Dictionaries · head-to-head
Chinese Character Web vs Free Dictionary
The Chinese Character Web API (CCDB) is a free, read-only JSON API built on the Unicode Consortium's Unihan Database, covering Mandarin and Cantonese readings, Japanese on'yomi/kun'yomi, radicals, stroke counts, definitions, and simplified/traditional variant mappings for CJK Unified Ideographs, filterable by character-set encodings like GB2312, Big5, and Shift JIS. A live GET against /version returned a real 200 JSON body and Access-Control-Allow-Origin: * on the same Apache-served host.
Free Dictionary API is a keyless REST service built and maintained by a solo developer, returning English word definitions, phonetic spellings, audio pronunciation clips, parts of speech, usage examples, and synonyms/antonyms as plain JSON from a single GET request. It now serves more than 10 million requests a month and is funded entirely through voluntary donations rather than any paid tier.
| Chinese Character Web | Free Dictionary | |
|---|---|---|
| Authentication | None | None |
| Pricing | free | free |
| Formats | JSON | JSON |
| CORS | yes | yes |
| HTTPS | No | Yes |
Free Dictionary is served over HTTPS, while Chinese Character Web isn't — pick Free Dictionary for a secure connection.