Pixabay API

⭐ Beginner's Pick Photography / API Key Intermediate HTTPS

Varies by plan (check documentation)

77 Score

Grade B

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Overview

Pixabay API gives you free access to over 4 million high-quality photos, illustrations, vectors, and videos released under the Pixabay license, which allows commercial use without attribution. You can search by keyword, category, color, and more to find the perfect media for your project. An API key is required but the free tier is generous enough for most hobby and small projects.

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Beginner Tip

Include your API key as the key query parameter in the URL rather than in a header, which is different from many other APIs. Always check the pageURL field to link back to the original Pixabay page as good practice even though attribution is not legally required.

Available Data

image URLs in multiple sizes

photographer credit

image dimensions

download link

color data

Use case: Integrate photography data into web and mobile applications

Example Response

JSON Response

{
  "id": "Dwu85P9SOIk",
  "urls": {
    "full": "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-...",
    "regular": "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-...?w=1080",
    "thumb": "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-...?w=200"
  },
  "width": 4000,
  "height": 3000,
  "user": {
    "name": "John Doe",
    "username": "johndoe"
  }
}

Field Reference

hits[].id Unique Pixabay ID for the image, usable to construct a direct link to the image page.

hits[].webformatURL URL of a web-optimized version of the image (up to 1280px wide), suitable for display in web apps.

hits[].largeImageURL URL of the large version of the image; requires an API key with elevated access for very large sizes.

hits[].tags Comma-separated list of tags describing the image content, useful for displaying keywords.

hits[].downloads Total number of times this image has been downloaded from Pixabay.

totalHits Total number of images accessible via the API for this query (capped at 500 for free accounts).

Implementation Example

// ⚠️ Note: This URL may be a documentation page. Check official docs for actual API endpoint.
const url = "https://pixabay.com/sk/service/about/api/";
// Replace headers or query params with the values required by this API.
const response = await fetch(url, {
  headers: {
  "X-API-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY"
  }
});
if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`Request failed: ${response.status}`);
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);