Weather Radar APIs in 2025: A Founder's Complete Market Overview
8 days ago
- #migration-guide
- #weather-API
- #developer-tools
- Rain Viewer API transitioning to limited operation in 2025, maintaining website and tiled map service for personal/educational use.
- Rainbow.ai highlighted as closest alternative with ML-powered forecasting, offering past and nowcast tiles, color scheme support, but ML-based nowcast may blur data.
- OpenWeatherMap recommended for developers, offering global coverage with mixed radar/satellite data, reasonable pricing, but lower resolution.
- Meteoblue Weather Maps API praised for Swiss precision, combining weather models with radar data, strong in Europe, but updates every 15 minutes.
- Tomorrow.io API combines radar with satellite data, offers global coverage, extensive forecasts, but corporate pricing.
- Xweather (AerisWeather) provides professional-grade data with Vaisala's expertise, great MapsGL, but slow support and corporate pricing.
- Map tile services like MapTiler, Mapbox, Google Weather API mentioned as alternatives, but may be costly.
- Migration strategies suggested based on needs: Rainbow.ai for direct replacement, OpenWeatherMap for budget projects, Tomorrow.io/Xweather for global coverage.
- Final thoughts reflect on the evolution of weather radar APIs, expressing sadness but optimism for future options.