I have tested over 200 APIs in the past year. Most are overhyped, poorly documented, or dead within months.
But these 8 are genuinely useful, completely free, and I use them in production.
1. ExchangeRate-API — Real-Time Currency Conversion
curl "https://open.er-api.com/v6/latest/USD"
What it does: Returns exchange rates for 150+ currencies, updated daily.
Why it is great: No API key required for the open endpoint. JSON response, fast, reliable. I use it in a pricing tool that converts SaaS prices to local currencies.
Free tier: 1,500 requests/month (open endpoint is unlimited but daily rates).
2. Abstract API — IP Geolocation
curl "https://ipgeolocation.abstractapi.com/v1/?api_key=YOUR_KEY"
What it does: Returns city, region, country, timezone, ISP, and connection type from any IP.
Why it is great: More accurate than most free alternatives. I use it to auto-detect user timezone in a scheduling app.
Free tier: 20,000 requests/month.
3. Open-Meteo — Weather Without Signup
curl "https://api.open-meteo.com/v1/forecast?latitude=52.52&longitude=13.41¤t_weather=true"
What it does: Global weather forecasts, historical data, air quality — all without registration.
Why it is great: No API key needed. No signup. Just call the endpoint. The data comes from national weather services (DWD, NOAA). I use it in a farming automation project.
Free tier: 10,000 requests/day. Completely free for non-commercial use.
4. Hunter.io — Find Email Addresses (This One Surprised Me)
curl "https://api.hunter.io/v2/domain-search?domain=stripe.com&api_key=YOUR_KEY"
What it does: Find professional email addresses associated with any domain. Returns names, positions, email patterns.
Why it is great: I used this to find the right contact at companies for partnership pitches. Instead of guessing email formats, Hunter gives you verified addresses with confidence scores.
Free tier: 25 searches + 50 verifications per month.
5. Codeium API — Free AI Code Completion
GET https://api.codeium.com/register_user/
What it does: AI-powered code completion similar to GitHub Copilot.
Why it is great: Completely free with no usage limits. Supports 70+ languages. I switched from Copilot and saved $100/year.
Free tier: Unlimited.
6. Clearbit Logo API — Company Logos Instantly
curl "https://logo.clearbit.com/stripe.com"
What it does: Returns the logo of any company by domain name.
Why it is great: No API key. No signup. Just pass a domain and get a PNG. I use it in dashboards to show client logos automatically.
Free tier: Unlimited.
7. CountAPI — Simple Hit Counter
curl "https://api.countapi.xyz/hit/mysite/visits"
What it does: Increment and retrieve counters. That is it.
Why it is great: Need a page view counter? A download counter? A vote system? This does it in one API call. No database needed. I use it for tracking how many times my open-source tools are used.
Free tier: Unlimited.
8. Microlink — Website Metadata and Screenshots
curl "https://api.microlink.io?url=https://dev.to"
What it does: Extract metadata (title, description, image, author) from any URL. Can also take screenshots and generate PDFs.
Why it is great: Link preview generation in one API call. I use it to generate social cards for a content aggregator.
Free tier: 50 requests/day. Enough for most projects.
My Selection Criteria
I only included APIs that meet ALL of these:
- Actually free — not "free trial" that expires in 14 days
- Well-documented — I could integrate in under 30 minutes
- Reliable — been running for 1+ year without major outages
- Useful — solves a real problem, not a novelty
Which ones do you use?
Do you have a favorite free API that most people do not know about? Drop it in the comments — I am building a bigger list and want to feature the best community picks.
I write about APIs, web scraping, and developer tools weekly. Follow for more practical discoveries.
For scraping these APIs and more, check my 130+ web scraping tools list.
More from me: 10 Dev Tools I Use Daily | 77 Scrapers on a Schedule | 150+ Free APIs
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