Art & Design · head-to-head
Art Institute of Chicago vs Lordicon
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.
Lordicon is a library of 46,400+ static and animated (Lottie/JSON-based) icons, embeddable via its player script or fetched directly from its CDN with no key required for free use; paid plans unlock the full catalog and commercial licensing. A live GET against the real asset host, cdn.lordicon.com, returned a genuine 404 for a made-up asset ID while carrying Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *, reconfirming both auth None and cors yes — the marketing homepage itself sends a stricter, non-wildcard CORS header, but that isn't the asset-serving endpoint.
| Art Institute of Chicago | Lordicon | |
|---|---|---|
| Authentication | None | None |
| Pricing | free | freemium |
| Formats | JSON | JSON, SVG |
| CORS | yes | yes |
| HTTPS | Yes | Yes |
Lordicon supports 2 response formats, while Art Institute of Chicago offers fewer — pick Lordicon for more integration flexibility.