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11 Powerful APIs for Your Next Project 🤯

AI Summary11 min read

TL;DR

Discover 11 practical APIs for web scraping, threat detection, real-time data, and more to accelerate your projects. These tools offer easy integration and powerful features for developers.

Key Takeaways

  • •IPStack API provides real-time IP geolocation and threat detection for enhanced security and user personalization.
  • •Fixer API delivers up-to-date foreign exchange rates and historical data for financial applications.
  • •Numverify API validates phone numbers globally, aiding in fraud prevention and user verification.
  • •Marketstack API offers extensive stock market data for building trading dashboards and analytics tools.
  • •Aviationstack API enables real-time flight tracking and historical data for travel and logistics apps.

Tags

apiwebdevjavascriptbeginners

Nobody wants to build things from scratch. That’s why APIs exist.

So I took the time to find 11 underrated, practical APIs you can plug into your projects and start building right away.

You will be able to scrape web pages, access threat levels of websites, get real time foreign exchange rates, stock data, track global flights, check violent images, fetch Google search results and much more.

Let's jump in.

1. IPStack API - real-time IP geolocation and accessing threat level

ipstack

This is one of the most valuable ones on the list. IPstack provides a powerful, real-time IP to geolocation API capable of looking up accurate location data and assessing security threats whether they are from risky IP addresses (which need to be dealt with).

Features:

  • Lookup country, region, city, timezone, currency, connection info
  • Bulk lookup (up to 50 IPs) via comma-separated calls
  • Enable hostname resolution & security checks (proxy/Tor/threat detection)
  • Return JSON or XML. Support for JSONP callbacks & multiple languages

You can integrate IPstack by just appending the access_key parameter to the API's base URL:

curl 'https://api.ipstack.com/134.201.250.155?access_key=YOUR_ACCESS_KEY'
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Below is an example of what the IPstack API would return when you ask it about the IP address 134.201.250.155.

{
  "ip": "134.201.250.155",
  "hostname": "134.201.250.155",
  "type": "ipv4",
  "country_code": "US",
  "country_name": "United States",
  "region_code": "CA",
  "region_name": "California",
  "city": "Los Angeles",
  "latitude": 34.0655,
  "longitude": -118.2405,
  "location": {
    "geoname_id": 5368361,
    "capital": "Washington D.C.",
    "languages": [
        {
          "code": "en",
          "name": "English",
          "native": "English"
        }
    ],
    "country_flag": "https://assets.ipstack.com/images/assets/flags_svg/us.svg",
    "country_flag_emoji": "🇺🇸",
    "country_flag_emoji_unicode": "U+1F1FA U+1F1F8",
    "calling_code": "1",
    "is_eu": false
  },
  "time_zone": {
    "id": "America/Los_Angeles",
    "current_time": "2024-06-14T01:45:35-07:00",
    "gmt_offset": -25200,
    "code": "PDT",
    "is_daylight_saving": true
  },
  "currency": {
    "code": "USD",
    "name": "US Dollar",
    "plural": "US dollars",
    "symbol": "$",
    "symbol_native": "$"
  },
  "connection": {
    "asn": 25876,
    "isp": "Los Angeles Department of Water & Power",
    "sld": "ladwp",
    "tld": "com",
    "carrier": "los angeles department of water & power",
  },
  "security": {
    "is_proxy": false,
    "threat_level": "low",
  }
}
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✅ Use case: You can personalize user experiences (UX) for the end-user by displaying location-specific content, implementing geo-blocking for security or providing localized language options based on the location.

There is also the official demo that shows how to fork their collection workspace on Postman.

Read the official docs to get details on API features, available options and integration guides in different programming languages. You will also find three different endpoints.

On top of this, you can use Blocklist API which is a curated list of known malicious hosts, which includes the union of multiple well known sources including full bogons, SANS dshield and more.

Check it out 🔥

2. Fixer - real time & historical foreign exchange rates.

fixer

It's a simple and lightweight API for real-time exchange rate data for 170 world currencies which is updated every 60 seconds and with historical data available back to 1st January 1999.

