Anime · head-to-head
AniList vs Jikan
AniList's public GraphQL endpoint at graphql.anilist.co answers anime, manga, and character queries with no authentication at all — confirmed live with an unauthenticated POST that returned a normal GraphQL error payload alongside a wide-open Access-Control-Allow-Origin: * header. OAuth only comes into play for account-scoped actions like updating a user's list; browsing the catalog is free and unmetered beyond a per-minute rate limit.
Jikan is a free, keyless wrapper around MyAnimeList's public web data, confirmed live at api.jikan.moe/v4 with a real anime lookup and a wide-open Access-Control-Allow-Origin: * header. It has no official affiliation with MAL and can lag behind it after a MAL outage, but it remains the most widely used way to query MAL data without OAuth.
| AniList | Jikan | |
|---|---|---|
| Authentication | OAuth | None |
| Pricing | free | free |
| Formats | JSON | JSON |
| CORS | yes | yes |
| HTTPS | Yes | Yes |
Jikan needs no API key, while AniList requires OAuth — pick Jikan to start without signup.