We compare some web APIs that add weather data to your app.

If your application has anything to do with leaving the house, there’s a good chance that weather data is one piece of the development puzzle. While there are quite a few choices out there for weather APIs, it’s difficult to find the features you need at a price that works for you… even if that price is zero! As a result, we’ve compiled a list of the web’s best weather APIs — some free and some paid — to use in your application.

1. OpenWeatherMap API

OpenWeatherMap is one of the most popular choices for accessing high volumes of weather data. The OpenWeatherMap API provides current and forecasted weather data, atmospheric conditions, and imagery. With an extensive range of features, OpenWeatherMap makes it easy to build applications using up-to-date global weather data.

With OpenWeatherMap, developers can access current weather information for locations around the world. This includes real-time temperature, humidity, wind speed, and atmospheric pressure readings. The API also provides historical data for past years and months, as well as forecasted data for the next 30 days. According to the documentation, the OpenWeatherMap API supports both JSON and XML formats and requires authentication.

OpenWeatherMap also offers an extensive range of features such as support for multiple languages and units (metric, imperial), imagery (satellite images and maps), alerts, geocoding/reverse geocoding, and air pollution. With its rich feature set and global coverage, OpenWeatherMap is a popular choice for developers who want reliable weather data for their applications.

Pricing: A free account grants up to 60 calls per minute and up to 1,000 calls per day.

2. Tomorrow.io API

Next up on our list is Tomorrow.io. Tomorrow.io’s Weather API offers global hyperlocal forecasts, historical weather data, and more. It provides location-specific weather forecasts to its users with near-accurate data gathered from reliable sources. With Tomorrow.io, you can expect up to 14 days of forecast data. It also offers various other features such as an AI-driven prediction engine that provides customized insights for future weather conditions. This makes it perfect for anyone who needs accurate and reliable weather data regularly.

Additionally, Tomorrow.io comes with an intuitive user interface and a powerful API playground that makes it easy to integrate into your existing applications. The Weather Company, IBM’s cloud-based offering, is used as the source for this API. All of the data gathered from Tomorrow.io is provided in either XML or JSON format, and it can be used for both commercial and non-commercial purposes.

Pricing: Details on pricing can be found here.

3. Stormglass API

The Stormglass API offers global high-resolution weather forecasts directly from the world’s most trusted meteorological institutions. Now on v2, the Stormglass API is extensive. In addition to your typical weather data, Stormglass also supports marine data, such as weather, tides, and chemical compositions, as well as information related to renewable energy, like wind, solar indexes, as well as agricultural data like soil moisture and surface temperature.

Pricing: Free up to 10 requests per day, with access to all weather parameters. Commercial use requires paid plans. Details on paid plans are here.

4. The Weather Company

IBM operates many APIs and developer solutions as part of its Environmental Intelligence Suite. The Weather Company provides APIs that offer weather conditions, accurate hourly forecasts, real-time alerts, and historical weather data. IBM also offers dashboards that visualize weather data, as well as premium APIs that provide more granular information on areas such as carbon footprint, renewable energy, severe weather, probabilistic forecasts, seasonal and sub-seasonal APIs, and agricultural data.

Pricing: IBM offers a 30-day free trial, after which the service requires a monthly subscription.

5. AccuWeather APIs

There’s also AccuWeather, which you may have heard of as a result of its weather journalism and mobile app. Developers can use the AccuWeather APIs to retrieve location data, forecast information, current conditions, weather alerts, and more information. The AccuWeather API stands out for its imagery endpoints. Unfortunately for some, AccuWeather requires its logo to be clearly placed within the developer’s application.

Pricing: Limited trial offers up to 50 calls per day. Then, calls can be purchased with one of three plans, each giving access to long-range and more accurate forecasts.

6. Meteomatics Weather API

Meteomatics is a cloud-based platform providing weather data and forecast information to businesses, developers, and scientists around the world. With their API, they offer more than 1800 different weather, ocean, and environmental parameters.

Meteomatics also provides detailed satellite imagery, as well as advanced analytics, for an array of industries, including energy, insurance, media, retail, and agriculture.
Their API is user-friendly and can be used to integrate weather data into web or mobile applications quickly and easily. It also offers powerful query capabilities for complex weather data requests.

