The Guardian Open Platform (Content API)
- Free allowance
- Developer key, free: up to 500 calls a day and 1 call a second, with article text, over 1,900,000 pieces of content.
- Verdict
- caveatusable, with a named limit or an unprobed read path
- Cost
- free tier
- Identity
- emailno card, no phone
- Binding limit
- request-rate500 calls a day per developer key; 1 call a second per developer key (60 calls a minute)
- Evidence
- documented40 sources; a first-party page was read and the sentence quoted
- Freshness
- stale on 2026-12-04checked 2026-11-03 (live); stale on 2026-12-04
| Free tier | Developer key, free: up to 500 calls a day and 1 call a second, with article text, over 1,900,000 pieces of content. unit requests; metered on request-count; The 500 a day is per API key and expires at the close of each day. One key is issued for each website that uses the content. The archive dates back to 1999. A commercial key has a custom throttle and quota, priced by usage. The access page listed 12 calls a second and 5,000 calls a day before a later change to 1 and 500. |
|---|---|
| Price | none stated |
| Limits |
A developer key with no use for 90 days is deleted. |
| Binding | request-rate 500 calls a day is met first; the 24-hour hold limit governs any local copy. |
| Identity | email The developer-key form asks for a name, an email entered twice, an educational institution or company name, a reason (student project, academic research, non-commercial app development, other), a short description of use, whether content will be displayed, a product name, optional product and company URLs, and acceptance of the terms; a Google reCAPTCHA is shown when Register is pressed, and the key is sent to the email. The institution or company name is a required free-text field of at most 200 characters with no list or pattern. No card or phone field. The Open Platform front page offers the developer key as free instant access, the key tool's repository describes self-serve key management, and the commercial key is a request that the team follows up. Posts on the vendor's support forum describe an email with a verification link sent after the form, a link that can be invalid or expired, a refusal to register again with an address already in use, and a key registered to a free-mail address; a course page describes a confirmation email followed by a second email with the key. Whether the institution or company name is checked after the form is sent is unverified: behind a sign-up. How soon the key email arrives is unverified: behind a sign-up. |
| Egress | not applicable |
| Per-object cap | page-size 1 to 50 items a call |
| Retention | content held must be replaced by re-requesting it, or deleted, at least every 24 hours |
| Interface | rest REST over HTTPS at content.guardianapis.com (/search, /tags, /sections, /editions and single items); the key goes in the api-key parameter endpoint: https://content.guardianapis.com/search |
| Tooling | any HTTP client |
| Composes with | Full article text in the answer, within 500 calls a day; any held copy is refreshed or dropped within 24 hours. |
| Reliability | Keys can be cancelled or suspended at any time without notice. A call with the demo key test answered HTTP 401 on 2026-10-31. |
| Notes | Bulk path: none; the Content API is the only route, paged through /search and /next. |
| Evidence note | documented Quota, rate, hold limit and form fields are read from first-party pages, and staff replies on the vendor's support forum give the daily and per-minute limits of a developer key; a keyless call answered HTTP 401 'No API key found in request' and the demo key test answered HTTP 401 'Unauthorized', so no call returned content and the enforced rate is unmeasured. Key issuance rests on the form and on user posts, not on a completed registration. A call with an issued key, reading its rate-limit response headers, would move the limits to measured. |
| Parsed numbers |
|
Evidence 40
| date | source | what it proved |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-31 | open-platform.theguardian.com/access/ | the developer key allows up to 1 call a second |
| 2026-10-31 | open-platform.theguardian.com/access/ | the developer key allows up to 500 calls a day |
| 2026-10-31 | open-platform.theguardian.com/access/ | the developer key reaches article text and over 1,900,000 pieces of content |
| 2026-10-31 | open-platform.theguardian.com/access/ | not published |
| 2026-10-31 | open-platform.theguardian.com/access/ | the developer key includes article text |
| 2026-10-31 | open-platform.theguardian.com/access/ | the commercial key has a custom throttle and is priced by usage |
| 2026-10-31 | open-platform.theguardian.com/ | the archive dates back to 1999 |
| 2026-10-31 | www.theguardian.com/open-platform/terms-and-conditions | the 500 a day is counted per API key |
