Introduction
"Whatever data you need, someone has almost certainly already organized it here."
This is the 177th article in the "One Open Source Project a Day" series. Today's project is public-apis.
Every developer has hit this scenario: you want to add a feature — real-time weather, currency exchange rates, random quotes, IP geolocation — and spend half a day hunting for "where is there a free API I can use," sorting out which ones need registration, which have rate limits, which support CORS…
public-apis exists precisely to solve that problem. A community-maintained list of free APIs: 1,400+ APIs, 50+ categories, each entry annotated with authentication method, HTTPS support, and CORS policy.
474k Stars, GitHub's top three by star count, MIT license.
What You Will Learn
- The complete categorization system (50+ categories, representative APIs in each)
- How to quickly find the API type you need
- Auth methods and usage constraint explanations across API types
Prerequisites
- Understanding of REST API basics
- Knowing what CORS, HTTPS, and API Key authentication are
Project Background
What It Is
public-apis is a pure documentation repository. The core is one very large table in README.md — each row is a usable public API, each column is key metadata:
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| API | Service name (with link) |
| Description | Brief feature description |
| Auth | Authentication method (apiKey / OAuth / No) |
| HTTPS | Whether HTTPS is supported (Yes / No) |
| CORS | Cross-origin policy (Yes / No / Unknown) |
CORS = Yes means the API can be called directly from the browser without a backend proxy — hugely important for frontend developers.
Project Stats
- ⭐ GitHub Stars: 474,000+ (top 3 on GitHub)
- 🍴 Forks: 52,400+
- 📄 License: MIT
- 📝 API count: 1,400+
- 🗂️ Categories: 50+
- 📅 Active maintenance: community contributions, updated weekly
Complete Category List
All categories with representative APIs, listed alphabetically.
🐾 Animals
Animal photos, facts, species data
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Cat Facts / Cataas | Random cat facts + cat photo service |
| Dog Facts / Dogs | Random dog facts + Stanford Dogs dataset |
| HTTP Cat / HTTP Dog | Cat/dog photos for every HTTP status code |
| eBird | Recent bird observations within a region |
| IUCN | Red List of Threatened Species |
| Movebank | Animal migration and movement data |
| Petfinder / AdoptAPet | Pet adoption information |
| RandomFox / RandomDuck | Random fox/duck photos |
| The Dog / Shibe.Online | Shiba Inu/cat/bird random photos |
| xeno-canto | Global bird call recordings |
🎌 Anime
Anime databases, images, quotes
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| AniList / AniDB | Anime discovery and tracking databases |
| Jikan | Unofficial MyAnimeList API |
| AnimeChan | 10k+ anime quotes |
| MangaDex | Manga database and community |
| Studio Ghibli | Studio Ghibli film resources |
| Trace Moe | Find anime scene from a screenshot |
| Waifu.im / Waifu.pics | 4,000+ anime image archive |
| Kitsu | Anime discovery platform |
🛡️ Anti-Malware
IP/domain/URL reputation, malware analysis
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| VirusTotal | File/URL malware analysis |
| Google Safe Browsing | Google link/domain flagging |
| AbuseIPDB | IP/domain/URL reputation |
| URLhaus / URLScan.io | Malicious URL query and analysis |
| MalwareBazaar | Malware sample collection and sharing |
| AlienVault OTX | Open threat intelligence exchange |
| Phisherman | Phishing site IP/URL reputation |
🎨 Art & Design
Museum collections, icons, color palettes, image generation
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Art Institute of Chicago | AIC collection data |
| Metropolitan Museum of Art | Met Museum collection |
| Harvard Art Museums | Harvard art collection |
| Rijksmuseum | Dutch national museum collection |
| Europeana | European museums and galleries |
| Colormind | AI color scheme generation |
| Iconify | 200+ open source SVG icon sets |
| DummyImage | Custom placeholder image generation |
| EmojiHub | Emoji by category/group |
| Word Cloud | Word cloud image generation |
🔐 Authentication & Authorization
Login, OTP, access control
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Auth0 | Adaptable authentication and authorization |
| GetOTP | Quick OTP flow implementation |
| Stytch | User infrastructure for modern apps |
| MojoAuth | Passwordless authentication |
