Socrata Discovery API

Free Socrata Discovery API with no key: search dataset metadata across thousands of US government open data portals in one query, with page-view popularity built in. Tested example.

No API key requiredCORS enabledHTTPSFree tier

Endpoint tested and returned HTTP 200 on 21 Aug 2026

What is the Socrata Discovery API?

The Socrata Discovery API is a free, key-free search endpoint that indexes dataset metadata from every public Socrata portal — thousands of US federal, state and city domains — so one query can find datasets across all of them at once, ranked with real page-view counts.

Individual portal APIs answer "what does Colorado publish?". This one answers "who publishes anything about restaurant inspections?", which is a fundamentally different and much harder question. It sits above the whole Socrata estate and lets you filter by `domains`, `categories`, `tags` or full text, then returns each match with the domain it came from and the four-by-four ID you need to query the data itself.

The genuinely unusual field is `page_views`, which reports last week, last month and all-time view counts plus logarithmic variants of each. Socrata uses the log values for its own relevance ranking, and you can too — raw totals are dominated by a handful of famous datasets, whereas the log scale surfaces things that are quietly popular in their own region. Note that `type` distinguishes datasets from stories, charts, maps and filtered views, and a `story` has no tabular endpoint behind it.

Quick facts

Base URL: https://api.us.socrata.com/api/catalog/v1
Authentication: No key required. A free Socrata app token raises rate limits for heavy crawling.
Rate limit: Anonymous per-IP throttling. Cache aggressively when crawling many domains.
Pricing: Free. The catalogue metadata is open; individual datasets keep their publisher's terms.
CORS: Enabled — callable directly from browser JavaScript
Official docs: Read the docs

How to use the Socrata Discovery API

Every request below was executed against the live API on 21 Aug 2026, and the response shown is the real body it returned — not an illustration.

1. Search one portal's catalogue through the Discovery API

GET https://api.us.socrata.com/api/catalog/v1?domains=data.colorado.gov&limit=1

curl

curl 'https://api.us.socrata.com/api/catalog/v1?domains=data.colorado.gov&limit=1'

JavaScript (fetch)

const res = await fetch("https://api.us.socrata.com/api/catalog/v1?domains=data.colorado.gov&limit=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.us.socrata.com/api/catalog/v1?domains=data.colorado.gov&limit=1", timeout=20)
res.raise_for_status()
print(res.json())

Response — HTTP 200 (truncated)

{
  "results": [
    {
      "resource": {
        "name": "Transparency Online Project (TOPS) - State Government Revenue and Expenditures in Colorado",
        "id": "fjyf-bdat",
        "resource_name": null,
        "parent_fxf": [],
        "description": "Revenue and Expenditures for Colorado State Governmental departments provided by the Department of Personnel & Administration and the Office of the State Controller. Documentation can be found in the long description of the dataset.",
        "attribution": "DPA - Department of Personnel and Administration",
        "attribution_link": "https://dpa.colorado.gov/",
        "contact_email": null,
        "type": "story",
        "updatedAt": "2022-10-28T21:00:51.580Z",
        "createdAt": "2022-10-27T21:53:17.000Z",
        "metadata_updated_at": "2026-02-19T01:11:44.000Z",
        "data_updated_at": "2022-10-28T21:00:51.580Z",
        "page_views": {
          "page_views_last_week": 3636,
          "page_views_last_month": 15972,
          "page_views_total": 773277,
          "page_views_last_week_log": 11.828533210455618,
          "page_views_last_month_log": 13.963347680316964,
          "page_views_total_log": 19.56062764294506
        },
        "columns_name": [],
        "columns_field_name": [],
        "columns_datatype": [],
        "columns_description": [],
        "columns_format": [],
        "download_count": 0,
        "provenance": "official",
        "lens_view_type": "story",
        "lens_display_type": "story",
        "locked": false,
        "backend": "not_a_dataset",
        "blob_mime_type"

