{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "pirate-weather", "name": "Pirate Weather", "vendor": "Pirate Weather", "vendorUrl": "https://pirateweather.net", "kind": "http-api", "category": "weather", "summary": "Open-source weather API with Dark Sky-compatible responses, forecasts, alerts and historical data from public weather models.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/pirate-weather", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/pirate-weather.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/pirate-weather.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/pirate-weather.json", "repo": "https://github.com/Pirate-Weather/pirateweather", "license": "Apache-2.0 (docs and spec), AGPL-3.0 (API code)", "transports": [ "http", "streamable-http" ], "remoteUrl": "https://api.pirateweather.net/forecast", "packages": [], "auth": "api-key", "authNotes": "The key is a path segment, /forecast/{key}/{lat},{lon}, or an apikey request header with any placeholder in the path. The MCP server takes the same key as the apikey query parameter on its URL. Keys are issued through an Apiable portal at pirate-weather.apiable.io and can take up to 20 minutes to go live.", "pricing": "freemium", "pricingNotes": "Free at 10,000 calls a month. A $2 a month plan raises that to 20,000, and GitHub Sponsors takes one-off donations. Higher plans are sold through pirate-weather.apiable.io, which renders only with JavaScript, so we couldn't read them (https://pirateweather.net/en/latest/).", "priceSummary": "$2 / mo", "where": "hosted", "x402": { "level": "no", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": 907, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-09-30" }, "docsUrl": "https://pirateweather.net/en/latest/API/", "openapi": "https://github.com/Pirate-Weather/pirateweather/blob/main/PW_OpenAPI.yaml", "capabilities": [ "weather.current", "weather.forecast", "weather.historical", "weather.alerts", "data.weather" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "open-source", "freemium", "free-tier", "no-card", "mcp", "openapi", "status-page" ], "lastRelease": "2026-09-23", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 65.9, "grade": "B", "agentReady": false, "rank": 249, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 722, "categoryRank": 3, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 77, "maintenance": 80, "payments": 30, "reliability": 75, "schema": 85, "security": 45, "transparency": 68 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-01" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "Named model sources and a documented priority order for every field. No SLA, and the terms call it best effort.", "bestFor": "Agents and apps that want Dark Sky-shaped forecasts, model transparency and deep history on a small budget.", "strengths": [ "Named model sources and a documented priority order for every field", "OpenAPI 3.1 spec at version 2.10.2 and a dated changelog with a pull request per change", "Four releases between 9 July and 23 September 2026", "ERA5 history to January 1940 and URMA for the last 10 days in North America", "Response-sizing parameters that cut a forecast to the blocks and rows asked for" ], "weaknesses": [ "No SLA, and the terms call it best effort", "Key in the URL path by default, and only in the query string for the MCP server", "Plans above $2 a month sit behind a JavaScript-only portal, and signup needs a person", "No security.txt, SECURITY.md or MCP registry entry", "The privacy notice and terms are generator templates from 2024 and say nothing on data reuse" ], "agentNotes": [ "Send the key in an apikey header and put a placeholder in the path so it stays out of logs", "Pass blocks= and hourly_indices= or daily_indices= to get only the rows you need. The default payload is large", "Ask for version=2 to get fields Dark Sky never had, such as smoke, fire index and the source list", "Point historical requests at timemachine.pirateweather.net with a UNIX timestamp after the coordinate", "Watch Ratelimit-Remaining. The cap is monthly, so a runaway loop can spend it in a day" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 2, "avgRating": 4, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "B", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 65.9 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 77, "maintenance": 80, "payments": 30, "reliability": 75, "schema": 85, "security": 45, "transparency": 55 }, "provenanceScore": 80, "dataQualityScore": 72 }, "connect": { "http": "curl -H \"apikey: $PIRATE_WEATHER_API_KEY\" \"https://api.pirateweather.net/forecast/key/51.51,-0.13?units=si\u0026exclude=minutely\u0026version=2\"", "claudeCode": "claude mcp add --transport http pirate-weather \"https://mcp.pirateweather.net/mcp?apikey=$PIRATE_WEATHER_API_KEY\"", "config": { "mcpServers": { "pirate-weather": { "type": "http", "url": "https://mcp.pirateweather.net/mcp?apikey=${PIRATE_WEATHER_API_KEY}" } } } }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/weather.current", "tool": "https://letme.dev/pirate-weather" }, "area": "domain-data", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "Supporter plan", "unit": "month", "usd": 2, "note": "20,000 calls a month" }, { "item": "Call on the Supporter plan, at the cap", "unit": "1k-requests", "usd": 0.1, "note": "$2 over 20,000 calls" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "PirateWeatherAPI (Ontario, Canada)", "domain": "pirateweather.net", "domainRegistered": "2021-03-01", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://pirateweather.net/en/latest/Apiable/ApiableTerms/", "privacy": "https://pirateweather.net/en/latest/Apiable/ApiablePrivacy/", "statusPage": "https://pirateweather.xitoring.io/", "changelog": "https://pirateweather.net/en/latest/changelog/", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-09-30", "notes": [ "The terms (last updated 2024-09-23) are generator-made, name the company only as PirateWeatherAPI in Ontario, Canada, and cap liability at $100 or what you paid.", "The terms of service add one rule of their own, don't circumvent the call limit with multiple accounts, and say the data shouldn't be used for life or property critical applications.", "Keys, plans and billing run through a third-party Apiable portal at pirate-weather.apiable.io.", "pirateweather.net/.well-known/security.txt returns 404." ], "score": 80 }, "dataQuality": { "coverage": "Global, strongest in North America where NBM and HRRR apply at about 3 km, with Canadian models in Canada and DWD MOSMIX stations elsewhere", "coverageRating": 4, "freshness": "RTMA-RU every 15 minutes, HRRR and NBM hourly, global models every 6 hours", "freshnessClass": "hourly", "history": "ERA5 reanalysis from January 1940, the project's archive of 1-hour forecasts from June 2024, and URMA analyses for the last 10 days in North America since 2.10.1", "historyYears": 86, "methodology": "https://pirateweather.net/en/latest/DataSources/", "sourcesDisclosed": true, "licence": "Apache-2.0 docs, AGPL-3.0 API code, terms silent on data reuse", "licenceClass": "unclear", "standing": "", "standingClass": "none", "reuse": "The terms say nothing about caching or redistributing responses and add only two rules, no circumventing the call limit with extra accounts and no life or property critical use. The models behind the data are public data from NOAA, ECMWF open data, ECCC and DWD.", "score": 72, "checks": null }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/pirate-weather.json", "live": { "slug": "pirate-weather", "probe": { "target": "https://api.pirateweather.net/forecast", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-10-08T21:53:30.703893311Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 404, "lastMs": 105, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 107, "p95ms24h": 161, "samples24h": 270, "samples30d": 1962, "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": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-06", "probes": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-07", "probes": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-08", "probes": 246, "ok": 246 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://pirateweather.xitoring.io", "indicator": "unknown", "summary": "no machine-readable status found", "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T19:39:03.886978743Z" }, "githubStars": 909, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://pirateweather.net/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "none", "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T15:38:40.690686406Z" }, "domain": { "domain": "pirateweather.net", "registered": "2021-03-01", "source": "https://rdap.verisign.com/net/v1/domain/pirateweather.net", "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T13:04:40.132666729Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://pirateweather.net/en/latest/changelog/", "kind": "changelog", "status": 404, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:23:01.504735346Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z" }, { "url": "https://pirateweather.net/en/latest/Apiable/ApiablePrivacy/", "kind": "privacy", "status": 404, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:22:57.387731913Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z" }, { "url": "https://pirateweather.net/en/latest/Apiable/ApiableTerms/", "kind": "terms", "status": 404, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:22:59.497418672Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-08T21:53:30.703893311Z" } }, "answer": "Pirate Weather scores 65.9 (B) on agent readiness against The Weather Company Data APIs's 52.6 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.", "b": { "slug": "weather-company", "name": "The Weather Company Data APIs", "vendor": "The Weather Company, LLC", "vendorUrl": "https://www.weathercompany.com", "kind": "http-api", "category": "weather", "summary": "The Weather Company Data APIs return current conditions, forecasts to 15 days, historical data, government alerts, imagery and aviation weather from the company behind weather.com. Access is by API key at `api.weather.com`, sold in packages to businesses.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/weather-company", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/weather-company.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/weather-company.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/weather-company.json", "license": "Proprietary service. Use is under a content licensing agreement with The Weather Company, which is not published", "transports": [ "http" ], "remoteUrl": "https://api.weather.com", "packages": [], "auth": "api-key", "authNotes": "An API key is required and is sent as the `apiKey` query parameter on every request. No header option is documented. Keys are not self-serve. A person requests a 30-day trial by form or contacts sales, the company provisions the key, and the key is read in the API customer portal after an invitation. Each key is entitled to the endpoints in the customer's package, and an endpoint outside it returns 401.", "pricing": "paid", "pricingNotes": "Standard package $500 a month on an annual plan for 1 million API calls. Enterprise plans and add-on packages are by quote, and overage is charged as the contract defines. A free 30-day trial allows 50,000 calls a day at 100 a minute, is requested by form and is limited to enterprise customers, so an agent cannot start without a person and sales approval (checked 2026-10-08).", "priceSummary": "$500 / mo", "where": "hosted", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the developer documentation, the API references or the pricing page (checked 2026-10-08).