| Warrant | Authorization and access control APIs |
⛓️ Blockchain
On-chain data, smart contracts, DEX
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Etherscan | Ethereum blockchain explorer API |
| Covalent | Multi-chain data aggregator |
| The Graph | Ethereum GraphQL indexing protocol |
| DefiLlama | DeFi TVL, token prices, volumes, yields |
| Solana JSON RPC | Solana blockchain interaction endpoints |
| Chainlink | Hybrid smart contract building |
📚 Books
Book data, poetry, religious texts
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Google Books | Book information |
| Open Library | Book records, covers, and related data |
| Gutendex | Project Gutenberg library data |
| PoetryDB | Instant access to a vast poetry collection |
| Bible-api | Multi-language Bible API |
| Quran / Quran Cloud | RESTful Quran API (multi-language/translation) |
| Wizard World / PotterDB | Harry Potter universe data |
| Bhagavad Gita | Bhagavad Gita (21+ translations) |
💼 Business
Company info, marketing, payments, procurement
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Clearbit Logo | Company logo search and embedding |
| Freelancer | Freelance platform task data |
| Gmail / Mailchimp | Email sending and marketing campaigns |
| Google Analytics | Data collection and analysis |
| Square | Payment processing and refunds |
| Trello | Kanban task management |
| markerapi | Trademark search |
| Tenders (Hungary/Poland/Romania/Spain/Ukraine) | Government procurement data |
📅 Calendar
Public holidays, religious calendars, working day queries
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Calendarific | Worldwide holidays |
| Nager.Date | Public holidays for 90+ countries |
| Google Calendar | Create/modify Google calendar events |
| Hebrew Calendar | Gregorian ↔ Hebrew calendar conversion |
| Church Calendar | Catholic liturgical calendar |
| UK Bank Holidays | England/Wales/Scotland bank holidays |
☁️ Cloud Storage & File Sharing
File upload, sharing, storage
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Dropbox / Google Drive / OneDrive / Box | Major cloud storage services |
| File.io | Anonymous temporary file sharing |
| Pastebin | Plain text storage |
| Imgbb | Quick private image sharing |
| Pantry | Free JSON storage for small projects |
| Web3 Storage | Free 1TB IPFS file storage |
⚙️ Continuous Integration
CI/CD platform APIs
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| CircleCI | GitHub code automated testing |
| Travis CI | CI builds and testing |
| Bitrise | Mobile dev build pipelines |
| Azure DevOps Health | Azure service health status |
| Buddy | CI/CD platform |
💰 Cryptocurrency
Real-time/historical prices, DEX, on-chain data
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| CoinGecko | Crypto prices, market cap, dev/social data |
| CoinMarketCap | Crypto rankings and prices |
| Binance / Kraken / Bitfinex | Major exchange market data |
| DefiLlama | Open DeFi data (TVL/prices/volumes/yields) |
| Ethplorer | Ethereum token balances, addresses, history |
| Mempool | Bitcoin transaction fees and mempool |
| 1inch / 0x | DEX aggregated quotes and liquidity |
| Hyperliquid | Open interest and funding rate data |
💱 Currency Exchange
Real-time/historical exchange rates, conversion
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Exchangerate.host | Free forex and crypto rates |
| Fixer / Currencylayer | Exchange rates and conversion |
| Frankfurter | Rates, conversion and historical time series |
| Currency-api | 150+ currencies, no rate limits |
| ExchangeRate-API | Free currency conversion |
| Central Bank APIs (Czech/Polish/Russian) | Official central bank rates |
✅ Data Validation
Address verification, phone numbers, VAT numbers
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Lob.com | US address verification |
| US Street Address | US postal address validation |
| VATlayer / VATComply | EU VAT number validation |
| PurgoMalum | Profanity and obscenity content filter |
| Postman Echo | HTTP method test server |
🛠️ Development
Screenshots, QR codes, IP lookup, code execution, web scraping
The largest category in the list — 100+ APIs. Grouped by sub-function:
IP & Networking
| API | Purpose |
|:----|:--------|
| IPify / IPinfo | Simple IP address APIs |
| ip-fast.com | IP address, country, and city |
| Cloudflare Trace | IP, timestamp, user agent, country code |
| MAC address vendor lookup | MAC address manufacturer lookup |
