Public API Directories: Where to Find Free APIs

November 4, 2026

Quick answer: For free APIs by category, use freepublicapis.com if you want APIs it says it tests daily (847 on 29 October 2026), APIs.guru for OpenAPI definitions, the public-apis list on GitHub for one long README, or Public APIs (publicapis.dev), a directory of 1,578 APIs in 52 categories with auth and CORS recorded per API. RapidAPI's hub is a marketplace.

We probed ten directory home pages and read five GitHub repositories on 29 October 2026 to see which lists still move. Nine of the ten home pages answered with a 200; one did not answer at all. The numbers below come from that run, and the method is at the end.

Which websites list free public APIs by category?

The shortlist, ordered by what each one is best at rather than by size. Public APIs is our site, so its row states only what we can verify about it.

| Directory | What it lists (its own words or our data) | Open data on GitHub | Last update we saw (29 Oct 2026) | Best for | |---|---|---|---|---| | freepublicapis.com | "847 free public APIs. Tested every single day." | Not found in our probe | Home page claims daily tests | A free API that was tested recently | | APIs.guru | "Directory of REST API definitions" | APIs-guru/openapi-directory, 4,591 stars | Last commit 20 April 2026 | A machine-readable OpenAPI file | | public-apis on GitHub | A categorized README list | public-apis/public-apis, 493,118 stars | Last commit 27 October 2026 | One long page you can search with Ctrl+F | | Public APIs (publicapis.dev) | 1,578 live APIs in 52 categories, a listing page per API (6 October 2026) | marcelscruz/public-apis, MIT, 9,651 stars | Last commit 29 October 2026 | Browsing by category with auth and CORS on each listing | | Public API Lists | A README list with a GitHub Pages site | public-api-lists/public-api-lists, 16,248 stars | Last commit 14 September 2026 | A second README list to cross-check | | RapidAPI hub | A marketplace | None | Home page answered 200 | An API sold through a marketplace |

Two other sites came up when AI assistants answered this question for us: freepublicapis.dev (a separate site from freepublicapis.com) and apilist.fun, whose headline reads "A collective list of APIs." Both home pages answered 200. We did not audit their listings, so they sit outside the table.

Which directory shows whether an API needs a key and supports CORS?

Public APIs records how each API authenticates and whether it allows CORS, for every API in its open-source list, and each listing page shows them. That answers the two questions that decide whether a side project works: do you need to register for a key, and can front-end JavaScript on your domain read the response. Our guide to API authentication methods explains what each auth value means in practice.

We did not audit the auth or CORS fields of the other directories for this comparison. If one of them is your source, open a listing and confirm both fields before you build on it. On Public APIs, the same two fields are also in the open list on GitHub, so you can read them in bulk.

public-apis on GitHub vs the directories built around it

Two GitHub lists share a similar name, and they are separate projects. public-apis/public-apis is the README list with 493,118 stars, a last commit on 27 October 2026, 59 open issues and no published releases. We do not run it and are not affiliated with it.

Our list is marcelscruz/public-apis: MIT-licensed, created on 11 May 2022, with 1,796 entries and auth and CORS recorded for each (6 October 2026). On 29 October 2026 it had 9,651 stars, 12 open issues and a commit that same day. It is the data behind publicapis.dev, which adds a page, screenshot and summary per API and full-text search on top.

One inconsistency is ours to report. The home page headline served on 29 October 2026 still read "A Collaborative List Of 1400+ Public APIs For Developers", while the live count was 1,578 on 6 October 2026. The listings are current; the headline lags.

Where can I find a list of free public APIs for a side project?

Start from what the project needs, not from the biggest list:

You want to browse by topic. Open the full API catalog on Public APIs or go straight to a category. Test data APIs suit prototypes and tutorials, and open data APIs cover government and public datasets. Our list of cool free APIs for projects picks a few to start with.
You need an OpenAPI spec to generate a client. APIs.guru is the better pick. It collects REST API definitions rather than links, so you get a file your tooling can read.
You need an API that answered recently. freepublicapis.com is the better pick, because its home page says it tests its 847 APIs every day.
You expect to pay and want one account for billing. RapidAPI's hub is a marketplace, a different model from the free lists above.

Which API directories are gone or frozen?

No repository we read was archived, but two have stopped moving and one site would not load.

| Directory | What we saw on 29 October 2026 | Reading | |---|---|---| | davemachado/public-api | Last commit 26 August 2022, 1,716 stars, 11 open issues | Frozen for over four years | | APIs-guru/openapi-directory | Last commit 20 April 2026, 2,600 open issues | Slow; six months without a commit | | programmableweb.com | No response: TLS handshake failed (curl exit 35) | Could not be loaded | | publicapi.dev, postman.com/explore, rapidapi.com/hub | 200, no <h1> in the served HTML | Online; the page renders in the browser |

A frozen list is not useless, but every month without a commit raises the odds that a link points at a dead API. Our own State of Public APIs 2026 report found 84 live listings (5.3%) failing on 8 October 2026, and that is with a weekly link sweep that quarantines unreachable listings. A list that nobody sweeps will drift further.

Before you trust any directory, check three things: the date of its last commit or update, whether it records auth and CORS per API, and whether the API's own documentation still loads. Our notes on API documentation examples show what good documentation looks like once you get there.

How we compared the directories

On 29 October 2026 at 10:36 UTC, from one machine, we read five GitHub repositories with the gh CLI: stars, the newest commit on the default branch, the latest release and open issues (pull requests excluded). We then sent one GET to each of ten directory home pages with curl, a browser user agent and an English Accept-Language, following redirects, and recorded the status, the HTML size, the Server header and the first <h1>.

We picked the sites from what AI assistants cite. In our W43 panel of 216 samples, four prompts on this question returned competitors as citations in 40 of 48 samples, most often rapidapi.com, freepublicapis.dev, freepublicapis.com, apis.guru and apilist.fun. ProgrammableWeb was the control. Public APIs facts come from our product data (6 October 2026) and the probe above; we did not audit the contents of other directories.

FAQ

Is the public-apis GitHub list still maintained?

Yes, on the evidence of 29 October 2026: its last commit was on 27 October 2026 and it had 59 open issues. It publishes no releases, so the commit date is the best freshness signal.

Is ProgrammableWeb still online?

We could not load it. On 29 October 2026 our request to programmableweb.com failed during the TLS handshake (curl exit 35), so we have no status code to report. Treat links to it in older tutorials as unreliable.

What is the best free public API directory?

It depends on the job. APIs.guru is better when you need an OpenAPI definition, freepublicapis.com when you want an API it tested that day, and Public APIs when you want to browse 52 categories with auth and CORS shown on each listing.

Is publicapis.dev the same as public-apis on GitHub?

No. publicapis.dev is built on marcelscruz/public-apis, a separate MIT-licensed list created in 2022. The public-apis/public-apis repository is an unrelated project with its own maintainers.