News APIs Terms Comparison
Side-by-side comparison of free tiers, rate limits, and usage restrictions for 5 news apis.
Terms of service may change. Always verify with the official API documentation before building production applications.
Where these values come from
CORS is verified by us — we read the Access-Control-Allow-Origin header from a real response (last checked 2026-07-31). Free tier and restrictions marked verified were read from the provider's own pricing page on the date shown, and that page is linked so you can re-check it yourself. Rows marked not verified are ones we could not confirm at the source, so we do not publish a number for them. Pricing and licence terms change without notice — confirm with the provider before you commit. If you spot a value that is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.
Discontinued
One API in this table no longer responds: Inshorts News. Their terms are kept for reference, but you cannot sign up for them.
| API | Free Tier | Rate Limit | Commercial | Attribution | Auth | CORS | Caching | Notable Restrictions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mediastack | 100 calls/month verified 2026-08-01 | 100 calls/month (free) | ✕ | Req | API Key (query parameter) | Yes | Yes | Free plan: delayed news data, no historical data, no commercial use |
| GNews | 100 calls/day verified 2026-08-01 | 100 requests/day (free) | ✓ | Req | API Key (query parameter) | Yes | Yes | Free plan: up to 10 articles per request, 30 days of history, 12-hour delay on articles |
| NewsAPI | 100 calls/day (development only) verified 2026-08-01 | 100 requests/day (free, development only) | ✕ | Req | API Key (header or query parameter) | No | No | Developer plan may only be used in a development environment — not staging or production, including internal use. Articles up to one month old. |
| Currents API | Not verified — check the provider | Not verified | ✓ | Req | API Key (header) | Yes | Yes | Free tier may have delayed news compared to paid plans |
| Inshorts News Discontinued | Unlimited (unofficial API) | Reasonable use expected | ✕ | Req | None | Yes | Yes | Unofficial API; may break without notice. Not suitable for production |
Attribution Details
Last updated: 2026-04