Public APIs

Public APIs is a community-curated collective list of over 1,400 free APIs organized across 50+ categories, maintained by contributors and the team at APILayer. It is one of the most popular open-source projects on GitHub with over 400k stars. A companion REST API (davemachado/public-api) exposes the directory data programmatically over HTTPS with no authentication.

Public APIs publishes 4 API contracts indexed on the APIs.io network, including Categories API, Entries API, Health API, and 1 more. Tagged areas include API Aggregation, API Directory, API Discovery, Free APIs, and Open Source.

The Public APIs catalog on APIs.io includes 1 Spectral governance ruleset.

📡 Profile data on GitHub

20.6/100 emerging ▬ flat Agent 19/100 agent aware Heartbeat 100/100 alive self hosted · MIT Full breakdown ↓
scored 2026-11-13 · rubric v0.28.0 · Show this score on your site →

AccessFreemiumOpen⚡ Free to try

1 published contract

API Aggregation API Directory API DiscoveryFree APIsOpen Source

Kin Score

Kin Score How this is scored →
scored 2026-11-13 · rubric v0.28.0

Composite quality — 20.6/100 · emerging

Contract Quality 7.6 / 19

Developer Ergonomics 1.4 / 15

Access Clarity 1.3 / 15

Operational Transparency 1.2 / 10

Contract Governance 1.2 / 9

Discoverability 4.3 / 8

Regulatory Posture 0.0 / 15

Open Source Surface 2.5 / 10

Agent readiness — 19/100 · agent aware

Machine-Readable Contract 18 / 18

Agentic Access Contract 10 / 10

Documented Reversibility 6 / 6

MCP Server 0 / 12

Machine-Readable Auth 0 / 10

Idempotency 9 / 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 4 / 4

Delegated User Identity 0 / 6

Protected Resource Metadata 0 / 5

Registration Without a Human 0 / 6

Agentic Commerce Well-Known Document 0 / 5

Pagination 0 / 5

Distinct Operations 3 / 3

MCP Tool Quality 6 / 6

Regulatory Posture applies to this provider. Its tags matched the Horizontal (data, software, accessibility, platform) regime, so Regulatory Posture carries 15 points of the composite. If this regime is wrong for your business, say so on your provider repo — the applicability map is public and we will correct it.

Open Source Surface applies to this provider. This product is open source and we read its repository directly, so Open Source Surface carries 10 points of the composite. It is scored from what the repository actually publishes — a security policy, a contribution guide, a release history, a code of conduct — read live from the provider rather than inferred from our own catalog pointers. This facet adds; nothing was taken away to make room for it. An open-source project is not excused from the commercial facets, because exemption would strip it of the points it does earn. If we have the wrong repository, or this product is not open source, say so on your provider repo and we will drop the facet rather than have you publish against it.

Create-or-Update Ergonomics does not apply to this provider. The published contracts declare no write operations, and a read-only API cannot create-or-update. The facet is excluded from this provider's denominator entirely — not scored zero. A reference or data API is not deficient for being unable to upsert.

The six quality facets above are damped to 75 points between them, because both conditional facets apply and carry 25 points together. That is why each facet's contribution is shown against a damped maximum: raising a quality facet moves the composite by 75% of its nominal weight, not 100%. The full arithmetic is at apis.io/rating/.

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Agent readiness — checks not met, largest first (exact, from this profile):

MCP Server +12 pts — deployment.mode + probe verdict on the mcp/ manifest, not the pointer; an unprobed slug falls back to authorship Ask about this →
Machine-Readable Auth +10 pts — a served openid-configuration/oauth-authorization-server carrying `issuer` (served), else the securitySchemes class in the provider OpenAPIs — bound (mutualTLS, DPoP, Signature) > negotiable (oauth2 authorizationCode/clientCredentials, openIdConnect) > bearer (http bearer, apiKey) Ask about this →
Stable Error Semantics +8 pts — OpenAPI $refs a shared error schema across 4xx/5xx responses (verified), else common[].type includes ErrorCatalog / ErrorCodes / DeclineCodes Ask about this →
A2A Agent Card +8 pts — a2a/-a2a.yml manifest, graded on conformance.grade against A2A 1.0.0 Ask about this →
Request/Response Examples +7 pts — share of operations carrying request/response examples; else an Examples / Code Samples link Ask about this →
Registration Without a Human +6 pts — a `registration_endpoint` in the served RFC 8414 / OIDC discovery document Ask about this →

8 more unmet checks in the Agent Readiness table above.

