Bing News Search API Alternative for Developers
Microsoft retired all Bing Search APIs, including Bing News Search, on August 11, 2025. If you are rebuilding a news pipeline that used it, Currents is a standalone news API you can sign up for today and test with a free key.
What happened to the Bing News Search API?
Retired on August 11, 2025
Microsoft's lifecycle announcement retired all Bing Search APIs, including Bing News Search, on that date. Existing instances were decommissioned.
No new signups
New signups for the Bing Search APIs are no longer possible, so teams starting a news project today cannot build on them.
Microsoft's suggested migration path
Microsoft points existing users to "Grounding with Bing Search" inside Azure AI Agents — an agent-grounding tool, not a standalone news API replacement.
Compare the options today
| Decision point | Bing News Search API | Currents |
|---|---|---|
| Availability | Retired August 11, 2025; instances decommissioned and no new signups. | Live and self-serve: create an account and copy an API key. |
| Standalone news endpoint | No longer available. Microsoft's suggested path, Grounding with Bing Search, runs inside Azure AI Agents. | Yes — latest-news and search REST endpoints returning real-time JSON. |
| Free tier | Retired, so not applicable. Historical quotas and prices varied by tier. | 250 requests/day, 20 results/request, 30-day lookback, 300-character text preview. |
| Paid plans | Retired, so not applicable. | Builder $69/mo (2,500 req/day, 50 results, 6-month archive); Professional $150/mo (10,000 req/day, 100 results, 1-year); Scale $300/mo (20,000 req/day, 200 results, 1-year). |
| Coverage | News search covered web news sources; scope is no longer contractible. | 70+ countries, 20+ languages, with keyword, country, language, category, and date filters. |
| Works best for | No one, going forward — the API cannot be signed up for anymore. | Teams that need a supported, standalone news API with predictable daily quotas and USD pricing. |
Bing facts per Microsoft's lifecycle announcement (learn.microsoft.com). Currents facts from our own pricing page and docs. Verify current limits before you commit.
When Azure Grounding with Bing Search is the better choice
Choose Azure Grounding when…
You are already building on Azure AI Agents and want the agent to ground its answers in web results as part of a larger workflow. That is the migration Microsoft itself suggests, and it keeps you inside Azure tooling and billing. Note that it is an agent-grounding capability, not a standalone news API you call directly for structured news lists.
Choose Currents when…
Your product needs news data itself: structured JSON article lists from a latest-news or search endpoint, filtered by keyword, country, language, category, or date. You get a free tier to test with, real-time JSON, and self-serve plans that scale from prototypes to production traffic.
Replace the retired endpoint in three steps
2. Request JSON
Call latest headlines or keyword search and map the fields your old integration used.
Read the docs3. Pick a plan
Start on Free, move to Builder for production evaluation, and scale as your request volume grows.
Compare pricingTest Currents against your old Bing integration
Get a free key, make a JSON request, and see how the results map to your pipeline — no credit card required.