> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.brandfetch.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Google Favicon API

> Why Google's unofficial favicon endpoint isn't a substitute for a real logo API

Google's `s2/favicons` endpoint fetches a website's favicon, not its logo, but it's free and shows up often as a quick hack for displaying company "logos." It's worth understanding what it actually returns before relying on it.

<Warning>
  Google doesn't publish or officially support this endpoint. It's unmaintained, has no uptime guarantee, and can change or disappear at any time.
</Warning>

## Brand quality & time to value

There's no brand dataset behind Google's endpoint, it returns whatever favicon happens to be declared in a site's HTML at request time, with no check that it represents the brand at all. Brandfetch resolves an actual logo for 95% of brands in its core distribution, and 86% even at the extreme long tail of small, non-tech businesses, [measured and published openly](/accuracy/coverage-and-quality).

That gap turns into engineering time, not just a worse-looking result. Teams pulling from Google's endpoint end up writing their own detection for missing, generic, or wrong-looking favicons before they can ship. A link that's already been verified against real brand data skips that work entirely.

## Quick comparison

|                 | Brandfetch                                                  | Google Favicon API                                                                                 |
| --------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Status          | Actively maintained, documented                             | Unofficial, unsupported                                                                            |
| What it returns | The brand's actual logo, icon, or symbol                    | The site's favicon, 16px by default                                                                |
| Max size        | Any size via `w`/`h`, aspect ratio preserved                | Capped by the icons the site itself exposes, a 256px request can come back at 192px, 32px, or less |
| Formats         | PNG, JPG, WebP, SVG                                         | PNG only                                                                                           |
| Theme variants  | Light, dark                                                 | Not available                                                                                      |
| Fallback        | Lettermark, Brandfetch mark, transparent, 404               | Generic globe icon, served with a 404                                                              |
| Identifiers     | Domain, ticker, ISIN, crypto                                | Domain only                                                                                        |
| Rate limits     | 500,000 requests/mo free, with documented throughput limits | None published, aggressive use may be throttled                                                    |

## How requests compare

**Google Favicon API**

<CodeGroup>
  ```text theme={null}
  https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=nike.com&sz=128
  ```
</CodeGroup>

**Brandfetch**

<CodeGroup>
  ```text theme={null}
  https://cdn.brandfetch.io/nike.com/w/128/h/128/icon?c=BRANDFETCH_CLIENT_ID
  ```
</CodeGroup>

## Why a favicon isn't a logo

Favicons are designed to be legible at 16x16 pixels in a browser tab, not to represent a brand in a product UI. Most sites' favicons are cropped, low-resolution, or a generic icon unrelated to the brand's actual logo. There's no way to request a full logo, a dark-mode variant, or a specific brand asset type from Google's endpoint, because it was never built to serve one.

## Why teams choose Brandfetch

* **Real logos, not favicons.** Every request pulls from Brandfetch's brand dataset, not a compressed browser-tab icon.
* **Built for production.** 100% uptime and documented rate limits, backed by a team that maintains it.
* **Actual customization.** Size, format, theme, type, and fallback are all first-class parameters.

## Get started

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Logo API overview" icon="circles-overlap" href="/logo-api/overview" iconType="light" cta="Learn more">
    See the full feature set and implementation guide
  </Card>

  <Card title="Get your client ID" icon="key" href="https://developers.brandfetch.com/register" iconType="light" cta="Register">
    Free account, no credit card required
  </Card>
</CardGroup>