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`q`	query	Optional	Full-text search across titles, descriptions and column names. `restaurant inspections`
`domains`	query	Optional	Comma-separated portal domains to restrict the search to. `data.colorado.gov,data.cityofnewyork.us`
`categories`	query	Optional	Filter by portal category. `Public Safety`
`tags`	query	Optional	Filter by tag. `budget`
`only`	query	Optional	Restrict asset type — `datasets`, `charts`, `maps`, `stories`, `filters`. `datasets`
`limit`	query	Optional	Results per page, up to 100. `1`
`offset`	query	Optional	Pagination offset. `100`

Response fields

results[].resource.idstring: Four-by-four asset ID. Combine with the domain to build the data URL.
results[].resource.name / descriptionstring: Title and summary of the asset.
results[].resource.typestring: `dataset`, `story`, `chart`, `map` or `filter`. Only datasets have a queryable `/resource` endpoint.
results[].resource.attributionstring: Publishing body, with `attribution_link` pointing at its site.
results[].resource.page_viewsobject: View counts for last week, last month and all time, plus `_log` variants used for ranking.
results[].resource.updatedAt / data_updated_atstring: Asset and underlying-data update times, which frequently differ.
results[].resource.columns_name / columns_field_namearray: Column labels and machine names. Empty for non-tabular assets.
resultSetSizeinteger: Total matches across all indexed domains, independent of your page size.

What you can build with the Socrata Discovery API

Find every US city publishing a given kind of dataset
Build a cross-portal open data search engine
Rank datasets by real popularity rather than recency
Discover which agencies publish on a topic before writing a scraper
Audit how consistently a dataset type is published across jurisdictions

Common errors and how to fix them

400

An unrecognised filter parameter or a malformed `domains` list.

Fix: Use bare hostnames with no scheme or trailing slash, comma-separated with no spaces.

Empty results with a broad query

Filters combine with AND.

Fix: Drop `categories` or `tags` first — a category that exists on one portal may not exist on another.

429

Anonymous throttling while crawling.

Fix: Add delays and cache. A free app token raises the ceiling.

Asset has no data endpoint

The result is a story, chart or map.

Fix: Filter with `only=datasets` when you need something you can actually query.

Socrata Discovery API — frequently asked questions

What does the Socrata Discovery API cover?

Public asset metadata from every Socrata portal that opts into discovery — thousands of US federal, state, county and city domains. It indexes metadata only; the rows themselves stay on each portal.

Do I need an API key?

No. Anonymous queries work fine. A free app token exists only to lift rate limits, which matters if you are crawling many domains rather than running occasional searches.

What are the page_views _log fields for?

Socrata ranks relevance on the logarithm of view counts, because raw totals let a few famous datasets swamp everything else. Using the log values gives you the same balanced ordering the portals themselves use.

How do I fetch the actual data after finding a dataset?

Combine the domain with the four-by-four ID: `https://{domain}/resource/{id}.json`, then add SoQL parameters such as `$limit` and `$where`. Only assets with `type: dataset` have that endpoint.

Tools that pair with this API

JSON Path Finder

Evaluate a dot/bracket path against your JSON and list every leaf path for discovery. Free online JSON path finder that runs 100% in your browser.

JSON to CSV Converter

Convert a JSON array of objects to CSV online. Automatic column headers from the union of all keys, delimiter choice and proper quoting — all in-browser.

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.

Alternatives to Socrata Discovery API

If Socrata Discovery API 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
datos.gob.es	Free Spanish government open data API with no key: a Linked Data API over the national catalogue, with EU frequency vocabularies and multi-value description arrays. Tested example.	No key	Yes	21 Aug 2026
City of Toronto Open Data	Free City of Toronto open data API with no key: 500+ municipal datasets covering transit, budget, permits, parks and services via a CKAN interface. Tested.	No key	No	20 Aug 2026

All Government & Open Data APIs

Socrata Discovery API is an independent third-party service and is not affiliated with ByteTools or ByteVancer. Details on this page were verified on 21 Aug 2026; always check the official documentation before relying on this API in production, as terms and limits can change.