# Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) vs Weatherbit API

> Weatherbit API scores 57.7 (C) on agent readiness against Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific)'s 45.5 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) leads on security & auth. Both do weather current. Category scores, facts, verdicts…

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/met-office-datahub-vs-weatherbit
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/met-office-datahub-vs-weatherbit.md (~2,700 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/met-office-datahub-vs-weatherbit.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/met-office-datahub-vs-weatherbit.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: 2026-10-08

Weatherbit API scores 57.7 (C) on agent readiness against Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific)'s 45.5 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) leads on security & auth. Both do weather current.

- Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific): grade E, 45.5/100, rank #656 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/met-office-datahub.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/met-office-datahub.json
- Weatherbit API: grade C, 57.7/100, rank #466 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/weatherbit.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/weatherbit.json

## Which one, for what

### Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) (E)

Good for: Best when a UK answer has to come from the national weather service, and when the licence to republish matters.

Ahead on:
- Security & auth, 66 against 39

Watch for: No OpenAPI, llms.txt, SDK or MCP server

### Weatherbit API (C)

Good for: An application that needs forecasts plus specialised datasets (air quality, lightning, soil and degree days) from one paid subscription, queried by coordinates.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 91 against 48
- Schema & documentation, 72 against 32
- Agent ergonomics, 61 against 53
- Maintenance & community, 21 against 15

Watch for: The key is accepted only as the `key` query parameter, and the spec lists plain http as a scheme


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) | Weatherbit API | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 48 | 91 | Weatherbit API +43 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 32 | 72 | Weatherbit API +40 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 53 | 61 | Weatherbit API +8 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 66 | 39 | Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) +27 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 30 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 15 | 21 | Weatherbit API +6 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 62 | 63 | Weatherbit API +1 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **45.5 · E** | **57.7 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) | Weatherbit API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Met Office | Weatherbit LLC |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://data.hub.api.metoffice.gov.uk/sitespecific/v0/point` | `https://api.weatherbit.io/v2.0` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | BSD-3-Clause (utilities) | Proprietary service under Weatherbit's terms of service. The free plan's data is under a Creative Commons non-commercial licence. The Python SDK is MIT |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| Last release | none | 2025-08-01 |
| Terms last updated | couldn't be read | 2025-05-01 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2024-04-03 | 2023-12-26 |
| Customer content may train models | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Popularity | none | 78 PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (2) | none |

## Verdicts

**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.

**Weatherbit API.** A read-only weather API with a Swagger 2.0 spec, quota headers on every response and a status page showing 100 per cent on three API monitors over 90 days. The key travels only in the query string, the free plan allows 50 requests a day for non-commercial use, and the last dated API announcement is 1 August 2025.

## Before you call either

### Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific)

1. Register an application and subscribe it to the Global Spot plan first. The key is tied to that order and shown once
2. Send the key in the apikey header with Accept: application/json, and latitude and longitude as query parameters
3. Add excludeParameterMetadata=true to drop the parameter descriptions from every response
4. Pick the timestep by need. hourly covers 48 hours, three-hourly 168, daily 7 days, and each call counts against the daily limit
5. Stop on a 429. The limit is daily and resets at 00:00 UTC

### Weatherbit API

1. Pass lat and lon. City, postal code and station lookups are accepted, but the docs recommend coordinates and mark station ID as use with caution
2. Read X-RateLimit-Remaining and X-RateLimit-Reset on each response. Daily quotas reset at 00:00 UTC and a spent quota returns 429 until then
3. Treat HTTP 204 with an empty body as no data found, not as an error
4. Split historical requests into ranges of one month or less. History needs the Plus plan or higher and has its own daily quota
5. Keep the key out of logs. It is part of the URL on every call, so always use https://api.weatherbit.io/v2.0

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) or Weatherbit API?

Weatherbit API scores 57.7 (C) on agent readiness against Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific)'s 45.5 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) leads on security & auth.

### Do Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) and Weatherbit API need an API key?

Both need an API key.

### Can an agent call Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) and Weatherbit API without installing anything?

Yes. Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) has a hosted endpoint at https://data.hub.api.metoffice.gov.uk/sitespecific/v0/point and Weatherbit API at https://api.weatherbit.io/v2.0.


## For agents

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

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