Anime · head-to-head
MyAnimeList vs Trace Moe
MyAnimeList's official v2 REST API was reconfirmed live at api.myanimelist.net/v2 — an unauthenticated request returned a 403 from the real gateway rather than a network error, and a preflight OPTIONS carried no Access-Control-Allow-Origin header, so cors is corrected to no. It requires a registered OAuth 2 client, the same one the community 'Official MAL API' club (the entry's stored url) walks new developers through, and remains completely free to use.
Trace.moe's real search endpoint at api.trace.moe was reconfirmed live — a deliberately broken image URL returned a proper JSON error rather than a network failure, and a real image search (a Gochuumon wa Usagi Desuka 2 screenshot) returned genuine matching-scene data with Access-Control-Allow-Origin echoing the request's Origin. It's free and keyless up to a 100-search/24-hour quota per IP (confirmed live via GET /me, not the 1,000/month figure some third-party write-ups repeat); Patreon sponsorship raises both the daily quota and concurrency.
| MyAnimeList | Trace Moe | |
|---|---|---|
| Authentication | OAuth | None |
| Pricing | free | freemium |
| Formats | JSON | JSON |
| CORS | no | yes |
| HTTPS | Yes | Yes |
Trace Moe needs no API key, while MyAnimeList requires OAuth — pick Trace Moe to start without signup.