{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "met-office-datahub", "name": "Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific)", "vendor": "Met Office", "vendorUrl": "https://datahub.metoffice.gov.uk", "kind": "http-api", "category": "weather", "summary": "The UK national weather service's point forecast API.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/met-office-datahub", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/met-office-datahub.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/met-office-datahub.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/met-office-datahub.json", "repo": "https://github.com/MetOffice/weather_datahub_utilities", "license": "BSD-3-Clause (utilities)", "transports": [ "http" ], "remoteUrl": "https://data.hub.api.metoffice.gov.uk/sitespecific/v0/point", "packages": [], "auth": "api-key", "authNotes": "An apikey request header, issued per application after you register on the hub and subscribe a plan to the product. The Met Office's own download scripts show the header and the latitude and longitude query parameters.", "pricing": "freemium", "pricingNotes": "All prices in GBP, excluding VAT. Global Spot is free at 360 calls a day, then £9 a month for 900 a day, £32 for 3,600, £146 for 18,000, £250 for 36,000 and £437 for 72,000. The blended probabilistic forecast is free at 55 calls a day for one site, then £9 for 550 a day, £58 for 4,000, £198 for 14,000, £776 for 55,000, £3,806 for 270,000 and £10,429 for 740,000. Enterprise plans are invoiced (https://datahub.metoffice.gov.uk/pricing/site-specific). Daily limits reset at 00:00 UTC.", "priceSummary": "Freemium", "where": "hosted", "x402": { "level": "no", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-09-30" }, "docsUrl": "https://datahub.metoffice.gov.uk/docs/f/category/site-specific/overview", "capabilities": [ "weather.current", "weather.forecast", "weather.alerts", "data.weather" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "official", "government", "uk", "free-tier", "no-card", "freemium", "closed-source" ], "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 45.5, "grade": "E", "agentReady": false, "rank": 399, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 452, "categoryRank": 8, "methodology": "0.3", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 53, "maintenance": 15, "payments": 30, "reliability": 48, "schema": 32, "security": 66, "transparency": 63 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-01" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "Statutory UK weather service, with a FAQ licence to copy, publish and adapt the data. No OpenAPI, llms.txt, SDK or MCP server.", "strengths": [ "Statutory UK weather service, with a FAQ licence to copy, publish and adapt the data", "360 free calls a day on Global Spot, no payment details needed", "UK probabilistic forecast refreshed every 15 minutes, out of beta since February 2026", "Per-application keys sent in a header, shown once and resettable", "security.txt on metoffice.gov.uk with a HackerOne reporting route" ], "weaknesses": [ "No OpenAPI, llms.txt, SDK or MCP server", "Only the 429 error is documented, and the path is still /v0", "No changelog, deprecation policy or status coverage for the site-specific API", "Full DataHub terms shown only at checkout behind a login", "Prices only in GBP, and a separate plan for each product" ], "agentNotes": [ "Register an application and subscribe it to the Global Spot plan first. The key is tied to that order and shown once", "Send the key in the apikey header with Accept: application/json, and latitude and longitude as query parameters", "Add excludeParameterMetadata=true to drop the parameter descriptions from every response", "Pick the timestep by need. hourly covers 48 hours, three-hourly 168, daily 7 days, and each call counts against the daily limit", "Stop on a 429. The limit is daily and resets at 00:00 UTC" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 2, "avgRating": 3, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "E", "methodology": "0.3", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 45.5 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 53, "maintenance": 15, "payments": 30, "reliability": 48, "schema": 32, "security": 66, "transparency": 36 }, "provenanceScore": 90, "dataQualityScore": 74 }, "connect": { "http": "curl -H \"apikey: $METOFFICE_API_KEY\" -H \"Accept: application/json\" \"https://data.hub.api.metoffice.gov.uk/sitespecific/v0/point/hourly?latitude=51.51\u0026longitude=-0.13\u0026excludeParameterMetadata=true\u0026includeLocationName=true\"" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/weather.current", "tool": "https://letme.dev/met-office-datahub" }, "area": "domain-data", "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Met Office, an executive agency of the UK government", "domain": "metoffice.gov.uk", "domainRegistered": "", "domainNote": ".gov.uk has no public RDAP, and a government domain scores in full on age.", "official": true, "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/legal", "privacy": "https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/legal/privacy", "statusPage": "https://datahub.metoffice.gov.uk/support/service-status", "changelog": "", "securityTxt": "valid", "checked": "2026-10-01", "notes": [ "The DataHub-specific terms and conditions are presented when you confirm an order and the /terms path redirects to the login, so the licence summary here is