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Head to head · Weather current · October 2026 research run

Weatherbit API vs Xweather Weather API

Xweather Weather API scores 67.1 (B) on agent readiness against Weatherbit API's 57.7 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Weatherbit API leads on reliability. Both do weather current.

Weatherbit APIWeatherbit LLC · HTTP API C57.7/100#466 of 722 Xweather Weather APIVaisala Oyj · HTTP API B67.1/100#219 of 722

Which one, for what

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 74

Also in its favour

  • Free to start without a card

Watch for

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

Xweather Weather API B

Good for Teams that need lightning, hail, road weather or tropical data beside ordinary conditions and forecasts, with an MCP server and an OpenAPI file ready for agents.

Ahead on

  • Schema & documentation, 83 against 72
  • Agent ergonomics, 78 against 61
  • Security & auth, 52 against 39
  • Maintenance & community, 81 against 21
  • Transparency & trust, 68 against 63

Watch for

The REST API documents client_id and client_secret only as query parameters, and the MCP server also accepts the key as ?api_key=

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runWeatherbit APIXweather Weather APIEdge
Reliability16%209174Weatherbit API +17
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.27283Xweather Weather API +11
Agent ergonomics13%16.26178Xweather Weather API +17
Security & auth14%17.53952Xweather Weather API +13
Payments & pricing10%12.53032Xweather Weather API +2
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.82181Xweather Weather API +60
Transparency & trust7%8.86368Xweather Weather API +5
Negative events≤1500
Total57.7 · C67.1 · B

Facts side by side

FactWeatherbit APIXweather Weather API
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorWeatherbit LLCVaisala Oyj
Hosted endpointhttps://api.weatherbit.io/v2.0https://data.api.xweather.com
TransportsHTTPHTTP
AuthAPI keyOAuth or key
PricingFreemiumFreemium
x402nono
LicenceProprietary service under Weatherbit's terms of service. The free plan's data is under a Creative Commons non-commercial licence. The Python SDK is MITProprietary service under the General Conditions of Subscription Services of Vaisala Group. The OpenAPI files and the agent skills on GitHub are MIT
Tools exposednone19
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtnoyes
MCP registrynot listedcom.xweather/weather
Last release2025-08-012026-09-14
Terms last updated2025-05-01couldn't be read
Privacy policy last updated2023-12-262020-06-01
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textcouldn't be read
Terms restrict automated accessnot found in the textcouldn't be read
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the textcouldn't be read
Terms or service can change without noticenot found in the textcouldn't be read
Arbitration or class-action waivernot found in the textcouldn't be read
Popularity78 PyPI/wk0 stars, 1.4k npm/wk

Verdicts

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.

Xweather Weather API

A public OpenAPI file with 236 operations, a hosted MCP server in the official registry and a free tier of 15,000 accesses a month suit agents. REST credentials travel only in the query string, per-minute limits are unpublished, and the group terms bar commercial use of free plans and passing data to third parties unless a service description allows it.

Before you call either

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

Xweather Weather API

  1. Check success and error.code on every response. Application errors such as invalid_location return HTTP 200 with success false
  2. Send fields, limit and plimit. The docs put a 15-day hourly forecast at about 600 KB, and about 25 KB with three fields
  3. Read X-Cost-Tokens after each call. Cost is the endpoint multiplier times the intervals requested, so narrow from and to
  4. For MCP, send Authorization: Bearer <client_id>_<client_secret> and avoid the api_key query parameter, which puts the secret in the URL
  5. Add include_tags or include_tools to the MCP URL to load only the tool groups the task needs
  6. On 429 read Retry-After and the X-RateLimit-Reset-* headers. maxhits_min clears at the next minute, maxhits at the period reset

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Weatherbit API or Xweather Weather API?

Xweather Weather API scores 67.1 (B) on agent readiness against Weatherbit API's 57.7 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Weatherbit API leads on reliability.

Do Weatherbit API and Xweather Weather API need an API key?

Weatherbit API needs an API key. Xweather Weather API takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

Can an agent call Weatherbit API and Xweather Weather API without installing anything?

Yes. Weatherbit API has a hosted endpoint at https://api.weatherbit.io/v2.0 and Xweather Weather API at https://data.api.xweather.com.

Other comparisons with Weatherbit API or Xweather Weather API

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