Meteomatics is the ideal choice for applications that require highly accurate weather data. It is particularly suited for mission-critical operations that need to know exactly what the weather is like at any given moment. It is also a great solution for businesses that need access to long-term weather records and sophisticated analytics.

Pricing: Provides a free two-week trial with a 1,000-queries limit. For more demanding usage, Meteomatics offers flexible pricing plans that are tailored to customers’ individual needs.

7. Weatherbit API

Weatherbit is a popular weather API used by businesses, developers, and individuals around the world. It provides access to global weather data for both current and forecast conditions. The data comes from more than 50,000 weather stations and other sources such as satellites, radiosondes, and lightning networks.

Weatherbit also provides a range of services such as weather visualization, data analytics, and programming tools. You can use Weatherbit’s APIs to create dynamic maps, track weather patterns over time, or even set up custom alerts based on specific criteria. With its intuitive user interface and comprehensive documentation, Weatherbit makes it easy to access weather data quickly and reliably.

Pricing: The free plan gives you access to current weather information and seven daily forecasts, for non-commercial use. The Premium Weather API, starting at $40 per month, offers additional features such as humidity and pressure readings.

8. Visual Crossing API

Visual Crossing provides a cloud-based weather data API that offers users a wide range of data about global weather patterns. It provides high-resolution historical weather data, including current and historical observations, forecasts, radar, and more. The API includes up to 50+ years of past and future hourly forecasts, daily forecasts of up to 15 days, and more. Additionally, Visual Crossing API offers up-to-date satellite imagery, lightning data, and other weather-related information.

The API is easy to use and integrates with a variety of programming languages and frameworks. It also has a variety of options for configuring the data you need, allowing you to filter and customize the results you get from the API. Additionally, Visual Crossing API offers an advanced toolset for developers to create custom graphs and visualizations based on the data they receive.

Visual Crossing API is reliable and secure. It is backed by global cloud infrastructure and is available in all major regions of the world. With its comprehensive set of features and advanced capabilities, Visual Crossing API is a great choice for anyone looking for a powerful weather API.

Pricing: Visual Crossing offers one of the best free plans out of all the weather APIs. You can access up to 1000 records per day for free, including 15-day forecasts, current conditions, and the 50-year history. Plans with higher rate limits begin at $35 per month.

Which Weather API To Use?

When it comes to choosing the right weather API for your project, there are a few important considerations. Depending on your needs, one API may be more suitable than another.

• OpenWeatherMap: This API offers current weather data as well as historical records. It is suitable for use in mobile and web applications such as agriculture, energy, travel, and insurance.
• Meteomatics: This API is designed to be easy to integrate into other software and offers data in an easy format. It also has a high level of accuracy and can be used for applications such as agricultural forecasting, climate monitoring, and aviation risk management.
• Weatherbit: This API provides highly accurate, global weather forecasts and data sets. It is ideal for use in applications such as retail forecasting, predictive analysis, and machine learning.
• AccuWeather: This API offers both real-time and historical data, making it ideal for use in applications such as digital media, advertising, and healthcare. It also features hyper-local forecasting with very precise accuracy.
• Tomorrow.io: This API provides detailed local forecasts that can be used in apps such as smart city solutions, consumer health tools, and news apps. It is known for its accuracy and reliability.
• Visual Crossing API: This API offers access to global weather data and can be used in apps such as smart farming and market analysis tools. It is also suitable for use in e-commerce applications.
• The Weather Company: This API offers reliable data for everything from current conditions to severe weather alerts. It is suitable for use in apps such as climate studies and air quality monitoring systems.

More Weather Data APIs

We are always on the hunt for new APIs! Here are some new weather APIs we’ve discovered since we first wrote this post. If we’ve left one out, please let us know in the comments below.

• Meteosource: Global weather data API for real-time conditions, historical data, and forecasts. Free for up to 400 calls per day.
• Ambee: Hyperlocal weather data API, with 1000 free API records per day for 15 days.
• Weatherstack: Real-time and historical weather data API. Offers 250 API calls per month for free.
• Xweather: Providers historical, current, and forecast weather data sources for business.

Final Thoughts

There you have it: some of the best weather APIs on the web. There’s always going to be a need for accurate, up-to-date weather data, so it should be no surprise that there are quite a few weather APIs out there. As always, it’s nice to see there are a few public APIs with free plans, too. These free packages allow you to test the API out first to see if it’s a proper fit for your application needs.