CodeCogs vs Newton

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.

Newton is a keyless calculator API deployed as a Vercel serverless function: the operation (simplify, factor, derive, integrate, and more) and expression are both encoded directly in the URL path, and it answers with a small JSON object containing the result. It's a solo open-source project (aunyks/newton-api) rather than a commercial service, so there's no pricing tier or rate limit to opt into.