OpenWeatherMap Free Tier Limits 2026

TL;DR

OpenWeatherMap still has a usable free path in 2026, but the answer depends on which product you call. The classic Free Weather API access path covers current weather, 3-hour forecast, air pollution, weather maps, and geocoding with 60 calls/minute and 1,000,000 calls/month on the public pricing page. The separate One Call products are subscription/pay-per-call products: OpenWeatherMap's One Call 3.0 docs describe a call-by-call subscription with 1,000 calls/day included, while the pricing page now markets One Call 4.0 as the newer timeline-based product with the first 1,000 API calls per day free.

If you need a no-card prototype, start with Free Weather API access or an alternative such as Open-Meteo. If you need One Call's minute/hour/day timeline, alerts, or unified historical/forecast shape, add a billing guard before the first production test.

Key takeaways

Free Weather API access is still the no-card starting point. The pricing page lists 60 API calls/minute and 1,000,000 calls/month for the free weather access bundle.
One Call is different from Free Weather API access. One Call 3.0 documentation says it uses a separate call-by-call subscription with 1,000 calls/day included; the pricing page now highlights One Call 4.0 with the same first-1,000-calls-per-day free framing.
Do not mix endpoint paths. /data/2.5/weather and /data/2.5/forecast are not the same commercial surface as /data/3.0/onecall or the newer One Call 4.0 product.
Hard-cap paid products before load tests. Set account limits or billing alerts before cron jobs, mobile background refreshes, or CI smoke tests can create billable overage.
Alternatives are better for some prototypes. Open-Meteo, the U.S. National Weather Service API, Weatherbit, Tomorrow.io, and Visual Crossing each solve a different free-weather problem.

Current OpenWeatherMap free-limit map

Need	Product to check first	Current public free framing	Caveat
Current weather for a city or coordinate	Current Weather API in Free Weather API access	60 calls/minute and 1,000,000 calls/month	Does not include the full One Call timeline.
5-day / 3-hour forecast	Forecast API in Free Weather API access	Included in the same free access bundle	Hourly and daily long-range products may require paid plans.
Geocoding a place name to coordinates	Geocoding API in Free Weather API access	Included in the free access bundle	Use it to resolve coordinates before weather calls; do not assume it replaces a full Places API.
Unified current + minute/hour/day forecast	One Call API 3.0 / One Call 4.0	First 1,000 calls/day free in official One Call copy	Requires subscription/pay-per-call posture; cap usage before launch.
Historical, accumulated, or larger commercial workloads	Paid Weather API plans or enterprise	Higher calls/minute and calls/month on paid tiers	Check license, SLA, attribution, and redistribution terms.

Free Weather API access: the no-card path

For most prototypes, Free Weather API access is the safest OpenWeatherMap entry point. It covers the classic endpoints that many tutorials still use:

curl "https://api.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/weather?lat=40.7128&lon=-74.0060&units=metric&appid=$OPENWEATHER_API_KEY"

Use this path for:

personal dashboards;
prototypes that refresh weather a few times per hour;
server-side weather widgets;
geocoding a user's typed city before a forecast request;
tests where a delayed or missing forecast is not catastrophic.

Even with a generous monthly call limit, add a cache. A weather value rarely needs to refresh on every page view. Cache by coordinate bucket, city, or postal code; expire current conditions every 5-15 minutes; and make mobile apps request through your backend instead of handing every installed client a direct polling loop.

One Call API 3.0 vs One Call 4.0

OpenWeatherMap's public pages now create a common source of confusion:

The One Call API 3.0 documentation is still live and says access is available through a separate “One Call by Call” subscription with 1,000 calls/day included.
The pricing page now markets One Call 4.0 as a timeline-based weather API for future and past data, also with the first 1,000 API calls per day free.

That does not mean you should blindly swap endpoint paths. It means you should decide which official product your app is actually using, then confirm the endpoint, fields, billing unit, and free threshold in the current docs.

