Best Weather APIs

Last verified 2026-06-14 · 14 picks · every field cited · no reviews yet · no paid placement

Opinionated picks for weather apis, with the trade-offs up front, judged from each API’s published, cited data. The reasoning is shown, so disagree where you know better. Compare all 14

Best overall: OpenWeather

69 / 100 data score

OpenWeather is a global weather data platform launched in 2012, offering REST APIs for current conditions, hourly and daily forecasts, historical data, air quality, solar irradiance, and specialized feeds for agriculture, energy, and road risk assessment. It uses a hybrid pricing model with a generous free tier of up to 1 million calls per month, and paid plans starting at $40 per month with self-serve signup and no sales call required. SDKs are available for Python, PHP, Go, and JavaScript, and the platform holds ISO 27001 certification and GDPR compliance. Customers include Google and Samsung.

From $40 month · free tier available.

How it stacks up

  • Visual Crossing Weather API starts lower at $35 per month vs $40 for OpenWeather.
  • WeatherAPI.com starts lower at $7 per month vs $40 for OpenWeather.
  • Meteosource starts lower at $5 per month vs $40 for OpenWeather.

Best for: Prototypes and side projects - free to start, no sales call; AI agents and automation - an agent-ready surface (MCP / llms.txt); Teams needing broad API coverage out of the box.

Avoid if: You have strict compliance requirements

OpenWeather profile → · OpenWeather vs Visual Crossing Weather API

At a glance

14 picks ranked from published, cited fields
#APIBest forStarting priceScore
1OpenWeatherBest overall · Best free pick · Best for enterprise · Best for agents$40 month69
2Visual Crossing Weather APItransparent public pricing$35 month55
3WeatherAPI.comtransparent public pricing$7 month75
4Meteosourcetransparent public pricing$5 month65
5Open-Meteotransparent public pricing$29 month54
6Google Weather API (Google Maps Platform)transparent public pricing$0.15 1,000 calls72
7Weatherbittransparent public pricing$40 month58
8Xweather (AerisWeather)Broadest surface - 41
9Meteomatics Weather APIa free tierFree tier38
10Pirate Weathertransparent public pricing$2 month55
11Weatherstacktransparent public pricing$9.99 month58
12AmbeeGDPR - 23
13AccuWeather APICheapest to start$2 month43
14Tomorrow.io Weather APIa free tierFree tier43

Quick pick by use case

If you only have thirty seconds, find your situation:

  • If you want the strongest all-round pick, pick OpenWeather - our default pick: strongest across pricing, trust and breadth.
  • If you want to start free, pick OpenWeather - free tier: Free plan with 60 calls/minute and 1,000,000 calls/month; includes current weather, 5-day….
  • If you're buying for a regulated or large team, pick OpenWeather - for regulated or large teams: published SLA, enterprise plan.
  • If you want the lowest published entry price, pick AccuWeather API - from $2 month to start; compare on your real usage, not the entry price.
  • If you're wiring this into coding agents or AI workflows, pick OpenWeather - easiest to wire up programmatically: llms.txt.
  • If you want the broadest documented surface, pick Xweather (AerisWeather) - 59 documented actions; breadth isn't quality, but it's the most to build on.

The picks in depth

  • #1 OpenWeather

    69 / 100
    • Best overall
    • Best free pick
    • Best for enterprise
    • Best for agents

    OpenWeather is a global weather data platform launched in 2012, offering REST APIs for current conditions, hourly and daily forecasts, historical data, air quality, solar irradiance, and specialized feeds for agriculture, energy, and road risk assessment. It uses a hybrid pricing model with a generous free tier of up to 1 million calls per month, and paid plans starting at $40 per month with self-serve signup and no sales call required. SDKs are available for Python, PHP, Go, and JavaScript, and the platform holds ISO 27001 certification and GDPR compliance. Customers include Google and Samsung.

    PricingHybrid · from $40 month · free tier
    TrustGDPR · ISO 27001
    Does
    • Forecast
    • Historical data
    • Severe-weather alerts
    • Hyperlocal / nowcast
    • Air quality
    Used byGoogle, Samsung
    Strengthstransparent public pricing · a free tier · self-serve signup
    Avoid ifYou have strict compliance requirements
    ScoresAgent 35 · Pricing 100 · Setup 85 · Docs 45 · Procurement 100 · Trust 50

    OpenWeather profile →

  • #2 Visual Crossing Weather API

    55 / 100

    Visual Crossing Weather API is a REST-based weather data service covering current conditions, forecasts up to 15 days, and over 50 years of historical records globally, with additional endpoints for air quality, solar and wind energy, maritime conditions, and astronomy data. It targets developers and businesses of all sizes, with self-serve signup, a free tier of 1,000 records per day, and paid plans starting at $35 per month. SDKs are available for 16 languages including Python, JavaScript, Java, Go, and Rust, making integration straightforward across most tech stacks.

