Photography — entry 014 of 25
Pexels
Pexels' JSON API serves its library of free stock photos and videos for keyword search, curated collections, and per-item lookups, with photo results carrying several pre-generated JPEG sizes ready to use without further processing. A personal key sent via the Authorization header is the only credential required — no OAuth flow — and a live probe of the search endpoint showed a 25,000-request rate-limit window tracked per key rather than per IP. There is no paid tier: under the Pexels License, images and videos are free for personal and commercial use, with attribution appreciated but not required.
GreatAPIs Score
Auth quickstart
- Sign up with the provider to get an API key.
- Send it on every request as a header
Authorization: <key> - The exact header isn't documented — Authorization is a common default; confirm in the provider's docs.
Your key is stored only in this browser (localStorage) and sent directly to the API — never to greatapis.
Developer reference
200 requests/hour and 20,000 requests/month by default; higher limits available on request from Pexels.