DuckDuckGo Search Scraper

DuckDuckGo Search Scraper - A tool to retrieve DuckDuckGo search results with a simple API. Get organic results, ads, related searches, knowledge graph information, and AI Search Assist answers when available.

Get results as structured JSON for applications or Markdown for LLMs and AI agents, without managing HTML parsing or proxies.

How to scrape DuckDuckGo Search?

Using a simple GET request, you can retrieve DuckDuckGo search results:

https://serpapi.com/search?engine=duckduckgo&q=coffee&kl=us-en&api_key=YOUR_SERPAPI_API_KEY

• Register at SerpApi to get your API Key. Keep your key private.
• q: the search query, limited to 500 characters. Supports operators such as site:, inurl:, and intitle:.
• kl (optional): the region, such as us-en for the United States. This is not Bing's mkt or Google's gl parameter.

Output formats: JSON and Markdown

JSON is the default output and is useful when you need individual result fields. Add output=md to receive Markdown for text-based workflows, LLMs, and AI agents.

Markdown request

curl --get https://serpapi.com/search \
 --data-urlencode engine="duckduckgo" \
 --data-urlencode q="coffee" \
 --data-urlencode kl="us-en" \
 --data-urlencode output="md" \
 --data-urlencode api_key="YOUR_SERPAPI_API_KEY"

Markdown is returned as text, not a JSON object. Use a text response reader instead of a JSON parser. The JSON field names below do not define a guaranteed Markdown structure.

Code examples

cURL Integration

curl --get https://serpapi.com/search \
 --data-urlencode engine="duckduckgo" \
 --data-urlencode q="coffee" \
 --data-urlencode kl="us-en" \
 --data-urlencode output="json" \
 --data-urlencode api_key="YOUR_SERPAPI_API_KEY"

Python Integration

Create a main.py file and install requests:

pip install requests

Add this code to your file:

import requests

SERPAPI_API_KEY = "YOUR_SERPAPI_API_KEY"

params = {
    "api_key": SERPAPI_API_KEY,
    "engine": "duckduckgo",
    "q": "coffee",
    "kl": "us-en",
    "output": "json"
}

search = requests.get("https://serpapi.com/search", params=params, timeout=60)
search.raise_for_status()
response = search.json()
if "error" in response:
    raise RuntimeError(response["error"])
print(response)

When organic results are present, they are available in response["organic_results"].

To request Markdown instead, keep the parameter definitions above and replace the request and response-handling lines with:

params["output"] = "md"
search = requests.get("https://serpapi.com/search", params=params, timeout=60)
search.raise_for_status()
print(search.text)

JavaScript Integration

Create an index.js file and install the SerpApi JavaScript package:

npm install serpapi

Add this code to your file for JSON results:

const { getJson } = require("serpapi");
const API_KEY = "YOUR_SERPAPI_API_KEY";

getJson({
  api_key: API_KEY,
  engine: "duckduckgo",
  q: "coffee",
  kl: "us-en"
}, (json) => {
  if (json.error) {
    throw new Error(json.error);
  }
  console.log(json);
});

For Markdown, use a text-capable HTTP client rather than getJson. This standalone alternative uses built-in fetch in Node.js 18 or later:

async function main() {
  const params = new URLSearchParams({
    api_key: "YOUR_SERPAPI_API_KEY",
    engine: "duckduckgo",
    q: "coffee",
    kl: "us-en",
    output: "md"
  });

  const response = await fetch(`https://serpapi.com/search?${params}`, {
    signal: AbortSignal.timeout(60000)
  });
  const text = await response.text();
  if (!response.ok) {
    throw new Error(`SerpApi HTTP ${response.status}: ${text}`);
  }
  console.log(text);
}

main().catch((error) => {
  console.error(error);
  process.exitCode = 1;
});

Other Programming Languages

Use a simple GET request from any programming language, or explore the ready-to-use libraries in SerpApi Integrations.

DuckDuckGo Search Scraper Parameters

Name	Description	Requirement
engine	Must be set to duckduckgo.	Required
api_key	Your SerpApi private API key.	Required
q	Search query, up to 500 characters.	Required
Localization and Filters
kl	Region code, such as us-en, uk-en, or fr-fr. See the supported regions.	Optional
safe	1 - Strict, -1 - Moderate (default), -2 - Off.	Optional
df	Date filter: d - Past day, w - Past week, m - Past month, y - Past year, or a custom YYYY-MM-DD..YYYY-MM-DD range.	Optional
search_assist	Set to true to request an AI Search Assist answer when available. Defaults to false. Cannot be combined with m.	Optional
Pagination
start	Result offset. The initial request (omitted or 0) can return up to 35 organic results; a positive offset can return up to 50. Counts vary and duplicates are possible.	Optional
m	Maximum requested result count, from 1 to 50 (default 50). The initial page still returns at most 35. Cannot be combined with search_assist.	Optional
SerpApi Parameters
no_cache	Set to true for fresh results instead of the one-hour cache. Cannot be combined with async.	Optional
async	Set to true for later retrieval through the Searches Archive API. Cannot be combined with no_cache or used with Ludicrous Speed enabled.	Optional
output	json (default) for structured results, md for Markdown, or html for raw HTML.	Optional

Visit the official documentation for all available parameters.

Pagination

When available, use the response's serpapi_pagination.next URL with your API key for the next request. Alternatively, start controls the result offset. Do not assume that m=50 guarantees 50 results or that every page has the same size.

DuckDuckGo can return duplicate results, especially with larger offsets and result counts. Deduplicate by result URL, stop when no next-page link is available, and set a page or result limit rather than paginating indefinitely.

AI Search Assist

Add search_assist=true to request DuckDuckGo's AI-generated answer and sources when available. Omit m when using this option. The answer appears in the search_assist object in JSON results; it is not guaranteed for every query.

This option is independent of output format: search_assist requests an additional search feature, while output=md controls how the response is formatted.

Available data on DuckDuckGo Search (JSON Response)

The fields returned depend on the query and available source data. The following is a field guide, not a literal API response:

{
  "organic_results": [
    {
      "position": "Integer - Position of the result",
      "title": "String - Page title",
      "link": "String - Destination URL",
      "snippet": "String - Result excerpt",
      "favicon": "String - Site icon URL"
    }
  ],
  "related_searches": [
    {
      "query": "String - Related search query",
      "link": "String - DuckDuckGo search URL"
    }
  ],
  "search_assist": {
    "answer": "String - AI-generated answer, when requested and available",
    "expanded_answer": "String - Expanded answer",
    "sources": [
      {
        "link": "String - Source URL",
        "site": "String - Source website",
        "text": "String - Source title"
      }
    ]
  },
  "serpapi_pagination": {
    "next": "String - SerpApi URL for the next page, when available"
  }
}

Other sections may include ads, knowledge_graph, news_results, inline_images, and search_information. Do not assume every response includes every section or that every entry has every field.

For Markdown output, use output=md and read the response as text as shown above.

Use cases

• Track keyword rankings and compare search visibility across engines.
• Collect source links and snippets for research applications.
• Monitor brand mentions and competing websites.
• Analyze related searches for content planning.
• Retrieve available entity information from knowledge graphs.
• Compare AI Search Assist answers and their cited sources.

Blog tutorial

• How to Scrape DuckDuckGo Search Results
• How to Scrape DuckDuckGo Knowledge Graph Results

Video tutorial

• Scrape DuckDuckGo search result using Python

Contacts

Feel free to reach out via contact@serpapi.com.