Which free APIs provide real-time weather data?

Real-time weather data is useful for dashboards, travel tools, farming alerts, event planning, and IoT projects. Several providers offer free tiers that can deliver current conditions, forecasts, and sometimes alerts—often with rate limits or attribution requirements.

What “free” usually means for weather APIs

Most weather services are “free to start,” not unlimited. A typical free tier includes:

• Request limits (per minute/day/month)
• Fewer endpoints (current conditions and basic forecast, while premium plans add more)
• Lower resolution (hourly or daily instead of minute-level)
• Attribution rules (crediting the data source in your app)
• Restricted commercial use (some free tiers are for personal or non-commercial projects)

Reading the provider’s terms matters, especially if you plan to ship a public product.

Open-Meteo (no key required)

Open-Meteo is popular for quick prototypes because it can work without an API key. It offers current conditions and forecasts, and it supports many meteorological variables (temperature, precipitation, wind, and more). It’s also friendly for global coverage and multi-parameter queries, which helps when you want a single call for many data points.

Best for:

• Small projects that want simple access
• Apps that need worldwide forecasts with minimal setup

Typical trade-offs:

• Service protections may limit heavy use
• Some advanced datasets may have constraints depending on the selected model

OpenWeather (free tier with API key)

OpenWeather provides widely used endpoints like current weather and multi-day forecasts. The free tier is commonly used in mobile apps and learning projects. It usually requires an API key and comes with call limits.

Best for:

• Projects that need a well-known API with lots of community examples
• Basic current conditions and forecast needs

Typical trade-offs:

• Free tier limits can be tight for high-traffic apps
• Some endpoints and higher-frequency updates are paid

WeatherAPI (free tier with API key)

WeatherAPI offers current conditions, forecasts, and other features such as astronomy data (sunrise/sunset) and air quality in some plans. The free tier is straightforward for building dashboards and includes multiple location query methods (city name, coordinates, postal codes).

Best for:

• Apps that need a clean “current + forecast” bundle
• Projects that value simple response formats

Typical trade-offs:

• Lower rate limits on free plans
• Some features may be restricted by plan level

Weatherbit (free tier with API key)

Weatherbit is often used for forecast-focused applications. It provides current weather and forecasts, and it can be handy for data-enriched outputs and agriculture-oriented use cases.

Best for:

• Forecast-heavy apps
• Developers who want data that’s easy to chart and summarize

Typical trade-offs:

• Free plan request quotas
• Certain endpoints reserved for paid tiers

National weather services (often free, sometimes region-limited)

Many countries operate public weather APIs funded by government agencies. These sources can be highly reliable and legally safe for many uses, but coverage is usually focused on that country or region.

Examples of what you might get:

• Observations from official stations
• Forecast grids or zone forecasts
• Weather warnings and alerts

Best for:

• Apps targeted to a specific country
• Projects that prioritize official alerts

Typical trade-offs:

• Documentation and formats vary
• Global coverage is not the goal

Meteostat (free, community-oriented)

Meteostat is frequently used for historical weather and station-based observations, and it can support near-real-time station updates depending on the dataset. It’s attractive for analytics projects that blend recent observations with long-term climate context.

Best for:

• Data science and reporting
• Station-based weather workflows

Typical trade-offs:

• Not always “minute-by-minute” real time
• Best results depend on station availability

Choosing the right API for your project

A quick selection guide:

• Need no key and fast setup: Open-Meteo
• Need lots of examples and broad adoption: OpenWeather
• Need simple current + forecast responses: WeatherAPI
• Need forecast-centric data: Weatherbit
• Need official alerts for one country: a national weather service
• Need stations and historical context: Meteostat

Practical tips for using free weather APIs

• Cache responses for a few minutes to reduce calls and stay within limits.
• Request only the fields you need to keep responses small and fast.
• Store coordinates for user locations to avoid repeated geocoding.
• Add graceful fallbacks when the API rate-limits or returns errors.

With the right free tier, you can build dependable real-time weather features without paying upfront—while still leaving room to scale later.