Datamuse vs Shields

Datamuse is a free word-finding query engine for autocomplete, rhyme, and meaning-based lookups; a live unauthenticated GET against `api.datamuse.com/words` returned a 200 JSON array with `Access-Control-Allow-Origin` echoing the request Origin plus `Access-Control-Allow-Credentials: true`, resolving cors "unknown" to "yes". Its own homepage now states that starting January 1, 2027 an API key will be required on every request (capped at 100,000/day per key) after more than a decade of fully free access — as of this check the API still works with no key at all.

Shields.io serves status badges as SVG by default from `img.shields.io`, with `.png` requests 301-redirected to a raster-conversion host and a `.json` suffix returning the same badge's label/value/color as plain JSON — all three confirmed live. A live unauthenticated GET returned `Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *` on every format, resolving cors "unknown" to "yes". Free, open-source, and keyless, funded by sponsorships rather than a paid tier.