Google's self-serve route to its image results is closing. The Custom Search JSON API, which can return image results, is closed to new customers. Existing customers have until 1 January 2027 to move to another solution. Google's robots.txt closes image search to every crawler it does not name, and its terms treat automated access against robots.txt as abuse. Each image keeps its own license, and Google's own help warns that images "might be subject to copyright".
The official route, and its end date
Google's overview says: "With this API, you can use RESTful requests to get either web search or image search results in JSON format." A request returns image results when its searchType is set to image. The overview then adds two notes:
- "Note: The Custom Search JSON API is closed to new customers."
- "Existing Custom Search JSON API customers have until January 1, 2027 to transition to an alternative solution."
For searching up to 50 domains, Google points to Vertex AI Search. For a search of the full web, it asks you to contact Google.
The engine behind the API changed too. Since 20 January 2026, every new Programmable Search Engine must use "Sites to search", which covers up to 50 domains. An existing engine set to "Search the entire web" keeps that option until 1 January 2027.
| the Custom Search JSON API | as of 3 October 2026 |
|---|---|
| new customers | Closed. |
| existing customers | Until 1 January 2027. |
| results for one search | 100 at most. |
| free queries | 100 a day. |
| more queries | $5 per 1,000, up to 10,000 a day. |
| new search engines | Up to 50 domains. |
The price applies only to existing customers, until the end date.
What Google's terms and robots.txt say
The Google Terms of Service took effect on 30 July 2026. They list "using automated means to access content from any of our services in violation of the machine-readable instructions on our web pages" as abuse. The robots.txt of google.com starts with a group for every crawler it does not name. That group disallows /search and /imgres. Google's image search page sends its searches to /search: its form points to www.google.com/search with the image type tbm=isch.
Google's help page on unusual traffic lists what it counts as automated traffic. The list starts with searches sent from "Robots", "Computer programs" and "Automated services". A program that collects image results falls under it. A proxy changes the address of the requests, not these rules.
Image rights: a separate question
Google's help on reusing images is plain about it: "Images might be subject to copyright." Its "Usage rights" filter limits results to images that have license details attached. Google takes those details from "the sites that host those images, or the image provider". It also tells you to "Always confirm an image's license information."
The filter knows two kinds of license:
- Creative Commons licenses. These images "are usually available at no charge to use, but require credit". A license may also forbid changes or commercial use.
- Commercial or other licenses. These come from sites that charge nothing, or from sites that require payment.
Site owners can give Google the license of an image through structured data or IPTC metadata. An image with that information can show a "Licensable" badge, with a link to its license. An image found through Google stays under its own license, whatever route collects it.
For your own images: Search Console
If you want to know how your own images perform, Search Console reports it. Its API has a result type "image", for "Search results from the "Image" tab in Google Search". It returns clicks, impressions and average position for the pages of your site.
Where a proxy fits
For Google Images, it does not fit. You search in a browser like anyone else, existing customers use the API with a key, and a proxy changes neither the terms nor image rights.
If you want to see Google's local results for another city, our Google local results page covers the one check by hand where a city proxy fits. If Google answers a search with its unusual traffic message, our guide to that message explains it. Our pages on Google Maps and Google reviews cover the other official Google routes.
For other work where a proxy is allowed, start with what a residential proxy is. Our free proxy list and proxy checker cost nothing. Residential traffic starts at $0.44/GB, and every plan is on our pricing page.
The limits of this page
We read Google's documentation and help pages as text, from our server. We could not test the API, because it is closed to new customers. The reference page for its search method was last updated on 21 August 2024, and the end date may move. This page does not cover copyright law in any country. It is due for a check by 1 December 2026, a month before the API's end date.
Sources
Every Google page below was read on 3 October 2026, from our server in St. Louis.
- Google for Developers, Custom Search JSON API overview and the cse.list method.
- Programmable Search Engine Help, Update sites in your search engine.
- Google, Terms of Service, effective 30 July 2026.
- Google, the robots.txt file of google.com.
- Google Search Help, Resolve Google Search's "Unusual traffic from your computer network" message.
- Google Search Help, Find images you can use and share.
- Google Search Central, Image metadata in Google Images.
- Google for Developers, Search Console API, Search Analytics query.
