crawlgraph now has a free API tier (15 backlink calls a month, no card)

until today the API needed the $99 lifetime license. now there is a free tier: 15 backlink calls a month, resetting on the 1st, on the same Common Crawl web graph (120M domains, 4.4B links). request a key below and it lands in your inbox.

two curl commands

bash

# 1. get a key (it arrives by email, no signup, no card)
curl -X POST https://crawlgraph.com/api/v1/free-key \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"email": "[email protected]"}'

# 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}'

responses carry X-RateLimit-* headers so you always know where you stand. one key per email, delivered by mail so nobody can farm keys for addresses they do not own.

it works in your AI agent too

the same key works with the zero-install hosted endpoint at https://crawlgraph.com/mcp. this is the tested Codex CLI setup—the bearer token stays in an environment variable:

bash

export CRAWLGRAPH_API_KEY="cg_live_<your-key>"
codex mcp add crawlgraph \
  --url https://crawlgraph.com/mcp \
  --bearer-token-env-var CRAWLGRAPH_API_KEY

if your client only supports a local process, the open-source crawlgraph-mcp server remains the fallback:

bash

npx -y crawlgraph-mcp

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 backlink calls plus 50 gap analyses a month. no subscription, ever. see the MCP docs for the tested Claude Code setup and troubleshooting.

why free

the graph data is open (Common Crawl publishes it quarterly), so gating basic lookups behind a purchase never felt right. try the data, build something, and if you need the gap tools or more volume, the upgrade is one payment. the free web tools - gap analysis and the domain checker - stay free too.