CodeCogs vs inspirehep.net

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.

INSPIRE-HEP is the high-energy physics community's literature database, covering papers, authors, institutions, and citation graphs going back decades. Its REST API returns JSON records for literature, author, and conference searches and is fully keyless, with no registration or rate-limit tier to opt into.