Genius API vs MusicBrainz API

Two free Music APIs compared on access, reliability and developer ratings, using data from our daily health checks.

The verdict

Choose Genius API for its data: Crowdsourced lyrics and music knowledge.
Choose MusicBrainz API if you want to start without an API key, faster responses.

	Genius API	MusicBrainz API
What it does	Crowdsourced lyrics and music knowledge.	Music. A free music API by MusicBrainz.
Provider	Genius API	MusicBrainz
API key	OAuth	Not needed
HTTPS	Yes	Yes
CORS (browser calls)	Unknown	Unknown
Status today	Online · 928 ms	Online · 390 ms
Uptime (30 days)	Up	Up
Developer rating	Not rated yet	Not rated yet
Price	Free / free tier	Free / free tier

Crowdsourced lyrics and music knowledge.

Use our API and help build the world's greatest public knowledge project since Wikipedia

Strengths

Music. A free music API by MusicBrainz.

Strengths

Prototyping or a tutorial? Pick the one that needs no API key.
Calling from a web page? You need CORS. Otherwise route requests through your own server or a serverless function.
Going to production? Favour HTTPS, a strong uptime record and a provider with clear rate limits and terms. Check each API's docs before you commit.
Still unsure? Both are free to try: send one request to each and compare the data you get back.

Genius API requires an API key; MusicBrainz API doesn't, so MusicBrainz API is quicker to try.