| NetworkCalc | Subnet, DNS, binary, and security calculators |
Screenshots & Web
| API | Purpose |
|:----|:--------|
| ApiFlash / Browshot / Screenshot | Web page screenshot APIs |
| ScreenshotAPI.net | Pixel-perfect website screenshots |
| SavePage.io | Desktop/mobile website screenshots |
| import.io | Extract structured data from websites or RSS |
QR Codes & Barcodes
| API | Purpose |
|:----|:--------|
| QR code (goqr.me) | Generate and decode QR code images |
| QR Code Crafter | SVG/PNG/JPG/WebP/PDF/EPS QR codes |
| QR Codes | Single GET request QR code generation (with logo embedding) |
| Orca Scan | Barcode image generation (QR/Code 128/EAN/Data Matrix) |
Code Execution
| API | Purpose |
|:----|:--------|
| Judge0 CE | Online code execution engine |
| Wandbox | 35+ language code compiler |
| Codex | Multi-language online compiler |
Web Scraping
| API | Purpose |
|:----|:--------|
| ScraperApi / ScrapeNinja / ZenRows | Anti-bot web scraping APIs |
| Webclaw | Web content extraction for LLMs |
| ProxyCrawl | Anti-captcha scraping service |
Dev Utilities
| API | Purpose |
|:----|:--------|
| JSONPlaceholder / ReqRes | Fake REST APIs for testing |
| Httpbin | HTTP request & response testing |
| GitHub / GitLab | Repository, code, user info APIs |
| APIs.guru | Wikipedia for Web APIs (OpenAPI specs) |
| npm Registry | Node.js package info |
| Genderize / Agify / Nationalize | Infer gender/age/nationality from names |
📖 Dictionaries
Definitions, synonyms, pronunciation
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Free Dictionary | Definitions, phonetics, pronunciations, examples, synonyms |
| Merriam-Webster | Dictionary and thesaurus data |
| Oxford | Dictionary data |
| Wiktionary | Collaborative dictionary data |
| Lingua Robot | Definitions, pronunciations, synonyms, antonyms |
| Chinese Character Web | Chinese character definitions and pronunciations |
📄 Documents & Productivity
PDF generation, file conversion, project management
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| OCR.Space | Image/PDF text recognition (free tier) |
| iLovePDF | PDF merge/split/text extraction |
| CloudConvert | Audio/video/document/ebook conversion |
| Notion / Airtable | Knowledge base and spreadsheet integration |
| JIRA | Bug tracking and agile project management |
| ClickUp / Monday / Todoist | Task and project management |
| PandaDoc | Document generation and e-signature |
| DocStruct | AI extraction of invoices/receipts/contracts to JSON/CSV |
| WakaTime | Automatic programmer time tracking |
Email validation, disposable inboxes, sending services
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Sendgrid / Mailtrap | Cloud SMTP email delivery services |
| Guerrilla Mail / mail.tm | Temporary disposable email addresses |
| Kickbox / MailboxValidator | Email address deliverability verification |
| EVA / Disify | Email verification (including disposable detection) |
| Hunter | Domain email search and verification |
| ImprovMX | Free email forwarding service |
🎭 Entertainment
Jokes, memes, quotes, horoscopes
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| chucknorris.io | Curated Chuck Norris jokes |
| JokeAPI | Multi-language jokes with filtering |
| Imgflip | Popular meme templates array |
| justmeme.wtf | 2,400+ meme template API |
| Random Useless Facts | Random but true facts |
| TasteDive | Content-based recommendations (movies/music/games/books) |
| CosmyDay Astrology | Natal charts and sky event computations |
🌍 Environment
Air quality, carbon emissions, renewable energy
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| IQAir / OpenAQ | Air quality and weather data |
| Carbon Interface / Climatiq | Carbon emission estimates (flights/driving/energy) |
| Open-Meteo | Free weather API for non-commercial use |
| UK Carbon Intensity | Official UK grid carbon intensity API |
| PM2.5 Open Data Portal | Low-cost PM2.5 sensor open data |
| kanari | Global wildfire detection and water bomber tracking |
| PVWatts | Photovoltaic solar energy generation prediction |
🎟️ Events
Concerts, ticketing, venues
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Eventbrite | Event search |
| Ticketmaster | Events, attractions, venue search |
| SeatGeek | Events, venues, and performer search |
💹 Finance
Stocks, funds, macroeconomics, SEC filings
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Alpha Vantage / Twelve Data | Real-time and historical stock data |
| Financial Modeling Prep | Real-time and historical stock data |
