# Google Weather API (Maps Platform) vs The Weather Company Data APIs

> Google Weather API (Maps Platform) scores 66.8 (B) on agent readiness against The Weather Company Data APIs's 52.6 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. The Weather Company Data APIs leads on maintenance & community. Both do weather current. Category scores, facts…

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- Updated: 2026-10-08

Google Weather API (Maps Platform) scores 66.8 (B) on agent readiness against The Weather Company Data APIs's 52.6 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. The Weather Company Data APIs leads on maintenance & community. Both do weather current.

- Google Weather API (Maps Platform): grade B, 66.8/100, rank #226 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/google-weather-api.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/google-weather-api.json
- The Weather Company Data APIs: grade D, 52.6/100, rank #565 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/weather-company.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/weather-company.json

## 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 73
- Schema & documentation, 82 against 67
- Agent ergonomics, 79 against 54
- Security & auth, 71 against 48
- Payments & pricing, 25 against 20
- Transparency & trust, 72 against 49

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

### The Weather Company Data APIs (D)

Good for: A business that wants one contract for global forecasts, 4 km current conditions, alerts, imagery, aviation and deep history, and that can go through sales.

Ahead on:
- Maintenance & community, 36 against 20

Watch for: No self-serve signup. The trial is requested through a form, is limited to enterprise customers, and the Buy now button opens a contact form.


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Google Weather API (Maps Platform) | The Weather Company Data APIs | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 85 | 73 | Google Weather API (Maps Platform) +12 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 82 | 67 | Google Weather API (Maps Platform) +15 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 79 | 54 | Google Weather API (Maps Platform) +25 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 71 | 48 | Google Weather API (Maps Platform) +23 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 25 | 20 | Google Weather API (Maps Platform) +5 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 20 | 36 | The Weather Company Data APIs +16 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 72 | 49 | Google Weather API (Maps Platform) +23 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **66.8 · B** | **52.6 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Google Weather API (Maps Platform) | The Weather Company Data APIs |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Google | The Weather Company, LLC |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://weather.googleapis.com/v1` | `https://api.weather.com` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | none | Proprietary service. Use is under a content licensing agreement with The Weather Company, which is not published |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| Last release | 2025-11-18 | 2026-09-14 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-08-26 | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-10-01 | couldn't be read |
| Customer content may train models | yes |  |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text |  |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (2) | none |

## 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.

**The Weather Company Data APIs.** A wide weather data API with 168 API references built from OpenAPI documents, global 4 km current conditions, hourly history from June 2015 and a status page with component history. Keys come only through a sales-reviewed trial or contract, travel only in the URL, and the terms that govern the API are not published.

## 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

### The Weather Company Data APIs

1. Send `units`, `language` and `format=json` with a location on every v3 call, plus `Accept-Encoding: gzip`, which the usage guide marks as required.
2. Keep the key out of logs and client-side code, because it travels in the query string as `apiKey`.
3. Treat a 401 as either a bad key, an endpoint outside the key's package or an exceeded limit, and treat a 204 as no data for the query.
4. Each forecast duration (`3day` to `15day`) is a separate entitlement. Request only durations the contract covers.
5. Use `/v3/aggcommon` to combine up to 10 products in one request. Each product and each location still counts as one call.

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Google Weather API (Maps Platform) or The Weather Company Data APIs?

Google Weather API (Maps Platform) scores 66.8 (B) on agent readiness against The Weather Company Data APIs's 52.6 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. The Weather Company Data APIs leads on maintenance & community.

### Do Google Weather API (Maps Platform) and The Weather Company Data APIs need an API key?

Both need an API key.

### Can an agent call Google Weather API (Maps Platform) and The Weather Company Data APIs without installing anything?

Yes. Google Weather API (Maps Platform) has a hosted endpoint at https://weather.googleapis.com/v1 and The Weather Company Data APIs at https://api.weather.com.


## For agents

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

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