Introduction
Choosing the right set of free APIs for mobile apps is the deciding factor if the app will be successful or not.
Why?
Because APIs are enhancers that allow us to incorporate the most important aspects of the app without necessarily building it from the ground up:
- Enhance the user’s experience with effortless interaction
- Reduce the time taken to develop by implementing ready-made products
- Incorporate free APIs that expand with the increase of the application
A clear instance of this is seen with the well-known social networking mobile application, Instagram.
Instagram – More Engagement of Users Due to APIs
When Instagram was in its infancy, it had other priorities other than the obvious ones of filters and branding.
It was all about allowing users to access various types of information, whether photographs or geo-located content, through the API.
Well then, what occurred?
A more refined user experience that made certain users would keep coming back.
And the extent of integrations that Instagram offered, built an application that, its users, simply had to have.
Imagine millions of users using the API of the platform to create integrations with other applications.
Is there any better?
Instagram made great use of free APIs as well, google maps API for instance served geolocation features while OpenWeather map offered weather features. Consequently, Instagram was able to put together a rather engaging and dynamic experience.
Clearly! It is evident from the fact that API for application development must be well selected particularly how TikTok triumphantly focused on expanding its content library by integrating the right APIs.
And there is no doubt that your application will thrive as well.
This write-up will help you with the 15 most in-demand and used Free APIs for mobile apps with their respective functionalities, examples, and tips.
Moving on, let us examine the most basic APIs that will enhance your application beyond the limit.
But how do you choose the most appropriate API for your case?
Below is a brief description of 15 free APIs for mobile apps. They solve many of our problems.
Google Maps API
Most applications include Google Maps API specifically to offer location-based services.
Google’s Maps API eases embedding building maps, locating them, and driving directions within the app.
There is a free plan that is responsible only for small apps giving extensive control over custom maps, markers, and routes.
For example, delivery and ride-sharing apps like Uber use Google Maps to provide precise directions and real-time tracking.
Here are the free and pro plans of Google Maps APIs.
Free Plan:
The Google Maps API offers $200 each month at zero cost, which can be redeemed for about 28,500 map loads, as well as other API calls. It comprises general uses such as Static Maps, Dynamic Maps, Places, etc.
Pro Plan:
The API is pay-per-use in case of usage overruns, starting from $2 per 1,000 requests Static Map requests and $7 per 1,000 Dynamic Map requests. Suitable for enterprises that have higher usage needs.
API of OpenWeather
Weather information is an absolute necessity in applications that are based on travel, outdoor activities, and exercises.
Here is a short OpenWeather API overview.
It provides free current, forecast, and historical weather data which make it reliable hence ranking high among the APIs used in AccuWeather and other such weather tracking applications.
The One Call API 3.0 includes 1,000 free API calls per day.
Firebase Authentication API
How can I make the login for users as painless as possible, yet secure?
This is a question that many of us often wonder about, and it’s precisely where the Firebase Authentication API is extremely helpful.
It offers:
- Email/password access
- Logging in through multiple social media accounts
And also allows users to verify themselves using their mobile numbers so you don’t have to worry about them.
Firebase Authentication API Free and Pro Plans:
Free Plan
Firebase Authentication provides 10,000 free authentications a month and 10 daily free phone verifications, a great resource for small-scale applications.
Pro Plan
A pay-as-you-go price with phone verifications starting at $0.01 each and with unlimited access to all features which is ideal for growing businesses.
Twilio API
Attaching voice, SMS, or video calling features is not as hard as it seems.
Twilio API is what you need.
Because it provides building blocks to integrate a user-friendly messaging system with no hassle.
Its free trial allows us to explore those functionalities before going ahead to pay for the premium ones.
For example, the application can be used for sending reminder messages about appointments for healthcare purposes and also send confirmation messages for orders in e-commerce applications.
I mean seriously, this feature is amazing – sending out reminders for health services availed, and order confirmations, all while sustaining amazing real-time interaction.
You can see in the following image how we can activate Twilio API for WhatsApp. A simple and easy step-by-step guide:
Here’s the comparison between Twilio API free and pro plans:
Free Plan
Twilio has a free trial along with $15.50 credits used for sending messages, making calls, etc.
