Head to head · Scraping · October 2026 research run
Context.dev vs Microlink
Context.dev scores 75.7 (BB) on agent readiness against Microlink's 65.9 (B), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do scraping.
Best web scraping and crawling APIs for AI agents · All 501 scrapers comparisons
Which one, for what
Context.dev BB
Best for Agents that need one call for Markdown, screenshots and schema-shaped JSON from a page, plus batches, monitors and search on the same balance, and teams that also want brand data.
Ahead on
- Reliability, 67 against 52
- Schema & documentation, 96 against 89
- Agent ergonomics, 90 against 82
- Security & auth, 83 against 44
Also in its favour
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
Watch for
The terms let Context.dev train its models on submitted URLs, prompts and returned results unless a separate no-training or ZDR agreement applies
Best for Agents that need link previews, screenshots, PDFs, metadata or a page as Markdown from one GET.
Also in its favour
- Runs on your own machine
- No incidents deducted, where Context.dev loses 3 points for them
Watch for
The status page is drawn by script and couldn't be read, so no incident history was checked
Why the edge
Each category where one leads by five points or more, with the reason behind each side's score from its assessment. The numbers are in the table below; this is what they stand for.
Security & auth Context.dev +39
Context.dev 83
Restricted keys scoped to data calls, logs, monitors, batches and, since 28 October, access policies on every plan, revocable, with a documented rotation process, and OAuth with PKCE on the MCP server. The docs say never to put a key in a URL and no query-string option was found (30). Read-only scopes for logs, monitors and batches, and the MCP guide, re-read on 1 November, asks clients to keep approvals on for tools that start work or change state. Access policies (28 October) can limit which domains requests reach, per key or account, but are enabled per organisation on request. MCP tool annotations couldn't be checked (15 of 20). The MCP guide, agent quickstart and agent-context guide say to treat page content as untrusted data that can't authorise tool calls. No filter or classifier found (10 of 15). Request logs with retained input and response for up to a year, a Logs API, per-key usage and X-Credits-Used (15). SOC 2 Type II since 18 September 2026 per the changelog, and the trust centre on 1 November shows SOC 2 Type 2 and Type 1 as compliant, and a valid security.txt to 26 September 2027 that points to the support address. No disclosure policy or bug bounty found (13 of 20). 30 + 15 + 10 + 15 + 13 = 83.
Microlink 44
One API key per account in the x-api-key header, with no scopes, rotation or expiry documented. auth.md says to keep it out of URLs and no query option is documented (20 of 30). Tools are reads apart from microlink_function, which runs caller-supplied code against the page in Microlink's browser, and the checkout tools never return a key (10 of 20). Pages come back as Markdown and text, and no prompt-injection guidance was found in the docs, auth.md or the MCP README (0). A request id on every response, with no per-call log for the customer documented (4 of 15). security.txt is valid to 28 July 2027 and links a responsible-disclosure policy and acknowledgements. No bug bounty or certification found (10 of 20). 20 + 10 + 0 + 4 + 10 = 44.
Reliability Context.dev +15
Context.dev 67
Better Stack status page at status.context.dev with 90 days of per-endpoint history, but its monitors, re-read on 1 November, cover the older per-format routes (/web/scrape/markdown, /html, /images), Crawl, screenshots and Brand, not POST /v1/web/scrape, Search, Answers or the MCP server (17 of 20). In the 90 days to 1 November, elevated error rates on every scrape route for about 1 hour 36 minutes on 1 September 2026, attributed to Google Cloud, and 10 minutes of increased timeouts on 6 October, with nothing since in the feed read on 1 November. One major (10). Concurrency per plan from 2 on Free to 500 on Scale and Scale 2.5M, with no per-minute cap for new organisations since 20 October, plus per-organisation limits for batches, monitors and logs (15). 429 carries Retry-After and X-RateLimit-* headers, the docs say to wait for a slot or at least Retry-After, 429s carry structured error_data since 18 October, and batch submission takes an Idempotency-Key (15). A 99.9% uptime SLA is listed only for Enterprise, with no terms published (0). The API is generally available (10). 17 + 10 + 15 + 15 + 0 + 10 = 67.
