Microsoft to retire Bing Search APIs in August 2025, encourages users to shift to Azure AI

Microsoft is set to retire its Bing Search APIs on August 11, 2025, fully discontinuing access for both existing and new users. This shutdown affects all API instances, meaning the product will no longer be available for usage or new customer signups after this date.

For those partners currently leveraging Bing Search resources such as F1 and S1 through S9, or Bing Custom Search resources ranging from F0 to S4, the retirement will require significant transition planning. Following this announcement, Microsoft is encouraging developers who depend on Bing Search for AI applications to adopt its Grounding with Bing Search feature within the Azure AI Agent Service. This updated workflow aims to provide AI agents with real-time web data, continuing a similar capability under a new platform.

Customers with private, long-term agreements — including search engine DuckDuckGo — will continue to have API access beyond the official retirement. In contrast, smaller developers without such deals are expected to be cut off after August 11. The selective retention of access for major customers highlights a strategic prioritization, and the end of broad API availability adds complexity for alternative search engines reliant on Bing’s search data.