- SMS: 100 messages free within the U.S.
- Phone Numbers: Free trial includes one phone number.
- Usage: Also limited to trial credits as well as account verification.
Pro Plan
Twilio’s paid plans are pretty much pay-as-you-go with no cap on the upper limit of pricing gotten per unit of use:
- SMS: Start at $0.0075 per message within the U.S.
- Voice Calls: Start at $0.013 per minute.
- Features: Scalable APIs for messaging, voice, video, and more.
- Support: Access to premium support.
News API
The News API is appropriate when the application demands current news information on an all-time basis.
Since the content is compiled from many content suppliers all over the world, we can access the articles that are currently on the trend and what headlines are available.
This API is suitable for any news aggregation app or dashboard.
Thus there is the free and pro plan for News APIs:
Free Plan
Most of the news APIs provide a free plan that covers:
- Requests: 500 to 1000 requests a day.
- Content Access: Very basic access to news articles, headlines, and summaries.
- Examples: NewsAPI, ContextualWeb News.
- Restrictions: Limited access to historical data; fewer sources of news.
Pro Plan
Pro plans usually come with:
- Pricing: Starts at $10 and can go all the way to $100+ per month, depending on the provider and features.
- Requests: Up to or beyond 100,000 requests per month.
- Features: More news sources, historical data, premium content, and advanced filtering.
- Support: Priority support for paid users.
Stripe API
In e-commerce or subscription-based mobile applications, it is important to take into consideration the aspect of payment management.
The Stripe API enables you to integrate payment solutions without paying a dime and provides advanced payment options including credit cards, wallets, and even interbank transfers within a country.
As payment processing is very essential, apps built on the Shopify platform integrate Stripe to achieve simpler checkout processes and safety for the customer.
Here are the free and pro plans for Stripe API:
Free Plan
Stripe makes a free available startup option without any monthly fees.
- Pricing: No setup or monthly fees.
- Transaction Fees:
- 2.9% + 30¢ for a successful charge on a card (U.S. rates).
- There are lower rates for non-profit organizations.
- Features: Payments, subscriptions, invoicing, as well as basic fraud protection.
- Support: Community support and documentation.
Pro Plan
Stripe’s Pro features also come pay-as-you-go with extra services:
- Pricing: Same as the free tier applicable for transactions with additional features at cost.
- Advanced Features:
- Radar for Fraud Teams: For advanced fraud detection – charges $0.05 per transaction.
- Custom Connect: starts at 0.25% per payout for marketplace platforms.
- Premium Support: Chargeable.
- Enterprise Solutions: Customized pricing; huge companies have dedicated support and more involved integrations with Stripe.
In addition, it scales very well for businesses from start-ups up to enterprises.
YouTube Data API
How to enhance the experience of users towards the multimedia?
We can use the YouTube Data API to include video players, in addition to that, the API can also include user-created playlists and recommendations of videos.
The question arises, how can you use the YouTube Data API?
Using the YouTube Data API, it is now possible to incorporate different YouTube features into your application. Include an application programming interface for video uploading; manage playlists and subscriptions, edit channels, and so on.
YouTube Data API Pricing Plans:
Free Plan
- Quota: 10,000 units per day (Quota is limited to usage).
- Features: Access to all public data-videos, channels, playlists, and comments.
- Usage: Designed for simple integrations and small applications.
Pro Plan
- Costs: Pay-as-you-go for high-use apps that go past the free tier.
- Features: More in-depth data access as well as premium support and quota.
- Flexibility: Highly flexible large-scale integrations with very high limits on the number of API calls.
This API is used by educational apps, entertainment apps, and e-learning apps to provide high-quality video content to end users seamlessly.
Giphy API
The Giphy API has made it possible for us to incorporate some fun and creative elements in the applications.
This helps accessibility to a collection of GIFs and stickers making it possible for enhancement of the applications.
The following are the free and pro packages that the Giphy API offers:
Free Plan
- API Access: Up to 42 hits per second
- Characteristics: Access to GIFs, stickers, and search functions to facilitate app integration.
- Quota: 500 requests/day
- Application: Suitability for smaller applications or prototyping purposes.
Pro Plan
- Pricing: Starting at $100 per month for intensive use and additional features.
