I came across a cool movie management app that pulls all its information from the IMDB movie database. The app shows details like movie titles, ratings, cast info, and plot summaries. I’m wondering if IMDB has their own official API that developers can use to get this data. If they don’t offer one directly, are there any reliable third-party services or APIs that can access IMDB information? I’m thinking about building my own movie app and need a good data source for film information.
IMDB killed their public API in 2017, so that’s out. I’ve dealt with this building internal tools at work.
OMDB’s your best shot if you want something like the old IMDB API. Used it on a side project last year - pretty simple. Gets you basic movie info, ratings, and plot data without the headache.
TMDb’s better if you need more robust stuff. Image quality’s better and metadata’s more detailed. Free tier rate limiting is generous too, which helps when prototyping.
Don’t try scraping IMDB directly. They’re aggressive about blocking scrapers and you’ll just create problems for yourself.
Start with OMDB for quick wins, then move to TMDb if you need more features.
yeah its kinda a bummer imdb stopped their api. but honestly, omdb and themoviedb are solid alternatives. omdb is great for what imdb used to offer, so that might help with your app build. good luck!
IMDB killed their API in 2017, so that’s out. Here’s what worked for me when I hit the same wall building dashboards.
I ditched the whole multiple API headache and automated everything with Latenode. Set up a workflow that pulls basic movie data from OMDB, grabs extra metadata from TMDb, and scrapes other sources when I need more.
Best part? Cache everything in your own database so you’re not constantly hitting rate limits. You can even schedule automatic updates for movie info.
My workflow takes a movie title, hits multiple sources, cleans up all the different data formats, and dumps everything organized into our system. 30 minutes to build vs weeks coding API integrations.
Beats juggling API keys and rate limits any day. Set the pipeline once and you’re done.
IMDB killed their official API in 2017, which sucked for developers. I worked on something similar two years back and scraping IMDB directly is a nightmare - they’ve got anti-bot stuff and their ToS will bite you. I ended up mixing sources instead. OMDb API works great for basic movie info and ratings (it’s basically IMDB’s data), then I grabbed images and extra metadata from TMDb. Using both together covered everything I needed without depending on one source. If you’re just getting started, go with OMDb first - it’s easy to set up and has solid IMDB-style data for most basic needs.
IMDB killed their API in 2017 - super annoying for developers. I hit the same wall six months ago building a film tracker. Honestly, mixing different sources worked way better than the old IMDB API anyway. OMDb is your easiest swap since it basically copies IMDB’s structure. But I’d also throw in TMDb for better images and cast info. Build your app to handle multiple sources right from the start. Makes it way more solid and you get richer data than depending on just one provider.
IMDB killed their public API years ago - total bummer for developers. I built something similar last year and went with The Movie Database (TMDb) instead. It’s free for non-commercial stuff and has everything you need: cast, crew, ratings, quality poster images. Great docs, generous rate limits. You’ll pay for commercial use but it’s reasonable. Also check out Open Movie Database (OMDb) - it mirrors IMDB’s structure pretty closely, though you need an API key for heavy usage. Both have been solid for me and way better support than IMDB ever offered.
nah imdb’s api is dead. i’ve been using rapid api’s imdb alternative for my stuff and it’s solid. costs a bit but beats juggling free apis that randomly break