Pexels website screenshot

Pexels

Give your users access to the entire Pexels photo and video library without leaving your app or website. The Pexels API is free and seamlessly integrates with just a few lines of code.

Pexels publishes 3 APIs on the APIs.io network: Collections API, Photos API, and Videos API. Tagged areas include Photos, Stock Media, and Videos.

Pexels’ developer surface includes authentication, developer portal, documentation, signup flow, and 7 more developer resources.

🌐 Visit website 📡 Source on GitHub
43.6/100 developing ▬ flat Agent 31/100 agent aware Full breakdown ↓
scored 2026-08-05 · rubric v0.9.1
AccessFreemiumSelf serve⚡ Free to try
3 APIs
PhotosStock MediaVideos

Kin Score

Kin Score Kin Score How this is scored →
scored 2026-08-05 · rubric v0.9.1
Composite quality — 43.6/100 · developing
Contract Quality 15.5 / 25
Developer Ergonomics 5.7 / 20
Commercial Clarity 12.1 / 20
Operational Transparency 4.8 / 13
Governance 0.0 / 12
Discoverability 5.6 / 10
Agent readiness — 31/100 · agent aware
Machine-Readable Contract 18 / 18
Agentic Access Contract 10 / 10
MCP Server 0 / 12
Machine-Readable Auth 10 / 10
Idempotency 0 / 9
Stable Error Semantics 0 / 8
Request/Response Examples 0 / 7
Rate-Limit Signaling 7 / 7
Typed Event Surface 0 / 6
Agent Skills 0 / 5
Well-Known Catalog 0 / 4
Consent & Bot Identity 0 / 3
A2A Agent Card 0 / 8
Dry-Run / Simulate Mode 0 / 4
Improve this rating by publishing the missing artifacts — every area above can be raised, and the full rubric is at apis.io/rating/. This rating is computed from github.com/api-evangelist/pexels: open an issue to ask a question, or submit a pull request to add artifacts. Want it done for you? Prioritized profiling — $2,500 →

APIs 3

Individual APIs this provider publishes, each with its own machine-readable definition.

Pexels Collections API

Browse featured and user-owned collections.

Pexels Photos API

Search, browse, and retrieve photos.

Pexels Videos API

Search, browse, and retrieve videos.

Open Collections 1

Open, tool-agnostic API collections (OpenAPI-derived and Bruno).

Pexels API

OPEN COLLECTION

Pricing Plans 1

Published pricing tiers and plan structures.

Pexels Plans Pricing

3 plans

PLANS

Rate Limits 1

Documented rate limits and quota policies.

Pexels Rate Limits

5 limits

RATE LIMITS

FinOps 1

Cost, billing, and metering signals for API financial operations.

Pexels Finops

FINOPS

Security Posture 2

Authentication, domain security, vulnerability disclosure, and trust-center signals.

Pexels Authentication

apiKey · 1 scheme

SECURITY

Pexels Domain Security

TLSv1.3 · DMARC

SECURITY

Agentic Access 1

Recommended x-agentic-access execution contracts for AI agents.

Pexels Agentic Access

9 operations

9 operations · 0 acting

AGENTIC

Resources

Get Started 2

Portal, sign-up, and the first successful call

Portal
Portal
 Signup
Signup

Documentation 1

Reference material describing how the API behaves

Documentation
Documentation

Agent Surfaces 1

MCP servers, agent skills, and machine-readable catalogs

AgenticAccess
AgenticAccess

Build 1

SDKs, sample code, and the tooling you integrate with

GitHubOrganization
GitHubOrganization

Access & Security 2

Authentication, authorization, and security posture

DomainSecurity
DomainSecurity
 Authentication
Authentication

Commercial 2

Pricing, plans, and the legal terms of use

TermsOfService
TermsOfService
 PrivacyPolicy
PrivacyPolicy

Company 2

The organization behind the API

LinkedIn
LinkedIn
 Website
Website

Source (apis.yml)

apis.yml Raw ↑ 
aid: pexels
name: Pexels
description: Give your users access to the entire Pexels photo and video library without leaving your app or website. The
  Pexels API is free and seamlessly integrates with just a few lines of code.
type: Index
accessModel:
  pricing: freemium
  onboarding: self-serve
  trial: false
  try_now: true
  public: false
  label: Freemium · Self-serve signup
  confidence: high
  source:
  - plans
  - authentication
  generated: '2026-07-22'
  method: derived
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/icons/pexels.png
tags:
- Photos
- Stock Media
- Videos
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/pexels/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
created: '2026-03-16'
modified: '2026-05-19'
specificationVersion: '0.19'
apis:
- aid: pexels:pexels-collections-api
  name: Pexels Collections API
  description: Browse featured and user-owned collections.
  humanURL: https://www.pexels.com/api/
  baseURL: https://api.pexels.com/v1
  tags:
  - Collections
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/pexels-collections-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://www.pexels.com/api/documentation/
  - type: GettingStarted
    url: https://www.pexels.com/api/
  - type: Authentication
    url: https://www.pexels.com/api/documentation/#authorization
- aid: pexels:pexels-photos-api
  name: Pexels Photos API
  description: Search, browse, and retrieve photos.
  humanURL: https://www.pexels.com/api/
  baseURL: https://api.pexels.com/v1
  tags:
  - Photos
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/pexels-photos-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://www.pexels.com/api/documentation/
  - type: GettingStarted
    url: https://www.pexels.com/api/
  - type: Authentication
    url: https://www.pexels.com/api/documentation/#authorization
- aid: pexels:pexels-videos-api
  name: Pexels Videos API
  description: Search, browse, and retrieve videos.
  humanURL: https://www.pexels.com/api/
  baseURL: https://api.pexels.com/v1
  tags:
  - Videos
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/pexels-videos-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://www.pexels.com/api/documentation/
  - type: GettingStarted
    url: https://www.pexels.com/api/
  - type: Authentication
    url: https://www.pexels.com/api/documentation/#authorization
common:
- type: AgenticAccess
  url: agentic-access/pexels-agentic-access.yml
- type: DomainSecurity
  url: security/pexels-domain-security.yml
- type: Authentication
  url: authentication/pexels-authentication.yml
- type: GitHubOrganization
  url: https://github.com/pexels
- type: LinkedIn
  url: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pexels
- type: Portal
  url: https://www.pexels.com/api/
- type: Documentation
  url: https://www.pexels.com/api/documentation/
- type: Signup
  url: https://www.pexels.com/api/
- type: Website
  url: https://www.pexels.com/
- type: TermsOfService
  url: https://www.pexels.com/terms-of-service/
- type: PrivacyPolicy
  url: https://www.pexels.com/privacy-policy/
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com