Open Graph Debugger: Free Check + Official Tools
Debug Open Graph tags free. Compare Facebook and LinkedIn inspectors, verify X cards, and check server-rendered metadata and image responses.
Updated
Start with a free metadata and image check. Fix any page or image errors, then use the destination platform's own inspector or app to verify the result. Each step answers a different question: what your server returned, how a card might look, and what the platform actually displays.
Debug your Open Graph tags free
Check for missing OG tags and an image that fails to load before working through the checklist. No account or payment required.
This reads page HTML and image responses. Local card simulations are separate from actual platform rendering and cache refreshes.
Which Open Graph debugger should you use?
| Task | Tool | What it establishes |
|---|---|---|
| Find missing tags or image errors | OG Fixer free check | The HTML and image response this checker received; no platform cache refresh. |
| Inspect a Facebook share | Facebook Sharing Debugger | Facebook's sharing inspection for the submitted URL. |
| Inspect or refresh a LinkedIn link | LinkedIn Post Inspector | LinkedIn's current preview for new shares; existing posts can retain their old preview. |
| Inspect an X card | X post composer | The preview in your draft. The old Card Validator no longer supplies its visual preview. |
| Check Messages or WhatsApp | The intended messaging app | The result in that client and context; compare it with the metadata report. |
The full OG Fixer checker also renders local card simulations. These help review text and image choice, but are not screenshots returned by the social platforms.
Refresh the platform that is showing the old preview
Use Facebook's Sharing Debugger to inspect its scrape information. If the tool offers Scrape Again, request a new scrape after publishing your fix. That request does not refresh unrelated apps.
LinkedIn explicitly recommends Post Inspector for refreshing a URL. Its help guide notes that the change affects new posts, while existing posts retain their preview.
X announced the removal of Card Validator previews in 2022 and pointed to the composer for previewing. Inspect a draft there; do not rely on an old tutorial promising a rendered card in the validator.
Inspect server-delivered HTML
A browser's Elements panel can include tags added after JavaScript runs. To check the response that arrived from your server, open DevTools → Network, reload the page, select the document request and inspect its Response. View Source is another useful starting point.
Search for og:title, og:image, og:url and relevant Twitter Card tags. Look for the intended values and conflicting duplicates. A tag visible only after client-side rendering may not be available to a metadata fetcher.
Apple's Messages technical note specifically says its previews do not run JavaScript to discover metadata.
Command-line checks for developers
Replace the example URLs with the public page and image you are diagnosing.
# Inspect the page response, following HTTP redirects.
curl -fsSL 'https://example.com/page' | rg -i 'og:|twitter:'
# Compare a request with a different User-Agent header.
curl -fsSL -A 'Twitterbot/1.0' 'https://example.com/page' | rg -i 'og:|twitter:'
# Inspect image GET response headers, discarding the body.
curl -sS -L -D - -o /dev/null 'https://example.com/images/share.jpg'The first commands use rg (ripgrep) to find matching HTML text. They are quick inspection aids, not a full HTML parser. Check response status, content type and redirect destinations as well.
Changing a User-Agent header can reveal response differences. It does not reproduce a platform's network, IP address, authentication or cache. Combine this evidence with server logs and the platform's own result.
Turn the findings into a verified fix
- Save the baseline. Copy the diagnostic report and record the exact page and image URLs.
- Fix the indicated cause. Correct missing tags, the selected image or access errors before replacing working artwork.
- Recheck the deployed page. Confirm the checker now receives the intended content.
- Verify in the destination platform. Use its inspector or a fresh draft and record any remaining difference.
For specific problems, continue with the WhatsApp guide, iMessage guide or image size guide.
Start with a free diagnostic report
Check the tags and referenced image, then copy the findings for your developer. No account or payment required.
Debug your URL free →Sources and scope
Platform behavior is linked to official tools and documentation above. The Open Graph protocol defines the metadata fields. Our methodology explains the limits of fetched evidence and local simulations.