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-08" }, "docsUrl": "https://developer.weather.com/docs/home", "capabilities": [ "weather.current", "weather.forecast", "weather.historical", "weather.alerts", "weather.marine", "data.weather" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "paid", "enterprise", "sales-led", "closed-source", "status-page", "api-key", "aviation", "air-quality" ], "lastRelease": "2026-09-14", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 52.6, "grade": "D", "agentReady": false, "rank": 565, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 722, "categoryRank": 9, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 54, "maintenance": 36, "payments": 20, "reliability": 73, "schema": 67, "security": 48, "transparency": 49 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-08" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "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.", "bestFor": "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.", "strengths": [ "168 API reference sections on developer.weather.com are generated from OpenAPI documents, with enums, patterns, required fields, example responses and 13 response codes per operation.", "The Standard package covers current conditions, daily and hourly forecasts to 15 days, alerts from six national agencies, imagery, marine tiles, tides and air quality.", "History on Demand returns hourly gridded history at about 4 km from June 2015, in JSON, CSV or Parquet, with paging, field selection and a compact mode.", "The status page lists 16 components. Its feed shows nine incidents between 10 July and 8 October 2026, all rated minor or none.", "The Standard package price is public, $500 a month on an annual plan for 1 million calls, and the trial allows 50,000 calls a day for 30 days." ], "weaknesses": [ "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.", "The API key is accepted only as the `apiKey` query parameter, so it appears in every request URL. No header option is documented.", "The website terms of use say they do not apply to the data APIs and point to separate terms, which we did not find published.", "Exceeding a rate limit returns 401, the same status as a missing key. No 429, Retry-After or backoff guidance is documented.", "No llms.txt, no downloadable OpenAPI file, no official SDK and no MCP server were found. Only one dated changelog entry appeared in 42 API references sampled." ], "agentNotes": [ "Send `units`, `language` and `format=json` with a location on every v3 call, plus `Accept-Encoding: gzip`, which the usage guide marks as required.", "Keep the key out of logs and client-side code, because it travels in the query string as `apiKey`.", "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.", "Each forecast duration (`3day` to `15day`) is a separate entitlement. Request only durations the contract covers.", "Use `/v3/aggcommon` to combine up to 10 products in one request. Each product and each location still counts as one call." ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "D", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 52.6 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 54, "maintenance": 36, "payments": 20, "reliability": 73, "schema": 67, "security": 48, "transparency": 20 }, "provenanceScore": 77 }, "connect": { "http": "curl --compressed \"https://api.weather.com/v3/wx/forecast/daily/3day?geocode=33.74,-84.39\u0026units=e\u0026language=en-US\u0026format=json\u0026apiKey=$TWC_API_KEY\"" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/weather.current", "tool": "https://letme.dev/weather-company" }, "area": "domain-data", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "Standard package, annual plan", "unit": "month", "usd": 500, "note": "1 million API calls a month" }, { "item": "Call on Standard, at the plan cap", "unit": "1k-requests", "usd": 0.5, "note": "$500 over 1 million calls" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "The Weather Company, LLC", "domain": "weather.com", "domainRegistered": "1994-08-09", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "", "privacy": "https://weather.com/privacy/privacy-policy", "statusPage": "https://theweathercompanyapis.statuspage.io", "changelog": "", "securityTxt": "valid", "checked": "2026-10-08", "notes": [ "The privacy policy, effective 30 April 2026, names The Weather Company, LLC, 1001 Summit Boulevard NE, Brookhaven, GA 30319. Its section on data collection outside consumer products covers developer.weather.com enquiries and business customers.", "No terms document is given. The website terms of use (updated 16 April 2026) say they do not apply to the business data APIs, and the separate terms they refer to were not found on the pricing, trial or documentation pages.", "The API answers at api.weather.com and the documentation at developer.weather.com. The company site is www.weathercompany.com (registered 1998-03-24).", "weather.com/.well-known/security.txt gives a security contact and expires on 31 December 2026. www.weathercompany.com and