A safe implementation checklist:

Create the OpenWeatherMap API key in a server-side environment only.
Confirm whether the route calls Free Weather API access or One Call.
For One Call, set the daily call limit at or below the free threshold until usage is understood.
Add a per-user or per-location cache so retries do not multiply cost.
Alert on HTTP 401, 429, and sudden daily-call spikes.

Cost model examples

Scenario	Safer default	Why
Landing page weather badge	Free Weather API access + server cache	The data can be cached and the classic current-weather endpoint is enough.
Travel planner with hourly/daily forecast	One Call, capped during beta	The unified timeline is useful, but every user search can become a billable event.
Mobile app background refresh	Backend cache + strict rate limit	Direct client polling can multiply calls by installs and device wakeups.
Weather data enrichment batch	Paid plan or alternative provider test	Batch jobs need explicit throughput, retry, and billing controls.
U.S.-only civic/weather app	National Weather Service API first	Official, keyless U.S. data may be a better fit than a global commercial API.

Alternatives to compare before committing

Open-Meteo

Open-Meteo is often the easiest no-key prototype because its public pricing page separates a free evaluation/prototyping tier from paid commercial API plans with monthly call budgets. It is a strong first test for weather widgets, prototypes, and open-source projects, especially when you do not need OpenWeatherMap-specific fields.

National Weather Service API

For U.S.-only apps, the National Weather Service API is official and keyless. It is not a global commercial weather platform, but it can be the right answer for civic tools, public-safety prototypes, and U.S.-only forecast surfaces.

Tomorrow.io, Weatherbit, and Visual Crossing

These providers are worth testing when the required fields drive the choice: air quality, pollen, fire weather, historical records, CSV export, or a more explicit commercial data license. Compare each provider's current free tier, attribution, caching, and redistribution rules before treating it as a drop-in OpenWeatherMap replacement.

Implementation pattern

const cacheKey = `weather:${Math.round(lat * 100) / 100}:${Math.round(lon * 100) / 100}`;
const cached = await cache.get(cacheKey);
if (cached) return cached;

const url = new URL("https://api.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/weather");
url.searchParams.set("lat", String(lat));
url.searchParams.set("lon", String(lon));
url.searchParams.set("units", "metric");
url.searchParams.set("appid", process.env.OPENWEATHER_API_KEY!);

const res = await fetch(url, { next: { revalidate: 600 } });
if (res.status === 429) throw new Error("OpenWeatherMap quota exceeded; serve stale cache or fallback");
if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`OpenWeatherMap error ${res.status}`);

const data = await res.json();
await cache.set(cacheKey, data, { ttl: 600 });
return data;

The important design choice is not the syntax. It is that the API key is server-side, the route caches by location, quota errors have a user-visible fallback, and production traffic cannot call a paid endpoint without limits.

Common mistakes

Assuming “free tier” means One Call is cardless. Free Weather API access and One Call subscriptions are separate surfaces.
Leaving the default paid daily limit unchanged. A staging cron or mobile retry loop can consume the free allowance quickly.
Using browser-side API keys. Treat weather keys like any other backend credential; proxy through your server and cache responses.
Ignoring license and redistribution rules. Weather data can have different rules for public display, caching, and commercial reuse.
Copying old One Call 2.5 examples. Check the current 3.0/4.0 product docs before migration.

Source notes

Official sources checked on 2026-06-19:

OpenWeatherMap pricing: https://openweathermap.org/price for Free Weather API access, paid Weather API plans, and One Call 4.0 free-call language.
OpenWeatherMap One Call API 3.0 documentation: https://openweathermap.org/api/one-call-3 for the separate call-by-call subscription and included-call language.
Open-Meteo pricing: https://open-meteo.com/en/pricing for free evaluation/prototyping and commercial plan framing.
National Weather Service API documentation: https://www.weather.gov/documentation/services-web-api for U.S. official keyless weather API context.

Pricing, endpoint availability, and plan names change. Re-open the official pages before adding a cost calculator, public guarantee, or procurement recommendation.

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