7 Best Free Developer APIs You Can Start Using Today (2026)

2026-03-26

7 Best Free Developer APIs You Can Start Using Today

Building a side project or MVP? You need reliable APIs that work out of the box, don't require a credit card, and have generous free tiers. Here are 7 APIs you can use right now with a single API key.

1. Screenshot Capture API

Turn any URL into a PNG or JPEG image. Perfect for link previews, social media cards, and website monitoring.

`bash curl -X POST https://api.16761.tech/screenshot \ -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY" \ -d '{"url":"https://example.com"}' -o shot.png `

Free tier: 100 captures/day

2. PDF Export API

Convert any webpage to a clean PDF document. Supports A4/Letter format, landscape mode, and background colors.

`bash curl -X POST https://api.16761.tech/pdf \ -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY" \ -d '{"url":"https://example.com"}' -o page.pdf `

Use cases: Invoice generation, report exports, webpage archiving.

3. QR Code Generator API

Generate QR codes as PNG or SVG with custom colors, sizes, and error correction levels.

`bash curl -X POST https://api.16761.tech/qr \ -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY" \ -d '{"text":"https://mysite.com","size":400}' -o qr.png `

Use cases: Event tickets, restaurant menus, product packaging.

4. Metadata Extraction API

Extract Open Graph tags, Twitter cards, favicons, and canonical URLs from any webpage. Essential for building link preview features.

`bash curl -X POST https://api.16761.tech/metadata \ -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY" \ -d '{"url":"https://github.com"}' `

Returns: title, description, og:image, twitter:card, favicon, canonical URL.

5. URL Shortener API

Create short URLs with built-in click tracking. Supports custom short codes.

`bash curl -X POST https://api.16761.tech/shorten \ -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY" \ -d '{"url":"https://example.com/very/long/path"}' `

Returns: https://api.16761.tech/s/AbC123

6. Email Verification API

Validate email addresses before sending. Checks format, MX records, and detects disposable email providers.

`bash curl -X POST https://api.16761.tech/verify-email \ -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY" \ -d '{"email":"test@gmail.com"}' `

Use cases: Form validation, signup fraud prevention, list cleaning.

7. Text Extraction API

Extract clean, readable text from any webpage. Strips out HTML, JavaScript, ads, and navigation.

`bash curl -X POST https://api.16761.tech/text-extract \ -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY" \ -d '{"url":"https://example.com"}' `

Use cases: Content aggregation, AI training data, accessibility tools.

Getting Started

All 7 APIs are available with a single API key. The free tier gives you 100 requests/day across all endpoints — no credit card required.

1. Sign up for free (takes 10 seconds) 2. Copy your API key 3. Start making requests

Need more? Pro plans start at $9/mo for 5,000 requests/day.

Full documentation →