Kin Score — facets with the most composite points still available (weight × headroom):

Access Clarity scores 8.5 — up to +18.3 composite points Ask about this →
Developer Ergonomics scores 9.5 — up to +18.1 composite points Ask about this →
Contract Quality scores 40.4 — up to +14.9 composite points Ask about this →

Each check links to what satisfies it. Publish the artifact, or tell us where it already lives, and the score moves on the next scoring run.

Not sure how this applies to your stack? Ask about any one item. Kin Lane reads every question, looks at your profile and your situation, and replies with what a fix would take — scoped to that one area, priced up front, yours whether you ship it or not. Ask a question →

Improve this rating by publishing the missing artifacts — every area above can be raised, and the full rubric is at apis.io/rating/. Every facet and dimension name above is a link: it opens that measurement's own page — what it means, the exact checks that feed it, how the whole catalog distributes on it, and the providers at the top of it. This rating is computed from the provider profile at artifacts.apis.io/public-apis/apis.yml: open an issue on github.com/api-evangelist/public-apis to ask a question or point us at an artifact you publish. Submit an artifact on GitHub — free → Manage your own listing — the Influence plan, $499/mo →

Standards implemented 1

Standards this provider implements or carries. De facto ones are profiled and measured by the API Commons; formal ones come from the standards directory and are linked by the provider's own tags. The evidence column says how each claim was established — not that it was made.

OpenAPI

measured — observed by APIs.io (published)

APIs 4

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

Public APIs Directory

A collective list of free APIs organized by category including Animals, Finance, Weather, Geocoding, Government, Health, Machine Learning, Sports, and 40+ more categories for de...

Public APIs Categories API

Endpoints for category metadata.

Public APIs Entries API

Endpoints for listing API directory entries.

Public APIs Health API

Service health check.

Open Collections 4

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

Public APIs Categories API

OPEN COLLECTION

Public APIs Categories Entries API

OPEN COLLECTION

Public APIs Categories Health API

OPEN COLLECTION

Public APIs API

OPEN COLLECTION

Public APIs pricing

Not yet checked against Public APIs's own pricing page. Compiled by API Evangelist on 2026-05-04; confirm before you rely on a figure. A free plan or tier is listed.

Plan	Price
Free freemium	Free
Professional paid	Free
Enterprise enterprise	—

Plan details, limits and sources →

Rate limits

Free Tier Default: 10 requests per minute
Free Tier Monthly Quota: 1000 requests per month
Professional Tier Default: 100 requests per minute

Compiled by API Evangelist, not yet checked against Public APIs's documentation. All 5 limits →

Pricing Plans 1

Published pricing tiers and plan structures.

Public APIs Plans Pricing

3 plans

PLANS

Rate Limits 1

Documented rate limits and quota policies.

Public APIs Rate Limits

5 limits

RATE LIMITS

Data License 1

How its data and outputs may be reused, quoted from its own terms.

Public APIs

3 quoted statements, read from Public APIs's own page on 2026-11-10.

LICENSE

FinOps 1

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

Public APIs Finops

FINOPS

Spectral Rules 1

Spectral governance rulesets for linting and validating these APIs. Counts are the severity each rule declares, not results of running them.

Public APIs API Rules

47 rules · 45 error-severity 1 warn-severity 1 info-severity

SPECTRAL

Agentic Access (API Evangelist recommendations) 1

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

Public APIs Agentic Access

4 operations

4 operations · 0 acting

AGENTIC

Resources

Documentation 2

Reference material describing how the API behaves

ContributionGuide

ContributionGuide

Contributing Guide

Contributing Guide

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

Operate 2

Status, limits, changes, and where to get help

RateLimits

RateLimits

IssueTracker

IssueTracker

Commercial 4

Pricing, plans, and the legal terms of use

Plans

FinOps

License

DataLicense

Company 1

The organization behind the API

Website

Website

Source (apis.yml)