Features:

  • Latest exchange rates and historical rates (EOD)
  • Currency conversion endpoint
  • Time-series data (up to 365 days) & fluctuation data
  • Supports changing base currency and selecting specific symbols
  • Bank-level security (256-bit SSL), CORS, JSONP & ETag cache support

✅ Use case: This can be used for financial dashboards or analytics tools needing up-to-the-minute exchange rates with historical comparisons.

You can make a sample request like this.

curl "https://data.fixer.io/api/latest?access_key=YOUR_API_KEY&symbols=USD,CAD,JPY"
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Here's a sample response for the latest EUR rates in USD, CAD, and JPY.

{
  "success": true,
  "timestamp": 1751232000,
  "base": "EUR",
  "date": "2025-06-30",
  "rates": {
    "USD": 1.23396,
    "CAD": 1.560132,
    "JPY": 132.360679
    …
  }
}
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To get started, you can also fork the collection workspace on Postman and read official docs to check all the vast endpoints available.

fixer api postman collection

Check it out 🔥

3. Numverify - validate phone numbers for 232 countries worldwide

number verification

This API offers a full-featured RESTful JSON API for national and international phone number validation and information lookup for 232 countries around the world. 

The numbers are processed in real-time and cross-checked with the latest international numbering plan databases.

Features:

  • Validate number, country code, format, and carrier
  • Supports E.164, international and national formats
  • Detect line type (mobile/landline) and include location info

✅ Use case: You can verify phone numbers at the point of entry during user registration, protect against fraud by validating carrier information, and optimize SMS delivery by identifying line types.

You can make the request by adding the phone number in the query parameter like this.

curl --request GET 'https://api.apilayer.com/number_verification/validate?number=14158586273' \
--header 'apikey: YOUR API KEY'
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Here is the example response.

{
  "valid": true,
  "number": "14158586273",
  "local_format": "4158586273",
  "international_format": "+14158586273",
  "country_prefix": "+1",
  "country_code": "US",
  "country_name": "United States of America",
  "location": "Novato",
  "carrier": "AT&T Mobility LLC",
  "line_type": "mobile"
}
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To get started, you can fork the collection workspace on Postman & read the official docs to know more about authentication and endpoints.

Check it out 🔥

4. Marketstack API - real‑time and historical stock market data API.

marketstack

This RESTful JSON API provides real-time, intraday and historical stock market data from 30,000+ tickers across 70+ global exchanges, with over 30 years of history.

It's very easy to integrate and you can find all the stock tickers with the EOD endpoint collected from more global exchanges, including Nasdaq, NYSE and more.

Features:

  • Real‑time stock quotes and intraday prices (such as 1 min, 5 min) for US tickers
  • End‑of‑day (EOD) historical data for 30+ years and 500K+ total tickers
  • Coverage of global exchanges, indices, currencies, bonds, ETFs
  • Supports splits, dividends, company data, timezones
  • Secure (256‑bit HTTPS) and easy authentication

✅ Use case: You can make power trading dashboards, portfolio trackers or investment tools with live charts and historic trends, all using straightforward REST calls.

global exchanges

You can integrate this API by just appending the access_key parameter to the base URL:

The symbols=AAPL fetches data for Apple here, while symbols=AAPL,MSFT,GOOG would retrieve data for Apple, Microsoft and Alphabet (Google) in a single request.

curl "https://api.marketstack.com/v2/eod?access_key=YOUR_ACCESS_KEY&symbols=AAPL"
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Here's the sample response.

{
    "pagination": {
        "limit": 100,
        "offset": 0,
        "count": 100,
        "total": 9944
    },
    "data": [
        {
            "open": 129.8,
            "high": 133.04,
            "low": 129.47,
            "close": 132.995,
            "volume": 106686703.0,
            "adj_high": 133.04,
            "adj_low": 129.47,
            "adj_close": 132.995,
            "adj_open": 129.8,
            "adj_volume": 106686703.0,
            "split_factor": 1.0,
            "dividend": 0.0,
            "symbol": "AAPL",
            "exchange": "XNAS",
            "date": "2021-04-09T00:00:00+0000"
            },
            [...]
    ]
}
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It will return both pagination information as well as a data object, which contains a separate sub-object for each requested date/time and symbol.

To get started, you can also fork the collection workspace on Postman and read official docs.

collection workspace

Check it out 🔥

5. Aviationstack - real time and historical global flight tracking.

aviationstack

This provides a RESTful JSON API that delivers real-time flight status, historical data, route, airline, airport, and aircraft. It covers 13,000+ airlines and 10,000+ airports in 250+ countries.

