News APIs Terms Comparison
Side-by-side comparison of free tiers, rate limits, and usage restrictions for 5 news apis.
Terms of service may change. Always verify with the official API documentation before building production applications.
| API | Free Tier | Rate Limit | Commercial | Attribution | Auth | CORS | Caching | Notable Restrictions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mediastack | 500 calls/month | 500 calls/month (free) | ✕ | Req | API Key (query parameter) | Yes | Yes | Free plan: HTTP only, no historical data, 25 results per request |
| GNews | 100 calls/day | 100 calls/day (free) | ✓ | Req | API Key (query parameter) | Yes | Yes | Free tier limited to 10 articles per request, no full content |
| NewsAPI | 100 calls/day (development only) | 100 calls/day (free, dev only) | ✕ | Req | API Key (header or query parameter) | No | No | Free plan: development only, no production use, CORS disabled, 1-month old articles max |
| Currents API | 600 calls/day | 600 calls/day (free) | ✓ | Req | API Key (header) | Yes | Yes | Free tier may have delayed news compared to paid plans |
| Inshorts News | Unlimited (unofficial API) | Reasonable use expected | ✕ | Req | None | Yes | Yes | Unofficial API; may break without notice. Not suitable for production |
Attribution Details
Mediastack: Attribution required on free plan
GNews: Must link to original article source
NewsAPI: Must attribute NewsAPI as source
Currents API: Attribution to Currents API required
Inshorts News: Credit Inshorts as the source
Last updated: 2026-04