5 Free APIs I Actually Use Every Week (With Working Code)

#webdev #api #discuss #beginners

There are thousands of free APIs. Most are toys. These 5 are the ones I actually use in production every single week.

1. Open-Meteo — Weather Without Signup

curl "https://api.open-meteo.com/v1/forecast?latitude=52.52&longitude=13.41&current_weather=true"

No API key. No signup. Global coverage. I use it in a CLI tool that checks weather before I go running.

Full tutorial: Build a Weather CLI in 20 Lines of Python

2. Wikipedia REST API — Knowledge on Demand

curl "https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/summary/Python_(programming_language)" | jq '.extract'

No key needed. 300+ languages. I use it to enrich content with background information.

Full tutorial: Wikipedia API Guide

3. Unsplash — 4M+ Free HD Photos

fetch('https://api.unsplash.com/search/photos?query=coding', {
  headers: { Authorization: 'Client-ID YOUR_KEY' }
})

Free for commercial use. No watermarks. I use it for auto-generating blog post cover images.

Full tutorial: Unsplash API Guide

4. Spotify — Audio Analysis and Music Data

requests.get('https://api.spotify.com/v1/search',
    headers={'Authorization': f'Bearer {token}'},
    params={'q': 'lofi', 'type': 'track'}
)

Danceability, energy, tempo — Spotify analyzes every track. I use it for a mood-based playlist generator.

Full tutorial: Spotify API Guide

5. Notion — Workspace Automation

requests.post(f'https://api.notion.com/v1/databases/{db_id}/query',
    headers={'Authorization': f'Bearer {token}', 'Notion-Version': '2022-06-28'}
)

Automate page creation, database queries, content updates. I use it to auto-track published articles.

Full tutorial: Notion API Guide

Why These 5?

I tested 200+ APIs. These survived because they:

Actually work — no random 500 errors or sudden deprecation
Have generous free tiers — enough for real projects, not just demos
Are well-documented — I could integrate each in under 30 minutes
Solve real problems — not novelty APIs, but tools I reach for weekly

Which free API do you use the most?

I know I am missing great ones. What is your weekly-use API that most developers have never heard of? Best suggestions go into my next roundup.

I write about APIs, automation, and developer tools. Follow me for weekly practical tutorials.

Explore more: 130+ Web Scraping Tools | 8 Free APIs You Should Know

Need custom dev tools, scrapers, or API integrations? I build automation for dev teams. Email spinov001@gmail.com — or explore awesome-web-scraping.