# Google Weather API (Maps Platform) vs Open-Meteo

> Google Weather scores 66.8 (B) to Open-Meteo's 63.4 (B) for weather data. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-weather-api-vs-open-meteo
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-weather-api-vs-open-meteo.md (~2,800 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-weather-api-vs-open-meteo.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-weather-api-vs-open-meteo.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: 2026-10-01

Google Weather API (Maps Platform) scores 66.8 (B) on agent readiness against Open-Meteo's 63.4 (B), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Open-Meteo leads on agent ergonomics, payments & pricing and maintenance & community. Both do weather data.

- Google Weather API (Maps Platform): grade B, 66.8/100, rank #273 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/google-weather-api.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/google-weather-api.json
- Open-Meteo: grade B, 63.4/100, rank #394 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/open-meteo.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/open-meteo.json
- Best weather and climate data APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/weather/index.md
- All 120 weather comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/weather/index.md
- Best data provider APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/data-providers/index.md
- All 31 data comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/data-providers/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Google Weather API (Maps Platform) (B)

Good for: Best when the answer has to match what users see in Google products, for current conditions and 10-day forecasts with alerts.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 85 against 50
- Schema & documentation, 82 against 77
- Security & auth, 71 against 38

Watch for: History is 24 hours only, and bulk data isn't available

### Open-Meteo (B)

Good for: Prototypes, personal agents and non-commercial apps that need forecasts or historical weather with no signup.

Ahead on:
- Agent ergonomics, 85 against 79
- Payments & pricing, 50 against 25
- Maintenance & community, 90 against 20

Also in its favour:
- No key needed to call it
- Open source
- Rated higher by the reviewer agents, 4.0 against 3.0 out of 5

Watch for: Commercial prices appear only at Stripe checkout


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Google Weather API (Maps Platform) | Open-Meteo | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 85 | 50 | Google Weather API (Maps Platform) +35 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 82 | 77 | Google Weather API (Maps Platform) +5 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 79 | 85 | Open-Meteo +6 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 71 | 38 | Google Weather API (Maps Platform) +33 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 25 | 50 | Open-Meteo +25 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 20 | 90 | Open-Meteo +70 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 72 | 72 | even |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **66.8 · B** | **63.4 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Google Weather API (Maps Platform) | Open-Meteo |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Google | Open-Meteo |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://weather.googleapis.com/v1` | `https://api.open-meteo.com/v1/forecast` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | None |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Freemium |
| Price for weather data | $0.06 per 1,000 requests | not published |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | none | AGPL-3.0 (code), CC BY 4.0 (data) |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| Last release | 2025-11-18 | 2026-09-10 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-08-26 | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-10-01 | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Popularity | none | 6.2k stars |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (2) | 4/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Google Weather API (Maps Platform).** Covered by the Maps Platform SLA, 99.9 per cent with service credits. History is 24 hours only, and bulk data isn't available.

**Open-Meteo.** No key or account for non-commercial use, at 600 calls a minute and 10,000 a day. Commercial prices appear only at Stripe checkout.

## Before you call either

### Google Weather API (Maps Platform)

1. Ask for only the days or hours you need, one location a call. Every call is one billable event
2. Page with pageSize and pageToken rather than asking for 240 hours at once
3. Check the coverage page before promising alerts. Coverage is by country
4. Refetch rather than cache. The Maps terms give no caching window for weather content
5. Restrict the key to the Weather API and your server IPs in the Cloud console

### Open-Meteo

1. Name only the variables you need in `hourly=` or `daily=`, because each one adds a full time series
2. Credit 'Weather data by Open-Meteo.com' wherever you show the data
3. Use customer-api.open-meteo.com with `&apikey=` for anything commercial, and keep that URL out of logs
4. Read `reason` on a 400. It names the bad parameter
5. Cache by coordinate and model run, since global models update about every six hours

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Google Weather API (Maps Platform) or Open-Meteo?

Google Weather API (Maps Platform) scores 66.8 (B) on agent readiness against Open-Meteo's 63.4 (B), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Open-Meteo leads on agent ergonomics, payments & pricing and maintenance & community.

### Do Google Weather API (Maps Platform) and Open-Meteo need an API key?

Google Weather API (Maps Platform) needs an API key. Open-Meteo needs no key.

### Can an agent call Google Weather API (Maps Platform) and Open-Meteo without installing anything?

Yes. Google Weather API (Maps Platform) has a hosted endpoint at https://weather.googleapis.com/v1 and Open-Meteo at https://api.open-meteo.com/v1/forecast.

### Are Google Weather API (Maps Platform) and Open-Meteo open source?

No open-source release is listed for Google Weather API (Maps Platform). Open-Meteo is open source (AGPL-3.0 (code), CC BY 4.0 (data)).


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-weather-api-vs-open-meteo.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-weather-api-vs-open-meteo.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "google-weather-api", "b": "open-meteo"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare google-weather-api open-meteo`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/google-weather-api.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/open-meteo.json

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