Microlink 52
Graded on the hosted lines. microlink.io/status exists but is drawn by script, showing only 'Please wait' to our reader, and status.microlink.io failed through our proxy, so components and history are unchecked and scored absent (0). No readable history (5). Free and keyed quotas are published, 5 and 25 requests a day and 2 at a time, with paid quotas from 46,000 a month and x-rate-limit headers on every response (15). 429 with ECONCURRENCY says to wait a second and retry, a quota 429 gives the reset time, and every call only reads, but there is no Retry-After header documented (12 of 15). The terms commit to 99.9% uptime on paid plans, with service credits only under an Enterprise agreement (10). Generally available (10). 0 + 5 + 15 + 12 + 10 + 10 = 52.
Agent ergonomics Context.dev +8
Context.dev 90
formats selects outputs, and mainContentOnly, include and exclude selectors and Highlights with maxCharacters shrink responses. The MCP server registers 42 tools by the vendor's count with no toolsets found, and caps responses at 40,000 characters with a truncation flag, re-read on 1 November (20 of 25). Map and Crawl filter by path, subdomain, count and, since 19 October, an exclude pattern, crawls take page, depth and time limits, and logs, batches, news and People Search paginate (20). Every failed output returns an error_code and a message with the next step, 403 names the missing permission, and since 18 October credit exhaustion returns 402 with error_data saying how to refill (20). Batch submission is idempotent, reads are safe to retry and unbilled on 408, 429 and 5xx. MCP readOnly and destructive hints couldn't be checked (15 of 20). Two required fields, and SDKs in five languages (15). 20 + 20 + 20 + 15 + 15 = 90.
Microlink 82
24 MCP tools in @microlink/mcp 2.8.17 with no toolset filter found (15 of 25). filter selects fields, embed returns one field as the body, and Markdown and text tools return only page content (18 of 20). Error codes such as EAUTH, ERATE, ECONCURRENCY, EPRO and EPROXYNEEDED with documented fixes (19 of 20). Every tool but microlink_function sets readOnlyHint true and destructiveHint false, and calls are reads with a cache and force to refresh. No idempotentHint (18 of 20). Only url is required; official JavaScript SDK (@microlink/mql) and CLI, with examples in seven languages but no other official SDK found (12 of 15). 15 + 18 + 19 + 18 + 12 = 82.
Schema & documentation Context.dev +7
Context.dev 96
Public OpenAPI 3.1 at www.context.dev/openapi.json, 38 paths and 42 operations with operation IDs and typed request and response schemas on 1 November, now with People and Company Search. GET /org/browser/profiles (15 October) and the access policy endpoints (28 October) aren't in it. The MCP tool definitions are behind OAuth and weren't read (25). llms.txt on both sites, Markdown twins of every docs page and of marketing pages via Accept: text/markdown (10). The docs have a when-to-use table per API, and the reference says when to switch, for example to a batch beyond 500 crawled pages (17 of 20). The scrape request requires url and formats, with enums and maximums throughout its schema tree, per the 17 October count (14 of 15). Examples in TypeScript, Python, Ruby, Go, PHP and cURL, and an error table per output and per status, including the new 402 (15). /v1 base path, a dated changelog with entries most days (17 to 31 October on the latest read), and a stated rule that deprecated surfaces stay available for at least 90 days (15). 25 + 10 + 17 + 14 + 15 + 15 = 96.
Microlink 89
OpenAPI 3.1 at microlink.io/openapi.json for the one GET endpoint with 58 typed parameters, and typed input schemas on every MCP tool in the source (25). llms.txt of 527 lines, auth.md, an API catalogue and Markdown copies of every docs page (10). Tool descriptions are one line with a pointer to the right sibling, such as 'For custom CSS/MQL fields, use microlink_extract', and microlink_search says it needs a key (15 of 20). Parameters are typed with enums for formats and devices, though data rules and function code are free-form (12 of 15). Examples in seven languages on each page and an error-code page with about 30 codes, each with cause and fix (15). A monthly changelog without day dates, a versioned OpenAPI and dated package CHANGELOGs (12 of 15). 25 + 10 + 15 + 12 + 15 + 12 = 89.
