Open-Meteo Ensemble API vs Pirate Weather API

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

The verdict

Choose Open-Meteo Ensemble API if its data fits your use case better; on access and reliability it's level with Pirate Weather API.
Choose Pirate Weather API if its data fits your use case better; on access and reliability it's level with Open-Meteo Ensemble API.

	Open-Meteo Ensemble API	Pirate Weather API
What it does	Weather ensemble forecasts from multiple models.	Free weather API with forecast data similar to Dark Sky.
Provider	Open-Meteo.com	Pirate Weather
API key	Not needed	Not needed
HTTPS	Yes	Yes
CORS (browser calls)	Yes	Yes
Status today	Online · 523 ms	Online · 419 ms
Uptime (30 days)	Up	Up
Developer rating	Not rated yet	Not rated yet
Price	Free / free tier	Free / free tier

Weather ensemble forecasts from multiple models.

Ensemble weather forecasts from ICON, GFS, ECMWF, GEM and more. Access individual ensemble members for probabilistic forecasting via a free JSON API.

Strengths

Free weather API with forecast data similar to Dark Sky.

Strengths

Prototyping or a tutorial? Pick the one that needs no API key (both qualify).
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.

Neither needs an API key; you can call both straight away.