Google AI Mode API

What the AI Mode API returns

AI Mode answers at length, often from only a few pages. Each answer comes back with its text, every brand it names in order, its sources and the raw response.

Google AI Mode vs AI Overviews vs Gemini

All three are Google, and Google says AI Mode runs on a custom version of Gemini. They're still three different places a buyer gets an answer, and for the same question they name different brands and cite different sites.

Three Google AI surfaces, compared

	Google AI Mode	Google AI Overviews	Gemini
Where buyers see it	The AI Mode tab in Google Search	Above the results, for some searches	The Gemini app and gemini.google.com
When it appears	When someone chooses AI Mode	When Google decides to show one	When someone asks Gemini
The answer	A long, conversational answer	A short summary with links	A chat answer
Sources per answer in our study	7.9	8.3	14.7
Citations for “best CRM for early-stage startups”	3	6	15, from 8 sites
In this API	Google AI Mode API	Google AI Overview API	Gemini API

Because the three disagree, measuring one tells you little about the others. One request can ask all three, plus ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Grok and DeepSeek.

One question, four different answers

We asked “best CRM for early-stage startups” on each engine from the US on the same morning. Each card is what the API returned: how the answer opens, the brands it named in order, and the first sites it cited.

Where each answer ranks each brand (1 = named first; – = not named)

Brand	ChatGPT	Google AI Overview	Google AI Mode	Gemini
Attio	1	3	1	2
HubSpot	2	1	2	5
Pipedrive	3	2	3	6
Zoho CRM	4	5	– not named	– not named
Close	5	– not named	4	– not named
Ringy	– not named	4	– not named	– not named
Salesforce	– not named	6 (to avoid)	– not named	1 (to avoid)
Streak	– not named	– not named	5	7
Folk	– not named	– not named	6	– not named
Lightfield	– not named	– not named	– not named	3
Ahoy	– not named	– not named	– not named	4

All four name Attio, HubSpot and Pipedrive, but not in the same order, and after those three the lists split. They barely share sources either: ChatGPT and the AI Overview cite no site in common, and AI Mode shares only attio.com and hubspot.com with ChatGPT. Gemini, which Google says AI Mode is built on, opens by naming Salesforce as the kind of CRM not to buy, and recommends two AI-native CRMs, Lightfield and Ahoy, that no other answer names. Watching one surface tells you little about the others.

AI Mode tracking

Search Console counts AI Mode inside your overall search numbers, so it can't tell you what AI Mode says about a brand or who it names instead. Tracking it means asking it: put the queries in a project with a daily or weekly schedule, then read how often AI Mode names the brand (with error bars), each competitor's share, the sources it cites and the history. A webhook tells your server when each run is done.

AI Mode sources

AI Mode often cites only a few pages, and they're often the brands' own sites: for the CRM question, all three of its sources were CRM companies' own sites. Across our study it averaged 7.9 sources per answer, cited YouTube in 50% of answers and Reddit in 45%. Each citation comes back with its position, URL, title and a source type, so you can see whether AI Mode leans on a brand's own pages, review sites or the press for your queries. For how this compares across engines, read what AI engines cite.

Call the Google AI Mode API from TypeScript or Python

The SDKs wrap the same request, retry safely without charging twice, and wait for the answers for you. Free sandbox keys (aiv_test_…) return realistic sample answers, so you can build the whole feature before spending a credit.

TypeScript (npm install @aivisibilityskill/sdk)

import { Aiv } from "@aivisibilityskill/sdk";

const aiv = new Aiv({ apiKey: process.env.AIV_KEY! });

const job = await aiv.checks.create({
  questions: ["best CRM for early-stage startups"],
  engines: ["ai_mode"],
  locale: "en-US",
});
const done = await aiv.jobs.wait(job.id);

for (const answer of done.answers ?? []) {
  console.log(answer.brands?.map((b) => `${b.rank}. ${b.name}`));
  console.log(answer.citations?.map((c) => c.domain));
}

Python (pip install aivisibilityskill)

import os
from aivisibilityskill import Aiv

aiv = Aiv(api_key=os.environ["AIV_KEY"])

job = aiv.checks.create(
    ["best CRM for early-stage startups"],
    engines=["ai_mode"],
    locale="en-US",
)
done = aiv.jobs.wait(job["id"])

for answer in done["answers"]:
    print([(b["rank"], b["name"]) for b in answer["brands"]])
    print([c["domain"] for c in answer["citations"]])

For thousands of questions, send them as one batch of up to 20,000 answers and get one webhook when it's done. Full guides: SDKs, API reference, OpenAPI 3.1 spec.

Google AI Mode API pricing

You pay per answer, in credits. Pick the speed per request. A dollar buys 1,000 credits on a pack; monthly and volume plans include more. An answer reused from a recent identical one (max_age_hours) costs half, and an answer that fails costs nothing.

Every account gets the same API and every engine, starting with 500 free credits and no card. Volume plans start at $500 a month for 750,000 credits, with invoicing and a 99.5% uptime commitment: see volume plans.

Countries and languages

Ask Google AI Mode from 240 countries and territories, in the buyer's language, with a locale like en-US, de-DE, pt-BR or ja-JP. ChatGPT covers 192. GET /v1/locales lists every supported pair for free, and a pair that isn't supported is refused before anything is charged.