Science & Math · head-to-head
arcsecond.io vs CodeCogs
Arcsecond.io is the cloud API behind Arcsecond.local, a multi-user platform observatories run to manage telescopes, night logs, and data packages, but it still exposes the project's original public astronomy-lookup endpoints for object coordinates and exoplanets. Those endpoints are keyless and return live-synced records — /exoplanets/ pulls current rows from the NASA Exoplanet Archive. Paid tiers apply only to running a private observatory instance; the public data-lookup endpoints stay free.
CodeCogs runs a keyless image-rendering service that turns a LaTeX markup string embedded in the URL path into a rendered equation, historically used to drop math into forums, wikis, and emails via a plain <img> tag. It supports PNG, SVG, GIF, PDF, and EMF output, plus a JSON mode that returns the render as base64 alongside a hosted file URL.
| arcsecond.io | CodeCogs | |
|---|---|---|
| Authentication | None | None |
| Pricing | freemium | free |
| Formats | JSON | PNG, SVG, GIF, PDF, EMF, JSON |
| CORS | yes | yes |
| HTTPS | Yes | Yes |
CodeCogs supports 6 response formats, while arcsecond.io offers fewer — pick CodeCogs for more integration flexibility.