Anime · head-to-head
Jikan vs Kitsu
Jikan is a free, keyless wrapper around MyAnimeList's public web data, confirmed live at api.jikan.moe/v4 with a real anime lookup and a wide-open Access-Control-Allow-Origin: * header. It has no official affiliation with MAL and can lag behind it after a MAL outage, but it remains the most widely used way to query MAL data without OAuth.
Kitsu's JSON:API-flavored REST endpoint at kitsu.io/api/edge was confirmed live with an unauthenticated anime listing and an explicit Access-Control-Allow-Origin: * header. Reading the catalog needs no account at all; OAuth is only required for actions tied to a user's own library, and the API itself carries no paid tier.
| Jikan | Kitsu | |
|---|---|---|
| Authentication | None | OAuth |
| Pricing | free | free |
| Formats | JSON | JSON |
| CORS | yes | yes |
| HTTPS | Yes | Yes |
Jikan needs no API key, while Kitsu requires OAuth — pick Jikan to start without signup.