無程式碼也能輕鬆打造專業LINE官方帳號！一鍵導入模板，讓AI助你行銷加分！
public-apis: The 461k-Star Free API List That Became GitHub’s 4th Most-Starred Repo
Some GitHub repositories are code. Some are documentation. And some — like public-apis/public-apis — are something stranger: a markdown file that out-starred Linux.
461,000+ stars. 50.9k forks. 5,108 commits. The 4th most-starred repository on all of GitHub — ahead of React, TensorFlow, and the Linux kernel combined. And its entire core product is a list of free APIs, organized in tables.
This is the story of that list: how it was born, how it nearly died, how four volunteers resurrected it into a phenomenon — and why you should still be careful using it in 2026.
The list: 1,400+ free APIs in 51 categories
Created on March 20, 2016, the repository catalogs over 1,400 free public APIs across 51 categories — Animals, Anime, Business, Cryptocurrency, Finance, Food & Drink, Games, Music, Science, Sports, Weather, and more.
Each entry is a table row answering the three integration questions developers actually care about:
| Column | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Name | Linked to the API docs |
| Description | Under 100 characters |
| Auth | OAuth / apiKey / X-Mashape-Key / User-Agent / No |
| HTTPS | Yes / No — secure transport support |
| CORS | Yes / No / Unknown — critical for browser apps |
Plus a “Call this API” link to ready-made Postman collections. CORS is the quiet killer: an entry marked No will fail from a browser frontend no matter what you do — you’ll need a backend proxy.
Famous entries: JSONPlaceholder (fake REST API for CRUD practice), ReqRes (simulated auth), OpenWeatherMap (weather), CoinGecko (10,000+ crypto coins), Alpha Vantage (stocks), NASA (space imagery), SpaceX (launch feeds), GitHub API, Discord, YouTube.
The resurrection: how it hit 4th place on GitHub
By early 2021, the repo was dead: 300+ unmerged pull requests, dozens of abandoned issues. Then four community developers — matheusfelipeog, pawelborkar, marekdano, yannbertrand — stepped in as co-maintainers and cleared the backlog in two months, adding automated tests and reviving growth. Over the next year they merged 1,000+ pull requests.
The revival worked spectacularly: by April 2026 the list hit 424k stars (4th on GitHub), and today it sits at 461k+ stars with 50.9k forks — more stars than React, TensorFlow, and Linux combined.
The controversy: APILayer, issue #3104, and the zombie problem
The fairy tale has a dark chapter. The public-apis organization and repo belong to APILayer, an API marketplace owned by Idera Corp.
In March 2022, maintainer matheusfelipeog opened issue #3104 — a public reckoning that documented:
- Maintainers denied basic repo privileges despite reviving the project
- Months of ignored communication with APILayer’s management
- Unauthorized corporate commits (an automated
apilayer-adminaccount) that broke the project’s test suite - Demotion of all community maintainers after reverting APILayer’s forced logo changes — plus deletion of the maintainers list
- Forced commercial placement: APILayer broke the alphabetical rules to pin its own paid APIs (IPstack, Mailboxlayer) at the top of the list
The issue was closed as “completed” in July without resolution. Community members reported criticism being censored and communication shut down. Maintainer yannbertrand warned users that links could no longer be verified as safe.
Then came the “zombie API” problem: in late March 2026, APILayer’s own gateway (api.apilayer.com) began returning Cloudflare Error 521 (server down), taking many listed APIs offline. Hundreds of entries are stale, dead, or misleading — the list is a museum as much as a directory.
How to actually use public APIs safely (2026 checklist)
- Read the docs first — spend 10 minutes verifying endpoints and parameters before writing code. The description column is 100 characters; it can’t tell you the API is a 7-day trial that expires.
- Check CORS — browser app?
Nomeans you need a backend proxy. - Prefer HTTPS — obvious, but the list still contains
Noentries. - Never expose API keys client-side — anyone can scrape your frontend and drain your quota. Store keys in server environment variables and proxy requests through your backend.
- Implement exponential backoff — HTTP 429 (Too Many Requests) is the free-tier tax; retry with sleep, don’t hammer.
- Cache responses — Redis for backends, local storage for clients. Free tiers are tiny; caching is how you stay under them.
- Beware the “free” trap — credit-card registration, 5 requests/day limits, and abandoned projects are common.
Better alternatives in 2026
| Resource | Why it’s better |
|---|---|
| free-for.dev | Actively curated SaaS/PaaS free tiers, community-maintained |
| RapidAPI Hub | Test APIs in-browser, filter by free tier |
| apilist.fun | Clean, modern curated UI |
| DevResources | devresourc.es — polished developer resource directory |
Conclusion
public-apis is a phenomenon: a markdown file that out-starred Linux, resurrected by four volunteers, and now a cautionary tale about open-source governance — a corporate-owned “community” project with forced ads, demoted maintainers, and zombie entries.
For developers in 2026, it’s still the best starting point for discovering what free APIs exist — but treat it as a discovery layer, not a contract. Verify everything, protect your keys, cache aggressively — and cross-check against free-for.dev and RapidAPI for anything you’ll build on.
The list is free. The caution is mandatory. 🌟