5 Free APIs That Actually Don't Suck (My Personal Favorites)
Look, I've been burned by APIs before. You know the drill—promising documentation, terrible rate limits, or they just randomly stop working after you've built half your app around them.
But over the years of building side projects (probably too many), I've found a handful of free APIs that are actually reliable, well-documented, and won't leave you hanging. These are the ones I keep bookmarked and reach for whenever I need solid data without the headache.
No BS, no affiliate links—just my honest take on the APIs that have never let me down.
Why I Actually Trust These APIs
Here's the thing: I'm pretty picky about APIs now. I've wasted too many weekends on APIs that looked great but fell apart when I actually tried to use them.
These five have earned their spot because they're genuinely useful, have solid documentation that doesn't make you want to pull your hair out, and generous enough free tiers that you can actually build something real.
Plus, they're all backed by companies or communities that aren't going anywhere anytime soon.
1. Steam Web API - For When You Need Gaming Data
I'll be honest—I'm a bit of a gaming nerd, so this one hits close to home. But even if you're not into gaming, the Steam API is incredibly well-designed and a great example of how APIs should work.
What's Cool About It
You can pull pretty much any public data from Steam. Game details, user profiles, achievements, current players, store prices—it's all there. The responses are clean JSON, and I've never had reliability issues.
What I've Built With It
- A dashboard showing my friends' recent gaming activity
- A "random game picker" for my Steam library when I can't decide what to play
- A platform called SteamTrusted (sunsetted), that was like steamrep, where users could vouch after trading. This was back when CS:GO trading was just starting to become a thing.
The rate limits are pretty generous, and honestly, I've never hit them even with some heavy usage during development.
2. TMDB API - The Movie Database That Doesn't Disappoint
I've used TMDB for probably 6-7 different projects now, and it's never let me down. It's what powers a lot of the movie apps you probably use, and there's a good reason for that.
What's Cool About It
The data is surprisingly comprehensive. Not just basic movie info, but cast details, high-res images, ratings, similar movies, streaming availability—way more than you'd expect from a free API. Plus, it's actively maintained by a community that actually cares.
What I've Built With It
I used TMDB for flameytv, which turned out pretty well. The API made it easy to pull movie data and build a clean interface around it.
What You Could Build With It
- Movie recommendation engines
- Personal watchlist managers
- Entertainment discovery platforms
- Movie trivia applications
The 1,000 daily requests go further than you'd think, especially if you cache the data smartly.
3. MyAnimeList API - For All Things Anime
Full disclosure: I'm an anime fan, but even if you're not, MAL's API is a solid example of how to do user-generated content APIs right. The data quality is excellent because the community is super dedicated.
What's Cool About It
You get access to a massive database of anime and manga, complete with ratings, episode counts, airing status, and more. The user authentication lets you build apps that integrate with people's existing anime lists, which is pretty powerful.
What I've Built With It
I used the MAL API for animetools.io, which was a great experience working with their data structure.
What You Could Build With It
- Anime recommendation systems
- Progress tracking applications
- Seasonal anime browsers
- Anime statistics dashboards
The OAuth setup is straightforward, and the rate limits are reasonable for most projects.
4. OpenWeatherMap API - Weather Data That Actually Works
I know, I know—weather APIs are boring. But hear me out. OpenWeatherMap is probably the most reliable API I've ever used. It just works, every time, exactly as documented.
What's Cool About It
Global coverage, multiple data types (current, forecast, historical), and it's accurate enough that I've seen it used in production apps. The JSON structure is logical, and error handling is predictable.
What You Could Build With It
- Weather-based decision apps
- Travel planning tools
- Agricultural/gardening applications
- Location-aware notifications
1,000 calls per day is plenty for most projects, and the paid tiers are reasonable if you need more.
5. NewsAPI - Real-Time News Without the Hassle
Getting news data used to be a nightmare of web scraping and broken feeds. NewsAPI solved that problem completely. It's clean, fast, and covers way more sources than I expected.
What's Cool About It
Thousands of sources, real-time updates, and you can search historical articles. The filtering options are solid—by source, language, keywords, date range. It's like having a news aggregator API.
What You Could Build With It
- Personalized news aggregators
- Sentiment analysis tools
- Topic-specific news feeds
- Content curation platforms
The free tier gives you everything you need for development, and the data quality is consistently good.
A Few Hard-Learned Lessons
After working with these APIs (and many others that didn't make this list), here's what I wish someone had told me earlier:
Read the docs first. I know it's tempting to just start coding, but these APIs have quirks and best practices that will save you hours if you know about them upfront.
Cache everything you can. Free tiers have limits, and hitting them mid-development is frustrating. Simple caching can make your app feel faster and keep you under rate limits.
Handle errors gracefully. APIs go down, rate limits get hit, and requests fail. Don't let your app crash because of it.
Start simple. Don't try to use every endpoint on day one. Get one thing working well, then expand.
The Bottom Line
These APIs have saved me countless hours and let me build some pretty cool projects without spending a dime. They're reliable, well-documented, and actually useful—which is more than I can say for a lot of free APIs out there.
Pick one that matches what you're building, spend some time with the documentation, and see what you can create. You might be surprised at what's possible with just free APIs and some creativity.
Got questions about any of these APIs? Feel free to reach out—I'm always happy to chat about development stuff.