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Chronicling America vs The Guardian

Same instrument, two spec sheets — measured, not claimed.

APIChronicling AmericaNEW—The GuardianNEW—
Uptime · 30d
Uptime · 90d—%—%
Uptime · 30d—%—%
P50 · ms——
P95 · ms——
AuthnoneapiKey
CORSnoyes
HTTPSyesyes
Card requirednono
Commercial useyesunclear
Data licensePublic domain / no known copyright (Library of Congress)Unverified
Free tierFree — public-domain collection dataFree developer key — registration required
Rate limitLoC throttles heavy crawling (see LoC API policy)5000 calls/day (developer tier)
In directory since2026-07-052026-07-05
operationalpartialdownno data

Chronicling America vs The Guardian: common questions

Which is more reliable, Chronicling America or The Guardian?

On our scheduled checks, The Guardian leads on measured uptime — Chronicling America at —% versus The Guardian at —% over 90 days. These are our own probe results, not provider claims; the uptime bars above show the day-by-day record for both.

Do Chronicling America and The Guardian need an API key?

Chronicling America needs no key, while The Guardian requires a free API key. If you want to start calling without signup, reach for Chronicling America first.

Can I call Chronicling America and The Guardian from the browser?

Only The Guardian is browser-friendly — it returns CORS headers over HTTPS. Chronicling America needs a server-side call or proxy, so factor that into which one fits a front-end project.

Are Chronicling America and The Guardian free for commercial use?

Chronicling America allows commercial use on its free tier, and The Guardian has unclear commercial terms. We track service terms and the data license as separate fields — see the Commercial use and Data license rows above, and confirm both before shipping either in a paid product.