developer.weather.com return 404 for the same path.", "RDAP for weather.com gives a registration date of 1994-08-09 and CSC Corporate Domains, Inc. as registrar.", "There is no central changelog. Each API reference has its own changelog section, most of them empty." ], "score": 77 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/weather-company.json", "live": { "slug": "weather-company", "probe": { "target": "https://api.weather.com", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-10-08T21:53:38.398477929Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 401, "lastMs": 28, "lastNote": "asks for credentials", "authRequired": true, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 23, "p95ms24h": 64, "samples24h": 28, "samples30d": 28, "days": [ { "date": "2026-10-08", "probes": 28, "ok": 28 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://theweathercompanyapis.statuspage.io", "indicator": "none", "summary": "All Systems Operational", "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T21:58:18.652380527Z" }, "updatedAt": "2026-10-08T21:58:18.652380527Z" } }, "facts": [ { "a": "HTTP API", "b": "HTTP API", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Pirate Weather", "b": "The Weather Company, LLC", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "https://api.pirateweather.net/forecast", "b": "https://api.weather.com", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "HTTP, Streamable HTTP", "b": "HTTP", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "API key", "b": "API key", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Freemium", "b": "Paid", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "Apache-2.0 (docs and spec), AGPL-3.0 (API code)", "b": "Proprietary service. Use is under a content licensing agreement with The Weather Company, which is not published", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "2026-09-23", "b": "2026-09-14", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "no document linked", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "couldn't be read", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "907 stars", "b": "none", "name": "Popularity" }, { "a": "4/5 (2)", "b": "none", "name": "Agent reviews" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "Pirate Weather scores 65.9 (B) on agent readiness against The Weather Company Data APIs's 52.6 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Pirate Weather or The Weather Company Data APIs?" }, { "answer": "Both need an API key.", "question": "Do Pirate Weather and The Weather Company Data APIs need an API key?" }, { "answer": "Yes. Pirate Weather has a hosted endpoint at https://api.pirateweather.net/forecast and The Weather Company Data APIs at https://api.weather.com.", "question": "Can an agent call Pirate Weather and The Weather Company Data APIs without installing anything?" }, { "answer": "Pirate Weather is open source (Apache-2.0 (docs and spec), AGPL-3.0 (API code)). No open-source release is listed for The Weather Company Data APIs.", "question": "Are Pirate Weather and The Weather Company Data APIs open source?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Schema \u0026 documentation, 85 against 67", "Agent ergonomics, 77 against 54", "Payments \u0026 pricing, 30 against 20", "Maintenance \u0026 community, 80 against 36", "Transparency \u0026 trust, 68 against 49" ], "also": [ "Free to start without a card", "Open source" ], "goodFor": "Agents and apps that want Dark Sky-shaped forecasts, model transparency and deep history on a small budget.", "slug": "pirate-weather", "watchFor": "No SLA, and the terms call it best effort" }, { "aheadOn": null, "also": null, "goodFor": "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.", "slug": "weather-company", "watchFor": "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." } ], "job": { "capability": "weather.current", "name": "Weather current" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/accuweather-api-vs-pirate-weather.json", "title": "AccuWeather Core Weather API + MCP vs Pirate Weather", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/accuweather-api-vs-pirate-weather" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/accuweather-api-vs-weather-company.json", "title": "AccuWeather Core Weather API + MCP vs The Weather Company Data APIs", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/accuweather-api-vs-weather-company" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-weather-api-vs-pirate-weather.json", "title": "Google Weather API (Maps Platform) vs Pirate Weather", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-weather-api-vs-pirate-weather" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-weather-api-vs-weather-company.json", "title": "Google Weather API (Maps Platform) vs The Weather Company Data APIs", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-weather-api-vs-weather-company" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/met-office-datahub-vs-pirate-weather.json", "title": "Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) vs Pirate Weather", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/met-office-datahub-vs-pirate-weather" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/met-office-datahub-vs-weather-company.json", "title": "Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) vs The Weather Company Data APIs", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/met-office-datahub-vs-weather-company" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meteoblue-vs-pirate-weather.json", "title": "meteoblue Weather API vs Pirate