How to transfer from BBOX and Group By endpoints to alternatives
The deprecation is part of a broader effort to improve service accuracy, data quality, and system performance. We strongly encourage all users to begin transitioning to our modern, production-grade APIs — One Call 3.0, Current Weather Data, and Geocoding API — and to use Bulk Download for efficiently retrieving large-scale data to ensure uninterrupted access to accurate, scalable, and continuously supported weather services. Please note that support for the deprecated products will end on July 31, 2025. After this date, these products will no longer be available.
One Call 3.0
One Call 3.0 provides comprehensive weather data for any location, supporting highly precise location targeting and time-specific queries. With a single API call, you can retrieve current weather, multiple forecast types, weather alerts, and access historical data by timestamp. The service also offers daily aggregation for over 40 years of archived weather and up to 1.5 years ahead in forecasts.
Key features include:
- Retrieve current weather, minutely forecast for 1 hour, hourly forecast for 48 hours, daily forecast for 8 days, and government weather alerts in a single response
- Access to 40+ years of historical weather data for any timestamp and 4 days ahead forecast
- Daily aggregation of weather data for 40+ years archive and 1.5 years ahead forecast
- Precise location targeting by latitude and longitude
- Modular data requests using the exclude parameter to optimize response size and usage
Rate limits:
You can make up to 1,000 API calls per day to One Call 3.0 at no cost. This free quota is available to all users, regardless of subscription. One Call 3.0 requires a separate subscription for usage beyond the free limit and is not included in the standard Free plan. Additional usage is billed automatically based on actual API consumption at the end of each billing period.
How to make an API call to One Call 3.0
If you want to get current weather and set of forecast and alerts in one response please use API call below.
API
https://api.openweathermap.org/data/3.0/onecall?lat={lat}&lon={lon}&exclude={part}&appid={API key}Please find more about One Call 3.0 at the documentation page and FAQ
API call example:
https://api.openweathermap.org/data/3.0/onecall?lat=33.44&lon=-94.04&appid={API key}If you want to get only current weather you can exclude the forecast part, use the exclude parameter as shown below.
API call
https://api.openweathermap.org/data/3.0/onecall?lat=33.44&lon=-94.04&exclude=minutely,hourly,daily,alerts&appid={API key}Please find more about One Call API 3.0 at the documentation page and FAQ
Current Weather Data
The Current Weather Data provides instant access to real-time weather conditions for any location around the globe. It is designed to deliver essential weather parameters in a fast and lightweight format, making it ideal for use cases that require up-to-date observations without additional forecast or historical layers.
Key features include:
- Real-time weather data, including temperature, pressure, humidity, wind, cloudiness, visibility, and weather conditions
- Global coverage with support for city name, city ID, geographic coordinates, or ZIP/postal code queries
- Multiple unit formats (metric, imperial, standard)
- Optimized for high-frequency and performance-sensitive applications (e.g. dashboards, widgets, mobile apps)
- Fast response time with low payload size
Rate limits:
The Current Weather Data API is included in the Free plan, which allows up to 60 calls per minute and 1,000,000 calls per month. Higher limits are available in paid plans.
How to make an API call to Current Weather Data
https://api.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/weather?lat={lat}&lon={lon}&appid={API key}API call example
https://api.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/weather?lat=44.34&lon=10.99&appid={API key}Please find more about Current Weather Data at the documentation page and FAQ
We recommend using the Geocoding product to convert desired locations into geographic coordinates when needed, enabling seamless integration with One Call and Current Weather API requests.
Bulk Download
The OpenWeather Bulk Download service provides large-scale precompiled weather data files for efficient access to current conditions, forecasts, or extensive historical archives. Unlike real-time API calls, Bulk Download supplies ready-made datasets, significantly simplifying data management and reducing operational overhead.
Key features include:
- Large-scale data delivery: Access weather data for tens of thousands of locations simultaneously (e.g., 22,600+ global cities or 41,000+ ZIP codes in the US).
- Comprehensive datasets: Includes current weather conditions, forecasts (hourly or daily), and extensive historical records—available in structured JSON or CSV files.
