Pricing overview
Open-Meteo employs a tiered pricing structure that includes a free tier and several paid subscription plans. The core of its pricing model is based on the number of API requests made per day across all available APIs, including the Weather Forecast API, Historical Weather API, Marine Weather API, Air Quality API, and Elevation API. This model is designed to accommodate users from individual developers leveraging the free tier for personal projects to businesses requiring higher volume access for commercial applications, as detailed in the Open-Meteo documentation.
The service emphasizes transparency and predictability in its costs, with fixed monthly or annual fees for defined request limits rather than complex pay-as-you-go calculations that might vary significantly. This approach allows users to anticipate their expenses based on their estimated daily API call volume. All plans offer access to the same core weather data and forecast models, with the primary differentiator being the daily request limit and the level of support provided.
Open-Meteo processes payments primarily through Stripe's payment infrastructure, ensuring secure transactions for its subscription services. Users can typically manage their subscriptions and view their usage statistics through a dedicated account dashboard, allowing for real-time monitoring of their API request consumption against their plan limits.
Plans and tiers
Open-Meteo offers a range of plans designed to scale with user demand, from the free tier suitable for development and personal use to enterprise-level subscriptions for high-volume commercial needs. Each plan specifies a maximum daily request limit and includes access to all Open-Meteo APIs.
| Plan Name | Monthly Price | Daily Request Limit | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free Tier | €0 | 10,000 | Personal projects, experimentation, small-scale applications, educational use |
| Standard | €4.99 | 20,000 | Growing hobby projects, startups with moderate data needs, light commercial use |
| Pro | €19.99 | 100,000 | Mid-sized applications, small businesses, projects requiring higher data volumes |
| Business | €79.99 | 500,000 | Larger commercial applications, enterprise development, substantial data requirements |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom (> 500,000) | Large-scale applications, high-traffic services, custom requirements and dedicated support |
All paid plans include priority support and access to all current and future API endpoints without additional module fees. The Enterprise plan is tailored for organizations with specific volume or technical requirements, offering custom pricing and service level agreements (SLAs).
Free tier and limits
Open-Meteo provides a free tier that allows up to 10,000 API requests per day. This free access is substantial for many users, particularly those working on personal projects, academic research, or initial prototypes. The free tier includes access to the full suite of Open-Meteo APIs, encompassing:
- Weather Forecast API: Provides current weather, hourly, and daily forecasts for various locations.
- Historical Weather API: Access to past weather data for analysis and backtesting.
- Marine Weather API: Specialized data for marine environments, including wave height and swell direction.
- Air Quality API: Information on air pollutants such as ozone, carbon monoxide, and particulate matter.
- Elevation API: Provides elevation data for given coordinates.
The daily request limit resets every 24 hours. Users exceeding this limit on the free tier will typically receive an error response until the next reset period or until they upgrade to a paid plan. There are no hidden costs or requirements for using the free tier, making it an accessible option for developers and students alike. The free tier aims to lower the barrier to entry for weather data integration, aligning with Open-Meteo's mission for open and affordable meteorological data access, as outlined on their official homepage.
Real-world cost examples
To illustrate Open-Meteo's pricing, consider the following real-world usage scenarios:
Example 1: Small Personal Weather App
- Scenario: A developer creates a personal weather app that displays the current weather and a 7-day forecast for five user-defined locations. The app refreshes data every 15 minutes when active.
- Requests per user per hour: (1 current + 1 7-day forecast) * 4 refreshes = 8 requests.
- Daily requests (for 1 user, 12 active hours): 8 requests/hour * 12 hours = 96 requests.
- Total daily requests for 10 users: 96 requests/user * 10 users = 960 requests.
- Cost: This usage falls well within the 10,000 requests/day free tier. Cost: €0/month.
Example 2: Local News Website Weather Section
- Scenario: A local news website displays current conditions, hourly forecasts, and a 3-day forecast for its city. The data is updated every 5 minutes on the homepage (1 request for current, 1 for hourly, 1 for daily). Additionally, users can view forecasts for 20 nearby towns (each requiring 2 requests upon page load, 500 unique town views per day).
- Homepage updates: 3 requests * (60 minutes / 5 minutes) * 24 hours = 864 requests/day.
- Town-specific views: 2 requests/view * 500 views = 1,000 requests/day.
- Total daily requests: 864 + 1,000 = 1,864 requests.
- Cost: This usage comfortably fits within the 10,000 requests/day free tier. Cost: €0/month.
Example 3: Agricultural Monitoring System
- Scenario: An agricultural technology company monitors weather conditions for 500 farms. For each farm, it retrieves hourly forecasts (1 request per farm) and historical data (1 request per farm) once every hour during a 16-hour growing day.
- Requests per hour: (1 forecast + 1 historical) * 500 farms = 1,000 requests.
- Total daily requests: 1,000 requests/hour * 16 hours = 16,000 requests.
- Cost: This exceeds the free tier. It fits within the 20,000 requests/day Standard plan. Cost: €4.99/month.
Example 4: Global Travel Planner Application
- Scenario: A travel planning app allows users to search for weather across 5,000 cities worldwide. Each search involves 1 forecast API call, and the app anticipates 20,000 searches daily during peak season. Additionally, 5,000 daily requests are made for air quality data for popular destinations.
- Forecast requests: 20,000 searches * 1 request/search = 20,000 requests.
- Air Quality requests: 5,000 requests.
- Total daily requests: 20,000 + 5,000 = 25,000 requests.
- Cost: This exceeds the Standard plan (20,000/day). It fits within the Pro plan (100,000/day). Cost: €19.99/month.
How the pricing compares
Open-Meteo positions itself as a cost-effective provider of weather data, particularly for developers and projects with budget constraints. Its generous free tier of 10,000 daily requests offers a significant advantage for hobbyists and smaller applications when compared to some alternatives that may have stricter limits or require payment sooner. For instance, OpenWeatherMap's free tier is limited to 1,000 requests per day for some APIs, though it offers different feature sets.
When comparing paid tiers, Open-Meteo's fixed-rate plans provide predictability. For example, for 20,000 requests per day (€4.99/month), Open-Meteo offers a competitive price point. Other providers like Tomorrow.io and AccuWeather often feature more complex pricing models that can include per-call charges, premium feature add-ons, or higher base rates for similar volumes, especially for commercial use cases. These alternatives may offer advanced features, higher resolution data, or specialized forecasts not available from Open-Meteo, which could justify their higher cost for specific enterprise needs.
The choice between Open-Meteo and its competitors typically depends on the specific requirements of a project, including the required data granularity, API call volume, budget, and the need for specialized features like hyperlocal forecasts or advanced analytics. For foundational weather data access at a predictable and often lower cost, Open-Meteo presents a strong option.