- Characteristics: Higher limits on APIs, advanced analytics, and dedicated support.
- Quota: Unlimited access to GIFs, stickers, and content moderation tools, depending on the tier subscribed in.
This API would, in particular, be beneficial to messaging and social network applications in availing users of various mediums of expression.
SendGrid API
Any mobile application would require reliable email service support.
Any Startups would find it strategic as they allow as much as SendGrid API free tier of 100 emails per day.
Apps that have onboarding flows, account verifications, or transactional updates can integrate SendGrid to ensure email delivery.
Here are the SendGrid API free and pro plans:
Free Plan
- Pricing: No monthly charges due to the free tier.
- Features:
- Up to 100 emails per day.
- Basic to send emails and analytics limited.
- SMTP relay, API integration, and email template accessibility.
- Usage: Ideal for small projects or low-volume campaigns.
Pro Plan
- Pricing: Starting from $19.95/month.
- Features:
- Up to 50,000 emails per month with larger tiers.
- Advanced analytics, email validation, and dedicated IP addresses.
- Premium support and advanced security options.
Usage: For organizations that require outbound emailing to be very scalable with more features and better controls.
Pexels API
Pexels API comes in handy for photography or blogging apps made for among other things, sharing via social media.
This gives the authors the chance to equip the applications to be designed with their impressive features by providing access to free-used and non-used stock photos and videos developed by other people.
Pexels API has a free and pro plan like:
Free Plan
- Price tag: Free tier, i.e., without any price tag.
- Features:
- High-quality stock images and videos.
- 20,000 API requests per month.
- Access to the full library of photos and videos on Pexels for personal and commercial use.
- Usage: Optimum use for smaller applications or projects with limited stock media access.
Pro Plan
- Price: Starting at $9.99 per month.
- Features:
- 200,000 API requests per month.
- Priority support, faster API responses, and exclusive media content.
- More benefits such as higher request limits to premium photos and videos.
Usage: Businesses need high-volume stock media access.
This API is used by photo-sharing services and other services that create content to give users some creative images when they want.
Currency Conversion Services API
When it comes to applications related to traveling or finances, currency conversion is something that stands out.
The Currency Exchange API is capable of providing the latest conversion rates for more than 170 currencies so that the conversion the user receives is correct.
Here are the free and pro plans for Currency Conversion Services API:
Free Plan
- Cost: Free from any monthly charges.
- Features:
- Restricted exchange rates for a small range of currencies.
- Up to 1,000 requests a month.
- Basic real-time foreign exchange rates and historical data.
- Use: Good for scale-down applications or testing purposes.
Pro Plan
- Cost: Starts at $10/month.
- Features:
- 100000 requests per month.
- other currencies and rate data more frequently.
- Real-time exchange rates, historical data, and currency conversion API.
- Additional features such as batch conversion and premium support.
- Usage: Use in buildings applications or businesses needing data processing larger than that geographically.
This API can be incorporated into, for example, travel booking systems to make the service user look at the prices in the local currency, for better understanding and improved user experience.
GitHub API
For example, apps that can use GitHub API to get information from a repository, present project numbers, or control tickets.
Such applications are especially suited for teamwork, project source code, and cover innovative programmers’ galleries.
Below are GitHub API Free and Pro Plans:
Free Plan
- Cost: Free, with no monthly charges
- Features:
- Public Data and Unlimited Public Repositories
- 5,000 requests per hour
- Basic ability to read issues, pull requests, commits, and more.
- Usage: Good for small projects or for a single person who uses the API infrequently and requires few requests
Pro Plan
- Cost: Starts at $4/mo
- Features:
- Increased requests for APIs, up to 15,000 per hour.
- Private repositories with advanced features: More advanced features of GitHub Actions and GitHub Pages
- Security assets with premium support
- Usage: Professional user or company for more complex API features and usage limits.
Features context enhancement of such APIs due to which the functionality of the resources and the level of interaction with the audience provided by the resources increases.
Unsplash API
You may think that to make your work visually appealing, you have to rely on stock images as a last measure.
It is the Unsplash API that offers an extensive quality, royalty-free image database for personal and commercial use.
