Weather · head-to-head
openSenseMap vs RainViewer
openSenseMap is the open, non-profit citizen-science platform behind the University of Munster's senseBox project, serving live and historical readings from thousands of crowdsourced environmental sensor stations worldwide, covering not just temperature/humidity but also particulate matter, noise and other phenomena. Reading data is fully open and keyless (accounts are only needed to register or post data from your own senseBox), and the full historical archive is separately mirrored on an archive subdomain.
RainViewer aggregates and re-tiles third-party radar imagery from over 1,200 radar stations across 150+ countries, refreshed every 5 minutes, and exposes it as XYZ PNG tile pyramids plus a JSON timeline endpoint listing available past and short-term nowcast frames. Coverage isn't guaranteed to be permanent since individual source radar owners can request their feed be pulled, and the service is explicitly licensed for personal, educational, and small-scale community projects only.
| openSenseMap | RainViewer | |
|---|---|---|
| Authentication | None | None |
| Pricing | free | free |
| Formats | JSON, GeoJSON, CSV | JSON, PNG |
| CORS | yes | yes |
| HTTPS | Yes | Yes |
openSenseMap supports 3 response formats, while RainViewer offers fewer — pick openSenseMap for more integration flexibility.