Weather · head-to-head
Hong Kong Observatory vs Open-Meteo
The Hong Kong Observatory's Open Data API exposes roughly 50 machine-readable datasets covering real-time weather observations, 9-day forecasts, lightning counts, tropical cyclone tracking, tidal predictions, UV index and radiation levels, plus historical rainfall and sunshine records, for Hong Kong and nearby waters. It is a free, keyless service built for machine-to-machine consumption, mirrored on the government's data.gov.hk portal alongside the Observatory's own documented endpoint.
Open-Meteo is an open-source weather API that blends forecast and historical data from national weather services like NOAA, DWD, and Meteo-France, automatically selecting the highest-resolution model available for a given location. It requires no API key for non-commercial use and covers specialized domains including marine conditions, air quality, flood risk, and long-range climate projections.
| Hong Kong Observatory | Open-Meteo | |
|---|---|---|
| Authentication | None | None |
| Pricing | free | freemium |
| Formats | JSON, XML, CSV | JSON, CSV, XLSX, FlatBuffers |
| CORS | yes | yes |
| HTTPS | Yes | Yes |
Open-Meteo supports 4 response formats, while Hong Kong Observatory offers fewer — pick Open-Meteo for more integration flexibility.