Microlink alternative

The best Microlink alternatives

Microlink's metadata endpoint is one GET: api.microlink.io?url=… and you get a title, a description, an image and a logo. Here is when that is exactly right, when it isn't, and how each field maps if you move.

By Roger Campos · Last updated: September 2026

TL;DR

Microlink is hard to beat for cheap, CDN-cached link previews: one GET to api.microlink.io returns title, description, image and logo, and cache hits don't count. Look elsewhere when you need an AI summary, keywords or console errors, async delivery, a hosted MCP server, or a plan that keeps going past its quota — URLpipe covers those. For embeds from 1,900+ providers, Iframely.

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The endpoint

How Microlink's metadata endpoint works

Microlink is a GET API. You pass the page as a query parameter — https://api.microlink.io?url=https://example.com — and metadata is on by default. The response's data carries title, description, lang, author, publisher, date, url, and image and logo objects with their type and dimensions. Add screenshot=true, pdf=true, insights=true for a Lighthouse report, or data rules with CSS selectors for your own fields — all from the same request.

Because it is a GET, it fits places a POST doesn't: an <img src>, a browser fetch with no server, a CDN-cached URL shared by many visitors. Microlink serves cached responses from its edge and doesn't count them against your quota.

Why switch

Why people look for a Microlink alternative

The free tier is daily. 25 requests a day with no card: enough to try it, tight for a batch job that runs once a night.
It pauses at the quota. Microlink never bills overage; at the ceiling, requests stop until the next cycle or an upgrade. Predictable for the budget, awkward for a production feature.
No AI on top. There is no summary or keyword endpoint, so a link card that also wants a two-line summary needs a second service.
Synchronous only. No webhook or job token for a single URL — you hold the connection.
Agents. Microlink's MCP server runs locally over npx, and its repository was archived in July 2026.

Field by field

Microlink's metadata fields, mapped to URLpipe

URLpipe's /meta is a POST that returns one JSON object with the same keys on every page. It reads the page's meta tags, JSON-LD and microdata and reconciles them — no model involved, 1 credit per URL, the same as a page fetch. The fields line up like this:

Microlink data.*	URLpipe /meta	Note
title	title
description	description
lang	language	ISO 639-1, plus the full tag in locale (en-US)
author	authors	A list, each with name, url and profiles
date	published_at	Plus modified_at for the last update
image.url	image.url	Width, height, alt and type as the page declares them, not measured from the file
logo.url	logo_url	Plus favicon_url and every declared icon
publisher	site_name
url	canonical_url
—	feeds, keywords, alternates	RSS/Atom feeds, tags, and the page in other languages
—	open_graph, twitter	The raw og: and twitter: tags, exactly as declared

Metadata for one URL

curl "https://api.microlink.io?url=https://example.com/post"

curl -X POST https://urlpipe.dev/meta \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $URLPIPE_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"url": "https://example.com/post", "sync": true}'

URLpipe /meta response

{
  "final_url": "https://example.com/blog/launch-week",
  "canonical_url": "https://example.com/blog/launch-week",
  "title": "Everything we shipped in launch week",
  "description": "Five days, five releases: what's new and why it matters.",
  "site_name": "Example Blog",
  "type": "article",
  "language": "en",
  "locale": "en-US",
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Jane Doe",
      "url": "https://example.com/authors/jane",
      "profiles": [
        "https://x.com/janedoe"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "published_at": "2026-09-01T08:00:00+00:00",
  "modified_at": "2026-09-03T14:30:00+00:00",
  "image": {
    "url": "https://example.com/images/launch-week.jpg",
    "width": 1200,
    "height": 630,
    "alt": "The team on stage",
    "type": "image/jpeg"
  },
  "video": null,
  "favicon_url": "https://example.com/favicon.ico",
  "icons": [
    {
      "url": "https://example.com/favicon.ico",
      "rel": "icon",
      "sizes": "32x32",
      "type": null
    },
    {
      "url": "https://example.com/apple-touch-icon.png",
      "rel": "apple-touch-icon",
      "sizes": "180x180",
      "type": null
    }
  ],
  "logo_url": "https://example.com/logo.svg",
  "feeds": [
    {
      "url": "https://example.com/feed.xml",
      "type": "application/rss+xml",
      "title": "Example Blog"
    }
  ],
  "keywords": [
    "launch",
    "product"
  ],
  "theme_color": "#0f172a",
  "generator": "WordPress 6.6",
  "manifest_url": "https://example.com/site.webmanifest",
  "robots": {
    "index": true,
    "follow": true
  },
  "open_graph": {
    "title": "Everything we shipped in launch week",
    "description": "Five days, five releases.",
    "image": "https://example.com/images/launch-week.jpg",
    "url": "https://example.com/blog/launch-week",
    "type": "article",
    "site_name": "Example Blog",
    "locale": "en_US"
  },
  "twitter": {
    "card": "summary_large_image",
    "site": "@example",
    "creator": "@janedoe",
    "title": null,
    "description": null,
    "image": null
  },
  "alternates": [
    {
      "hreflang": "es",
      "url": "https://example.com/es/blog/launch-week"
    }
  ],
  "oembed_url": "https://example.com/wp-json/oembed/1.0/embed?url=https%3A%2F%2Fexample.com%2Fblog%2Flaunch-week",
  "structured_data_types": [
    "BlogPosting",
    "Organization"
  ]
}

Check what a page's tags look like before you write any code:

Check a page's Open Graph tags and metadata

Paste a link and see everything the page says about itself — title, description, share image, authors, dates, language, icons and feeds — as one structured object.

