I want to start a discussion about the best free API services that developers can use for coding projects. This should become a go-to resource where we share our experiences with different free options.
Let me kick things off with my recommendations:
OpenRouter Platform - They offer free access to their DeepSeek R1 model without rate limits. The reasoning capabilities are pretty solid for most coding tasks, though it can be inconsistent sometimes. I think their advanced reasoning feature might help with better results.
Windsurf IDE - Comes with free SWE-Agent access which works well for automated coding and tool integration. Not as powerful as premium alternatives but definitely reliable for basic development work.
TRAE Service - Offers budget access to Claude Sonnet and other premium models for around $3 monthly. Great value if you need high-quality responses regularly.
Local Proxy Tools - There are applications that can convert your existing ChatGPT Plus session into API calls for your development environment. Pretty clever workaround for IDE integration.
What free APIs have you found useful for your coding projects? Please share your favorites and any tips for getting the most out of them!
Been working with APIs for years and JSONPlaceholder is a lifesaver for prototyping - it’s a fake REST API that’s perfect for testing frontend stuff without needing a backend. News API is another gem most people miss. You get access to thousands of news sources with 1000 free requests daily. Always check rate limits first though. Hitting those walls mid-development sucks. Public APIs like REST Countries and Cat Facts might look silly but they’re actually perfect for learning HTTP requests when you’re just starting.
github’s api is super underrated - it’s free and lets you automate just about everything, from repos to pull requests. and weatherapi.com is solid too, gives good weather data without the annoying signup. used both in side projects, totally reliable!
RapidAPI Hub is worth checking out - it’s a marketplace where you can hit hundreds of free APIs with just one key. Super convenient since you don’t have to mess with separate auth for each service. The free tiers usually give you solid quotas across multiple APIs. I also lean heavily on Postman’s Mock Server during development. You can create fake responses that act like real APIs while building your app logic. Huge time saver when the actual API isn’t ready or you’re working offline. Pro tip I learned the hard way: always build proper error handling and fallbacks when using free APIs. They go down more than paid services, so having backup plans in your code will save you major headaches.
Those APIs are solid, but they all have the same problem - you’re stuck coding all the integrations and connection logic yourself.
I’ve dealt with this for years. Find a great free API, spend hours writing integration code, then realize you need three more services to build something actually useful.
Automation platforms changed everything for me. They handle API connections automatically. Instead of custom coding every integration, you just drag and drop to connect services.
I recently built a system pulling data from multiple free APIs, processing it, and sending notifications through different channels. Took maybe 30 minutes without writing any integration code.
The real win is chaining multiple APIs together or adding conditional logic. Traditional coding becomes a maintenance nightmare, but visual automation keeps it simple.
Latenode handles the heavy lifting for API integrations so you can focus on building actual functionality instead of wrestling with connection code.