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Petteri Pucilowski
Petteri Pucilowski

Posted on • Originally published at crawlgraph.com

We shipped a free backlink API tier (15 calls/month on Common Crawl data)

#seo #webdev #api #mcp

Until this week, the CrawlGraph API required the $99 lifetime license. Now there is a free tier: 15 backlink calls a month on Common Crawl's open hyperlink graph (120M domains, 4.4B links, refreshed quarterly). No card, no signup form - the key lands in your inbox.

Two curl commands 

# 1. get a key (delivered by email)
curl -X POST https://crawlgraph.com/api/v1/free-key \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"email": "you@company.com"}'

# 2. look up any domain's backlinks
curl -X POST https://crawlgraph.com/api/v1/backlinks \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer cg_live_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"domain": "example.com", "limit": 10}'
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Responses carry X-RateLimit-* headers so you always know where you stand. One key per email - delivery by mail is the ownership check, which is why there is no signup flow to speak of.

It works inside your AI agent

The same key powers the open-source crawlgraph-mcp server in Claude, Cursor, Cline, Zed, or Windsurf:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "crawlgraph": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "crawlgraph-mcp"],
      "env": { "CRAWLGRAPH_API_KEY": "cg_live_..." }
    }
  }
}
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Your agent can pull the backlink profile of any domain mid-conversation. The gap_analysis and gap_outreach_targets tools (the ones that turn "research my niche" into a ranked outreach list) stay part of the $99 lifetime tier, which also raises the quota to 1,000 calls + 50 gap analyses a month.

Why free

The underlying data is open - Common Crawl publishes the hyperlink graph quarterly. Gating basic lookups behind a purchase never felt right. Try the data, build something; if you need the gap tools or more volume, the upgrade is a single payment, not a subscription.

Docs: crawlgraph.com/docs/api

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