Every European weather API provider reviewed
Bürglen (UR), Switzerland
No charge for non-commercial use up to 10,000 calls a day; commercial tiers named Standard (1M calls a month), Professional (5M) and Enterprise (50M+), with the amounts missing from the pricing page as fetched
Demo on request
Best for: Developers who need a key-free endpoint for prototypes and a route to a commercial licence
Open-Meteo combines forecast output from national weather services into one API and names its sources: ECMWF, DWD, NOAA, Météo-France, KNMI, DMI, MeteoSwiss and the UK Met Office. Responses come back as hourly values, and the best_match option picks the finest model for the coordinates you send. Forecast, air quality, marine, flood, geocoding and elevation APIs share the same syntax.
The company is OpenMeteo GmbH in Bürglen, canton of Uri, with Patrick Zippenfenig named as CEO on the terms page. Non-commercial use costs nothing up to 10,000 calls a day, 5,000 an hour and 600 a minute, with no uptime guarantee and data under CC-BY 4.0. A subscription adds a commercial licence and an API key for a dedicated endpoint. The server code is published, and the About page describes starting your own instance.
What Open-Meteo does well
- Free non-commercial access without a key
- Every national source model is listed
- The server can run on your own machine
- The website sets no cookies and does not track
- A dedicated endpoint comes with the commercial licence
Where Open-Meteo falls short
- The free tier excludes commercial use and promises no uptime
- Paid amounts were missing from the page read
- Historical and ensemble data start at the Professional plan
- The licence of the server code is not named on the pages read
Standout feature. Open-Meteo is the only supplier here whose API server you can run yourself if the hosted price stops working for you.
Sweden (city not given on the pages read)
Four rungs: a free plan of 10 requests a day (not commercial), then €19, €49 and €129 a month; annual billing takes 10% off; enterprise terms by quote
Demo on request
Best for: Marine, surf, energy and agtech apps that want sea-state fields in the same request as weather
Stormglass opens its parameter list with the sea: waves, swell, secondary swell, wind waves, currents, water temperature, sea ice, depth, salinity, pH and chlorophyll appear next to temperature, pressure, gusts, humidity and visibility. Tide extremes form their own group. The site is organised by use case, with pages for marine weather, wind power, solar energy, agtech and consumer apps.
Storm Glass AB is named in the terms as the provider, Swedish law governs them and arbitration takes place in Stockholm. The free plan allows 10 requests a day and is marked not for commercial use; Small, Medium and Large cost €19, €49 and €129 a month for 500, 5,000 and 25,000 requests a day. Payments run through Stripe, and the terms let the company change or end any service at any time.
What Stormglass does well
- Sea-state fields are part of the standard plan
- Plan prices are shown in euros
- Every plan lists every parameter
- Annual billing is 10% cheaper
- Tide highs and lows are a separate parameter group
Where Stormglass falls short
- The free plan stops at 10 requests a day
- The largest listed plan allows 25,000 requests a day
- The terms let the company alter service at any time
- The company address was not on the page read
Standout feature. Stormglass is the supplier that sells tide extremes and ocean chemistry fields next to land weather at euro prices from €19 a month.
St. Gallen, Switzerland
Quoted per customer, depending on usage, data needs and service level
Demo on request
Best for: Energy, aviation, insurance and public-sector buyers who want many parameters from one query
Meteomatics builds each request as a single URL that encodes time range, parameters, location and output format. The same call can target one point, several points, a route or a polygon, and the answer arrives as JSON, CSV, XML or NetCDF. The API page cites more than 110 models, among them ECMWF, GFS, DWD and the in-house EURO1k and US1k forecasts at 1 km, plus AI models such as GraphCast and ECMWF AIFS.
Meteomatics AG, Unterstrasse 12, 9000 St. Gallen, is the controller named in the privacy notice, which is based primarily on Swiss data protection law. Historical records start in 1940 from ERA5 reanalysis combined with observations, and climate scenarios run to 2100. The group lists subsidiaries elsewhere, no prices are published, and the page read mentions neither a self-service trial nor an SLA.
What Meteomatics does well
- More than 1,800 parameters in one API
- In-house 1 km forecasts for Europe and the US
- Records reach back to 1940
- JSON, CSV, XML and NetCDF outputs
- Privacy notice based on Swiss law
Where Meteomatics falls short
- Prices are only quoted
- No self-service trial on the page read
- No SLA stated on the page read
- Subsidiaries outside Switzerland appear in the notice
Standout feature. Meteomatics is the supplier where one URL can ask for a route or a polygon and get 1 km European forecasts or ERA5-based history back.
Prague, Czech Republic
€990 a year for Point Forecast Professional; a free testing key exists; Map Forecast and Webcams are priced on separate pages
Demo on request
Best for: Apps that need wind, wave and cloud-layer data or an embedded interactive map
Windy API groups three products that draw on the data behind Windy.com: Point Forecast for raw values, Map Forecast for maps you embed and steer from code, and Webcams. Point Forecast returns wind, gusts, temperature, dew point, precipitation by type, CAPE, cloud layers, waves, swell and several air-quality species. Models include AROME, ICON-EU, GFS, GFS Wave, NAM and CAMS, and ECMWF is excluded for licensing reasons.