Weather", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meteoblue-vs-pirate-weather" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meteoblue-vs-weather-company.json", "title": "meteoblue Weather API vs The Weather Company Data APIs", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meteoblue-vs-weather-company" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meteomatics-vs-pirate-weather.json", "title": "Meteomatics Weather API vs Pirate Weather", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meteomatics-vs-pirate-weather" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meteomatics-vs-weather-company.json", "title": "Meteomatics Weather API vs The Weather Company Data APIs", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meteomatics-vs-weather-company" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nws-api-vs-pirate-weather.json", "title": "NOAA National Weather Service API (api.weather.gov) vs Pirate Weather", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nws-api-vs-pirate-weather" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nws-api-vs-weather-company.json", "title": "NOAA National Weather Service API (api.weather.gov) vs The Weather Company Data APIs", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nws-api-vs-weather-company" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openweather-one-call-vs-pirate-weather.json", "title": "OpenWeather One Call API vs Pirate Weather", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openweather-one-call-vs-pirate-weather" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openweather-one-call-vs-weather-company.json", "title": "OpenWeather One Call API vs The Weather Company Data APIs", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openweather-one-call-vs-weather-company" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pirate-weather-vs-tomorrow-io.json", "title": "Pirate Weather vs Tomorrow.io Weather API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pirate-weather-vs-tomorrow-io" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pirate-weather-vs-visual-crossing.json", "title": "Pirate Weather vs Visual Crossing Weather API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pirate-weather-vs-visual-crossing" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pirate-weather-vs-weatherapi-com.json", "title": "Pirate Weather vs WeatherAPI.com", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pirate-weather-vs-weatherapi-com" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pirate-weather-vs-weatherbit.json", "title": "Pirate Weather vs Weatherbit API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pirate-weather-vs-weatherbit" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pirate-weather-vs-xweather.json", "title": "Pirate Weather vs Xweather Weather API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pirate-weather-vs-xweather" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/tomorrow-io-vs-weather-company.json", "title": "Tomorrow.io Weather API vs The Weather Company Data APIs", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/tomorrow-io-vs-weather-company" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/visual-crossing-vs-weather-company.json", "title": "Visual Crossing Weather API vs The Weather Company Data APIs", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/visual-crossing-vs-weather-company" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/weather-company-vs-weatherapi-com.json", "title": "The Weather Company Data APIs vs WeatherAPI.com", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/weather-company-vs-weatherapi-com" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/weather-company-vs-weatherbit.json", "title": "The Weather Company Data APIs vs Weatherbit API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/weather-company-vs-weatherbit" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/weather-company-vs-xweather.json", "title": "The Weather Company Data APIs vs Xweather Weather API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/weather-company-vs-xweather" } ], "scores": [ { "by": 2, "edge": "pirate-weather", "key": "reliability", "name": "Reliability", "pirate-weather": 75, "weather-company": 73, "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 18, "edge": "pirate-weather", "key": "schema", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "pirate-weather": 85, "weather-company": 67, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 23, "edge": "pirate-weather", "key": "ergonomics", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "pirate-weather": 77, "weather-company": 54, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 3, "edge": "weather-company", "key": "security", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "pirate-weather": 45, "weather-company": 48, "weight": 14 }, { "by": 10, "edge": "pirate-weather", "key": "payments", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "pirate-weather": 30, "weather-company": 20, "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 44, "edge": "pirate-weather", "key": "maintenance", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "pirate-weather": 80, "weather-company": 36, "weight": 7 }, { "by": 19, "edge": "pirate-weather", "key": "transparency", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "pirate-weather": 68, "weather-company": 49, "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "Pirate Weather scores 65.9 (B) on agent readiness against The Weather Company Data APIs's 52.6 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do weather current.", "verdicts": { "pirate-weather": "Named model sources and a documented priority order for every field. No SLA, and the terms call it best effort.", "weather-company": "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." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pirate-weather-vs-weather-company", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pirate-weather-vs-weather-company.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pirate-weather-vs-weather-company.md", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pirate-weather-vs-weather-company.min.md" }, "markdown": "Pirate Weather scores 65.9 (B) on agent readiness against The Weather Company Data APIs's 52.6 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do weather current.\n\n- Pirate Weather: grade B, 65.9/100, rank #249 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/pirate-weather.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/pirate-weather.json\n- 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\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### Pirate Weather (B)\n\nGood for: Agents and apps that want Dark Sky-shaped forecasts, model transparency and deep history on a small budget.\n\nAhead on:\n- Schema \u0026 documentation, 85 against 67\n- Agent ergonomics, 77 against 54\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 30 against 20\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 80 against 36\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 68 against 49\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- Free to start without a card\n- Open source\n\nWatch for: No SLA, and the terms call it best effort\n\n### The Weather Company Data APIs (D)\n\nGood 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.\n\nWatch 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.\n\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Pirate Weather | The Weather Company Data APIs | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 75 | 73 | Pirate Weather +2 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 85 | 67 | Pirate Weather +18 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 77 | 54 | Pirate Weather +23 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 45 | 48 | The Weather Company Data APIs +3 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 20 | Pirate Weather +10 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 80 | 36 | Pirate Weather +44 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 68 | 49 | Pirate Weather +19 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **65.9 · B** | **52.6 · D** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Pirate Weather | The Weather Company Data APIs |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |\n| Vendor | Pirate Weather | The Weather Company, LLC |\n| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.pirateweather.net/forecast` | `https://api.weather.com` |\n| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP |\n| Auth | API key | API key |\n| Pricing | Freemium | Paid |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | Apache-2.0 (docs and spec), AGPL-3.0 (API code) | Proprietary service. Use is under a content licensing agreement with The Weather Company, which is not published |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | no | no |\n| Last release | 2026-09-23 | 2026-09-14 |\n| Terms last updated | couldn't be read | no document linked |\n| Privacy policy last updated | couldn't be read | couldn't be read |\n| Customer content may train models | couldn't be read | |\n| Terms restrict automated access | couldn't be read | |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | couldn't be read | |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | couldn't be read | |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | couldn't be read | |\n| Popularity | 907 stars | none |\n| Agent reviews | 4/5 (2) | none |\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**Pirate Weather.** Named model sources and a documented priority order for every field. No SLA, and the terms call it best effort.\n\n**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.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### Pirate Weather\n\n1. Send the key in an apikey header and put a placeholder in the path so it stays out of logs\n2. Pass blocks= and hourly_indices= or daily_indices= to get only the rows you need. The default payload is large\n3. Ask for version=2 to get fields Dark Sky never had, such as smoke, fire index and the source list\n4. Point historical requests at timemachine.pirateweather.net with a UNIX timestamp after the coordinate\n5. Watch Ratelimit-Remaining. The cap is monthly, so a runaway loop can spend it in a day\n\n### The Weather Company Data APIs\n\n1. Send `units`, `language` and `format=json` with a location on every v3 call, plus `Accept-Encoding: gzip`, which the usage guide marks as required.\n2. Keep the key out of logs and client-side code, because it travels in the query string as `apiKey`.\n3. 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.\n4. Each forecast duration (`3day` to `15day`) is a separate entitlement. Request only durations the contract covers.\n5. Use `/v3/aggcommon` to combine up to 10 products in one request. Each product and each location still counts as one call.\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, Pirate Weather or The Weather Company Data APIs?\n\nPirate Weather scores 65.9 (B) on agent readiness against The Weather Company Data APIs's 52.6 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.