aid: public-apis
name: Public APIs
description: Public APIs is a community-curated collective list of over 1,400 free APIs organized across 50+ categories, maintained
  by contributors and the team at APILayer. It is one of the most popular open-source projects on GitHub with over 400k stars.
  A companion REST API (davemachado/public-api) exposes the directory data programmatically over HTTPS with no authentication.
type: Index
deliveryModel:
  model: self-hosted
  license: MIT
  license_evidence:
    repo: public-apis/public-apis
    spdx: MIT
    stars: 483065
  open_source: true
  commercial: false
  callable_host: false
  label: Self-hosted open source · you run it yourself
  confidence: medium
  source:
  - openapi
  - repository-license
  generated: '2026-09-25'
  method: derived
accessModel:
  pricing: freemium
  onboarding: open
  trial: false
  try_now: true
  public: true
  gated: none
  gated_source:
  - onboarding
  label: Freemium · Open access
  confidence: low
  source:
  - plans
  generated: '2026-11-13'
  method: derived
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/icons/public-apis.png
tags:
- API Aggregation
- API Directory
- API Discovery
- Free APIs
- Open Source
tags_raw:
- API Aggregation
- API Directory
- API Discovery
- Free APIs
- Open Source
- Open-Source
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/public-apis/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
created: '2026-03-26'
modified: '2026-05-19'
specificationVersion: '0.23'
apis:
- aid: public-apis:public-apis-directory
  name: Public APIs Directory
  description: A collective list of free APIs organized by category including Animals, Finance, Weather, Geocoding, Government,
    Health, Machine Learning, Sports, and 40+ more categories for developers to discover and integrate into their projects.
  humanURL: https://github.com/public-apis/public-apis
  tags:
  - API Directory
  - Free APIs
  - Open Source
  - REST API
  tags_raw:
  - API Directory
  - Free APIs
  - Open Source
  - REST APIs
  - Open-Source
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://github.com/public-apis/public-apis#index
  - type: GitHubRepository
    url: https://github.com/public-apis/public-apis
- aid: public-apis:public-apis-categories-api
  name: Public APIs Categories API
  description: Endpoints for category metadata.
  humanURL: https://github.com/public-apis/public-apis
  baseURL: https://api.publicapis.org
  tags:
  - Categories
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/public-apis-categories-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://github.com/davemachado/public-api
  - type: GitHubRepository
    url: https://github.com/davemachado/public-api
- aid: public-apis:public-apis-entries-api
  name: Public APIs Entries API
  description: Endpoints for listing API directory entries.
  humanURL: https://github.com/public-apis/public-apis
  baseURL: https://api.publicapis.org
  tags:
  - Entries
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/public-apis-entries-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://github.com/davemachado/public-api
  - type: GitHubRepository
    url: https://github.com/davemachado/public-api
- aid: public-apis:public-apis-health-api
  name: Public APIs Health API
  description: Service health check.
  humanURL: https://github.com/public-apis/public-apis
  baseURL: https://api.publicapis.org
  tags:
  - Health
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/public-apis-health-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://github.com/davemachado/public-api
  - type: GitHubRepository
    url: https://github.com/davemachado/public-api
common:
- type: Plans
  url: plans/public-apis-plans-pricing.yml
- type: RateLimits
  url: rate-limits/public-apis-rate-limits.yml
- type: FinOps
  url: finops/public-apis-finops.yml
- type: IssueTracker
  url: https://github.com/public-apis/public-apis/issues
- type: ContributionGuide
  url: https://github.com/public-apis/public-apis/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md
- type: AgenticAccess
  url: agentic-access/public-apis-agentic-access.yml
- type: Website
  url: https://github.com/public-apis/public-apis
- type: GitHubOrganization
  url: https://github.com/public-apis
- type: Contributing Guide
  url: https://github.com/public-apis/public-apis/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md
- type: License
  url: https://github.com/public-apis/public-apis/blob/master/LICENSE
- type: DataLicense
  url: data-license/public-apis-data-license.yml
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com

Public APIs — frequently asked questions

Does Public APIs have an API?

Yes. APIs.io lists 4 APIs from Public APIs, including Public APIs Directory, Public APIs Categories API and Public APIs Entries API, and 1 more.

Is there an OpenAPI specification for the Public APIs?

Yes. APIs.io indexes 3 OpenAPI specifications for Public APIs, each linked for download from this page.

How much does the Public APIs cost?

APIs.io lists 3 pricing plans for Public APIs, with each plan's price, limits and inclusions under Pricing on this page.

Is the Public APIs ready for AI agents?

Public APIs has a Kin Score of 20.6 out of 100 (emerging) and an Agent Readiness score of 19.0 (agent-aware), scored by API Evangelist on 2026-11-13.

Work with this as data

Every provider here is available over the APIs.io API and to AI agents over MCP.

MCP server

One button, every client — Claude, Cursor, VS Code and the rest.

https://apis.io/mcp

Tools for providers

9 MCP tools reach this

find_providersBrowse and filter every provider in the catalog.
get_provider_artifactsEvery artifact this provider publishes, grouped by type.
get_provider_operationsEvery operation across all of their OpenAPIs — one call instead of parsing every spec.
get_provider_toolsEvery MCP tool they ship, with the operation each wraps.
get_provider_evidenceHow each part of their score was established. Free — the basis for a claim should not sit behind it.
get_provider_ratingPRO — composite, band, trend and facet scores.
apis_io_searchSTART HERE — APIs, providers and tags for one query, each with its total.
resolveTurn a domain, URL or GitHub org into the provider it belongs to.
find_cohortsEvery scored population of providers in the catalog.

All 92 tools →

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