News · head-to-head
Currents vs The Guardian
Currents API returns real-time and historical global news as JSON, with search filterable by language, keyword, country, category, and date range. A free account includes 1,000 requests/day — enough for prototyping — before paid plans raise the ceiling for production traffic. Authentication is a single API key passed on every request.
The Guardian's Open Platform serves the publication's own articles, tags, and section metadata across more than 1.9 million pieces of content, with a free Developer key limited to 1 call/second and 500 calls/day for non-commercial projects. A separate Commercial key removes those caps for a usage-based fee and adds images, audio, and video. Requests are authenticated with an API key and return JSON by default, with an XML format option available.
| Currents | The Guardian | |
|---|---|---|
| Authentication | API Key | API Key |
| Pricing | freemium | freemium |
| Formats | JSON | JSON, XML |
| CORS | yes | yes |
| HTTPS | Yes | Yes |
The Guardian supports 2 response formats, while Currents offers fewer — pick The Guardian for more integration flexibility.