Content Marketing: Dev.to Article #2 (12 Free APIs)

---
title: "13 Free APIs Every Developer Should Bookmark in 2026"
published: false
description: "A curated list of 13 free REST APIs with 100+ endpoints: QR codes, email validation, crypto prices, PDF tools, TTS, IP geolocation, currency exchange, and more. Code examples included."
tags: api, webdev, programming, beginners
cover_image: 
canonical_url: 
---

# 13 Free APIs Every Developer Should Bookmark in 2026

I've been collecting free APIs for years. Most of them break, get acquired, or slap a paywall on you right when you start depending on them.

So here's something different: **a single API hub with 13 services and 104 endpoints**, all free (100 requests/day), all documented, all returning clean JSON. No OAuth, no SDK required, just REST calls with an API key header.

I've been using these in my own projects for months. Here's each one with a real code example you can run right now.

---

## 1. Email Validator

**What it does:** Full email validation -- syntax, DNS, MX records, disposable domain detection (5,000+ domains), SPF/DMARC verification, typo suggestions. Returns a 0-100 confidence score.

**Why you need it:** Stop fake signups. Catch typos before they become bounced emails. Detect disposable burner addresses.

```bash
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
  "http://147.224.212.116/api/email/validate/user@gmial.com"
```

```json
{
  "email": "user@gmial.com",
  "valid": false,
  "is_disposable": false,
  "typo_suggestion": "user@gmail.com",
  "score": 20
}
```

That typo suggestion alone is worth the integration. How many users have you lost because they fat-fingered their email at signup?

---

## 2. QR Forge API

**What it does:** Generate QR codes in 6+ visual styles (standard, rounded, dots, blocks) with customizable colors and sizes. Returns PNG images.

**Why you need it:** Event tickets, payment links, restaurant menus, WiFi sharing, app deep links. QR codes are everywhere and generating them shouldn't require a $30/month subscription.

```bash
# Generate a styled QR code
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
  "http://147.224.212.116/api/qr/generate?data=https://example.com&style=rounded" \
  --output qr.png
```

```javascript
// In your Node app
const response = await fetch(
  "http://147.224.212.116/api/qr/generate?data=https://myapp.com/invite/abc123&style=dots",
  { headers: { "X-API-Key": process.env.API_KEY } }
);
const blob = await response.blob();
// Serve it, save it, embed it in an email -- it's just a PNG
```

---

## 3. Crypto Price API

**What it does:** Real-time prices for 10,000+ cryptocurrencies. Market cap, volume, 24h/7d/30d changes, ATH data, trending coins, historical charts. Sourced from CoinGecko.

**Why you need it:** Portfolio trackers, price alerts, trading dashboards, market analysis tools. Or just curiosity.

```python
import requests

API_KEY = "YOUR_KEY"
url = "http://147.224.212.116/api/crypto/price/bitcoin"
headers = {"X-API-Key": API_KEY}

data = requests.get(url, headers=headers).json()
market = data["coin"]["market_data"]

print(f"Bitcoin: ${market['current_price_usd']:,.0f}")
print(f"24h Change: {market['price_change_pct_24h']:+.1f}%")
print(f"ATH: ${market['ath_usd']:,.0f}")
print(f"From ATH: {market['ath_change_pct']:.1f}%")
```

Output:
```
Bitcoin: $68,033
24h Change: +1.3%
ATH: $126,080
From ATH: -46.0%
```

---

## 4. IP Geolocation API

**What it does:** IP to full location data -- continent, country, region, city, zip, lat/long, timezone, currency, ISP, ASN, reverse DNS. Plus VPN/proxy/hosting detection.

**Why you need it:** Geo-targeting content, fraud detection, analytics dashboards, compliance (showing prices in local currency), blocking suspicious traffic.

```bash
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
  "http://147.224.212.116/api/ip-geo/lookup/8.8.8.8"
```

```json
{
  "ip": "8.8.8.8",
  "country": "United States",
  "country_code": "US",
  "city": "Ashburn",
  "timezone": "America/New_York",
  "currency": "USD",
  "isp": "Google LLC",
  "is_proxy": false,
  "is_hosting": true
}
```

The `is_hosting` flag is clutch for detecting bot traffic. Real users don't browse the web from AWS data centers.

---

## 5. Currency Exchange API

**What it does:** Real-time exchange rates for 31 currencies, instant conversion, historical rates, time series data, fluctuation analysis. Data from the European Central Bank.

