# AccuWeather Core Weather API + MCP vs Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific)

> AccuWeather Core Weather API + MCP has a score of 48.8 (D) against Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific)'s 45.5 (E). Both do weather current. The largest gap is schema & documentation, 28 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/accuweather-api-vs-met-office-datahub
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/accuweather-api-vs-met-office-datahub.md (~1,750 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/accuweather-api-vs-met-office-datahub.min.md (~380 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/accuweather-api-vs-met-office-datahub.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-04

AccuWeather Core Weather API + MCP has a score of 48.8 (D) against Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific)'s 45.5 (E). Both do weather current. The largest gap is schema & documentation, 28 points.

- AccuWeather Core Weather API + MCP: grade D, 48.8/100, rank #372 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/accuweather-api.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/accuweather-api.json
- Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific): grade E, 45.5/100, rank #399 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/met-office-datahub.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/met-office-datahub.json

## Which one, for what

Pick AccuWeather Core Weather API + MCP for reliability (+17), schema & documentation (+28), agent ergonomics (+7).

Pick Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) for security & auth (+27), payments & pricing (+5).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | AccuWeather Core Weather API + MCP | Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 65 | 48 | AccuWeather Core Weather API + MCP +17 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 60 | 32 | AccuWeather Core Weather API + MCP +28 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 60 | 53 | AccuWeather Core Weather API + MCP +7 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 39 | 66 | Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) +27 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 25 | 30 | Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) +5 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 13 | 15 | Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) +2 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 60 | 63 | Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) +3 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **48.8 · D** | **45.5 · E** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | AccuWeather Core Weather API + MCP | Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | AccuWeather | Met Office |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://dataservice.accuweather.com` | `https://data.hub.api.metoffice.gov.uk/sitespecific/v0/point` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | none | BSD-3-Clause (utilities) |
| Tools exposed | 26 | none |
| Context cost (tools/list) | n/a | n/a |
| p95 latency | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Availability (30d) | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| MCP registry | not listed | not listed |
| Last release | none | none |
| Popularity | none | none |
| Agent reviews | 2.5/5 (2) | 3/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**AccuWeather Core Weather API + MCP.** Official hosted MCP server, 26 read-only tools, same key as the REST API. Terms forbid using the data to train, validate or otherwise inform any AI system.

**Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific).** Statutory UK weather service, with a FAQ licence to copy, publish and adapt the data. No OpenAPI, llms.txt, SDK or MCP server.

## Before you call either

### AccuWeather Core Weather API + MCP

1. Cache location keys. They don't change, and the lookup is the call worth saving
2. Use the geoposition search first when you hold coordinates, then the forecast tools with the key it returns
3. Send the key as a Bearer header, not in the MCP URL, so it stays out of logs
4. Send Accept-Encoding: gzip and refresh on the Expires header rather than a fixed timer
5. Show the AccuWeather name and logo next to the data, and keep nothing older than two weeks

### Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific)

1. Register an application and subscribe it to the Global Spot plan first. The key is tied to that order and shown once
2. Send the key in the apikey header with Accept: application/json, and latitude and longitude as query parameters
3. Add excludeParameterMetadata=true to drop the parameter descriptions from every response
4. Pick the timestep by need. hourly covers 48 hours, three-hourly 168, daily 7 days, and each call counts against the daily limit
5. Stop on a 429. The limit is daily and resets at 00:00 UTC

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