from the hub's FAQ.", "metoffice.gov.uk/.well-known/security.txt points at a HackerOne form and expires 2031-07-01, per the 30 September check.", "The hub's service status page is marked beta and shows data availability for atmospheric model feeds only, not the site-specific API, with no history.", "The privacy policy (updated 2024-04-03) names the Met Office, Exeter, as controller on behalf of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.", "Support and enterprise pricing go through dpt@metoffice.gov.uk." ], "score": 90 }, "dataQuality": { "coverage": "Global point forecasts, over 5,000 Global Spot sites, 7,000 UK and 5,500 other probabilistic sites, from the 10 km global and 2 km UK models", "coverageRating": 4, "freshness": "Global Spot hourly. Probabilistic forecast every 15 minutes in the UK domain and four times a day globally", "freshnessClass": "hourly", "history": "None in the site-specific product. Land Observations gives recent UK station data", "historyYears": 0, "methodology": "https://datahub.metoffice.gov.uk/docs/f/category/site-specific/overview", "sourcesDisclosed": true, "licence": "Crown copyright, perpetual non-exclusive licence with credit per the FAQ, full terms at checkout", "licenceClass": "clear", "standing": "The UK's national meteorological service, the body that issues UK weather warnings", "standingClass": "statutory", "reuse": "The FAQ describes a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to copy, publish, distribute, adapt and exploit the products, with \"Powered by Met Office data\" shown. The full order terms may add conditions, so read them at checkout.", "score": 74, "checks": null }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/met-office-datahub.json", "live": { "slug": "met-office-datahub", "probe": { "target": "https://data.hub.api.metoffice.gov.uk/sitespecific/v0/point", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-10-05T00:25:46.059703845Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 404, "lastMs": 30, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 28, "p95ms24h": 72, "samples24h": 272, "samples30d": 905, "days": [ { "date": "2026-10-01", "probes": 109, "ok": 109 }, { "date": "2026-10-02", "probes": 248, "ok": 248 }, { "date": "2026-10-03", "probes": 271, "ok": 271 }, { "date": "2026-10-04", "probes": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-05", "probes": 5, "ok": 5 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://datahub.metoffice.gov.uk/support/service-status", "indicator": "unknown", "summary": "no machine-readable status found", "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T21:40:14.847427951Z" }, "githubStars": 27, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://metoffice.gov.uk/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "valid", "expires": "2031-07-01T00:00:00Z", "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:15:38.601847011Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://datahub.metoffice.gov.uk/pricing/site-specific", "kind": "pricing", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:42:20.664638752Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "2dd0683b1c56" }, { "url": "https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/legal/privacy", "kind": "privacy", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:51:22.415982754Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "fd0f26f2a557" }, { "url": "https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/legal", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:51:20.17195416Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "a85435e9c79e" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-05T00:25:46.059703845Z" } }, "b": { "slug": "visual-crossing", "name": "Visual Crossing Weather API", "vendor": "Visual Crossing", "vendorUrl": "https://www.visualcrossing.com", "kind": "http-api", "category": "weather", "summary": "Weather API for historical conditions, forecasts and climate data by location and date range.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/visual-crossing", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/visual-crossing.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/visual-crossing.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/visual-crossing.json", "repo": "https://github.com/visualcrossing/WeatherApi", "transports": [ "http", "streamable-http" ], "remoteUrl": "https://weather.visualcrossing.com/VisualCrossingWebServices/rest/services/timeline", "packages": [], "auth": "api-key", "authNotes": "The Timeline API takes the key as the key query parameter. The MCP server takes it in an X-VC-API-Key header, or OAuth (user or machine-to-machine) once Visual Crossing has provisioned it for the account.", "pricing": "freemium", "pricingNotes": "Billed in records. A day of daily data is one record, a day of hourly data is 24, and a full 15-day forecast for one location is one record. Free at 1,000 records a day (30,000 a month), no card, one concurrent request, attribution required. Metered at $0.0001 a record above the free 1,000 a day, unlimited records, up to 25,000 records a query. Professional (10 million records a month) shows no price, and Corporate and Enterprise are contact sales. A February 2023 post put Professional and Corporate at $35 and $150 a month. The plan table lists 99.5 per cent uptime on Free and 99.9 on paid plans (https://www.visualcrossing.com/weather-data-pricing/ and