Fetch (MCP reference server) vs Linkup

Fetch (MCP reference server)

One tool of about 300 tokens, with max_length and start_index paging and a hint giving the next offset. Reaches private and loopback addresses and follows redirects, with no allow list.

Linkup

Per-call prices from $0.005, and no credit taken for errors, missing parameters or empty results. 429 covers both exhausted credit and rate limiting, with no Retry-After.

Fetch (MCP reference server)

1. Fetch with the 5,000-character default and continue from the start_index the truncation note gives
2. Expect empty bodies from JavaScript-rendered sites and switch to a browser tool
3. Treat a robots.txt refusal as final for autonomous calls and tell the user
4. Use raw: true only for non-HTML content. It skips the Markdown conversion and returns the page as served

Linkup

1. On 429, check the credit balance before backing off. The same code means out of credit
2. Pass reasoningDepth: "S" to research unless you need more. The MCP default is L at $1.50
3. Start with depth=fast and outputType=searchResults. Deep costs $0.05, ten times as much
4. Send the key as an Authorization: Bearer header, not ?apiKey= or a command-line argument
5. Poll linkup-get-research with the task id. Research runs take minutes