The terms of use name Windyty, SE, registered at Strakonická 3363/2d in Prague 5 with Company ID 04641647, and apply Czech law. Professional costs €990 a year with 10,000 requests a day, which can be raised by agreement. The testing key is capped at 500 requests a day and returns shuffled data, and only the latest forecast values are available.
What Windy API does well
- The annual price of €990 is published
- A free key exists for development
- A map API comes from the same family
- The contracting company is in the Czech Republic under the GDPR
- Wave and swell parameters are included
Where Windy API falls short
- The testing key shuffles and alters its data
- ECMWF is left out of Point Forecast
- Past forecasts cannot be retrieved
- Requests are capped at 10,000 a day unless agreed
Standout feature. Windy API is the supplier whose catalogue includes an embeddable map you control from code, next to a wind-centred data API.
Basel, Switzerland
A free API year opens on registration; paid packages did not appear on the pages read
Demo on request
Best for: Developers who want to try a Swiss meteorological supplier before they commit
meteoblue operates a consumer forecast site that is partly funded by advertising and sells separate business products on top of it. The API page invites registered users to activate a free weather API for one year without obligation. Weather APIs, climate services and sector pages appear next to products such as history+, climate+, point+ and an urban maps tool.
meteoblue AG gives PO Box 390, CH-4005 Basel as its postal address, and the footer mentions an ISO 9001 certificate. A data protection officer can be reached by email according to the contact page. Packages, quotas, models and prices were not visible on the pages read, so the cost after the free year is unknown, and the website subscriptions shown in a popup (ad-free €9, point+ €50) may belong to the consumer site only.
What meteoblue does well
- A full year of free API use after registration
- A postal address in Basel is published
- An ISO 9001 certificate is mentioned
- Climate and sector products sit alongside the API
- Registration carries no obligation
Where meteoblue falls short
- API prices were not on the page read
- Quotas and models are unconfirmed
- The consumer site shows advertising
- The free access ends after twelve months
Standout feature. meteoblue is the supplier that hands out a complete year of free API access with no commitment attached.
Espoo, Finland
Founded 1996
A free trial and a pricing page are offered; the amounts were not readable
Demo on request
Best for: Consumer apps and media sites that want a European forecast supplier with a named support contact
Foreca says it started in 1996 as Weather Service Finland and took its present name in 2001. The API menu reads like a checklist: point forecasts, weather maps, air quality, pollen, climate data, history, warnings, marine, ski resorts and tropical storms. A separate business unit supplies weather videos, web modules, print and digital signage.
Foreca Ltd, Keilaranta 1, 02150 Espoo, is the entity on the contact page, with a Finnish VAT number, and the company calls itself privately owned and independent. Developers can begin with a free trial, and the contact page offers proof-of-concept access for larger needs. Foreca ranks itself in the top three of a third-party accuracy study; that is its own claim. Prices and the API Terms of Service were not read.
What Foreca does well
- A Finnish company with an address in Espoo
- Operating since 1996
- The menu includes pollen and marine weather
- Developers can start on a free trial
- Personal support is the main selling point
Where Foreca falls short
- Prices could not be read
- The accuracy ranking is the vendor's own claim
- The Terms of Service were not read
- A few features appear in the menu without explanation
Standout feature. Foreca is the supplier whose API menu combines pollen, ski resort and tropical storm data with a 1996 Finnish operating history.
Vienna, Austria
$0 for 100 calls a month (non-commercial), $9.99 a month for Standard and $49.99 for Professional, with a Business tier on top
Demo on request
Best for: Small commercial apps that want a cheap monthly plan and a simple JSON endpoint
weatherstack is the weather product of apilayer, a group that sells several small utility APIs. Four tiers are public: Free with 100 calls a month and no support, Standard at $9.99 a month for 50,000 calls, Professional at $49.99 for 300,000 calls, and a Business tier above that. Standard adds commercial use, location search, astronomy, hour-by-hour and historical data and marine data; Professional adds 7-day forecasts, 40 languages and bulk queries.
The terms of service name apilayer Data Products GmbH, Elisabethstrasse 15/5 in Vienna, as the operator, and they limit remedies for service problems to stopping use of the API. Paid plans list a per-call charge beyond the allowance, such as 0.0007992 on Standard. Annual billing brings Standard to $8.99 a month. The Business tier figures and the data sources were not read.
What weatherstack does well
- All tier prices are published
- Commercial use starts at $9.99 a month
- Billing by year lowers the monthly price
- Marine and historical data are in Standard
- The contracting party is registered in Austria
Where weatherstack falls short
- Prices are in US dollars
- The free tier gives only 100 calls a month
- 7-day forecasts require Professional
- The terms limit remedies to ending use
Standout feature. weatherstack is the supplier with the lowest published commercial entry price on this page, at $9.99 a month for 50,000 calls.
