you’ve got anything running on Google’s Custom Search JSON API, it’s on a clock. Google closed it to new customers and their overview page says it’s gone on January 1, 2027. Easy to miss in the docs: one call returns 10 results and a query tops out at 100. So pulling the top 100 for a single keyword is 10 billable calls. For checking your own site’s rankings there’s an easier path anyway. The Search Console API hands you query, page, country and device rows, up to 25,000 per request, and it’s all within Google’s rules. Anyone already moved off Custom Search? What did you switch to?