Bing Webmaster Tools API review
Free Bing and AI-adjacent data
The Bing Webmaster Tools API is the Search Console equivalent for Bing, and free in the same way. Search performance, URL inspection, backlink reporting, the SEO analyzer and IndexNow submission are all available programmatically once you generate an API key from your account.
It used to be easy to ignore. That changed as Bing's index came to underpin several AI answer engines, which means Bing visibility is now partly a proxy for AI visibility, and this is the free first-party way to measure it.
Who Bing Webmaster Tools API is for
Everyone who already uses the Search Console API, as the cheap second data source. It matters more than its traffic share suggests because of what else consumes the Bing index, and IndexNow makes it useful for getting content discovered quickly.
Strengths and limits
What it does well
- Free, first-party Bing performance data with no paid tier.
- IndexNow submission, which pushes new and updated URLs for near-immediate crawling.
- Includes backlink data, which Google's Search Console API does not expose in the same way.
- Increasingly relevant as Bing's index feeds AI answer engines.
Where it falls short
- Bing's traffic share is small in most markets, so the direct value is limited outside its indirect AI relevance.
- The legacy SOAP and POX APIs retire on 31 August 2026, so anything built on them needs migrating to REST now.
- Documentation is thinner than Google's, and community examples are scarcer.
Bing Webmaster Tools API pricing
Free. Every feature, including performance data, the SEO analyzer, backlink reporting, URL inspection and IndexNow, is available at no cost with an API key generated from your Bing Webmaster Tools account.
The only limits are daily URL submission quotas and service-side rate limiting, both of which you can query programmatically before a bulk job.
Rate limits and quotas
- Daily URL submission quotas apply, queryable via the quota endpoint.
- Rate limiting is applied by the service; check quota before bulk submitting.
- Legacy SOAP and POX APIs are retired from 31 August 2026. Use REST.
Verdict
Free, quick to wire up, and more relevant than it used to be. Add it next to the Search Console API for a fuller picture, and use IndexNow to get new content discovered fast. If anything you own still calls the SOAP or POX endpoints, migrate before 31 August 2026.
Bing Webmaster Tools API FAQ
Is the Bing Webmaster Tools API free?
Yes, entirely. Performance data, URL inspection, backlink reporting, the SEO analyzer and IndexNow are all free with an API key generated from your account.Why bother with Bing data?
Bing's index underpins several AI answer engines, so Bing visibility is partly a proxy for AI visibility. Given it costs nothing, the case is easy even where Bing's direct traffic share is small.What is IndexNow?
A protocol for pushing new and updated URLs to search engines for near-immediate crawling instead of waiting to be discovered. Bing supports it directly through this API.Are the old Bing APIs being retired?
Yes. The legacy SOAP and POX APIs retire on 31 August 2026. Anything still calling them must migrate to the REST APIs to avoid disruption.
This is an independent review. We have no affiliate relationship with Bing Webmaster Tools API, earn nothing if you sign up, and no provider pays for placement in the directory. Prices were read from the vendor's own pages in August 2026 and change without notice.