OpenGraph.io alternative
The best OpenGraph.io alternatives
OpenGraph.io is a cheap, fast way to get Open Graph data at volume. Here is when a different API fits better, and when it doesn't.
By Roger Campos · Last updated: September 2026
TL;DR
For raw Open Graph lookups at high volume, OpenGraph.io is hard to beat on price — 1 credit a lookup. Look at URLpipe when you want the page's tags reconciled into one clean record by a model, plus a full-page screenshot, Markdown or a summary from the same visit, free cache hits and EU processing. Microlink is the middle ground.
Free plan, no credit card. 1,000 credits a month.
Why switch
Why people look for an OpenGraph.io alternative
- Options add up. JavaScript rendering is +10 credits, a residential proxy +20, a screenshot 20 and an AI query 100 or more.
- Cache hits cost a credit. A cached response is 1 credit whatever the endpoint.
- A small free plan. 100 requests with one concurrent.
- Raw tags. It returns openGraph, htmlInferred and a merged hybridGraph; deciding which value to trust is left to you.
The difference
Tags as found vs a reconciled record
OpenGraph.io reports what the tags say, merged into a best guess. URLpipe's /meta reads the page's meta tags, JSON-LD and microdata with a model and returns one record: title, description, language, main image, favicon, author, feed and first publication date, with URLs made absolute. That costs 5 credits, against OpenGraph.io's 1 — the price of a model reading the page.
{
"title": "Example Domain",
"description": "Illustrative examples in documents.",
"language": "en",
"main_image_url": "https://example.com/cover.jpg",
"favicon_url": "https://example.com/favicon.ico",
"author_name": "Jane Doe",
"feed_url": "https://example.com/feed.xml",
"publication_date": "2026-01-01T00:00:00Z",
"additional_author_information": { "twitter": "@janedoe" }
}Migration
Moving a call
curl "https://opengraph.io/api/3.0/site/https%3A%2F%2Fexample.com?app_id=$OG_APP_ID"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}'Need a preview image for a page with no og:image? /scrape takes ["meta", "screenshot"] off one visit, so the fallback image comes from the same load.
Billing
Repeat lookups
Link previews are mostly repeats: the same popular URLs, pasted again and again. On OpenGraph.io a cached response costs 1 credit (its cache holds results for five days by default). On URLpipe it costs nothing — a result served from cache costs nothing (max_age defaults to 7 days, up to 30); an identical request that arrives while the first is still running waits for it and costs nothing; an Idempotency-Key makes a retry return the first result; and bot checks we couldn't clear, target 4xx/5xx pages and robots.txt refusals are never billed.
Side by side
URLpipe and OpenGraph.io, feature by feature
| Capability | URLpipe | OpenGraph.io |
|---|---|---|
| Clean Markdown from a URL | Yes | Yes |
| Renders JavaScript (real browser) | Yes | +10 credits |
| 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 | Partial |
| Keyword extraction endpoint | Yes | — |
| Lighthouse audits | Yes | — |
| JavaScript console capture | Yes | — |
| Several outputs from one page visit | /scrape | — |
| Whole-site crawling | No | — |
| Schema-based structured extraction | No | Partial |
| PDF input or output | No | — |
| MCP server | Hosted | Hosted, or npm |
| 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 | No |
| Residential-IP fetching | One exit, +25 credits/visit | +20 credits |
| Official SDKs | No | Node, Ruby |
| Self-hostable | No | — |
| Free tier | 1,000 credits/mo | 100 requests |
| EU processing, AI included | Yes | — |
OpenGraph.io: checked against opengraph.io/pricing, opengraph.io/docs/concepts/credits, opengraph.io/docs/api, opengraph.io/docs/mcp on September 24, 2026. Products change — confirm on each vendor's site before you decide.
Pricing
What each one costs
| URLpipe | OpenGraph.io | |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | $0 — 1,000 credits/mo, no card | $0 — 100 requests, 1 concurrent |
| Entry paid plan | Starter $19/mo — 20,000 credits | Developer $25/mo — 50,000 credits |
| Mid plan | Pro $49/mo — 55,000 credits | Production $100/mo — 250,000 credits |
| Billing unit | Credits per call: Markdown, HTML, screenshot or console 1, Lighthouse 2, metadata 5 | Credits: 1 per metadata lookup, 20 per screenshot, +10 for JavaScript |
| Overage | Paid plans never cut off — $1.50 per 1,000 credits | $1 per 1,000 credits on Developer, billed at cycle end |
| Cache hits | Free, up to 30 days old | 1 credit |
OpenGraph.io's Developer plan is $25 for 50,000 credits. URLpipe's 1,000 credits a month is 200 metadata calls; Pro at $49 is 11,000.
Who it's for
An honest recommendation
Choose URLpipe if…
- You want one reconciled record rather than raw tags
- You want a screenshot, Markdown or summary from the same visit
- You want cache hits free and every page rendered in a real browser
- Your agent should unfurl links over MCP
- You need processing kept in the EU
Choose OpenGraph.io if…
- You look up Open Graph tags at high volume and want the lowest price per call
- Raw tags are exactly what you need
- You want AI-generated images for previews
- You want prepaid credits that never expire
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is URLpipe a good OpenGraph.io alternative?
How much does OpenGraph.io cost?
Try URLpipe on the free plan.
1,000 credits a month, no card. Confirm your email and your key is live — most people make their first request inside five minutes.