{ "data": { "a": { "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": 59.9, "grade": "C", "agentReady": false, "rank": 417, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 722, "categoryRank": 6, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 78, "maintenance": 58, "payments": 40, "reliability": 66, "schema": 74, "security": 40, "transparency": 56 }, "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.", "bestFor": "History and backfills, climate normals and date-range questions from one endpoint.", "strengths": [ "History from 1970, current conditions and a 15-day forecast from one endpoint", "$0.0001 a record with 1,000 free a day and no card", "Official MCP server with one tool, key in a header or OAuth", "llms.txt, an OpenAPI spec and a quarterly changelog, most recently 4 September 2026", "Status page and published uptime targets of 99.5 per cent free and 99.9 paid" ], "weaknesses": [ "Key only in the query string on the REST API", "OpenAPI spec defines no enums and no error responses", "Privacy policy states no retention periods or subprocessors", "Storing results needs the right licence level, and the terms carry a non-compete", "No security.txt, disclosure policy or MCP registry entry" ], "agentNotes": [ "Always pass include= and elements=. A bare call returns days, hours and current for every element and burns records", "Count records before a backfill. Hourly data is 24 records a day, so a year for one place is 8,760", "Pass unitGroup=metric. The default is US units", "Use the MCP server with X-VC-API-Key rather than pasting the key into a URL", "Keep to one request at a time on Free and Professional. A second concurrent job returns 429" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 2, "avgRating": 4, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "C", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 59.9 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 78, "maintenance": 58, "payments": 40, "reliability": 66, "schema": 74, "security": 40, "transparency": 31 }, "provenanceScore": 81, "dataQualityScore": 77 }, "connect": { "http": "curl \"https://weather.visualcrossing.com/VisualCrossingWebServices/rest/services/timeline/51.51,-0.13/2026-09-01/2026-09-07?unitGroup=metric\u0026include=days\u0026elements=datetime,tempmax,tempmin,precip\u0026contentType=json\u0026key=$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": 81 }, "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": "2026-10-08T21:12:25.326650504Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 401, "lastMs": 253, "lastNote": "asks for credentials", "authRequired": true, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 260, "p95ms24h": 301, "samples24h": 271, "samples30d": 1955, "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": 239, "ok": 239 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.visualcrossing.com", "indicator": "unknown", "summary": "no machine-readable status found", "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T19:39:19.509705636Z" }, "githubStars": 55, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://visualcrossing.com/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "none", "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T15:38:44.450892111Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://www.visualcrossing.com/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T14:00:59.87209822Z" }, "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": "2026-10-08T18:31:26.954477832Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "77ecfd35a643" }, { "url": "https://www.visualcrossing.com/weather-data-pricing/", "kind": "pricing", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:31:28.908919562Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "cb8af14c5632" }, { "url": "https://www.visualcrossing.com/privacy/", "kind": "privacy", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:31:24.247930307Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "0ccd098bba16" }, { "url": "https://www.visualcrossing.com/weather-services-terms/", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:31:30.34526422Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "5225b6169954" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-08T21:12:25.326650504Z" } }, "answer": "Visual Crossing Weather API scores 59.9 (C) on agent readiness against The Weather Company Data APIs's 52.6 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. The Weather Company Data APIs leads on reliability and security \u0026 auth.", "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": "2026-10-08T21:12:25.691314952Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 401, "lastMs": 19, "lastNote": "asks for credentials", "authRequired": true, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 23, "p95ms24h": 64, "samples24h": 21, "samples30d": 21, "days": [ { "date": "2026-10-08", "probes": 21, "ok": 21 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://theweathercompanyapis.statuspage.io", "indicator": "none", "summary": "All Systems Operational", "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T21:06:30.225974996Z" }, "updatedAt": "2026-10-08T21:12:25.691314952Z" } }, "facts": [ { "a": "HTTP API", "b": "HTTP API", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Visual Crossing", "b": "The Weather Company, LLC", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "https://weather.visualcrossing.com/VisualCrossingWebServices/rest/services/timeline", "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": "none", "b": "Proprietary service. Use is under a content licensing agreement with The Weather Company, which is not published", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "1", "b": "none", "name": "Tools exposed" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "no", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "none", "b": "2026-09-14", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "2023-01-01", "b": "no document linked", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "no date given", "b": "couldn't be read", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "4/5 (2)", "b": "none", "name": "Agent reviews" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "Visual Crossing Weather API scores 59.9 (C) on agent readiness against The Weather Company Data APIs's 52.6 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. The Weather Company Data APIs leads on reliability and security \u0026 auth.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Visual Crossing Weather API or The Weather Company Data APIs?" }, { "answer": "Both need an API key.", "question": "Do Visual Crossing Weather API and The Weather Company Data APIs need an API key?" }, { "answer": "Yes. Visual Crossing Weather API has a hosted endpoint at https://weather.visualcrossing.com/VisualCrossingWebServices/rest/services/timeline and The Weather Company Data APIs at https://api.weather.com.", "question": "Can an agent call Visual Crossing Weather API and The Weather Company Data APIs without installing anything?