A backlinks API you pay per row

You want the backlinks of a domain or a page in a script, a spreadsheet, n8n or an AI agent: linking URL, anchor text, dofollow or nofollow, authority of the linking site. Most backlink APIs come bundled with an SEO suite subscription and an API unit budget. Here is a route billed per row returned.

What the API returns

One call to Bulk Backlink Checker API on Apify takes up to 1,000 targets (a domain covers the whole site, a URL with a path covers that page only) and returns, in one of four modes:

• Backlinks: one row per link, with sourceUrl, anchor, dofollow, sourceDomainRank and sourcePageRank (0 to 100), spamScore, firstSeen and lastSeen, and flags for new, lost and broken links.
• Referring domains: one row per linking domain, with the rank it passes, its backlink counts (dofollow and nofollow), spam score and first seen date.
• Anchor texts: one row per anchor used in links to the target, with how many backlinks and referring domains use it (dofollow domains apart), to audit an anchor profile or spot spammy anchors.
• Summary: one row per target with its domain rank, total backlinks and referring domains (dofollow apart), spam score, broken links and top countries and TLDs of the links, billed as a single lookup.

Up to 10,000 rows per target, sorted by rank or by newest, with filters for dofollow only and one link per domain. Every row also carries totalAvailable: how many backlinks or referring domains exist for the target, before your row limit. The data comes from a live commercial backlink index, read through its API: no login, no scraping of an SEO tool's website.

What it costs

Example: the top 100 backlinks of 10 competitors cost about $2.00 for the rows plus $0.35 for the 10 lookups on the Starter plan ($19 per month with $19 of usage included, apify.com/pricing); the free Apify plan is enough to test it. Every fee is on the Actor's Pricing tab.

Typical calls

• Backlink gap: referring domains of your site and of three competitors, then keep the domains that link to them but not to you (ready-made n8n workflow to Google Sheets).
• New links each week: sort by newest on a schedule and send the new rows to a sheet or Slack.
• Audit before outreach: dofollow only, one link per domain, sorted by rank, to see which sites are worth contacting.

When a suite subscription is the better choice

• You also use the suite's dashboards, rank tracking and site audits every day: the API often comes with the plan you already pay for. Compare the details on our Ahrefs API and Moz API pages.
• You need historical backlink graphs going back years, which this API does not return.

When a pay-per-row API is the better choice

• You check backlinks a few times a month, for a client audit or a link building campaign, and do not want a monthly plan for it.
• You run it from n8n, Make, Zapier, Google Sheets or an MCP client and want JSON rows you can filter, not a dashboard export.

Competitor facts checked on 2026-10-17 from the linked pages; prices change, check them before you decide.