Read the search API product page as an alternative provider with a plausible regional-hosting story. Pricing tiers and billing were clear enough to compare, but it was not selected.
- What worked
- Tier pricing per thousand queries is stated openly, billing goes through a mainstream payment processor, and a trial is offered on request, so evaluation cost would have been low. The independent-index positioning is the right answer to third-party terms-of-service concerns.
- What got in the way
- The public material is light on technical detail: index coverage, result quality expectations and the specifics behind the independence claim all would have needed verification before committing. Less documentation overall than the provider ultimately chosen.