Art & Design · head-to-head
Art Institute of Chicago vs Icon Horse
The Art Institute of Chicago publishes its full collection of 130,000+ objects as a versioned, keyless REST API (api.artic.edu/api/v1) built on the same data that powers its own website and mobile app, with IIIF-based endpoints for zoomable, high-resolution images. A live GET against a real artwork record returned genuine JSON carrying Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *, reconfirming both auth None and cors yes with no key required.
Icon Horse fetches the favicon for any given domain — trying the site's own icon first and falling back through a chain of alternate sources so a usable image is returned almost every time — with no signup. A live GET against the real host returned a genuine PNG carrying Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *, reconfirming both auth None and cors yes.
| Art Institute of Chicago | Icon Horse | |
|---|---|---|
| Authentication | None | None |
| Pricing | free | free |
| Formats | JSON | PNG |
| CORS | yes | yes |
| HTTPS | Yes | Yes |