Dictionaries · head-to-head

Oxford vs Words

Oxford

Oxford Dictionaries API (Oxford Languages) exposes definitions, translations, and lexical metadata sourced from Oxford University Press's own databases across dozens of languages, authenticated with an app ID/key pair from its developer portal. New accounts start on a free Sandbox tier that emulates the live API for evaluation before moving to paid production plans, with custom Enterprise licensing available from an annual per-language fee.

Words

WordsAPI is a RapidAPI-hosted REST dictionary/thesaurus returning JSON definitions, synonyms, antonyms, rhymes, pronunciations, and word-frequency data across more than 150,000 English words — its own docs still show code samples calling the deprecated `wordsapiv1.p.mashape.com` host with an `X-Mashape-Key` header, but that legacy domain now refuses every request and a current RapidAPI key against the live `.p.rapidapi.com` proxy is required instead. A live unauthenticated request against that real proxy host returned a reflected `access-control-allow-origin` header plus `access-control-allow-credentials: true`, confirming CORS; its free tier covers 2,500 requests/day before paid plans starting at $10/month raise the ceiling to 25,000+/day.

OxfordWords
AuthenticationAPI KeyAPI Key
Pricingfreemiumfreemium
FormatsJSONJSON
CORSnoyes
HTTPSYesYes

Words supports CORS, while Oxford doesn't — pick Words for direct browser calls.

More comparisons