iNaturalist API

Free iNaturalist API with no key: millions of citizen-science species observations with photos, coordinates, identifications and quality grades. Tested example.

No API key requiredCORS enabledHTTPSFree tier

Endpoint tested and returned HTTP 200 on 19 Aug 2026

What is the iNaturalist API?

The iNaturalist API is a free, key-free API providing access to hundreds of millions of citizen-science wildlife observations, each with photographs, coordinates, community identifications and a data quality grade.

iNaturalist is the largest citizen science biodiversity platform, and its API exposes the whole observation corpus — photographs, locations, dates and the community identification process behind each record.

The `quality_grade` field is essential and frequently ignored. Only observations marked `research` have community-verified identifications; `needs_id` and `casual` records may be misidentified. Filtering to research grade is almost always the right default for any analytical use.

Quick facts

Base URL: https://api.inaturalist.org/v1
Authentication: No API key for public reads. Writing observations requires OAuth.
Rate limit: About 100 requests per minute, and the maintainers ask for no more than 10,000 per day.
Pricing: Free. Observation photos carry per-user licences — check before reuse.
CORS: Enabled — callable directly from browser JavaScript
Official docs: Read the docs

How to use the iNaturalist API

Every request below was executed against the live API on 19 Aug 2026, and the response shown is the real body it returned — not an illustration.

1. Fetch recent species observations

GET https://api.inaturalist.org/v1/observations?per_page=1

curl

curl 'https://api.inaturalist.org/v1/observations?per_page=1'

JavaScript (fetch)

const res = await fetch("https://api.inaturalist.org/v1/observations?per_page=1");
if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`Request failed: ${res.status}`);
const data = await res.json();
console.log(data);

Python (requests)

import requests

res = requests.get("https://api.inaturalist.org/v1/observations?per_page=1", timeout=20)
res.raise_for_status()
print(res.json())

Response — HTTP 200 (truncated)

{
  "total_results": 378721193,
  "page": 1,
  "per_page": 1,
  "results": [
    {
      "quality_grade": "needs_id",
      "time_observed_at": "2026-08-17T13:50:46-04:00",
      "taxon_geoprivacy": null,
      "annotations": [],
      "uuid": "16f73012-9d1f-4ddb-89ba-b464edb94569",
      "observed_on_details": {
        "date": "2026-08-17",
        "day": 17,
        "month": 8,
        "year": 2026,
        "hour": 13,
        "week": 34
      },
      "id": 392741421,
      "cached_votes_total": 0,
      "identifications_most_agree": false,
      "created_at_details": {
        "date": "2026-08-19",
        "day": 19,
        "month": 8,
        "year": 2026,
        "hour": 15,
        "week": 34
      },
      "species_guess": null,
      "identifications_most_disagree": false,
      "tags": [],
      "positional_accuracy": 10,
      "comments_count": 0,
      "site_id": 1,
      "created_time_zone": "America/New_York",
      "license_code": "cc-by-nc",
      "observed_time_zone": "America/New_York",
      "quality_metrics": [],
      "public_positional_accuracy": 10,
      "reviewed_by": [
        6211994
      ],
      "oauth_application_id": 843,
      "flags": [],
      "created_at": "2026-08-19T15:51:05-04:00",
      "description": null,
      "time_zone_offset": "-05:00",
      "project_ids_with_curator_id": [],
      "observed_on": "2026-08-17",
      "observed_on_string": "2026-08-17 13:50:46",
      "updated_at": "2026-08-19T15:51:06-04:00",
      "sounds": [],
      "place_ids": [
        1,
        39,
        9853,
        48819,
        50853,
        518

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`per_page`	integer	Optional	Results per page, max 200. `30`
`taxon_name`	string	Optional	Filter by species or taxon name. `Danaus plexippus`
`lat / lng / radius`	float	Optional	Geographic filter — centre point and radius in km. `31.52`
`quality_grade`	string	Optional	research, needs_id or casual. `research`
`d1 / d2`	string	Optional	Observation date range. `2026-01-01`

Response fields

total_resultsinteger: Total observations matching the query.
results[].species_guessstring: The observer's initial identification.
results[].taxonobject: Resolved taxon with scientific name and rank.
results[].quality_gradestring: research, needs_id or casual — filter on this.
results[].photosarray: Photo URLs with per-photo licence codes.
results[].geojsonobject: Observation coordinates, sometimes obscured for sensitive species.
results[].observed_onstring: Date of observation.

What you can build with the iNaturalist API

Show local wildlife sightings on a nature or park website
Build a species identification learning tool with real photos
Analyse seasonal migration and phenology patterns
Support ecological research with citizen science data

Common errors and how to fix them

Misidentified species in results

You included non-research-grade observations.

Fix: Filter with quality_grade=research for community-verified identifications only.

Coordinates are vague or missing

Locations for threatened species are deliberately obscured.

Fix: Check the geoprivacy fields; do not assume coordinates are precise.

429

Rate limit exceeded.

Fix: Stay under about 100 requests per minute and cache aggressively.

iNaturalist API — frequently asked questions

Is the iNaturalist API free?

Yes, free with no API key for public reads. Writing observations requires OAuth authentication.

What does quality_grade mean?

It indicates identification confidence. `research` means the community has verified the identification; `needs_id` and `casual` may be wrong. Filter to research grade for any serious use.

Can I use the observation photos?

Why are some coordinates imprecise?

iNaturalist deliberately obscures locations for threatened and sensitive species to prevent poaching and disturbance. That is by design, not a data error.

Tools that pair with this API

JSON Formatter

Format, beautify and minify JSON online with 2-space, 4-space or tab indentation. Sort keys alphabetically and catch syntax errors instantly — free and private.

Image Cropper

Crop images online to an exact rectangle with pixel-precise x, y, width and height inputs or aspect-ratio presets. Free, private and browser-based.

Alternatives to iNaturalist API

If iNaturalist does not fit, these environment apis cover similar ground. Every one was called before publishing, and each links to its own reference page with a working curl command and the response it returned.

API	What it does	Auth	CORS	Last verified
UK Carbon Intensity	Free National Grid carbon intensity API with no key: current and forecast grid carbon per half hour, by region, with generation mix. Tested curl example.	No key	Yes	19 Aug 2026
GBIF	Free GBIF API with no key: 2 billion+ species occurrence records, taxonomic data and distribution maps from museums and research institutions worldwide. Tested.	No key	No	19 Aug 2026
USGS Water Services	Free USGS Water Services API with no key: real-time river discharge, gauge height, water temperature and groundwater levels from thousands of US sites. Tested.	No key	Yes	19 Aug 2026
EPA Envirofacts	Free US EPA Envirofacts API with no key: toxic release inventory, facility permits, air and water compliance data across US environmental programmes. Tested.	No key	Yes	19 Aug 2026
Kanari	Free wildfire API with no key: clustered satellite fire detections worldwide from VIIRS, GOES and MTG, with radiative power and a confidence grade. Tested example included.	No key	Yes	21 Aug 2026
Luchtmeetnet	Free Dutch air quality API with no key: the official national monitoring network's stations and their measured and forecast pollutant concentrations. Tested example included.	No key	Yes	21 Aug 2026

All Environment APIs

iNaturalist is an independent third-party service and is not affiliated with ByteTools or ByteVancer. Details on this page were verified on 19 Aug 2026; always check the official documentation before relying on this API in production, as terms and limits can change.