SheetSonar
Google Trends API free: the options in 2026
Google announced an official Trends API in July 2025; it is still an alpha behind a waitlist. Here is what you can actually use today, free first.
Disclosure: SheetSonar and the Apify scraper in option 4 are made by Data Fabrik, the publisher of this site. The other options are described so you can pick without us.
1. The Google Trends website, by hand (free)
Open trends.google.com, compare up to 5 terms, and use the download icon to get a CSV. Fine for a one-off question. It breaks down as soon as you have a list of 30 keywords, or want the numbers to refresh every week.
2. pytrends (free, Python, no longer maintained)
The usual answer for years. The repository has been read-only since April 2025, and it never used an official API: it called the same undocumented endpoints as the website, from your own IP. It may still work for a few calls, then returns HTTP 429 (too many requests) and nobody will fix it. If you are a developer, read pytrends is dead: 3 ways to get Google Trends data in 2026, with code.
3. IMPORTXML or IMPORTHTML in Google Sheets (free, does not work)
Google Trends draws its charts in the browser from JSON responses, so the page Sheets receives has no numbers in it. IMPORTXML and Google Trends: why it fails and what works explains the details.
4. A hosted scraper you pay per keyword
Services such as SerpApi, DataForSEO or Actors on the Apify Store return Trends data as JSON from their own servers, with rate limits handled for you. Most are paid from the first call, some with a small free quota. Our own Google Trends Scraper on Apify charges per keyword report ($0.0025 or less), with a free monthly credit on Apify's side. Good for developers and automation tools; it needs a token and a script.
5. A formula in Google Sheets, with a free plan
If the destination is a spreadsheet anyway, skip the script. SheetSonar is a Google Sheets add-on: =SONAR_TREND("e-bike", "US") returns the average interest over 12 months, and the same formula on a column scores up to 50 keywords at once. Period (12m, 5y, two dates…) and value (average, last week, or the whole curve) are optional arguments. The free plan gives 20 results a month, with no sign-up: install, then Extensions › SheetSonar › Get a free key.
Start from the keyword research template: five keywords, average, latest week and momentum, ready to replace with yours.
Which one
- One question, once: the website and its CSV download.
- Keywords scored in a spreadsheet, refreshed when you want: a Sheets formula (option 5).
- Data for your own program or pipeline: a hosted scraper (option 4).
- Keep pytrends running: not recommended, no fixes will come.
One thing to know about the numbers
Google Trends never gives search volumes. Every series is scaled from 0 to 100 against its own peak, so two keywords asked separately are not on the same scale. To compare them, ask for them together: in SheetSonar, Extensions › SheetSonar › Google Trends report… puts up to 5 keywords on one scale, with interest by region and rising queries.