# Google Weather API (Maps Platform) vs Xweather Weather API

> Xweather Weather API and Google Weather API (Maps Platform) score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 67.1 (B) and 66.8 (B). Google Weather API (Maps Platform) leads on reliability and security & auth. Both do weather current. Category scores, facts, verdicts and…

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- Updated: 2026-10-08

Xweather Weather API and Google Weather API (Maps Platform) score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 67.1 (B) and 66.8 (B). Google Weather API (Maps Platform) leads on reliability and security & auth. 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
- Xweather Weather API: grade B, 67.1/100, rank #219 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/xweather.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/xweather.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 74
- Security & auth, 71 against 52

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

### Xweather Weather API (B)

Good for: Teams that need lightning, hail, road weather or tropical data beside ordinary conditions and forecasts, with an MCP server and an OpenAPI file ready for agents.

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 32 against 25
- Maintenance & community, 81 against 20

Watch for: The REST API documents `client_id` and `client_secret` only as query parameters, and the MCP server also accepts the key as `?api_key=`


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Google Weather API (Maps Platform) | Xweather Weather API | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 85 | 74 | Google Weather API (Maps Platform) +11 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 82 | 83 | Xweather Weather API +1 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 79 | 78 | Google Weather API (Maps Platform) +1 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 71 | 52 | Google Weather API (Maps Platform) +19 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 25 | 32 | Xweather Weather API +7 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 20 | 81 | Xweather Weather API +61 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 72 | 68 | Google Weather API (Maps Platform) +4 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **66.8 · B** | **67.1 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Google Weather API (Maps Platform) | Xweather Weather API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Google | Vaisala Oyj |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://weather.googleapis.com/v1` | `https://data.api.xweather.com` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | none | Proprietary service under the General Conditions of Subscription Services of Vaisala Group. The OpenAPI files and the agent skills on GitHub are MIT |
| Tools exposed | none | 19 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | `com.xweather/weather` |
| Last release | 2025-11-18 | 2026-09-14 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-08-26 | couldn't be read |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-10-01 | 2020-06-01 |
| Customer content may train models | yes | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | couldn't be read |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Popularity | none | 0 stars, 1.4k npm/wk |
| 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.

**Xweather Weather API.** A public OpenAPI file with 236 operations, a hosted MCP server in the official registry and a free tier of 15,000 accesses a month suit agents. REST credentials travel only in the query string, per-minute limits are unpublished, and the group terms bar commercial use of free plans and passing data to third parties unless a service description allows it.

## 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

### Xweather Weather API

1. Check `success` and `error.code` on every response. Application errors such as `invalid_location` return HTTP 200 with `success` false
2. Send `fields`, `limit` and `plimit`. The docs put a 15-day hourly forecast at about 600 KB, and about 25 KB with three fields
3. Read `X-Cost-Tokens` after each call. Cost is the endpoint multiplier times the intervals requested, so narrow `from` and `to`
4. For MCP, send `Authorization: Bearer <client_id>_<client_secret>` and avoid the `api_key` query parameter, which puts the secret in the URL
5. Add `include_tags` or `include_tools` to the MCP URL to load only the tool groups the task needs
6. On 429 read `Retry-After` and the `X-RateLimit-Reset-*` headers. `maxhits_min` clears at the next minute, `maxhits` at the period reset

## Questions

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

Xweather Weather API and Google Weather API (Maps Platform) score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 67.1 (B) and 66.8 (B). Google Weather API (Maps Platform) leads on reliability and security & auth.

### Do Google Weather API (Maps Platform) and Xweather Weather API need an API key?

Google Weather API (Maps Platform) needs an API key. Xweather Weather API takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

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

Yes. Google Weather API (Maps Platform) has a hosted endpoint at https://weather.googleapis.com/v1 and Xweather Weather API at https://data.api.xweather.com.


## For agents

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

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