- Scheduled updates: Data files updated hourly or daily, delivered reliably through direct download, FTP, AWS S3 buckets, or other custom delivery options.
- Reduced complexity: Eliminates the need for extensive API management, error handling, and aggregation logic.
- Custom datasets available: Tailor-made bulk data files created according to your specific list of locations and data parameters.
Bulk Download is ideal for applications requiring extensive, consistent datasets—such as analytics platforms, large-scale monitoring systems, research projects, or historical data archives.
The Bulk Download service is offered under OpenWeather’s Professional, Expert and Enterprise subscription plans. Custom bulk datasets and enterprise-grade support options are available upon request.
Please contact us to discuss your bulk data requirements.
Example datasets include:
- Current weather data for ~22,635 global cities, updated hourly.
- 16-day daily forecasts for 209,000+ locations worldwide.
- Historical hourly weather data for selected regions, spanning multiple years.
Rate limits:
Bulk Download does not use traditional API calls; therefore, standard API rate limits do not apply. Data is provided as downloadable files, simplifying consumption at any scale.
How to get data from Bulk Download
https://bulk.openweathermap.org/snapshot/{BULK_FILE_NAME}?appid={API key}URL example
https://bulk.openweathermap.org/archive/weather_zip_uk_011020_2000.csv.gz?appid={API key}Please find more about Bulk Download at the documentation page and FAQ
Geocoding API
The OpenWeather Geocoding API provides robust location-based services through two main endpoints:
- Direct Geocoding: Convert city names, ZIP/postal codes, and other location identifiers into geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude).
- Reverse Geocoding: Retrieve location names from geographic coordinates.
Key features include:
- Support for partial names, multiple languages, and country filtering
- Ability to fetch up to 5 location results per query, ranked by importance or population
- Worldwide coverage, including small towns and rural locations
- Fast and reliable performance for real-time applications
Rate limits:
The Geocoding API is included in the Free plan, which allows up to 60 calls per minute and 1,000,000 calls per month. Higher limits are available in paid plans.
How to make an API call to Geocoding API
http://api.openweathermap.org/geo/1.0/direct?q={city name},{state code},{country code}&limit={limit}&appid={API key}API call example (Direct Geocoding):
http://api.openweathermap.org/geo/1.0/reverse?lat=51.5098&lon=-0.1180&limit=5&appid={API key}Please find more about Geocoding API at the documentation page and FAQ
Action Plan for Migration
If you’ve reviewed the material above but are still unsure how to proceed, this section outlines a structured, step-by-step approach to help you move forward with clarity.
Step 1: Manage my location
Prepare a list of locations you’re interested in:
You can organize your locations as follows:
- For Group By, list city names or precise geographical points (e.g., cities, towns, neighborhoods).
- For BBOX, clearly define a bounding box area. Identify its four coordinate points (latitude and longitude for the top-left and bottom-right corners). This bounding box represents the geographical area for which you need weather data.
Step 2: Convert in coordinates
Convert locations into geographical coordinates using the Geocoding API
- Group By: Use Direct Geocoding to retrieve latitude and longitude for each specific location.
- BBOX: Typically, you already have the required coordinates for your bounding box.
Step 3: Choose your service
Choose your OpenWeather alternative service:
- One Call 3.0: For detailed forecasts, historical weather data, aggregated weather information, and more extensive datasets.
- Current Weather Data: For instant access to current weather conditions only.
- Bulk Download: For retrieving large-scale precompiled weather datasets, particularly suitable for extensive location lists or reducing high-volume API calls.
Step 4: Make API calls
Make API calls to your selected service:
- Use your API key to access Current Weather Data or One Call 3.0. Please note that an active subscription is required to use One Call 3.0.Bulk Download is available as part of a subscription plan. Customized Bulk Downloads can be purchased separately upon request.
- Use the coordinates obtained earlier from Geocoding API.
- Check API response and integrate results into your application or workflow.
Step 5: Verify and complete migration
Verify and complete migration before July 31, 2025
Make sure your application fully utilizes the new endpoints before the legacy endpoints (BBOX, Group By) are deprecated.