ITIS vs Minor Planet Center
Same instrument, two spec sheets — measured, not claimed.
ITIS vs Minor Planet Center: common questions
Which is more reliable, ITIS or Minor Planet Center?
On our scheduled checks, Minor Planet Center leads on measured uptime — ITIS at 97.1% versus Minor Planet Center at 99.02% over 90 days. These are our own probe results, not provider claims; the uptime bars above show the day-by-day record for both.
Which is faster, ITIS or Minor Planet Center?
Minor Planet Center has the lower median latency in our checks — ITIS responds in 1767 ms versus Minor Planet Center at 217 ms (P50). Tail latency (P95) is in the table above; for most workloads the median is the number that shapes how the API feels.
Do ITIS and Minor Planet Center need an API key?
Neither needs a paid key — ITIS is callable with no signup, and Minor Planet Center is callable with no signup. Both are quick to prototype with; rate limits still apply.
Can I call ITIS and Minor Planet Center from the browser?
Neither sends browser-friendly CORS headers reliably, so call ITIS and Minor Planet Center from a server or proxy rather than client-side. The CORS and HTTPS rows above show exactly what we detected for each.
Are ITIS and Minor Planet Center free for commercial use?
ITIS has unclear commercial terms, and Minor Planet Center 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.