While weather APIs are very useful for many applications, most of them are not available for free access. Various weather sites provide free access to weather forecasts and some to historical weather reports as well via their webpage, but very few allow access to their API for free. The Visual Crossing Weather API is different because it allows all users free access to its weather API. If you need more usage than the standard free allotment, there are various ways to earn more. Also, if you have an interesting opensource or academic project, Visual Crossing Weather may sponsor your project with free API access. This article will show you how to get the maximum amount of free API access possible.
Free weather API access for everyone
Everyone who signs up for an account with Visual Crossing Weather gets a generous 1000 free records each day to use on our web query page or in the weather API. Every day you get a new allotment of 1000 records to use, so you can easily get tens of thousands of records via the weather API each month. This is completely free, and it will never cost you even a penny. Simply sign up and enjoy free weather API access.
Become a Weather Ambassador
If you love weather data and the weather API as much as we do, and if you have a great, public project the uses it, Visual Crossing Weather would love to sponsor your project with free weather data. Our Weather Ambassador program allows you to get as much free weather API access as your project requires. In order to qualify, your project must be publicly available for free and ideally opensource. Commercial projects are not suitable for the Weather Ambassador program. Simply send us an email describing your project and your weather API needs. We’ll be glad to work with you to help you get the weather data that you need whether it be free via the Weather Ambassador program of extremely low cost such as our metered offering.
Summary
Visual Crossing Weather offers various ways to get free access to our powerful weather API. Everyone who signs up gets 1000 free results every day. Beyond that you can earn additional credits or even get your project sponsored for free data. If and when you decide to pay for the service. the prices start at $0.0001 per result. That means you can get thousands of additional results beyond your daily free allotment for only pennies.
Of course, if you have any questions about the Visual Crossing Weather API or how to use our weather data, feel free to reach out to our weather experts. We’ll be happy to help you get the data that you need.
FAQs: How to Get Free Access to a Weather API?
Does Visual Crossing Weather offer a free weather API?
Yes. Visual Crossing Weather provides completely free access to its weather API for every user. You can use the API to retrieve historical data, weather forecasts, and other weather variables like wind speed, temperature, and precipitation.
How many free API records do I get daily with Visual Crossing?
Every account receives 1,000 free API records per day. These can be used to retrieve current weather data, weather forecast data, or historical weather data. Your daily allotment refreshes automatically, so over a month, you can access tens of thousands of free records.
Can I increase my free API usage beyond the daily limit?
Yes. If you need more than 1,000 records per day, you can either switch to the low-cost metered plan—just $0.0001 per extra record—or apply to the Weather Ambassador program if your project is public and non-commercial.
Is Visual Crossing’s free API access suitable for open-source projects?
Absolutely. The 1,000 free daily records are often enough for smaller or early-stage open-source projects. For larger needs, qualified developers can apply for sponsorship under the Weather Ambassador Program to get even more access at no cost.
What happens if I exceed my free weather API quota?
If you go over the 1,000 free records in a day and haven’t added a payment method, your requests will be limited until the next day’s quota refreshes. If you add an API key with billing enabled, additional records will be charged at $0.0001 per record under the metered plan, meaning you can continue seamlessly and still pay only pennies for large volumes.