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Open Government, ACT vs USAspending.gov

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

APIOpen Government, ACTNEW—USAspending.govNEW—
Uptime · 30d
Uptime · 90d—%—%
Uptime · 30d—%—%
P50 · ms——
P95 · ms——
Authnonenone
CORSyesno
HTTPSyesyes
Card requirednono
Commercial useunclearyes
Data licensePer-datasetU.S. Government Work (public domain)
Free tierFree — app token optional (raises limits)Free — no key required
Rate limitThrottled; higher limits with a free Socrata app tokenUnpublished
In directory since2026-07-052026-07-05
operationalpartialdownno data

Open Government, ACT vs USAspending.gov: common questions

Which is more reliable, Open Government, ACT or USAspending.gov?

On our scheduled checks, USAspending.gov leads on measured uptime — Open Government, ACT at —% versus USAspending.gov 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 Open Government, ACT and USAspending.gov need an API key?

Neither needs a paid key — Open Government, ACT is callable with no signup, and USAspending.gov is callable with no signup. Both are quick to prototype with; rate limits still apply.

Can I call Open Government, ACT and USAspending.gov from the browser?

Only Open Government, ACT is browser-friendly — it returns CORS headers over HTTPS. USAspending.gov needs a server-side call or proxy, so factor that into which one fits a front-end project.

Are Open Government, ACT and USAspending.gov free for commercial use?

Open Government, ACT has unclear commercial terms, and USAspending.gov allows commercial use on its free tier. 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.