| Finnhub | Stocks/currencies/crypto real-time RESTful + WebSocket |
| IEX Cloud | Real-time and historical stock and market data |
| FRED | Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis economic data |
| Polygon | Historical stock market data |
| Plaid / Nordigen | Connect user bank accounts, access transaction data |
| Yahoo Finance | Low-latency real-time stock/crypto data |
| SEC EDGAR | US public company annual reports API |
| YNAB | Budgeting and financial planning |
🍔 Food & Drink
Nutrition data, recipes, food products
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Edamam nutrition | Nutritional analysis |
| Edamam recipes | Recipe search |
| Chomp | Grocery product and food data |
| Open Food Facts | Open food nutrition database |
| TheMealDB | Global meal and recipe database |
🎮 Games & Comics
Game databases, esports, card games, comics
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| PokéAPI | Complete Pokémon database |
| Steam | Steam game and user data |
| IGDB | Internet Game Database |
| Magic The Gathering / Scryfall | MTG card data |
| Open Trivia | Programmable multi-category trivia questions |
| BoardGameGeek | Board game database |
| Clash of Clans / Clash Royale | Supercell mobile game data |
| Final Fantasy XIV | FF14 game data |
| xkcd Comics | xkcd webcomic data |
| Marvel | Marvel comics universe data |
| Riot Games | League of Legends/TFT game data |
🗺️ Geocoding
Coordinate conversion, address search, mapping services
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Google Maps | Maps, routing, places |
| Mapbox | Customizable maps and navigation |
| HERE Maps | Map and geographic data services |
| Nominatim (OpenStreetMap) | Open-source geocoding |
| OpenCage | Forward/reverse geocoding |
| GeoNames | Global place names and geographic data |
| LocationIQ | Geocoding and reverse geocoding |
| REST Countries | Country info (geography/language/currency) |
| Zippopotam | Postal code lookup |
🏛️ Government
US/EU/global government open data
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Data USA | US government open data |
| FBI Crime Data | US crime statistics |
| census.gov | US Census Bureau data |
| USASpending.gov | Federal spending data |
| regulations.gov | Federal regulatory data |
| Congress.gov | Legislative information |
🏥 Health
Medical data, disease statistics, drugs
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| openFDA | US food/drug/device data |
| MedlinePlus | Health and medical information |
| USDA FoodData Central | Comprehensive food and nutrition data |
| Open Disease | Global disease statistics |
| CMS.gov | Medicare and Medicaid data |
💼 Jobs
Job search, remote work, government positions
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Adzuna | Job listing aggregator |
| Reed | UK job board |
| Remotive / Jobicy | Remote work listings |
| USAJOBS | US federal government positions |
| GitHub Jobs | Developer-focused positions |
| DevITjobs UK | UK tech job listings |
🤖 Machine Learning
AI models, image recognition, NLP
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| OpenAI | GPT family language models |
| Hugging Face | Open-source ML model hosting |
| Clarifai | AI image and video recognition |
| Cohere | NLP and text generation models |
| Wolfram Alpha | Computational knowledge engine |
| Roboflow | Computer vision training tools |
| Dialogflow | Google conversational AI |
| Imagga | Image analysis and tagging |
🎵 Music
Music catalogs, lyrics, concert info
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Spotify | Music streaming and discovery |
| Last.fm | Music discovery and scrobbling |
| Genius | Lyrics and music annotation |
| Musixmatch | Lyrics and music metadata |
| MusicBrainz | Open music encyclopedia |
| Discogs | Music database and marketplace |
| Bandsintown / Songkick | Artist tour and concert data |
| Deezer | Streaming music library access |
| TheAudioDB | Music metadata and artwork |
| Jamendo | Free music for creative use |
📰 News
Global news aggregation, historical archives
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| New York Times | NYT article search |
| The Guardian | Guardian newspaper articles |
| HackerNews | Tech community news and discussions |
| Gnews / Currents | Aggregated global news |
| Newscatcher / NewsData | Multi-country, multi-language news |
| Mediastack | Live news and blog articles |
| Chronicling America | US historical newspaper archive |
