Pexels vs PlaceKeanu

Pexels' JSON API serves its library of free stock photos and videos for keyword search, curated collections, and per-item lookups, with photo results carrying several pre-generated JPEG sizes ready to use without further processing. A personal key sent via the Authorization header is the only credential required — no OAuth flow — and a live probe of the search endpoint showed a 25,000-request rate-limit window tracked per key rather than per IP. There is no paid tier: under the Pexels License, images and videos are free for personal and commercial use, with attribution appreciated but not required.

PlaceKeanu generates novelty placeholder images of Keanu Reeves sized entirely from the request path (/[width]/[height]/[options]), with no signup or API key needed. Each photo is served as an inline base64-encoded SVG and cached client-side for a day, so repeat requests at the same dimensions return the same image rather than a fresh random one. Optional y and g path suffixes request a younger-Keanu or grayscale variant.