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miccho27
miccho27

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Build a Multi-Source News Feed in 10 Lines — Free News Aggregator API (NewsAPI Alternative)

#webdev #python #api #javascript

NewsAPI.org is great — until you try to use it in production. The free tier blocks commercial use, restricts responses to 100 articles, and enforces a 100-request-per-day limit. By the time you need it for something real, you're looking at $449/month for their business plan.

I built a lightweight alternative that aggregates headlines from Hacker News, Dev.to, and major RSS feeds through a single endpoint. Free tier, commercial use OK, and it runs on Cloudflare's edge so response times are fast.

What You Get (Free Tier: 500 requests/month)

  • Top news from BBC, NYT, Reuters
  • Tech news from TechCrunch, Hacker News, Dev.to
  • Business news feed
  • Full-text search via Hacker News Algolia
  • Dev.to trending articles
  • Structured JSON: title, URL, published date, source

Quick Start

Python — Fetch Tech News 

import requests

API_KEY = "your-rapidapi-key"
headers = {
    "x-rapidapi-key": API_KEY,
    "x-rapidapi-host": "news-aggregator-api1.p.rapidapi.com"
}

# Get tech headlines
response = requests.get(
    "https://news-aggregator-api1.p.rapidapi.com/tech",
    headers=headers
)

news = response.json()
for article in news.get("articles", [])[:5]:
    print(f"[{article['source']}] {article['title']}")
    print(f"  {article['url']}\n")
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JavaScript — Build a News Dashboard 

const BASE = 'https://news-aggregator-api1.p.rapidapi.com';
const headers = {
  'x-rapidapi-key': 'your-rapidapi-key',
  'x-rapidapi-host': 'news-aggregator-api1.p.rapidapi.com'
};

async function buildNewsDashboard() {
  // Fetch multiple categories in parallel
  const [top, tech, hn] = await Promise.all([
    fetch(`${BASE}/top`, { headers }).then(r => r.json()),
    fetch(`${BASE}/tech`, { headers }).then(r => r.json()),
    fetch(`${BASE}/hackernews/top`, { headers }).then(r => r.json()),
  ]);

  return {
    topNews: top.articles?.slice(0, 3) || [],
    techNews: tech.articles?.slice(0, 3) || [],
    hackerNews: hn.items?.slice(0, 3) || [],
  };
}

buildNewsDashboard().then(dashboard => {
  console.log('=== Top News ===');
  dashboard.topNews.forEach(a => console.log(`• ${a.title}`));

  console.log('\n=== Tech News ===');
  dashboard.techNews.forEach(a => console.log(`• ${a.title}`));

  console.log('\n=== Hacker News ===');
  dashboard.hackerNews.forEach(a => console.log(`• ${a.title}`));
});
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All Endpoints

Method Path Description
GET /top Headlines from BBC, NYT, Reuters
GET /tech Tech news from TechCrunch, HN, Dev.to
GET /business Business news from Reuters, Bloomberg
GET /search?q=query Full-text search via Hacker News Algolia
GET /hackernews/top Top Hacker News stories with scores
GET /devto/latest Latest articles from Dev.to

Use Case: Slack News Bot 

import requests
import json

RAPIDAPI_KEY = "your-rapidapi-key"
SLACK_WEBHOOK = "https://hooks.slack.com/services/YOUR/WEBHOOK/URL"

def post_daily_digest():
    headers = {
        "x-rapidapi-key": RAPIDAPI_KEY,
        "x-rapidapi-host": "news-aggregator-api1.p.rapidapi.com"
    }

    # Get top tech stories
    r = requests.get(
        "https://news-aggregator-api1.p.rapidapi.com/tech",
        headers=headers
    )
    articles = r.json().get("articles", [])[:5]

    # Format for Slack
    blocks = [{"type": "header", "text": {"type": "plain_text", "text": "📰 Daily Tech Digest"}}]
    for article in articles:
        blocks.append({
            "type": "section",
            "text": {
                "type": "mrkdwn",
                "text": f"*<{article['url']}|{article['title']}>*\n_{article.get('source', 'Unknown')}_"
            }
        })

    requests.post(SLACK_WEBHOOK, json={"blocks": blocks})
    print(f"Posted {len(articles)} articles to Slack")

post_daily_digest()
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Use Case: Monitor a Keyword in HN 

import requests

def monitor_keyword(keyword: str, min_score: int = 50):
    """Find HN stories mentioning a keyword with significant traction."""
    r = requests.get(
        "https://news-aggregator-api1.p.rapidapi.com/search",
        headers={
            "x-rapidapi-key": "your-rapidapi-key",
            "x-rapidapi-host": "news-aggregator-api1.p.rapidapi.com"
        },
        params={"q": keyword}
    )
    results = r.json().get("hits", [])

    print(f"Top HN results for '{keyword}':")
    for item in results[:5]:
        score = item.get("points", 0)
        if score >= min_score:
            print(f"  [{score} pts] {item['title']}")
            print(f"  {item.get('url', 'N/A')}")

monitor_keyword("Cloudflare Workers")
monitor_keyword("AI API")
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Pricing

Plan Price Requests/month Rate Limit
Basic (FREE) $0 500 1 req/sec
Pro $5.99 50,000 10 req/sec
Ultra $14.99 500,000 50 req/sec

Available on RapidAPI: News Aggregator API

How It Compares

Feature This API NewsAPI.org Free Currents API Free
Commercial use ✅ ❌ ✅
Hacker News ✅ ❌ ❌
Dev.to articles ✅ ❌ ❌
Free req/month 500 100/day 600/day
Price for 50K req $5.99 $49 $39

See All My Free APIs

This is one of 24 free APIs I've built on Cloudflare Workers. Others include crypto prices, screenshot capture, SEO analysis, AI translation, and more.

Browse all 24 APIs on RapidAPI →

Building something with this? I'd love to see it — drop a comment below.

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