Anime · head-to-head
MangaDex vs Studio Ghibli
MangaDex's API was reconfirmed live at api.mangadex.org with a real manga listing, but a direct cross-origin GET and an OPTIONS preflight both came back without an Access-Control-Allow-Origin header, so browser-based CORS calls fail — corrected to no. Authentication was also corrected from a bare API key to MangaDex's real scheme: OAuth 2 personal clients using a password grant tied to a user's account, since MangaDex has no API-key concept — public reads need no auth at all. The API and its manga remain entirely free, funded by the site rather than gated behind the API.
The original ghibliapi.herokuapp.com now returns Heroku's 'No such app' placeholder — Heroku retired free dynos in November 2022 — but the project lives on at the community-maintained ghibliapi.vercel.app mirror, confirmed live with a real films listing and Access-Control-Allow-Origin echoing the request's Origin. It remains a free, keyless, read-only dataset of Ghibli films, people, and locations.
| MangaDex | Studio Ghibli | |
|---|---|---|
| Authentication | OAuth | None |
| Pricing | free | free |
| Formats | JSON | JSON |
| CORS | no | yes |
| HTTPS | Yes | Yes |
Studio Ghibli needs no API key, while MangaDex requires OAuth — pick Studio Ghibli to start without signup.