    PricingHybrid · from $35 month · free tier
    Does
    • Forecast
    • Historical data
    • Severe-weather alerts
    • Marine
    • Air quality
    Strengthstransparent public pricing · a free tier · self-serve signup
    Avoid ifYou have strict compliance requirements
    ScoresAgent 30 · Pricing 100 · Setup 85 · Docs 15 · Procurement 100 · Trust 0

    Visual Crossing Weather API profile →

  • #3 WeatherAPI.com

    75 / 100

    WeatherAPI.com is a REST API providing global weather data for developers and businesses, covering real-time conditions, forecasts, historical records back to 2010, air quality, marine weather, astronomy, pollen, and IP geolocation. Paid plans start at $7 per month with a free tier of 100,000 calls per month (attribution required), and enterprise plans are available with a published SLA. SDKs are offered for eight languages including JavaScript, Python, PHP, Go, and Swift, and an MCP server is available for AI integrations.

    PricingSubscription · from $7 month · free tier
    Does
    • Forecast
    • Historical data
    • Severe-weather alerts
    • Marine
    • Air quality
    Strengthstransparent public pricing · a free tier · self-serve signup
    Avoid ifYou have strict compliance requirements
    ScoresAgent 70 · Pricing 100 · Setup 85 · Docs 75 · Procurement 100 · Trust 20

    WeatherAPI.com profile →

  • #4 Meteosource

    65 / 100

    Meteosource is a global weather API providing real-time conditions, hourly and daily forecasts, minutely precipitation, historical data going back up to 20 years, air quality, severe weather alerts, and astronomy data for any GPS coordinate or city worldwide. It targets developers with a self-serve subscription starting at $5/month and a free tier of 400 calls per day (with attribution required). SDKs are available for Python, JavaScript, PHP, and C++, and paid plans from the Startup tier upward include a 99.5% uptime SLA with GDPR compliance.

    PricingSubscription · from $5 month · free tier
    TrustGDPR
    Does
    • Forecast
    • Historical data
    • Severe-weather alerts
    • Hyperlocal / nowcast
    • Air quality
    Strengthstransparent public pricing · a free tier · self-serve signup
    Avoid ifYou have strict compliance requirements
    ScoresAgent 35 · Pricing 100 · Setup 85 · Docs 35 · Procurement 100 · Trust 35

    Meteosource profile →

  • #5 Open-Meteo

    54 / 100

    Open-Meteo is an open-source weather API providing forecasts, historical data back to 1940, air quality, marine conditions, flood forecasts, and climate change projections to 2050, drawing on 30+ models from national meteorological agencies worldwide. It is free for non-commercial use with no API key required, supporting up to 300,000 calls per month, while commercial plans start at $29 per month with unlimited rate limits and a 99.9% uptime target on reserved servers. SDKs are available in eight languages including Python, TypeScript, Go, and Rust, and Home Assistant is a documented integration partner.

    PricingSubscription · from $29 month · free tier
    Does
    • Forecast
    • Historical data
    • Marine
    • Air quality
    Used byHome Assistant
    Strengthstransparent public pricing · a free tier · self-serve signup
    The catchFree and key-less for non-commercial use with genuinely open data, but commercial use requires a paid subscription despite the open licensing.
    ScoresAgent 20 · Pricing 100 · Setup 85 · Docs 20 · Procurement 100 · Trust 0

    Open-Meteo profile →

  • #6 Google Weather API (Google Maps Platform)

    72 / 100

    Google Weather API, part of Google Maps Platform, provides current conditions, hourly and daily forecasts, historical weather, and public alerts for locations worldwide via a REST interface. Launched in April 2025 and reaching general availability in June 2025, it is priced at $0.15 per 1,000 calls with a free tier of 10,000 calls per month and self-serve signup. Coverage is global for most countries, though China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Syria are excluded, and Japan and Korea support alerts only. The API is backed by SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 certifications, GDPR compliance, and a published SLA, with an MCP server available for integration.