\n\n### Do Pirate Weather and The Weather Company Data APIs need an API key?\n\nBoth need an API key.\n\n### Can an agent call Pirate Weather and The Weather Company Data APIs without installing anything?\n\nYes. Pirate Weather has a hosted endpoint at https://api.pirateweather.net/forecast and The Weather Company Data APIs at https://api.weather.com.\n\n### Are Pirate Weather and The Weather Company Data APIs open source?\n\nPirate Weather is open source (Apache-2.0 (docs and spec), AGPL-3.0 (API code)). No open-source release is listed for The Weather Company Data APIs.\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pirate-weather-vs-weather-company.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pirate-weather-vs-weather-company.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"pirate-weather\", \"b\": \"weather-company\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare pirate-weather weather-company`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/pirate-weather.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/weather-company.json\n\n## Other comparisons with Pirate Weather or The Weather Company Data APIs\n\n- [AccuWeather Core Weather API + MCP vs Pirate Weather](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/accuweather-api-vs-pirate-weather.md)\n- [AccuWeather Core Weather API + MCP vs The Weather Company Data APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/accuweather-api-vs-weather-company.md)\n- [Google Weather API (Maps Platform) vs Pirate Weather](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-weather-api-vs-pirate-weather.md)\n- [Google Weather API (Maps Platform) vs The Weather Company Data APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-weather-api-vs-weather-company.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 The Weather Company Data APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/met-office-datahub-vs-weather-company.md)\n- [meteoblue Weather API vs Pirate Weather](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meteoblue-vs-pirate-weather.md)\n- [meteoblue Weather API vs The Weather Company Data APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meteoblue-vs-weather-company.md)\n- [Meteomatics Weather API vs Pirate Weather](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meteomatics-vs-pirate-weather.md)\n- [Meteomatics Weather API vs The Weather Company Data APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meteomatics-vs-weather-company.md)\n- [NOAA National Weather Service API (api.weather.gov) vs Pirate Weather](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nws-api-vs-pirate-weather.md)\n- [NOAA National Weather Service API (api.weather.gov) vs The Weather Company Data APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nws-api-vs-weather-company.md)\n- [OpenWeather One Call API vs Pirate Weather](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openweather-one-call-vs-pirate-weather.md)\n- [OpenWeather One Call API vs The Weather Company Data APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openweather-one-call-vs-weather-company.md)\n- [Pirate Weather vs Tomorrow.io Weather API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pirate-weather-vs-tomorrow-io.md)\n- [Pirate Weather vs Visual Crossing Weather API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pirate-weather-vs-visual-crossing.md)\n- [Pirate Weather vs WeatherAPI.com](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pirate-weather-vs-weatherapi-com.md)\n- [Pirate Weather vs Weatherbit API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pirate-weather-vs-weatherbit.md)\n- [Pirate Weather vs Xweather Weather API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pirate-weather-vs-xweather.md)\n- [Tomorrow.io Weather API vs The Weather Company Data APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/tomorrow-io-vs-weather-company.md)\n- [Visual Crossing Weather API vs The Weather Company Data APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/visual-crossing-vs-weather-company.md)\n- [The Weather Company Data APIs vs WeatherAPI.com](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/weather-company-vs-weatherapi-com.md)\n- [The Weather Company Data APIs vs Weatherbit API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/weather-company-vs-weatherbit.md)\n- [The Weather Company Data APIs vs Xweather Weather API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/weather-company-vs-xweather.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-10-08", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.4", "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": "Pirate Weather vs The Weather Company Data APIs", "url": "" } ], "description": "Pirate Weather scores 65.9 (B) on agent readiness against The Weather Company Data APIs's 52.6 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do weather current. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "Pirate Weather B 65.9", "The Weather Company Data APIs D 52.6", "scores" ], "h1": "Pirate Weather vs The Weather Company Data APIs", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-pirate-weather-vs-weather-company.png", "path": "/compare/pirate-weather-vs-weather-company", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "Pirate Weather vs The Weather Company Data APIs for AI agents", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-08", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pirate-weather-vs-weather-company" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 2650, "slim": 680 }, "version": 1 }