Features:

  • Live flight status updates (delay, gate, runway, lat/long, speed)
  • Historical flight data (up to 3 months)
  • Route lookup, airport info, airline & aircraft data
  • Flight schedules, autocomplete, JSONP support
  • Secure 256‑bit HTTPS

✅ Use case: This is perfect for building travel planners, flight tracking apps, airport display boards, booking systems or even analytics tools based on flight history and delays.

You can check sample details on their website using the Flight number.

flight details

You can create a request like this.

curl "https://api.aviationstack.com/v1/flights?access_key=YOUR_ACCESS_KEY&flight_date=2025-06-27&limit=5"
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Here's a sample response. I have shortened the response so it's easier to read.

{
  "pagination": {
    "limit": 100,
    "offset": 0,
    "count": 100,
    "total": 1669022
  },
  "data": [
    {
      "flight_date": "2019-12-12",
      "flight_status": "active",
      "departure": {
        "airport": "San Francisco International",
        "iata": "SFO",
        "gate": "D11",
        "scheduled": "2019-12-12T04:20:00+00:00"
        ...
      },
      "arrival": {
        "airport": "Dallas/Fort Worth International",
        "iata": "DFW",
        "gate": "A22",
        "scheduled": "2019-12-12T04:20:00+00:00"
        ...
      },
      "airline": {
        "name": "American Airlines",
        "iata": "AA"
      },
      "flight": {
        "number": "1004",
        "iata": "AA1004"
      },
      "aircraft": {
        "registration": "N160AN",
        "iata": "A321"
      },
      "live": {
        "latitude": 36.2856,
        "longitude": -106.807,
        "altitude": 8846.82,
        "speed_horizontal": 894.348
        ...
      }
    },
    ...
  ]
}
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To get started, you can also fork the collection workspace on Postman and read the official docs for more endpoints with parameters.

postman collection aviationstack

Check it out 🔥

6. Violence Detection API - flag violent images.

There are a lot of sites that include uploading images or generating custom ones with AI, making sure it's not something violent is necessary.

This API can help you automate the content approval process. It computes a score on a 1 to 5 scale for content passed to it, where a score of 5 means the content most likely contains violence while a score close to 1 implies the content is safe to publish.

Here's how you can make the request to check if the image (on the URL) is violent or not.

curl --request GET \
--url 'https://api.apilayer.com/violence_detection/url?url={url}' \
--header 'apikey: oavrVdjE8EO0ycld3YMzjQyPBv5OrGOF'
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Here's a sample response.

{
  "description": "Very likely contains violence",
  "value": 5
}
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Let's see a few sample examples.

⚡ A kitchen knife can be dangerous unless you are putting food ingredients on the table, which is why API considers it harmless in this context.

{
  "description": "Very unlikely contains violence",
  "value": 1
}
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kitchen knife

 

⚡ Let's take a context where a lady is holding a cleaver for a show or a similar occasion. She is laughing so API considers that she is joking and so it shouldn't be something serious. Value 2 suggests there may be some chance of a crime (still no violence).

{
  "description": "Unlikely contains violence",
  "value": 2
}
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person smiling and holding a knife

You can read the official docs and try more samples in the live demo section.

Check it out 🔥

7. User Agent API - parse and generate user agent strings for device detection.

user agent api

This API provides an easy way to detect devices like mobile phones, tablets and their capabilities by parsing browser/HTTP user agent strings.

It reliably identifies if the user agent is a mobile phone, tablet, PC-based device or if it has touch capabilities.

The API also generates random user agent strings from an extensive database of 325,000+ user agent strings, which is useful for web scraping applications You can filter them based on many parameters such as operating system, device type and browser.

✅ Use case: You can optimize user experiences based on device capabilities, generate realistic user agents for web scraping projects and implement responsive design decisions based on the type of device the end-user is using.

Here's how you can make a request. ua denotes URLEncoded User Agent String such as Mozilla/5.0....

curl --request GET \
--url 'https://api.apilayer.com/user_agent/parse?ua={ua}' \
--header 'apikey: oavrVdjE8EO0ycld3YMzjQyPBv5OrGOF'
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