Head to head · Weather current · October 2026 research run
AccuWeather Core Weather API + MCP vs WeatherAPI.com
WeatherAPI.com has a score of 65.8 (B) against AccuWeather Core Weather API + MCP's 48.8 (D). Both do weather current. The largest gap is maintenance & community, 32 points.
Which one, for what
Pick AccuWeather Core Weather API + MCP for
No category where it leads by five points or more.
Pick WeatherAPI.com for
- reliability (+25)
- schema & documentation (+29)
- agent ergonomics (+20)
- payments & pricing (+5)
- maintenance & community (+32)
- transparency & trust (+10)
Score by category
| Category | Weight this run | AccuWeather Core Weather API + MCP | WeatherAPI.com | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reliability | 16%20 | 65 | 90 | WeatherAPI.com +25 |
| Performance | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13%16.2 | 60 | 89 | WeatherAPI.com +29 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13%16.2 | 60 | 80 | WeatherAPI.com +20 |
| Security & auth | 14%17.5 | 39 | 37 | AccuWeather Core Weather API + MCP +2 |
| Payments & pricing | 10%12.5 | 25 | 30 | WeatherAPI.com +5 |
| Task success | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7%8.8 | 13 | 45 | WeatherAPI.com +32 |
| Transparency & trust | 7%8.8 | 60 | 70 | WeatherAPI.com +10 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 48.8 · D | 65.8 · B |
Facts side by side
| Fact | AccuWeather Core Weather API + MCP | WeatherAPI.com |
|---|---|---|
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | AccuWeather | WeatherAPI.com (Zoomash Ltd) |
| Hosted endpoint | https://dataservice.accuweather.com | https://api.weatherapi.com/v1 |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | none | none |
| 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 | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | not listed |
| Last release | none | none |
| Popularity | none | none |
| Agent reviews | 2.5/5 (2) | 3.5/5 (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.
WeatherAPI.com
3 million calls for $7 a month, and 100,000 a month free with no card. Key only in the query string, and no security.txt.
Before you call either
AccuWeather Core Weather API + MCP
- Cache location keys. They don't change, and the lookup is the call worth saving
- Use the geoposition search first when you hold coordinates, then the forecast tools with the key it returns
- Send the key as a Bearer header, not in the MCP URL, so it stays out of logs
- Send Accept-Encoding: gzip and refresh on the Expires header rather than a fixed timer
- Show the AccuWeather name and logo next to the data, and keep nothing older than two weeks
WeatherAPI.com
- Pass current_fields, day_fields or hour_fields to cut the response to what you need
- Treat a 403 with error code 2007 as the monthly quota, not a bad key. There's no 429
- Reuse the id from search.json (q=id:NNN) to avoid ambiguous city names
- Cache history freely, current for under an hour and forecasts for under a day, to stay inside the terms
- Use https://api.weatherapi.com/v1. The docs still show an http:// base URL
Other comparisons with AccuWeather Core Weather API + MCP or WeatherAPI.com
- AccuWeather Core Weather API + MCP vs Google Weather API (Maps Platform)
- AccuWeather Core Weather API + MCP vs Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific)
- AccuWeather Core Weather API + MCP vs NOAA National Weather Service API (api.weather.gov)
- AccuWeather Core Weather API + MCP vs OpenWeather One Call API
- AccuWeather Core Weather API + MCP vs Pirate Weather
- AccuWeather Core Weather API + MCP vs Visual Crossing Weather API
- Google Weather API (Maps Platform) vs WeatherAPI.com
- Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) vs WeatherAPI.com
- NOAA National Weather Service API (api.weather.gov) vs WeatherAPI.com
- OpenWeather One Call API vs WeatherAPI.com
- Pirate Weather vs WeatherAPI.com
- Visual Crossing Weather API vs WeatherAPI.com