# WeatherAPI.com vs Weatherbit API

> WeatherAPI.com scores 65.3 (B) on agent readiness against Weatherbit API's 57.7 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Both do weather current. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/weatherapi-com-vs-weatherbit
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/weatherapi-com-vs-weatherbit.md (~2,400 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/weatherapi-com-vs-weatherbit.min.md (~630 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/weatherapi-com-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

WeatherAPI.com scores 65.3 (B) on agent readiness against Weatherbit API's 57.7 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Both do weather current.

- WeatherAPI.com: grade B, 65.3/100, rank #260 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/weatherapi-com.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/weatherapi-com.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

### WeatherAPI.com (B)

Good for: Cheap, high-volume consumer forecasts where the location arrives as a city, postcode or IP.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 89 against 72
- Agent ergonomics, 80 against 61
- Maintenance & community, 45 against 21

Watch for: Key only in the query string, and no security.txt

### 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.

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 | WeatherAPI.com | Weatherbit API | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 90 | 91 | Weatherbit API +1 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 89 | 72 | WeatherAPI.com +17 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 80 | 61 | WeatherAPI.com +19 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 37 | 39 | Weatherbit API +2 |
| 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) | 45 | 21 | WeatherAPI.com +24 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 65 | 63 | WeatherAPI.com +2 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **65.3 · B** | **57.7 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | WeatherAPI.com | Weatherbit API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | WeatherAPI.com (Zoomash Ltd) | Weatherbit LLC |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.weatherapi.com/v1` | `https://api.weatherbit.io/v2.0` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | none | 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 | yes | no |
| Last release | none | 2025-08-01 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | 2025-05-01 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2023-12-26 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Popularity | none | 78 PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (2) | none |

## Verdicts

**WeatherAPI.com.** 3 million calls for $7 a month, and 100,000 a month free with no card. Key only in the query string, and no security.txt.

**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

### WeatherAPI.com

1. Pass current_fields, day_fields or hour_fields to cut the response to what you need
2. Treat a 403 with error code 2007 as the monthly quota, not a bad key. There's no 429
3. Reuse the id from search.json (q=id:NNN) to avoid ambiguous city names
4. Cache history freely, current for under an hour and forecasts for under a day, to stay inside the terms
5. Use https://api.weatherapi.com/v1. The docs still show an http:// base URL

### 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, WeatherAPI.com or Weatherbit API?

WeatherAPI.com scores 65.3 (B) on agent readiness against Weatherbit API's 57.7 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories.

### Do WeatherAPI.com and Weatherbit API need an API key?

Both need an API key.

### Can an agent call WeatherAPI.com and Weatherbit API without installing anything?

Yes. WeatherAPI.com has a hosted endpoint at https://api.weatherapi.com/v1 and Weatherbit API at https://api.weatherbit.io/v2.0.


## For agents

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

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