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Schema \u0026 documentation, 74 against 67", "Agent ergonomics, 78 against 54", "Payments \u0026 pricing, 40 against 20", "Maintenance \u0026 community, 58 against 36", "Transparency \u0026 trust, 56 against 49" ], "also": [ "Free to start without a card" ], "goodFor": "History and backfills, climate normals and date-range questions from one endpoint.", "slug": "visual-crossing", "watchFor": "Key only in the query string on the REST API" }, { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 73 against 66", "Security \u0026 auth, 48 against 40" ], "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-visual-crossing.json", "title": "AccuWeather Core Weather API + MCP vs Visual Crossing Weather API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/accuweather-api-vs-visual-crossing" }, { "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-visual-crossing.json", "title": "Google Weather API (Maps Platform) vs Visual Crossing Weather API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-weather-api-vs-visual-crossing" }, { "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-visual-crossing.json", "title": "Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) vs Visual Crossing Weather API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/met-office-datahub-vs-visual-crossing" }, { "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-visual-crossing.json", "title": "meteoblue Weather API vs Visual Crossing Weather API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meteoblue-vs-visual-crossing" }, { "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-visual-crossing.json", "title": "Meteomatics Weather API vs Visual Crossing Weather API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meteomatics-vs-visual-crossing" }, { "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-visual-crossing.json", "title": "NOAA National Weather Service API (api.weather.gov) vs Visual Crossing Weather API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nws-api-vs-visual-crossing" }, { "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-visual-crossing.json", "title": "OpenWeather One Call API vs Visual Crossing Weather API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openweather-one-call-vs-visual-crossing" }, { "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-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-weather-company.json", "title": "Pirate Weather vs The Weather Company Data APIs", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pirate-weather-vs-weather-company" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/tomorrow-io-vs-visual-crossing.json", "title": "Tomorrow.io Weather API vs Visual Crossing Weather API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/tomorrow-io-vs-visual-crossing" }, { "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-weatherapi-com.json", "title": "Visual Crossing Weather API vs WeatherAPI.com", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/visual-crossing-vs-weatherapi-com" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/visual-crossing-vs-weatherbit.json", "title": "Visual Crossing Weather API vs Weatherbit API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/visual-crossing-vs-weatherbit" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/visual-crossing-vs-xweather.json", "title": "Visual Crossing Weather API vs Xweather Weather API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/visual-crossing-vs-xweather" }, { "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": 7, "edge": "weather-company", "key": "reliability", "name": "Reliability", "visual-crossing": 66, "weather-company": 73, "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 7, "edge": "visual-crossing", "key": "schema", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "visual-crossing": 74, "weather-company": 67, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 24, "edge": "visual-crossing", "key": "ergonomics", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "visual-crossing": 78, "weather-company": 54, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 8, "edge": "weather-company", "key": "security", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "visual-crossing": 40, "weather-company": 48, "weight": 14 }, { "by": 20, "edge": "visual-crossing", "key": "payments", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "visual-crossing": 40, "weather-company": 20, "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 22, "edge": "visual-crossing", "key": "maintenance", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "visual-crossing": 58, "weather-company": 36, "weight": 7 }, { "by": 7, "edge": "visual-crossing", "key": "transparency", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "visual-crossing": 56, "weather-company": 49, "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "Visual Crossing Weather API scores 59.9 (C) on agent readiness against The Weather Company Data APIs's 52.6 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. The Weather Company Data APIs leads on reliability and security \u0026 auth. Both do weather current.", "verdicts": { "visual-crossing": "History from 1970, current conditions and a 15-day forecast from one endpoint. Key only in the query string on the REST API.", "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/visual-crossing-vs-weather-company", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/visual-crossing-vs-weather-company.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/visual-crossing-vs-weather-company.md", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/visual-crossing-vs-weather-company.min.md" }, "markdown": "Visual Crossing Weather API scores 59.9 (C) on agent readiness against The Weather Company Data APIs's 52.6 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. The Weather Company Data APIs leads on reliability and security \u0026 auth. Both do weather current.\n\n- Visual Crossing Weather API: grade C, 59.9/100, rank #417 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/visual-crossing.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/visual-crossing.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### Visual Crossing Weather API (C)\n\nGood for: History and backfills, climate normals and date-range questions from one endpoint.