| MarketAux | Financial news with sentiment analysis |
📊 Open Data
General datasets, knowledge bases, city data
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Wikipedia / Wikidata | Encyclopedia content and structured knowledge |
| World Bank | Global development indicators |
| OpenCorporates | Global company data |
| Teleport | City quality of life data |
| Universities List | World university directory |
| Archive.org | Internet Archive access |
| Quandl | Financial and economic datasets |
📋 Patent
Patents and intellectual property
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| USPTO | US patent and trademark search |
| EPO | European Patent Office data |
| TIPO | Taiwan IP Office |
💬 Personality
Inspirational quotes, advice, affirmations
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Quotable / FavQs.com | Random inspirational quotes |
| Advice Slip | Random life advice |
| kanye.rest | Kanye West quotes |
| Affirmations.dev | Positive affirmations |
| Programming Quotes | Developer-oriented quotes |
| Forismatic | Inspirational sayings |
📱 Phone
Phone number validation and lookup
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| numverify | Global phone number validation and lookup |
| Twilio | SMS and voice call platform |
| Vonage | Multi-channel communication APIs |
| Abstract Phone Validation | Global phone number lookup |
📷 Photography
Photo libraries, placeholder images, image optimization
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Unsplash | High-quality free photographs |
| Pexels | Free stock photography |
| Pixabay | Royalty-free images and videos |
| Lorem Picsum | Random placeholder photos |
| Imgur | Community image hosting |
| Flickr | Photo sharing platform |
| Shutterstock / Getty Images | Commercial stock photography |
| PhotoRoom | Background removal API |
| Wallhaven | Wallpaper discovery |
| ReSmush.it | Image optimization service |
💻 Programming
Competitive programming, code execution
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Codeforces | Competitive programming data |
| KONTESTS | Upcoming programming contest aggregator |
| Judge0 CE | Online code execution |
| Hackerearth | Coding challenges and developer info |
🔬 Science & Math
Space, astronomy, earthquakes, academic research
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| NASA | Space imagery, APOD, Mars rover photos |
| Open Notify | ISS real-time position and astronauts aboard |
| SpaceX REST | SpaceX launches, rockets, capsule data |
| Launch Library 2 | Rocket launch schedule data |
| arXiv | Academic preprint repository |
| PubMed | Biomedical literature database |
| USGS Earthquake Hazards | Real-time seismic activity |
| Newton | Advanced math solver |
| Nobel Prize | Laureate and prize history |
🔒 Security
Vulnerabilities, threat intelligence, identity
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Shodan | Internet-connected device search |
| HaveIBeenPwned | Breach and password exposure check |
| National Vulnerability Database | US CVE and vulnerability data |
| VirusTotal | File/URL malware analysis |
| BinaryEdge | Internet-wide threat scanning |
| Censys | Internet host and certificate scanning |
| GreyNoise | Internet background noise scanning |
| GitGuardian | Secrets detection in repositories |
| Mozilla Observatory | Website security grading |
| Snyk | Open-source vulnerability scanning |
🛍️ Shopping
E-commerce platforms, product data
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| eBay | Marketplace product listings |
| Best Buy | Electronics product and store data |
| WooCommerce | WordPress e-commerce integration |
| Shopee / Lazada | Asian e-commerce platforms |
| FakeStoreAPI | Mock e-commerce product data for testing |
🌐 Social
Major social platform APIs
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Social graph and page data | |
| Photo and story platform | |
| Microblogging platform | |
| Forum and community data | |
| Professional network data | |
| YouTube Data | Video and channel metadata |
| TikTok | Short-form video platform data |
| Twitch | Game streaming platform data |
| Discord/Slack | Communication and collaboration platforms |
| ProductHunt | New product launch community |
🏆 Sports & Fitness
All sports data, live scores
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| API-FOOTBALL | Soccer statistics and fixtures |
| NBA / MLB / NHL | US professional league official data |
