Link Preview API — Bulk OpenGraph & Metadata Unfurl

Link Preview API turns any list of URLs into clean, structured link-preview metadata in one call — the same "unfurl" you see when you paste a link into Slack, Discord, WhatsApp, or a CMS. It reconciles OpenGraph, Twitter Card, and standard HTML meta tags into one tidy record per URL: title, description, preview image, site name, favicon, canonical URL, and oEmbed endpoint. Built for developers who need fast, cheap, bulk link previews without running a headless browser.

Give it ["https://github.com", "https://stripe.com"] and get back a rich preview object for each — ready to render a link card, populate a bookmark, or enrich a feed.

Features

• One record per URL reconciling OpenGraph + Twitter Card + <meta> + <title>.
• Preview image, favicon, site name, canonical URL, oEmbed resolved to absolute URLs.
• Bulk + concurrent — unfurl up to 100 URLs per run.
• No proxy, no browser — plain HTTP fetch, so it's fast and low-cost (great margins, cheap for you).
• Graceful failures — unreachable or 404 URLs return ok: false with an error, never crash the run.
• Developer-friendly JSON ready for link cards, chat unfurls, bookmarking apps, and content feeds.

Input

Field	Type	Description
urls	array (required)	URLs to unfurl, e.g. ["https://github.com","stripe.com"] (scheme optional).
maxItems	integer	Max URLs processed per run. Default 100.

{
  "urls": ["https://github.com", "https://www.apify.com"],
  "maxItems": 100
}

Output

One structured preview per URL:

{
  "url": "https://github.com",
  "finalUrl": "https://github.com/",
  "ok": true,
  "status": 200,
  "title": "GitHub · Build and ship software",
  "description": "Join the world's most widely adopted AI-powered developer platform.",
  "image": "https://github.githubassets.com/assets/og-image.png",
  "siteName": "GitHub",
  "type": "object",
  "canonical": "https://github.com/",
  "favicon": "https://github.com/favicon.ico",
  "twitterCard": "summary_large_image",
  "oembed": null,
  "fetchedAt": "2026-06-23T00:00:00.000Z"
}

How to generate link previews from a list of URLs

1. Put your URLs in urls (scheme is optional — stripe.com works).
2. Run the Actor and read one preview record per URL from the dataset.
3. Export as JSON, CSV, or Excel, or call the Actor's API from your backend to unfurl links on demand.

Common use cases

• Chat & comment link unfurls — render rich link cards like Slack/Discord.
• Bookmarking & read-later apps — store title, description, and preview image per saved link.
• CMS & social scheduling — preview how a URL will look when shared before publishing.
• Feed & newsletter enrichment — attach images and descriptions to a list of links.

FAQ

Does it need an API key? No. You pass URLs; the Actor fetches and parses public page metadata.

Does it run a headless browser? No — it uses plain HTTP for speed and low cost. JavaScript-rendered meta tags on heavily client-side sites may be limited; most sites expose OpenGraph in server HTML.

What if a URL is down or 404s? You get a record with ok: false and an error; the run continues.

Does it return personal data? No — only public page metadata (title, description, image, favicon).

What formats can I export? JSON, CSV, and Excel via the dataset, or call the Actor API directly.

Pricing

Pay-per-event: a tiny per-run start fee plus a small per-URL charge. You pay only for URLs you unfurl — no monthly seats. See the Pricing tab for current rates.

Further reading

• Building link previews (unfurling) for chat and CMS apps.
• OpenGraph vs Twitter Card meta tags.