Free science and space APIs

17 of 17 returned the expected data at the last check, all without a key. Launches, earthquakes, scholarly papers, chemistry, biodiversity and health datasets from agencies and research infrastructures.

17 APIs · no key · HTTPS

Build snapshot, not live. One verifier run on Oct 3, 2026, 09:00 UTC, from the machine that built this site. How we check

USGS Earthquake CatalogWorking
Earthquake events as GeoJSON, filterable by time, magnitude and area.
earthquake.usgs.govRuns in the browser432 msup 1 of 1 day
Where the ISS at?Working
Current position, altitude and velocity of the International Space Station.
api.wheretheiss.atRuns in the browser607 msup 1 of 1 day
Launch Library 2Working
Upcoming and past rocket launches from every provider.
ll.thespacedevs.comRuns in the browser496 msup 1 of 1 day
Spaceflight NewsWorking
Articles, blog posts and reports about spaceflight from many outlets.
api.spaceflightnewsapi.netRuns in the browser309 msup 1 of 1 day
NASA Image and Video LibraryWorking
Search NASA images, video and audio with metadata.
images-api.nasa.govRuns in the browser743 msup 1 of 1 day
arXiv APIWorking
Search preprints and read their metadata as an Atom feed.
export.arxiv.orgServer only336 msup 1 of 1 day
Crossref REST APIWorking
Metadata for scholarly works: DOIs, authors, journals, references.
api.crossref.orgRuns in the browser1465 msup 1 of 1 day
OpenAlexWorking
Open index of scholarly works, authors, institutions and citations.
api.openalex.orgRuns in the browser692 msup 1 of 1 day
Europe PMCWorking
Search life-science literature, abstracts and full text.
www.ebi.ac.ukRuns in the browser889 msup 1 of 1 day
PubChem PUG RESTWorking
Chemical compounds, properties and identifiers.
pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.govRuns in the browser470 msup 1 of 1 day
GBIFWorking
Species names, taxonomy and occurrence records of living things.
api.gbif.orgRuns in the browser658 msup 1 of 1 day
iNaturalistWorking
Taxa, observations and photos from the iNaturalist community.
api.inaturalist.orgRuns in the browser888 msup 1 of 1 day
NewtonWorking
Symbolic maths: derive, integrate, factor and simplify expressions.
newton.vercel.appRuns in the browser441 msup 1 of 1 day
math.js web serviceWorking
Evaluates a maths expression and returns the result as text.
api.mathjs.orgRuns in the browser576 msup 1 of 1 day
openFDAWorking
US drug labels, adverse events, recalls and device data.
api.fda.govRuns in the browser1119 msup 1 of 1 day
disease.shWorking
COVID-19 and influenza figures aggregated from public sources.
disease.shRuns in the browser357 msup 1 of 1 day
ClinicalTrials.govWorking
Registered clinical studies with status, conditions and locations.
clinicaltrials.govRuns in the browser366 msup 1 of 1 day

Before you pick one

Research APIs often offer a faster "polite pool" when you add a contact email to the request. It costs nothing and keeps you from being throttled.

Open an API’s page to see the exact request we send, the answer it gave, and how many of the last 30 days it was up. If it is marked CORS you can run the request from the page itself.

Questions

Which free science and space APIs need no key?

All 17 listed here: USGS Earthquake Catalog, Where the ISS at?, Launch Library 2, Spaceflight News, NASA Image and Video Library, arXiv API, Crossref REST API, OpenAlex and 9 more. Each answered our verifier without a key or account.

Which science and space APIs can I call from the browser?

In the Oct 3, 2026 run, 16 of 17 sent CORS headers: USGS Earthquake Catalog, Where the ISS at?, Launch Library 2, Spaceflight News, NASA Image and Video Library, Crossref REST API, OpenAlex, Europe PMC and 8 more. Call the rest (arXiv API) from a server.

Which one answered fastest?

Spaceflight News, in 309 ms, in the Oct 3, 2026 run from our build machine. Latency depends on where you call from, so treat it as a rough guide.

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