https://www.visualcrossing.com/resources/blog/what-will-my-weather-data-cost/).", "priceSummary": "$0.10 / 1k req", "where": "hosted", "x402": { "level": "no", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": 1, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-09-30" }, "docsUrl": "https://www.visualcrossing.com/resources/documentation/weather-api/timeline-weather-api/", "llmsTxt": "https://www.visualcrossing.com/llms.txt", "openapi": "https://www.visualcrossing.com/weather/specs/visualcrossing-weather-api-openapi.json", "capabilities": [ "weather.current", "weather.forecast", "weather.historical", "weather.alerts", "data.weather" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "freemium", "free-tier", "no-card", "mcp", "closed-source", "usage-priced" ], "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 60.3, "grade": "C", "agentReady": false, "rank": 251, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 452, "categoryRank": 4, "methodology": "0.3", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 78, "maintenance": 58, "payments": 40, "reliability": 66, "schema": 74, "security": 40, "transparency": 61 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-01" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "History from 1970, current conditions and a 15-day forecast from one endpoint. Key only in the query string on the REST API.", "strengths": [ "History from 1970, current conditions and a 15-day forecast from one endpoint", "$0.0001 a record with 1,000 free a day and no card", "Official MCP server with one tool, key in a header or OAuth", "llms.txt, an OpenAPI spec and a quarterly changelog, most recently 4 September 2026", "Status page and published uptime targets of 99.5 per cent free and 99.9 paid" ], "weaknesses": [ "Key only in the query string on the REST API", "OpenAPI spec defines no enums and no error responses", "Privacy policy states no retention periods or subprocessors", "Storing results needs the right licence level, and the terms carry a non-compete", "No security.txt, disclosure policy or MCP registry entry" ], "agentNotes": [ "Always pass include= and elements=. A bare call returns days, hours and current for every element and burns records", "Count records before a backfill. Hourly data is 24 records a day, so a year for one place is 8,760", "Pass unitGroup=metric. The default is US units", "Use the MCP server with X-VC-API-Key rather than pasting the key into a URL", "Keep to one request at a time on Free and Professional. A second concurrent job returns 429" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 2, "avgRating": 4, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "C", "methodology": "0.3", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 60.3 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 78, "maintenance": 58, "payments": 40, "reliability": 66, "schema": 74, "security": 40, "transparency": 31 }, "provenanceScore": 90, "dataQualityScore": 77 }, "connect": { "http": "curl \"https://weather.visualcrossing.com/VisualCrossingWebServices/rest/services/timeline/51.51,-0.13/2026-09-01/2026-09-07?unitGroup=metric\u0026include=days\u0026elements=datetime,tempmax,tempmin,precip\u0026contentType=json\u0026key=$VISUALCROSSING_API_KEY\"", "claudeCode": "claude mcp add --transport http visualcrossing https://mcp.visualcrossing.com/VisualCrossingWebServices/rest/api/v1/mcp --header \"X-VC-API-Key: $VISUALCROSSING_API_KEY\"", "config": { "mcpServers": { "visualcrossing": { "headers": { "X-VC-API-Key": "${VISUALCROSSING_API_KEY}" }, "type": "http", "url": "https://mcp.visualcrossing.com/VisualCrossingWebServices/rest/api/v1/mcp" } } } }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/weather.current", "tool": "https://letme.dev/visual-crossing" }, "area": "domain-data", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "Metered record", "unit": "record", "usd": 0.0001, "note": "First 1,000 records a day free" }, { "item": "Metered, 15-day forecast calls", "unit": "1k-requests", "usd": 0.1, "note": "One record a forecast call, $0.0001 each" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Visual Crossing Corporation", "domain": "visualcrossing.com", "domainRegistered": "2005-10-11", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://www.visualcrossing.com/weather-services-terms/", "privacy": "https://www.visualcrossing.com/privacy/", "statusPage": "https://status.visualcrossing.com/", "changelog": "https://www.visualcrossing.com/resources/documentation/weather-api/weather-api-changelog/", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-10-01", "notes": [ "The terms (last updated January 2023) name Visual Crossing Corporation under Virginia law but give no address.", "The privacy policy is at /privacy/ (updated 23 May 2025). The /privacy-policy/ path returns 404.", "The status page at status.visualcrossing.com runs on UptimeRobot.", "/.well-known/security.txt returns 404 per the 30 September check.", "The GitHub repository holds sample code in several languages, not an SDK." ], "score": 90 }, "dataQuality": { "coverage": "Global, any address or coordinate, up to 100 locations a query on Professional", "coverageRating": 4, "freshness": "Stations update every 15 to 30 minutes or hourly per the product page. Forecast refresh cadence not stated", "freshnessClass": "hourly", "history": "From 1970-01-01, hourly and daily, plus archived forecasts through the Historical Weather Forecast API added in Q2 2026", "historyYears": 