NekosBest vs Waifu.im

NekosBest was reconfirmed live at nekos.best/api/v2 with a real image lookup and an explicit Access-Control-Allow-Origin: * header. It needs no API key, is rate-limited to 200 requests/minute per the response headers, and has no paid tier.

Waifu.im serves a curated, moderator-reviewed archive of over 4,000 anime-style illustrations through a REST API, with AND/OR tag filtering across dozens of character and franchise tags (confirmed live via a plain GET against api.waifu.im/tags), NSFW toggling, and artist attribution on every image. Basic browsing needs no authentication; an X-Api-Key or JWT unlocks per-user favorites, albums, and reports.