| 2026-10-31 | www.theguardian.com/open-platform/terms-and-conditions | the daily allowance expires at the close of each day |
| 2026-10-31 | www.theguardian.com/open-platform/terms-and-conditions | the text of Limits, above |
| 2026-10-31 | www.theguardian.com/open-platform/terms-and-conditions | one key is issued for each website |
| 2026-10-31 | www.theguardian.com/open-platform/terms-and-conditions | part of the text of Reliability, above |
| 2026-10-31 | bonobo.capi.gutools.co.uk/register/developer | the key is sent to the email given on the form |
| 2026-10-31 | bonobo.capi.gutools.co.uk/register/developer | the form asks for an educational institution or company name |
| 2026-10-31 | bonobo.capi.gutools.co.uk/register/developer | the form asks for a reason chosen from a list |
| 2026-10-31 | bonobo.capi.gutools.co.uk/register/developer | the form asks whether Guardian content will be displayed |
| 2026-10-31 | open-platform.theguardian.com/documentation/search | page-size runs 1 to 50 items |
| 2026-10-31 | open-platform.theguardian.com/documentation/search | deep paging goes through the content /next endpoint |
| 2026-10-31 | probe: https://content.guardianapis.com/search?q=news | a keyless search answers HTTP 401 |
| 2026-10-31 | probe: https://content.guardianapis.com/search | the keyless answer says no key was found |
| 2026-10-31 | probe: https://content.guardianapis.com/search?q=news&page-size=1&api-key=test | a call with the demo key test answers HTTP 401 |
| 2026-10-31 | probe: https://content.guardianapis.com/search?api-key=test | the test key answer is Unauthorized |
| 2026-11-02 | bonobo.capi.gutools.co.uk/register/developer | the institution or company name is a required free-text input of at most 200 characters, with no list or pattern |
| 2026-11-02 | bonobo.capi.gutools.co.uk/assets/javascripts/handleRecaptcha | the Register button reveals a Google reCAPTCHA row on the developer-key form |
| 2026-11-02 | www.theguardian.com/open-platform/open-platform | the Open Platform front page offers the developer key as free instant access |
| 2026-11-02 | www.theguardian.com/open-platform/open-platform | the commercial key is a request that the Guardian team follows up, unlike the developer key |
| 2026-11-02 | web.archive.org/web/20220622000628/https://github.com/guardi | the key tool's own repository, as archived on 2022-06-22, describes self-serve key management behind the registration form |
| 2026-11-02 | groups.google.com/g/guardian-api-talk/c/QF1BY5zlntM | a forum user reports, on 2026-08-11, an email asking to verify the address after registering for a developer key |
| 2026-11-02 | groups.google.com/g/guardian-api-talk/c/QF1BY5zlntM | a forum user reports that registering again with an address that already registered is refused as already in use |
| 2026-11-02 | groups.google.com/g/guardian-api-talk/c/l5hap0JHMf0 | a forum user reports a verification link that answered that it was invalid or had expired |
| 2026-11-02 | uclspp.github.io/PUBL0099/seminars/seminar5.html | a university course page says a confirmation email comes first and a second email carries the API key |
| 2026-11-02 | groups.google.com/g/guardian-api-talk/c/Jjv6mFOCRSI | a forum user holds a Guardian Open Platform API key registered to a Gmail address, so a free-mail address is accepted |
| 2026-11-02 | github.com/sonicaghi/bonobo/blob/master/app/controllers/Deve | in a November 2015 third-party copy of the key tool's source, the developer form only requires the company name to be non-empty text |
| 2026-11-02 | groups.google.com/g/guardian-api-talk/c/GKOH4GQ3W0U | a Guardian staff reply of 2025-06-30 gives 60 requests per minute for a developer key whose daily limit was raised |
| 2026-11-02 | groups.google.com/g/guardian-api-talk/c/tp0VfMcamcY | a Guardian staff reply of 2023-01-31 says the response headers of a developer key carry its total and remaining limits per day and per minute |
| 2026-11-02 | github.com/guardian/open-platform-site/commit/7e8ced93770ad1 | a commit to the access page source replaced the lines of 12 calls per second and 5,000 calls per day with 1 call per second and 500 calls per day |
| 2026-11-02 | groups.google.com/g/guardian-api-talk/c/ycQQjQkYG1A | a Guardian staff reply of 2024-09-17 says a key with no use within 90 days is deleted |
| 2026-11-02 | probe: https://content.guardianapis.com/search?q=news&page-size=1&api-key=test | the demo key test still answered HTTP 401 on 2026-11-02, so no call with a key returned content |
| 2026-11-02 | groups.google.com/g/guardian-api-talk/c/0wQo0zETrgI | a Guardian staff reply of 2026-06-12 gives 500 a day as the standard daily limit of a developer key |
| 2026-11-02 | open-platform.theguardian.com/access/ | the access page still lists 500 calls a day for the developer key |
Unknown values 1
- egress terms: the field does not apply to this kind of offer