Open-Meteo Air Quality

Implementation notes

When to use Open-Meteo Air Quality

Open-Meteo Air Quality is the only no-key, no-account air quality forecast API with global coverage. It provides PM2.5, PM10, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, and European AQI forecasts up to 5 days ahead — ideal for health apps or environmental dashboards with 10,000 calls/day free.

Common pitfalls

• Like the main Open-Meteo API, variables must be named explicitly in the request. The available variable names differ between `current` (point-in-time values) and `hourly` (time series) parameters — e.g., `pm10` is valid for both, but `european_aqi` is only available as a `current` variable, not hourly.
• The air quality data comes from the CAMS (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service) model, which has a coarser spatial resolution than meteorological models. In cities with strong microclimatic variation, the API may miss pollution hotspots near industrial zones.
• The endpoint base URL is distinct from the main weather API: `air-quality-api.open-meteo.com`, not `api.open-meteo.com`. Using the wrong base URL returns a 404 that is easy to misread as a parameter error.
• Historical air quality data availability varies by variable. Some pollutants are available from 2015 onwards; others have shorter archives. Requesting a date outside the available range returns an error rather than partial data.

Quick start (bash)

curl "https://air-quality-api.open-meteo.com/v1/air-quality?latitude=48.85&longitude=2.35&current=pm10,pm2_5,european_aqi"

Embed this badge

Add a live status badge to your README, docs, or website.

Markdown

[![Open-Meteo Air Quality Status](https://freeapi-builder.a10ayassine.workers.dev/badge/open-meteo-air-quality.svg)](https://freeapi.watch/open-meteo-air-quality)

HTML

<a href="https://freeapi.watch/open-meteo-air-quality"><img src="https://freeapi-builder.a10ayassine.workers.dev/badge/open-meteo-air-quality.svg" alt="Open-Meteo Air Quality Status"/></a>