| Ergast F1 | Formula One historical race data |
| balldontlie | NBA statistics |
| Cricket Live | Cricket live scores |
| SportsDB / TheSportsDB | Multi-sport statistics database |
| Strava | Athlete activity tracking |
| Wger | Workout and exercise database |
🧪 Test Data
Fake data, placeholders, random users
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| JSONPlaceholder | Fake REST API for testing and prototyping |
| RandomUser | Generated user profile data |
| FakerAPI | Realistic fake data generation |
| FakeStoreAPI | Mock e-commerce product data |
| Mockaroo | Custom test data schemas |
| Bacon Ipsum | Meat-themed lorem ipsum text |
| Dicebear Avatars | Generated placeholder avatars |
| RoboHash | Unique robot/monster avatar images |
| This Person Does Not Exist | AI-generated face images |
| UUID Generator | RFC-compliant UUID creation |
📝 Text Analysis
NLP, translation, sentiment analysis
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Google Cloud NLP | Sentiment/entity/syntax analysis |
| IBM Watson NLU | Advanced text understanding |
| Detect Language | Language identification from text |
| Meaningcloud | Deep semantic text analysis |
| EdenAI | Multi-provider NLP aggregator |
| SYSTRAN | Professional translation API |
| Microsoft Text Analytics | Cognitive language services |
📦 Tracking
Package and shipment tracking
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Aftership | Multi-carrier shipment tracking |
| UPS | UPS parcel tracking |
| Ship24 | Universal parcel tracking |
| Postmon / Correios | Brazilian postal tracking |
| Pixela | Goal and habit tracking visualization |
✈️ Transportation
Flights, public transit, real-time schedules
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| ADS-B Exchange | Global real-time flight tracking |
| Aviationstack | Real-time flight status and global aviation data |
| Amadeus for Developers | Travel and flight search platform |
| Skyscanner | Global flight price comparison |
| Uber | Ride-hailing price and availability |
| GraphHopper | Route planning and navigation engine |
| TransitLand | Open transit data aggregator |
| Navitia | Open transit data platform |
| AIS Hub | Marine vessel tracking |
| Transport for London/NYC/Paris/Berlin/… | Real-time transit data for world cities |
🔗 URL Shorteners
Link shortening and tracking
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Bitly | Link management and shortening |
| TinyURL | Classic URL shortener |
| Rebrandly | Custom domain link shortening |
| Kutt | Open-source link shortening |
| Cutt.ly / Shrtcode | URL shorteners with analytics |
🚗 Vehicle
Vehicle info, VIN decoding, safety ratings
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| NHTSA | US vehicle safety ratings and recalls |
| Car Query | Vehicle specification database |
| Vehicle APIs | VIN decoding and specs |
| Tesla | EV telemetry and vehicle control |
| Carnumber | UK vehicle registration lookup |
🎬 Video
Movie/TV databases, streaming info
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| The Movie Database (TMDB) | Community movie and TV metadata |
| OMDB | Open Movie Database |
| YouTube | Video/channel/playlist metadata |
| IMDb-API | Movie and TV metadata |
| TVMaze | TV show schedule and episode data |
| Watchmode | Streaming availability across platforms |
| SWAPI | Star Wars universe encyclopedic data |
| The Lord of the Rings | Tolkien universe reference API |
| An API of Ice And Fire | Game of Thrones universe data |
| Breaking Bad / Ron Swanson | Classic TV show quotes |
| Vimeo / DailyMotion | Video hosting platforms |
🌤️ Weather
Real-time/historical weather, forecasts, air quality
| API | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Open Weather Map | Global current and forecast weather |
| AccuWeather | Detailed global weather conditions |
| Tomorrow.io | Hyperlocal weather intelligence |
| Visual Crossing | Historical and forecast weather data |
| NOAA Climate Data | US historical climate records |
| National Weather Service | Official US forecast and alerts |
| Open-Meteo | Free weather API for non-commercial use |
| AirVisual / AQICN | Air quality + weather combined |
| Storm Glass | Marine weather and tide data |
| RainViewer | Radar-based precipitation tracking |
Deep Dive
How to Find the API You Need
public-apis offers three main discovery methods:
Method 1: Browse the README
Open the GitHub repo, jump to the relevant category in the table of contents, browse alphabetically.
