7 APIs That Give You Real-Time Data for Free (No API Key Required)

I spent the last 6 months building side projects with free APIs. Most "free API" lists are full of dead links and deprecated endpoints. Here are 7 that actually work right now, return real-time data, and need zero authentication. 1. Open-Meteo — Weather for Any Location curl "https://api.open-meteo.com/v1/forecast?latitude=52.52&longitude=13.41&current_weather=true" Returns current temperature, wind speed, weather code. Covers the entire planet. Updates every 15 minutes. Build idea: Weather widget for your portfolio site. 2. SpaceX API — Every Launch Since 2006 curl https://api.spacexdata.com/v5/launches/next Next launch date, rocket type, payload info. Also has crew data, Starlink satellite positions, and landing pad stats. Build idea: Launch countdown Slack bot. 3. CoinGecko — Crypto Prices curl "https://api.coingecko.com/api/v3/simple/price?ids=bitcoin,ethereum&vs_currencies=usd" Real-time prices for 10,000+ cryptocurrencies. No key needed for basic endpoints. Build idea: Portfolio