**Why you need it:** E-commerce price localization, travel apps, financial dashboards, invoice generation in multiple currencies.

```bash
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
  "http://147.224.212.116/api/currency/convert?from=USD&to=EUR&amount=100"
```

```json
{
  "success": true,
  "from": "USD",
  "to": "EUR",
  "amount": 100.0,
  "converted": 84.98,
  "rate": 0.8498,
  "date": "2026-02-20",
  "source": "ECB"
}
```

```javascript
// Price localization in 3 lines
async function localizePrice(usdPrice, userCurrency) {
  const res = await fetch(
    `http://147.224.212.116/api/currency/convert?from=USD&to=${userCurrency}&amount=${usdPrice}`,
    { headers: { "X-API-Key": API_KEY } }
  );
  const { converted, rate } = await res.json();
  return { localPrice: converted, rate };
}
```

---

## 6. AI Text Tools

**What it does:** AI-powered summarization, translation, rewriting, and sentiment analysis. 12 endpoints covering most common NLP tasks.

**Why you need it:** Content pipelines, chatbot preprocessing, auto-generating descriptions, moderating user-generated content, multilingual support.

```bash
# Sentiment analysis
curl -X POST -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"text": "This product is absolutely amazing, best purchase ever!"}' \
  "http://147.224.212.116/api/ai/sentiment"
```

```bash
# Summarize a long article
curl -X POST -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"text": "Your long article text here...", "max_length": 100}' \
  "http://147.224.212.116/api/ai/summarize"
```

---

## 7. Text-to-Speech API

**What it does:** Neural TTS with 300+ voices in 70+ languages. Returns MP3 audio with adjustable speed and pitch.

**Why you need it:** Accessibility features, voice notifications, language learning apps, content narration, IVR systems, podcast intros.

```bash
curl -X POST -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"text": "Hello, welcome to our application!", "language": "en", "speed": 1.0}' \
  "http://147.224.212.116/api/tts/synthesize" \
  --output welcome.mp3
```

```python
import requests

def speak(text, lang="en", speed=1.0):
    r = requests.post(
        "http://147.224.212.116/api/tts/synthesize",
        json={"text": text, "language": lang, "speed": speed},
        headers={"X-API-Key": API_KEY}
    )
    with open("output.mp3", "wb") as f:
        f.write(r.content)

speak("Bonjour, comment allez-vous?", lang="fr")
```

---

## 8. PDF Toolkit

**What it does:** Merge, split, compress, rotate, watermark, extract text, password-protect, and add page numbers to PDFs. 12 endpoints.

**Why you need it:** Document management, report generation, form processing, archival. Any app that touches PDFs needs at least one of these operations.

```bash
# Extract text from a PDF
curl -X POST -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
  -F "file=@document.pdf" \
  "http://147.224.212.116/api/pdf/extract-text"
```

```bash
# Merge two PDFs
curl -X POST -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
  -F "files=@file1.pdf" \
  -F "files=@file2.pdf" \
  "http://147.224.212.116/api/pdf/merge" \
  --output merged.pdf
```

---

## 9. Invoice Forge API

**What it does:** Generate professional PDF invoices, receipts, and quotes from a JSON payload. Customizable line items, tax calculations, branding.

**Why you need it:** Freelancers, SaaS billing systems, e-commerce order confirmations. Stop paying $15/month for an invoice template.

```bash
curl -X POST -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "invoice_number": "INV-2026-001",
    "from": {"name": "Your Company", "email": "you@company.com"},
    "to": {"name": "Client Corp", "email": "client@corp.com"},
    "items": [
      {"description": "Web Development", "quantity": 40, "unit_price": 150},
      {"description": "UI Design", "quantity": 20, "unit_price": 120}
    ],
    "tax_rate": 10
  }' \
  "http://147.224.212.116/api/invoice/generate" \
  --output invoice.pdf
```

40 hours of dev at $150/hr + 20 hours of design at $120/hr + 10% tax = a professional PDF in your downloads folder. That's it.

