OpenWeatherMap vs WeatherAPI.com
Category: Weather · Updated June 2026
Both OpenWeatherMap (1,000 calls/day, free key, no credit card) and WeatherAPI.com (1,000,000 calls/month, free key, no credit card) offer comparable free tiers. Both show similar reliability — OpenWeatherMap at 0% uptime and WeatherAPI.com at 0% uptime over 30 days. For most use cases either will work; your choice can come down to feature depth or ecosystem preference.
Side-by-side comparison
OpenWeatherMap
One of the most popular weather APIs with current, forecast, and historical data for any location worldwide.
| Status | 🔴 Offline |
| 30-day uptime | 0% |
| Response time | 388 ms |
| Free tier | 1,000 calls/day, free key, no credit card |
| Auth | API key |
| Tier score | 0.7 — free key, no card |
WeatherAPI.com
Comprehensive weather API offering current, forecast, historical, marine, and astronomy data with a generous free tier.
| Status | 🔴 Offline |
| 30-day uptime | 0% |
| Response time | 578 ms |
| Free tier | 1,000,000 calls/month, free key, no credit card |
| Auth | API key |
| Tier score | 0.7 — free key, no card |
Which to choose?
- Pick OpenWeatherMap if…its feature set (1,000 calls/day, free key, no credit card) fits your request volume and you're comfortable with a free API key.
- Pick WeatherAPI.com if…its feature set (1,000,000 calls/month, free key, no credit card) fits your request volume and you're comfortable with a free API key.
- Use both if…you need redundancy or coverage across different data providers. Both use API keys, so rotating between them is straightforward for failover.
Or use these alternatives
Other top-ranked Weather APIs you might consider:
- NOAA National Weather Service — 🟢 Online · Unlimited (US only), no key, no credit card
- 7Timer! — 🟢 Online · Unlimited, no key, no credit card
Frequently Asked Questions
Is OpenWeatherMap or WeatherAPI.com more reliable?
Both OpenWeatherMap and WeatherAPI.com show identical 30-day uptime (0%) in our monitoring. Either is a safe choice from a reliability standpoint.
Which one has a more generous free tier — OpenWeatherMap or WeatherAPI.com?
Both have comparable free tiers. OpenWeatherMap offers 1,000 calls/day, free key, no credit card and WeatherAPI.com offers 1,000,000 calls/month, free key, no credit card. The right choice depends on your specific call volume and auth preferences.
Can I use OpenWeatherMap and WeatherAPI.com together?
Yes. Both require an API key, so you can register for both free accounts and implement a simple fallback: try OpenWeatherMap first and fall back to WeatherAPI.com if you hit rate limits or encounter downtime. This is a common pattern for production resilience.
What's the cheapest paid alternative if both OpenWeatherMap and WeatherAPI.com fail?
If you need a paid fallback, OWM One Call 3.0 is one of the more affordable options (from $0.0015/call after 1000 free/day). You can find the full list of paid alternatives on each API's detail page. Paid tiers typically offer SLA guarantees, higher rate limits, and dedicated support.
See full profiles: OpenWeatherMap · WeatherAPI.com · All Weather APIs