Here are the details of Unsplash API Plans for free and pro:
Free Plan
- Price: Free and without any monthly cost.
- Features:
- 50,000 monthly requests.
- High-resolution images for free.
- Basic search, retrieve a photo.
- Great for small apps, websites, or for testing.
- Usage: Use in individual projects or a small number of applications.
Pro Plan
- Price: Starting at $100.
- Features:
- 500,000 requests/month; higher tiers.
- More advanced features, namely curated collections, enhanced search filters, and priority support for access.
- Higher level of customization for integration plus higher limits on API calls.
Usage: Businesses or heavy applications frequently access high-quality images with additional features.
This API is also used by design applications, creative platforms, or even social media to provide users with striking imagery.
Spotify Web API
In entertainment industry applications, music is considered a Value-Added Feature – some extra benefits enhanced by the applications.
Analysis of music tracks, artist information, and curated playlists are facilitated through the use of the Spotify Web API.
Music apps and Social Media have also been able to use the API for their support in making the users remain even more involved in music for the purpose recommended to the users by the API.
The free and pro plans of the Spotify Web API are listed below:
Free Plan
- Price: Free of any monthly charges.
- Facilities:
- Authorization to gain entry into Spotify’s music collection, playlists, albums, and artists.
- It supports 100,000 maximum request hits on an hourly basis.
- Allow music to be integrated within applications with really limited functions.
- The functionality like search, retrieval of tracks, and music playlist creation.
- Usage: It’s best suited to testing, prototyping, or usage in small applications.
Pro Plan
- Price: 9.99 dollars monthly (for the Spotify Premium users).
- Facilities:
- Same as the free plan for API access but allows for playback of music using the Spotify. Premium service for integrating into apps.
- More advanced API access for bigger projects.
- Playback control, user library, and other advanced features.
- Usage: This way, it would be best for those who want to work with complete music applications or services that require a more advanced level of playback control and also much higher API limits in their use.
Overall, everyone is welcome to use the Spotify Web API, and all premium features are considered to be provided mainly through the integration with Spotify Premium accounts.
Fixer.io API
The Fixer.io API is easy to implement and free- and offers real-time currency conversion as well as historical foreign exchange data for use in designated applications.
This is mainly applicable to finance, e-commerce businesses, and travel applications.
With the use of Fixer.io, the application can allow the end users to see how the different currencies are performing in the world so that better decisions can be made especially if they are aiming at making an investment or placing a purchase order.
Here are the free and pro plans available for the Fixer.io API:
Free Plan
- Price: Free, no monthly payments
- Features:
- 1,000 requests in a month
- Exchange rates of 170+ currencies.
- It delivers a daily updated rate of exchange for live quotes.
- Usage: Just to use when a personal project or a small-scale project requires a few currency conversions
Pro Plan
- Price: From €10/month
- Features:
- 100,000 requests in a month with a higher tier available.
- Access to more advanced features like historical data, conversion endpoints, and more frequent updates.
- Support for higher request limits and premium customer support.
Usage: Businesses and applications that require higher usage, more advanced features, and much more robust data.
Conclusion
In this way, with the appropriate APIs selected and integrated, the development of the application can revolve around its core aspects, while enhanced and dependable functionalities are made available to the users.
You can begin with one or two APIs and then expand as the application expands thus you scale well and operate efficiently.
The same should be done to the software developed using these APIs so that the application will also be loaded with features, which will cause users to want to use the application more and more.
FAQs
What are some popular APIs for mobile app development?
Popular APIs include Firebase, Google Maps, Stripe, Twilio, WeatherAPI, Twitter API, OpenWeather, YouTube API, Spotify API, and Pexels API.
What is the best API for Android development?
Firebase API is one of the best APIs, offering a comprehensive set of tools and services provided by Google for mobile and web app development.
What is needed for API development?
While developing an API endpoint, you’ll need to specify the types of requests it can receive, its responses and errors.
How can I become an API developer?
Entry-level API Developers should concentrate on mastering the basics of RESTful API principles, HTTP/HTTPS protocols, and data exchange formats such as JSON and XML.
What is an API license?
An agreement for a licensor that makes its application programming interface (API) available to developers or other users, drafted with terms favorable to the licensor.