Method 2: Keyword search
Press t on the repo page to enter file search, or search directly:
# Search in browser address bar
https://github.com/public-apis/public-apis/search?q=weather
Method 3: Use companion tools
The community has built several searchable interfaces on top of public-apis:
https://publicapis.dev # Searchable web UI
https://api.publicapis.org # REST API form of public-apis
The REST API form supports filtering by category, auth requirement, and CORS:
# Get all APIs requiring no auth and supporting CORS
curl "https://api.publicapis.org/entries?auth=null&cors=yes"
# Get APIs by category
curl "https://api.publicapis.org/entries?category=weather"
# Get a random API
curl "https://api.publicapis.org/random"
Understanding the Auth Field
The Auth field has three values that directly determine integration cost:
| Auth Value | Meaning | Integration Cost |
|---|---|---|
No |
No authentication required | Lowest — call directly |
apiKey |
API Key required | Register to get a key; usually has a free tier |
OAuth |
OAuth authorization required | Highest — full authorization flow needed |
Prototyping/learning: prioritize Auth = No.
Production projects: apiKey is the norm; most provide free tiers.
Need to act on behalf of users: only then reach for OAuth (e.g., reading a user's Google Calendar).
Why CORS Matters
For frontend developers, CORS = Yes means the API can be called directly from the browser — no backend proxy needed.
// CORS = Yes: call directly from the browser
const response = await fetch('https://api.chucknorris.io/jokes/random');
const joke = await response.json();
// CORS = No: requires a backend proxy
// Browser → your backend server → target API
Project Links & Resources
Official Resources
- 🌟 GitHub: https://github.com/public-apis/public-apis
- 📄 License: MIT
- 🔍 Searchable UI: publicapis.dev
- 🤝 Contributing: CONTRIBUTING.md
Related Resources
- awesome-public-datasets — similar project focused on downloadable datasets (not APIs)
- rapidapi.com/hub — commercial API marketplace (includes paid APIs)
Summary
Key Takeaways
- 474k Stars represents real developer need: every developer occasionally needs "data of some type without building the service" — this repo compresses that process to seconds
- 50+ categories, 1,400+ entries: from animal photos to financial data, AI models to public transit — almost no gaps
- Auth / HTTPS / CORS are the three critical columns: these three tell you the integration cost and use context
- CORS = Yes is the frontend developer's quick filter: direct browser call, no proxy — the first choice for rapid prototyping
Who This Is For
- Frontend developers: quickly find data sources callable directly from the browser (filter: CORS=Yes, Auth=No)
- Beginners learning API development: a treasure chest of practice data sources — from cat photos to weather forecasts, every type is covered
- Hackathon participants: 48 hours to find the data your project needs
- Full-stack developers: integrate existing APIs rather than reinventing the wheel
- Technical content creators: source material for API tutorials and demo projects
One-Line Verdict
public-apis' value isn't in how many entries it has — it's that it permanently answers the question "I need some kind of data, where do I find it?" in a single place.
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Top comments (2)
Your overview of the public-apis repository nicely highlights how it curates thousands of free endpoints across categories, making it a handy reference for quickly finding data sources. Could you share how you handle rate‑limit information when integrating these APIs into a project, especially for those that only provide it in the documentation rather than in the response headers?
Great question — this is one of the practical gaps that public-apis doesn't cover,
and it trips up a lot of people in production.
For APIs that surface rate-limit state in response headers (X-RateLimit-Remaining,
X-RateLimit-Reset, etc.), you can react dynamically: read the headers on every
response and back off before you hit the wall. That's the easy case.
For APIs that only document limits (e.g. "100 requests per minute per IP"), I use a
client-side token bucket or sliding window limiter instead of relying on the API to
tell me when to stop. Libraries like ratelimit (Python) or bottleneck (Node.js)
handle this cleanly — you configure the bucket from the docs, and all calls go
through it.
A few other things that help in practice:
The honest answer is that undocumented or loosely documented rate limits are one of
the bigger sources of production surprises with free APIs. Treating every third-party
integration as "may throttle without warning" and coding defensively from the start
saves a lot of on-call pain later.