    PricingUsage · from $0.15 1,000 calls · free tier
    TrustSOC 2 Type II · GDPR · ISO 27001
    Does
    • Forecast
    • Historical data
    • Severe-weather alerts
    Used byL'Oréal
    Strengthstransparent public pricing · a free tier · self-serve signup
    ScoresAgent 50 · Pricing 100 · Setup 70 · Docs 35 · Procurement 100 · Trust 75

    Google Weather API (Google Maps Platform) profile →

  • #7 Weatherbit

    58 / 100

    Weatherbit is a REST weather API, launched in 2017, covering global current conditions, hourly and daily forecasts, historical data, severe weather alerts, air quality, lightning, and agricultural and energy calculations. Paid plans start at $40 per month with self-serve signup and a published SLA; a free tier is available at 50 calls per day for non-commercial use only and requires attribution. The API uses API key authentication and includes a Python SDK, with rate limits scaling from 25,000 requests per day on Standard up to 2,000,000 on Business.

    PricingSubscription · from $40 month · free tier
    Does
    • Forecast
    • Historical data
    • Severe-weather alerts
    • Hyperlocal / nowcast
    • Air quality
    Strengthstransparent public pricing · a free tier · self-serve signup
    Avoid ifYou have strict compliance requirements
    ScoresAgent 20 · Pricing 100 · Setup 75 · Docs 35 · Procurement 100 · Trust 20

    Weatherbit profile →

  • #8 Xweather (AerisWeather)

    41 / 100
    • Broadest surface

    Xweather (formerly AerisWeather) is a REST weather API covering current conditions, forecasts up to 15 days, historical data back to 2004, severe alerts, lightning analytics, air quality, wildfire, road weather, maritime, and renewable energy data globally, making it a broad-coverage choice for applications from logistics to parametric insurance. Pricing starts at around $300 per month and requires a sales conversation for paid plans, though a no-credit-card 30-day developer trial is available at 1,000 calls per day for non-commercial testing. The platform holds ISO 27001 certification, is GDPR compliant, and offers SDKs for JavaScript, Python, iOS, and Android, as well as an MCP server for AI integrations.

    PricingSales-led · free tier
    TrustGDPR · ISO 27001
    Does
    • Forecast
    • Historical data
    • Severe-weather alerts
    • Marine
    • Air quality
    Used byKUBRA, Satcom Global
    StrengthsGDPR · webhooks · 59 documented actions
    Avoid ifYou need transparent pricing up front
    ScoresAgent 50 · Pricing 25 · Setup 60 · Docs 45 · Procurement 35 · Trust 30

    Xweather (AerisWeather) profile →

See all 14 Weather APIs compared →

How we rank

The headline score is the average of six 0-100 axes computed only from each API’s published, sourced fields: agent-friendliness, pricing transparency, setup speed, docs quality, procurement ease, and trust readiness. An unknown signal scores 0 for its axis - we credit what’s confirmed, never guess. The score is one input, not the verdict: we lead with each pick’s trade-off, and where a job has only one real option we say so rather than crown it. Full method on the methodology page.

Why trust apio

  • Every field cited. Each profile links the source for every claim - check us.
  • Public audit log. Every change to this data is recorded per field, with who changed it and why.
  • Published, deterministic methodology. The score is a formula over the same fields you can see - recompute it yourself.
  • Zero affiliate links, zero ads, zero paid placement. Money never moves rank.
  • No reviews yet - and we say so rather than synthesizing them.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best weather api?

OpenWeather is our current top pick across pricing, trust, and developer-surface data (from $40 month). The right pick depends on your constraint: if you want the strongest all-round pick, OpenWeather; if you want to start free, OpenWeather; if you're buying for a regulated or large team, OpenWeather.

How are these Weather APIs ranked?

By a transparent data-readiness score computed from each API's published, sourced fields: pricing, free tier, self-serve access, compliance, webhooks/sandbox, and capability breadth. No reviews, no paid placement.

Which Weather APIs have a free tier?

OpenWeather, Visual Crossing Weather API, WeatherAPI.com, Meteosource, Open-Meteo, Google Weather API (Google Maps Platform), Weatherbit, Meteomatics Weather API, Pirate Weather, Weatherstack, Tomorrow.io Weather API.

See the full Weather APIs directory and each profile for the underlying data and citations, or compare the leaders: OpenWeather vs Visual Crossing Weather API.