\n\nAhead on:\n- Schema \u0026 documentation, 74 against 67\n- Agent ergonomics, 78 against 54\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 40 against 20\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 58 against 36\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 56 against 49\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- Free to start without a card\n\nWatch for: Key only in the query string on the REST API\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\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 73 against 66\n- Security \u0026 auth, 48 against 40\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 | Visual Crossing Weather API | The Weather Company Data APIs | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 66 | 73 | The Weather Company Data APIs +7 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 74 | 67 | Visual Crossing Weather API +7 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 78 | 54 | Visual Crossing Weather API +24 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 40 | 48 | The Weather Company Data APIs +8 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 20 | Visual Crossing Weather API +20 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 58 | 36 | Visual Crossing Weather API +22 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 56 | 49 | Visual Crossing Weather API +7 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **59.9 · C** | **52.6 · D** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Visual Crossing Weather API | The Weather Company Data APIs |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |\n| Vendor | Visual Crossing | The Weather Company, LLC |\n| Hosted endpoint | `https://weather.visualcrossing.com/VisualCrossingWebServices/rest/services/timeline` | `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 | none | Proprietary service. Use is under a content licensing agreement with The Weather Company, which is not published |\n| Tools exposed | 1 | none |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | yes | no |\n| Last release | none | 2026-09-14 |\n| Terms last updated | 2023-01-01 | no document linked |\n| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | couldn't be read |\n| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | |\n| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | |\n| Agent reviews | 4/5 (2) | none |\n\n## Verdicts\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**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### 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### 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, Visual Crossing Weather API or The Weather Company Data APIs?\n\nVisual Crossing Weather API scores 59.9 (C) on agent readiness against The Weather Company Data APIs's 52.6 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. The Weather Company Data APIs leads on reliability and security \u0026 auth.\n\n### Do Visual Crossing Weather API and The Weather Company Data APIs need an API key?\n\nBoth need an API key.\n\n### Can an agent call Visual Crossing Weather API and The Weather Company Data APIs without installing anything?\n\nYes. Visual Crossing Weather API has a hosted endpoint at https://weather.visualcrossing.com/VisualCrossingWebServices/rest/services/timeline and The Weather Company Data APIs at https://api.weather.com.\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/visual-crossing-vs-weather-company.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/visual-crossing-vs-weather-company.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"visual-crossing\", \"b\": \"weather-company\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare visual-crossing weather-company`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/visual-crossing.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/weather-company.json\n\n## Other comparisons with Visual Crossing Weather API or The Weather Company Data APIs\n\n- [AccuWeather Core Weather API + MCP vs Visual Crossing Weather API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/accuweather-api-vs-visual-crossing.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 Visual Crossing Weather API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-weather-api-vs-visual-crossing.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 Visual Crossing Weather API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/met-office-datahub-vs-visual-crossing.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 Visual Crossing Weather API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meteoblue-vs-visual-crossing.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 Visual Crossing Weather API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meteomatics-vs-visual-crossing.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 Visual Crossing Weather API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nws-api-vs-visual-crossing.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 Visual Crossing Weather API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openweather-one-call-vs-visual-crossing.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 Visual Crossing Weather API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pirate-weather-vs-visual-crossing.md)\n- [Pirate Weather vs The Weather Company Data APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pirate-weather-vs-weather-company.md)\n- [Tomorrow.io Weather API vs Visual Crossing Weather API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/tomorrow-io-vs-visual-crossing.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 WeatherAPI.com](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/visual-crossing-vs-weatherapi-com.md)\n- [Visual Crossing Weather API vs Weatherbit API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/visual-crossing-vs-weatherbit.md)\n- [Visual Crossing Weather API vs Xweather Weather API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/visual-crossing-vs-xweather.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": "Visual Crossing Weather API vs The Weather Company Data APIs", "url": "" } ], "description": "Visual Crossing Weather API scores 59.9 (C) on agent readiness against The Weather Company Data APIs's 52.6 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. The Weather Company Data APIs leads on reliability and security \u0026 auth. Both do weather current. Category scores, facts…", "facts": [ "Visual Crossing Weather API C 59.9", "The Weather Company Data APIs D 52.6", "scores" ], "h1": "Visual Crossing Weather API vs The Weather Company Data APIs", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-visual-crossing-vs-weather-company.png", "path": "/compare/visual-crossing-vs-weather-company", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "Visual Crossing Weather API vs The Weather Company Data APIs", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-08", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/visual-crossing-vs-weather-company" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 2750, "slim": 780 }, "version": 1 }