Norway, Norway
No charge; the institute must be credited
Demo on request
Best for: Open-data and research projects that can tolerate the absence of an SLA
MET Norway publishes weather through api.met.no and the developer portal at developer.yr.no, run by the Norwegian Meteorological Institute as a public service. Location Forecast covers any point on earth. Other products include an air-quality forecast for Norwegian locations, textual aviation forecasts, the Frost API for observations, GRIB files for the coast, ice maps for arctic regions and isobaric GRIB files for air traffic.
Data and products fall under the Norwegian Licence for Open Government Data 2.0 and Creative Commons 4.0 BY unless stated otherwise, so the institute must be credited, and the weather icons carry an MIT licence. Terms ask each user to identify themselves and to avoid unnecessary traffic. The terms promise no delivery guarantees, and deprecated API versions are usually terminated after about one month.
What MET Norway does well
- No fee for use
- Open government and Creative Commons licences
- Products from ice maps to GRIB files
- Weather icons under the MIT licence
- A state body with a standing mandate
Where MET Norway falls short
- Nothing is guaranteed on delivery
- Credit to the institute is required
- Old versions end after roughly one month's notice
- Air quality covers Norway alone
Standout feature. MET Norway is the supplier that gives away arctic ice maps and aviation forecasts under an open government licence.
United Kingdom, United Kingdom
Plans are ordered inside the DataHub; neither the amounts nor a free allowance appeared on the pages read
Demo on request
Best for: Teams that want forecast and model data originating from the UK national weather service
Met Office Weather DataHub is the delivery platform of the United Kingdom's national weather service, split into services by data family. Site-specific forecasts come as GeoJSON hourly, three-hourly and daily for one latitude and longitude, with a Blended Probabilistic Forecast listed as well. Atmospheric data covers a global deterministic model at 10 km and a UK model at 2 km in two grid forms, plus ensemble products, all in GRIB2.
Ordering means accepting the DataHub terms and conditions. API call plans carry daily limits that reset at 00:00 UTC, and atmospheric plans are measured in gigabytes using base-1024. A Land Observations API returns hourly UK ground-station data, warnings come in Atom format, and map images in PNG show surface temperature, precipitation rate, cloud cover and sea-level pressure. Prices and the free allowance were not visible, since the pricing route returned a not-found notice.
What Met Office Weather DataHub does well
- Run by the UK national weather service
- Separate services for forecasts, models, observations and maps
- A probabilistic forecast is listed
- Hourly ground-station data for the UK
- Point forecasts arrive as GeoJSON
Where Met Office Weather DataHub falls short
- Prices were not shown
- Observations stop at the UK border
- GRIB2 handling takes specialist skills
- Terms are accepted when ordering
Standout feature. Met Office Weather DataHub is the supplier that offers a 2 km UK deterministic model together with hourly UK land observations.
Germany, Germany
Largely free under a legal mandate, with a price list for other products
Demo on request
Best for: Data engineers and researchers who work with raw national model, radar and climate files
DWD Open Data is the file server of the Deutscher Wetterdienst at opendata.dwd.de, with weather data under one directory tree and climate data under another. It holds model forecasts, radar data, current measurements, observations and a large climate archive. Some datasets are offered through the GeoWebService as OGC-compatible WMS and WFS, and changes are announced by RSS feed and a climate data centre change log.
The Open Data page says the agency has a legal mandate to provide weather and climate information mostly free of charge, with a price list for other products. It also warns that service and availability levels cannot be guaranteed; businesses wanting more reliability can request secure access through the Geospatial Data Service. Aviation-certified data comes only from the aviation meteorology department, and the page names no licence or attribution rule.
What DWD Open Data does well
- Data comes straight from the German national weather service
- Mostly free by law
- Radar and climate archives are included
- WMS and WFS services are offered
- Change announcements arrive by RSS
Where DWD Open Data falls short
- Availability is not guaranteed
- The server holds files instead of a point API
- No licence wording appeared on the page read
- Aviation data comes from a separate department
Standout feature. DWD Open Data is the supplier that exposes German radar archives and a climate data centre directly from the national agency.
Rosbach v. d. Höhe, Germany
The data costs nothing; the terms limit fees to reproduction, delivery and maintenance
Demo on request
Best for: Analysts and students who need long station records instead of forecasts
Meteostat answers a narrower question than the rest of this page: what the weather was at a given station in the past. Its developer site calls it an open platform with free access to historical weather and climate data. The Python library, a command line tool, CSV datasets for long-term station series and a JSON API cover scripts, bulk downloads and applications.
The legal disclosure names Meteostat c/o Christian Lamprecht, Kurt-Schumacher-Str. 26, 61191 Rosbach v. d. Höhe, so the operator is a small project without a company form. Data is released under CC BY 4.0 and the footer credits NOAA, Deutscher Wetterdienst and Environment Canada. Fees cover only reproduction, delivery and maintenance, and the terms allow access to be blocked at any time without compensation. JSON API quotas were not read.
What Meteostat does well
- Data under CC BY 4.0 at no charge
- A Python library and a command line tool
- Bulk CSV datasets
- The source list is public
- A German operator address is published
Where Meteostat falls short
- No forecasts exist
- Access may be stopped without notice
- Safety-critical use is excluded
- API quotas were not read
Standout feature. Meteostat is the supplier where the product is a downloadable archive of station records, with a Python library on top.