56, "methodology": "https://www.visualcrossing.com/resources/documentation/weather-api/timeline-weather-api/", "sourcesDisclosed": true, "licence": "Proprietary. Storage by licence level, no resale, non-compete", "licenceClass": "clear", "standing": "", "standingClass": "none", "reuse": "Results may be stored in a database only where the licence level permits it, except for personal use. Resale and redistribution are barred, using the data to replicate a Visual Crossing service is barred, and Enterprise is the plan that adds external data-sharing rights.", "score": 77, "checks": null }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/visual-crossing.json", "live": { "slug": "visual-crossing", "probe": { "target": "https://weather.visualcrossing.com/VisualCrossingWebServices/rest/services/timeline", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-10-05T00:25:51.947946877Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 401, "lastMs": 248, "lastNote": "asks for credentials", "authRequired": true, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 256, "p95ms24h": 295, "samples24h": 272, "samples30d": 905, "days": [ { "date": "2026-10-01", "probes": 109, "ok": 109 }, { "date": "2026-10-02", "probes": 248, "ok": 248 }, { "date": "2026-10-03", "probes": 271, "ok": 271 }, { "date": "2026-10-04", "probes": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-05", "probes": 5, "ok": 5 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.visualcrossing.com", "indicator": "unknown", "summary": "no machine-readable status found", "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T21:40:33.384039028Z" }, "githubStars": 55, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://visualcrossing.com/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "none", "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:15:36.837103071Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://www.visualcrossing.com/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:18:21.271479326Z" }, "domain": { "domain": "visualcrossing.com", "registered": "2005-10-11", "source": "https://rdap.verisign.com/com/v1/domain/visualcrossing.com", "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T13:06:40.738574234Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://www.visualcrossing.com/resources/documentation/weather-api/weather-api-changelog/", "kind": "changelog", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:52:47.418150983Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "77ecfd35a643" }, { "url": "https://www.visualcrossing.com/weather-data-pricing/", "kind": "pricing", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:52:49.331082427Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "cb8af14c5632" }, { "url": "https://www.visualcrossing.com/privacy/", "kind": "privacy", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:52:45.228070626Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "0ccd098bba16" }, { "url": "https://www.visualcrossing.com/weather-services-terms/", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:52:51.357308005Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "5225b6169954" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-05T00:25:51.947946877Z" } }, "summary": "Visual Crossing Weather API has a score of 60.3 (C) against Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific)'s 45.5 (E). Both do weather current. The largest gap is maintenance \u0026 community, 43 points." }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/met-office-datahub-vs-visual-crossing", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/met-office-datahub-vs-visual-crossing.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/met-office-datahub-vs-visual-crossing.md", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/met-office-datahub-vs-visual-crossing.min.md" }, "markdown": "Visual Crossing Weather API has a score of 60.3 (C) against Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific)'s 45.5 (E). Both do weather current. The largest gap is maintenance \u0026 community, 43 points.\n\n- 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\n- Visual Crossing Weather API: grade C, 60.3/100, rank #251 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/visual-crossing.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/visual-crossing.json\n\n## Which one, for what\n\nPick Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) for security \u0026 auth (+26).\n\nPick Visual Crossing Weather API for reliability (+18), schema \u0026 documentation (+42), agent ergonomics (+25), payments \u0026 pricing (+10), maintenance \u0026 community (+43).\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) | Visual Crossing Weather API | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 48 | 66 | Visual Crossing Weather API +18 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 32 | 74 | Visual Crossing Weather API +42 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 53 | 78 | Visual Crossing Weather API +25 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 66 | 40 | Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) +26 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 40 | Visual Crossing Weather API +10 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 15 | 58 | Visual Crossing Weather API +43 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 63 | 61 | Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) +2 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **45.5 · E** | **60.3 · C** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) | Visual Crossing Weather API |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |\n| Vendor | Met Office | Visual Crossing |\n| Hosted endpoint | `https://data.hub.api.metoffice.gov.uk/sitespecific/v0/point` | `https://weather.visualcrossing.com/VisualCrossingWebServices/rest/services/timeline` |\n| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |\n| Auth | API key | API key |\n| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | BSD-3-Clause (utilities) | none |\n| Tools exposed | none | 1 |\n| Context cost (tools/list) | n/a | n/a |\n| p95 latency | not measured yet | not measured yet |\n| Availability (30d) | not measured yet | not measured yet |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | no | yes |\n| MCP registry | not listed | not listed |\n| Last release | none | none |\n| Popularity | none | none |\n| Agent reviews | 3/5 (2) | 4/5 (2) |\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**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.\n\n**Visual Crossing Weather API.** History from 1970, current conditions and a 15-day forecast from one endpoint. Key only in the query string on the REST API.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific)\n\n1. Register an application and subscribe it to the Global Spot plan first. The key is tied to that order and shown once\n2. Send the key in the apikey header with Accept: application/json, and latitude and longitude as query parameters\n3. Add excludeParameterMetadata=true to drop the parameter descriptions from every response\n4. Pick the timestep by need. hourly covers 48 hours, three-hourly 168, daily 7 days, and each call counts against the daily limit\n5. Stop on a 429. The limit is daily and resets at 00:00 UTC\n\n### Visual Crossing Weather API\n\n1. Always pass include= and elements=. A bare call returns days, hours and current for every element and burns records\n2. Count records before a backfill. Hourly data is 24 records a day, so a year for one place is 8,760\n3. Pass unitGroup=metric. The default is US units\n4. Use the MCP server with X-VC-API-Key rather than pasting the key into a URL\n5. Keep to one request at a time on Free and Professional. A second concurrent job returns 429\n\n## Other comparisons with Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) or Visual Crossing Weather API\n\n- [AccuWeather Core Weather API + MCP vs Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/accuweather-api-vs-met-office-datahub.md)\n- [AccuWeather Core Weather API + MCP vs Visual Crossing Weather API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/accuweather-api-vs-visual-crossing.md)\n- [Google Weather API (Maps Platform) vs Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-weather-api-vs-met-office-datahub.md)\n- [Google Weather API (Maps Platform) vs Visual Crossing Weather API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-weather-api-vs-visual-crossing.md)\n- [Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) vs NOAA National Weather Service API (api.weather.gov)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/met-office-datahub-vs-nws-api.md)\n- [Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) vs OpenWeather One Call API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/met-office-datahub-vs-openweather-one-call.md)\n- [Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) vs Pirate Weather](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/met-office-datahub-vs-pirate-weather.md)\n- [Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) vs WeatherAPI.com](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/met-office-datahub-vs-weatherapi-com.md)\n- [NOAA National Weather Service API (api.weather.gov) vs Visual Crossing Weather API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nws-api-vs-visual-crossing.md)\n- [OpenWeather One Call API vs Visual Crossing Weather API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openweather-one-call-vs-visual-crossing.md)\n- [Pirate Weather vs Visual Crossing Weather API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pirate-weather-vs-visual-crossing.md)\n- [Visual Crossing Weather API vs WeatherAPI.com](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/visual-crossing-vs-weatherapi-com.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-10-05", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.3", "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json", "preview": false, "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) vs Visual Crossing Weather API", "url": "" } ], "description": "Visual Crossing Weather API has a score of 60.3 (C) against Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific)'s 45.5 (E). Both do weather current. The largest gap is maintenance \u0026 community, 43 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) E 45.5", "Visual Crossing Weather API C 60.3", "scores" ], "h1": "Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) vs Visual Crossing Weather API", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-met-office-datahub-vs-visual-crossing.png", "path": "/compare/met-office-datahub-vs-visual-crossing", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) vs Visual Crossing Weather…", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-05", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/met-office-datahub-vs-visual-crossing" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 1750, "slim": 380 }, "version": 1 }