---

## 10. Screenshot API

**What it does:** Capture full-page or viewport screenshots of any URL using a headless browser.

**Why you need it:** Link previews, site monitoring, visual regression testing, generating thumbnails for a link aggregator.

```bash
curl -X POST -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"url": "https://github.com"}' \
  "http://147.224.212.116/api/screenshot/capture" \
  --output github.png
```

---

## 11. URL Toolkit

**What it does:** URL shortening and metadata extraction (title, description, OG tags, favicon, canonical URL).

**Why you need it:** Link preview cards (like Slack/Discord/Twitter unfurling), URL shortening for SMS, metadata auditing for SEO.

```bash
# Extract metadata from any URL
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
  "http://147.224.212.116/api/url/metadata?url=https://github.com"
```

```json
{
  "title": "GitHub: Let's build from here",
  "description": "GitHub is where over 100 million developers shape the future of software...",
  "favicon": "https://github.githubassets.com/favicons/favicon.svg",
  "og_image": "https://github.githubassets.com/assets/campaign-social.png"
}
```

---

## 12. DevTools API (The Swiss Army Knife)

**What it does:** 26 developer utilities in one API. Hashing, encoding, UUID generation, password generation, JSON formatting, text analysis, regex testing, and more.

**Why you need it:** Every project needs a random UUID, a SHA-256 hash, or a secure password at some point. This is the junk drawer of useful tools, except it's organized.

```bash
# Generate a UUID
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
  "http://147.224.212.116/api/devtools/uuid"

# Hash some text
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
  "http://147.224.212.116/api/devtools/hash/sha256?text=hello+world"

# Generate a secure password
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
  "http://147.224.212.116/api/devtools/password?length=24&symbols=true"
```

---

## 13. Image Generation API

**What it does:** Dynamic image generation -- placeholders, social cards, OG images, avatars, badges, gradients, geometric patterns, banners. 10 endpoints.

**Why you need it:** Prototyping (instant placeholder images), auto-generated OG images for blog posts, user avatar fallbacks, badge generation for README files.

```bash
# Generate a placeholder image
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
  "http://147.224.212.116/api/image/placeholder/800x400?text=Hello+World&bg=1a1a2e&color=ffffff" \
  --output placeholder.png

# Generate an OG image for a blog post
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
  "http://147.224.212.116/api/image/og?title=My+Blog+Post&subtitle=Published+Feb+2026" \
  --output og-image.png
```

Stop searching Unsplash for placeholder images during development. Just generate exactly what you need.

---

## Quick Start: 60 Seconds to Your First API Call

```bash
# 1. Get your free API key (takes 10 seconds)
#    Visit: http://147.224.212.116/signup

# 2. Test it immediately
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
  "http://147.224.212.116/api/ip-geo/lookup/8.8.8.8"

# 3. That's it. There is no step 3.
```

Every endpoint:
- Returns JSON (or binary for images/PDFs/audio)
- Uses the same API key
- Has Swagger docs at /docs
- Works from any language, any framework, any platform

---

## The Full Hub

| | |
|---|---|
| **API Hub** | [https://refine-survival-realty-php.trycloudflare.com](https://refine-survival-realty-php.trycloudflare.com) |
| **Direct Access** | [http://147.224.212.116](http://147.224.212.116) |
| **Swagger Docs** | [http://147.224.212.116/docs](http://147.224.212.116/docs) |
| **Blog & Tutorials** | [http://147.224.212.116/blog](http://147.224.212.116/blog) |

Free tier: 100 requests/day across all APIs. No credit card. Key issued instantly.

---

## TL;DR

| # | API | Endpoints | Best For |
|---|-----|-----------|----------|
| 1 | Email Validator | 3 | Signup forms, lead quality |
| 2 | QR Forge | 6 | Tickets, payments, links |
| 3 | Crypto Prices | 9 | Portfolios, alerts, dashboards |
| 4 | IP Geolocation | 5 | Fraud detection, geo-targeting |
| 5 | Currency Exchange | 6 | E-commerce, travel apps |
| 6 | AI Text Tools | 12 | Content pipelines, NLP |
| 7 | Text-to-Speech | 5 | Accessibility, voice UX |
| 8 | PDF Toolkit | 12 | Document processing |
| 9 | Invoice Forge | 4 | Billing, freelancing |
| 10 | Screenshot | 2 | Link previews, monitoring |
| 11 | URL Toolkit | 4 | Unfurling, shortening |
| 12 | DevTools | 26 | Hashing, encoding, generators |
| 13 | Image Generation | 10 | Placeholders, OG images |
| | **Total** | **104** | |

Bookmark it. You'll need it.

---

*All APIs are free, documented, and actually maintained. Built by a solo developer who got tired of paying for basic utility APIs.*

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