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Beyond metadata

Screenshots, Markdown and one page visit

Microlink bundles outputs as flags on one request. URLpipe's equivalent is /scrape: name the operations and they all come off one page visit, each billed as usual. Its screenshots are full page by default, in PNG, JPEG or WebP, with one element by selector, dark mode, hidden selectors or injected CSS — the same 1 credit whichever you use — and come with a link that needs no key for 30 days.

Markdown, metadata and a screenshot, one visit, delivered to a webhook

curl -X POST https://urlpipe.dev/scrape \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $URLPIPE_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "url": "https://example.com",
    "operations": ["markdown", "meta", "screenshot"],
    "report_to": "https://your-app.com/webhooks/urlpipe"
  }'

Cost

What each costs for link previews

For metadata alone the two are close. Microlink's Pro plan is 46,000 requests for $49; URLpipe's Pro plan at $49 buys 55,000 metadata calls. A cache hit is free on both. Where URLpipe pulls ahead is the rest of the page (Markdown, summaries, console errors) and never stopping: past its allowance a paid plan carries on at $1.50 per 1,000 credits.

Side by side

URLpipe and Microlink, feature by feature

Capability	URLpipe	Microlink
Clean Markdown from a URL	Yes	Yes
Renders JavaScript (real browser)	Yes	Yes
Rendered HTML	Yes	Yes
Screenshots	Yes	Yes
Full-page screenshots	Yes	Yes
Element, dark-mode and hidden-selector screenshots	Yes	—
Metadata / Open Graph	Yes	Yes
AI summary	Yes	—
Keyword extraction endpoint	Yes	—
Lighthouse audits	Yes	Yes
JavaScript console capture	Yes	Partial
Technology detection	Yes	Yes
Several outputs from one page visit	/scrape	Yes
Whole-site crawling	No	—
Schema-based structured extraction	/extract	CSS selector rules
PDF input or output	Input, no OCR	Output
MCP server	Hosted	Local (npx), archived
Async + webhook for a single URL	Yes	—
Idempotency key on retries	Yes	—
Your own labels on requests, usage by label	Yes	—
Cached results cost nothing	Yes	Yes
Residential-IP fetching	One exit, +25 credits/visit	—
Official SDKs	Python, JavaScript, Ruby, Go	JavaScript
Self-hostable	No	metascraper (MIT)
Free tier	1,000 credits/mo	25 requests/day
EU processing, AI included	Yes	—

Microlink: checked against microlink.io/pricing, microlink.io/docs/api/parameters/meta, microlink.io/docs/api/parameters/insights, microlink.io/docs/guides/content-conversion/url-to-markdown, microlink.io/integrations/mcp on September 24, 2026. Products change — confirm on each vendor's site before you decide.

Pricing

What each one costs

	URLpipe	Microlink
Free tier	$0 — 1,000 credits/mo, no card	$0 — 25 requests/day, no card
Entry paid plan	Starter $19/mo — 20,000 credits	Pro $49/mo — 46,000 requests
Mid plan	Pro $49/mo — 55,000 credits	—
Billing unit	Credits per call: Markdown, HTML, screenshot or console 1, Lighthouse 2, metadata 1	Requests
Overage	Paid plans never cut off — $1.50 per 1,000 credits	Paused until the next cycle; no overage fees
Cache hits	Free, up to 30 days old	Free

Microlink's free tier resets daily; URLpipe's 1,000 credits a month resets on the 1st and buys 1,000 metadata calls or 1,000 screenshots. Cache hits are free on both.

Who it's for

An honest recommendation

Choose URLpipe if…

You want a summary, keywords, Markdown or console errors next to the metadata
A production feature can't pause at a quota — overage is fine
You want async delivery to a signed webhook, and idempotency keys on retries
Your agent should unfurl links over a hosted MCP server
You need AI processing kept in the EU

Choose Microlink if…

You want a GET URL you can drop into an img tag or call from a browser
You want image dimensions measured from the file rather than as the page declares them
You'd rather requests pause than ever see an overage line
You want a Lighthouse report bundled with the preview

Keep comparing

More on Microlink and its category

Best HTML-to-Markdown APIs Best screenshot APIs Best link preview APIs Best Lighthouse APIs URLpipe vs Microlink

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Is URLpipe a good Microlink alternative?

Yes, when link previews are one part of a bigger job — you also want Markdown, a summary, keywords or console errors, async webhooks, a hosted MCP server, or a plan that never pauses. Microlink's GET interface fits browser-side use better, and its quota pauses rather than billing overage.

What is the Microlink API metadata URL endpoint?

https://api.microlink.io with the page in the url query parameter, for example api.microlink.io?url=https://example.com. Metadata is on by default and returns title, description, lang, author, publisher, date, url, image and logo. URLpipe's equivalent is POST https://urlpipe.dev/meta with the URL in a JSON body.

Does Microlink have a free plan?

Yes: 25 requests a day with no card, with the same capabilities as Pro. Pro is $49 a month for 46,000 requests with no daily cap. At the quota, requests pause until the next cycle — Microlink doesn't bill overage.

How much does URLpipe's /meta cost?

1 credit per URL, the same as a screenshot or Markdown: it reads the page's own declarations without a model. A result reused within max_age is free.

Can I get a screenshot and metadata in one call?

Yes, on both. Microlink takes screenshot=true on the same request; URLpipe's /scrape takes ["meta", "screenshot"] and runs both off one page visit, billed as the two operations.

Keep reading

Airtable Open Graph image sizes Extracting page metadata Link previews and unfurls og:image Screenshots capture the whole page All of compare

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