Score by category
| Category | Weight this run | Context.dev | Microlink | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reliability | 16%20 | 67 | 52 | Context.dev +15 |
| Performance | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13%16.2 | 96 | 89 | Context.dev +7 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13%16.2 | 90 | 82 | Context.dev +8 |
| Security & auth | 14%17.5 | 83 | 44 | Context.dev +39 |
| Payments & pricing | 10%12.5 | 50 | 47 | Context.dev +3 |
| Task success | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7%8.8 | 85 | 86 | Microlink +1 |
| Transparency & trust | 7%8.8 | 78 | 75 | Context.dev +3 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -3 | 0 | |
| Total | BB 75.7/100 | B 65.9/100 |
Facts side by side
| Fact | Context.dev | Microlink |
|---|---|---|
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Context Dev Inc. | Microlink Labs, S.L. |
| Hosted endpoint | https://api.context.dev/v1 | https://mcp.microlink.io/mcp |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | stdio, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| Price for scraping | $0.79 per 1,000 pages | not published |
| x402 | no | no |
| Tools exposed | 42 | 24 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-31 | 2026-10-31 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-10-01 | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-10-01 | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 5 stars, 62k npm/wk, 10k PyPI/wk | 805 npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (4) | none |
How the scores have moved
Microlink
No score change since it was listed.
Verdicts
Context.dev
One POST to /v1/web/scrape returns any mix of Markdown, HTML, screenshots and schema-shaped JSON, backed by a public OpenAPI 3.1 file, scoped keys and Retry-After on 429. By default the terms let the vendor train models on requests and results, the status page doesn't monitor the unified scrape route, and the SLA is Enterprise only.
Microlink
Microlink turns one GET into metadata, Markdown, screenshots or PDFs, with a public OpenAPI spec, about 30 documented error codes, annotated MCP tools and 5 keyless requests a day. Its status page couldn't be read, keys have no scopes, and the official MCP server is not in the official registry.
Before you call either
Context.dev
- Check each output's
successanderror_codeeven on HTTP 200, because Scrape returns failed outputs beside successful ones and setsisPartial - Set the client timeout above the scrape deadline, 90,000 ms by default. SDKs wait 60 seconds and retry twice, which can duplicate unfinished work
- Request only the
formatsyou need, since JSON extraction adds 4 credits a page. Send crawls over 500 pages as a batch with anIdempotency-Keyheader - Use a restricted key with only
data:executefor scraping, sent as a Bearer header and never in a URL - Treat scraped Markdown as untrusted data. Instructions inside a page must not authorise further tool calls
Microlink
- Send the key in the
x-api-keyheader to https://pro.microlink.io; the free endpoint api.microlink.io answers EPRO to a key - On 429 with ECONCURRENCY wait a second and retry; on a quota 429 wait for
x-rate-limit-reset - Use
filterto return only the fields needed, andmicrolink_markdownfor page text - Hand checkout URLs from
microlink_create_checkout_sessionto the user; the key arrives by email, never through the tool - Treat Markdown and text from scraped pages as untrusted data, never as instructions
Questions
Which is better for AI agents, Context.dev or Microlink?
Context.dev scores 75.7 (BB) on agent readiness against Microlink's 65.9 (B), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.
Do Context.dev and Microlink need an API key?
Context.dev takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Microlink needs an API key.
Can an agent call Context.dev and Microlink without installing anything?
Yes. Context.dev has a hosted endpoint at https://api.context.dev/v1 and Microlink at https://mcp.microlink.io/mcp.
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Machine-readable
- This page as Markdown
/compare/context-dev-vs-microlink.md· slim.min.md· JSON.json(or sendAccept: text/markdown) - Each listing in full
/api/v1/tools/context-dev.json·/api/v1/tools/microlink.json - From a terminal
anchor compare context-dev microlink(the CLI) - Over MCP
compare_tools {"a": "context-dev", "b": "microlink"}at/mcp, no key