Open Trivia DB vs Scryfall
Category: Games · Updated August 2026
Both Open Trivia DB (Unlimited, no key, no credit card) and Scryfall (No key; courtesy limit of 10 requests/second, no credit card) offer comparable free tiers. Open Trivia DB currently leads on reliability with 85.91% uptime vs Scryfall's 0% uptime over the last 30 days. Pick Open Trivia DB for hobby projects; consider Scryfall if you need its specific feature set.
Side-by-side comparison
Open Trivia DB
Community-sourced trivia question database with 4,000+ questions across 24 categories and 3 difficulty levels. Powers quiz apps and trivia games — optionally returns a session token to avoid question repeats.
| Status | 🟢 Online |
| 30-day uptime | 85.91% |
| Response time | 422 ms |
| Free tier | Unlimited, no key, no credit card |
| Auth | No key required |
| Tier score | 1.0 — no friction |
Scryfall
Complete Magic: The Gathering card database with high-resolution scans, oracle text, rulings, and market prices. Exceptionally well-documented and generous for a volunteer-run service.
| Status | 🟢 Online |
| 30-day uptime | 0% |
| Response time | 197 ms |
| Free tier | No key; courtesy limit of 10 requests/second, no credit card |
| Auth | No key required |
| Tier score | 1.0 — no friction |
Which to choose?
- Pick Open Trivia DB if…you want zero friction — no account, no key, just call the endpoint. Also good if games data without signup is a hard requirement.
- Pick Scryfall if…you want zero friction — no account, no key, just call the endpoint. Also good if games data without signup is a hard requirement.
- Use both if…one goes down — they serve the same games use case from different data sources, so you can implement a quick fallback.
Or use these alternatives
Other top-ranked Games APIs you might consider:
- PokéAPI — 🟢 Online · Unlimited, no key, no credit card
- FreeToGame — 🟢 Online · Unlimited, no key, no credit card
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Open Trivia DB or Scryfall more reliable?
Based on our 30-day tracking, Open Trivia DB is more reliable with 85.91% uptime compared to Scryfall's 0%. Both are measured from the same automated hourly checks — no self-reported data.
Which one has a more generous free tier — Open Trivia DB or Scryfall?
Both have comparable free tiers. Open Trivia DB offers Unlimited, no key, no credit card and Scryfall offers No key; courtesy limit of 10 requests/second, no credit card. The right choice depends on your specific call volume and auth preferences.
Can I use Open Trivia DB and Scryfall together?
Absolutely — neither requires an API key, so you can call both with no setup. A round-robin or primary/fallback pattern is trivial to implement, giving you redundancy at zero cost.
What's the cheapest paid alternative if both Open Trivia DB and Scryfall fail?
Paid alternatives vary by category. For Games APIs, most commercial providers start at $10–$50/month for reasonable call volumes. See the detail pages for Open Trivia DB and Scryfall for their respective recommended paid upgrades.
See full profiles: Open Trivia DB · Scryfall · All Games APIs