data.gouv.fr API

Free French government open data API with no key: search tens of thousands of public datasets with metadata, resources and download links. Tested example.

No API key requiredHTTPSFree tier

Endpoint tested and returned HTTP 200 on 20 Aug 2026

What is the data.gouv.fr API?

The data.gouv.fr API is the free, key-free interface to France's national open data platform, providing search and metadata for tens of thousands of public datasets published by French government bodies and local authorities.

data.gouv.fr is France's central open data portal, aggregating datasets from ministries, agencies, regions and communes. The API exposes full search with rich metadata about each dataset and its downloadable resources.

Coverage is genuinely broad — transport, health, environment, elections, budgets and demographics — and each dataset lists its resources with format and direct download URL, so you can go from search to CSV in two requests.

Quick facts

Base URL: https://www.data.gouv.fr/api/1
Authentication: Reading public datasets needs no key. Publishing requires an API key.
Rate limit: No published hard limit; fair use expected.
Pricing: Free open data; individual datasets carry their own licences.
CORS: Not enabled — call it from your server
Official docs: Read the docs

How to use the data.gouv.fr API

Every request below was executed against the live API on 20 Aug 2026, and the response shown is the real body it returned — not an illustration.

1. Search French open datasets

GET https://www.data.gouv.fr/api/1/datasets/?page_size=1

curl

curl 'https://www.data.gouv.fr/api/1/datasets/?page_size=1'

JavaScript (fetch)

const res = await fetch("https://www.data.gouv.fr/api/1/datasets/?page_size=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://www.data.gouv.fr/api/1/datasets/?page_size=1", timeout=20)
res.raise_for_status()
print(res.json())

Response — HTTP 200 (truncated)

{
  "data": [
    {
      "access_audiences": [],
      "access_type": "open",
      "access_type_reason": null,
      "access_type_reason_category": null,
      "acronym": null,
      "archived": null,
      "authorization_request_url": null,
      "badges": [],
      "contact_points": [],
      "created_at": "2026-08-19T15:34:28.337000+00:00",
      "deleted": null,
      "description": "Liste des représentations d'opéra pour la saison 2023/2024.",
      "description_short": null,
      "extras": {},
      "featured": false,
      "frequency": "annual",
      "frequency_date": null,
      "harvest": null,
      "id": "6a85cd04d0119c002a680e3a",
      "internal": {
        "created_at_internal": "2026-08-19T15:34:28.337000+00:00",
        "last_modified_internal": "2026-08-19T15:34:30.451000+00:00"
      },
      "last_modified": "2026-08-19T15:34:30.451000+00:00",
      "last_update": "2026-08-19T17:34:30.377000+00:00",
      "license": "notspecified",
      "metrics": {
        "dataservices": 0,
        "discussions": 0,
        "discussions_open": 0,
        "followers": 0,
        "followers_by_months": 0,
        "resources_downloads": 0,
        "reuses": 0,
        "reuses_by_months": 0,
        "views": 0
      },
      "organization": {
        "acronym": "ROF",
        "badges": [
          {
            "kind": "association"
          }
        ],
        "class": "Organization",
        "id": "66606160ad573ed936f8c2c1",
        "logo": "https://udata-avatars.s3.rbx.io.cloud.ovh.net/7e/1bdc5714f8442c8bbd6dff54917f73.png",
        "logo_thumbnail": "https://udat

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`datasets/`	path	Optional	Dataset search and listing. `datasets/`
`q`	string	Optional	Search query. `transport`
`page_size`	integer	Optional	Results per page. `20`
`organization`	string	Optional	Filter by publishing organisation id. `534fff75a3a7292c64a77de4`
`format`	string	Optional	Filter by resource format. `csv`

Response fields

dataarray: Matching datasets.
data[].titlestring: Dataset title, in French.
data[].descriptionstring: Description, often Markdown.
data[].organizationobject: Publishing body.
data[].resourcesarray: Downloadable files with format, URL and size.
data[].licensestring: Licence identifier, commonly `lov2` (Open Licence 2.0).
total / page / page_sizeinteger: Pagination metadata.

What you can build with the data.gouv.fr API

Discover French public datasets programmatically
Automate downloads of regularly updated government CSVs
Build a French open data search interface
Monitor a public body for newly published datasets

Common errors and how to fix them

Resources with dead URLs

Datasets are published by many separate bodies.

Fix: Resource links are not centrally validated; handle download failures.

French-language metadata

Titles and descriptions are in French.

Fix: Expect this — there is no English translation layer.

Inconsistent formats

Publishers use CSV, XLS, JSON, XML and shapefiles.

Fix: Filter by the `format` parameter rather than assuming CSV.

data.gouv.fr API — frequently asked questions

Is the data.gouv.fr API free?

Yes, reading public datasets requires no API key. Publishing datasets requires one.

Is the metadata in English?

No, titles and descriptions are in French, as you would expect from a French government portal. There is no translation layer.

What licence is the data under?

Most datasets use Licence Ouverte 2.0 (`lov2`), which permits reuse including commercially with attribution. Check the licence field per dataset.

How do I download an actual dataset?

Each dataset's `resources` array contains files with their format and a direct URL. Search first, then fetch the resource URL.

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.

CSV to JSON Converter

Convert CSV to a JSON array of objects online. Header-row detection, comma/semicolon/tab delimiters and pretty-printed output — 100% in your browser.

Alternatives to data.gouv.fr API

If data.gouv.fr does not fit, these government & open data 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
Federal Register	Free US Federal Register API with no key: executive orders, rules, notices and proposed regulations with full text search back to 1994. Tested curl example.	No key	Yes	19 Aug 2026
USAspending	Free US federal spending API with no key: agency budgets, contracts, grants and award data covering trillions in government spending. Tested curl example.	No key	No	19 Aug 2026
UK Parliament Members	Free UK Parliament Members API with no key: MPs and Lords, constituencies, party affiliation, contact details and voting records. Tested curl example.	No key	No	19 Aug 2026
UK Police Data	Free UK Police API with no key: street-level crime data, police forces, neighbourhood teams and stop-and-search records by location and month. Tested example.	No key	Yes	19 Aug 2026
Data USA	Free Data USA API with no key: Census, BLS and BEA figures pre-joined into queryable cubes with drilldowns by nation, state, county and metro. Tested example included.	No key	Yes	21 Aug 2026
Open Data DC	Free Washington DC open data catalogue as a DCAT-US 1.1 JSON feed: every city dataset with distributions, licences and ArcGIS service URLs. No key. Tested example included.	No key	Yes	21 Aug 2026

All Government & Open Data APIs

data.gouv.fr is an independent third-party service and is not affiliated with ByteTools or ByteVancer. Details on this page were verified on 20 Aug 2026; always check the official documentation before relying on this API in production, as terms and limits can change.