A curated list of truly free, publicly accessible real-time datasets and streaming sources. All sources listed below are accessible without API keys, authentication, or paid subscriptions (though some may have rate limits or usage caps on free tiers).

This list focuses on real-time or near real-time data accessible via HTTP APIs, WebSockets, SSE (Server-Sent Events), or other streaming protocols.

Test any WebSocket, SSE, or HTTP endpoint instantly in your browser!

Want to stream these real-time sources into Apache Kafka? Check out our Kafka Connect WebSocket Plugin - an open-source connector that lets you ingest WebSocket streams directly into Kafka topics.

• Finance & Cryptocurrency
• Transportation
• Weather & Environment
• Seismic & Natural Events
• Space & Astronomy
• Information & News
• Government & Public Data
• Entertainment & Media
• IoT & Sensors
• Social & Community
• Sports
• Cybersecurity
• Development & Testing
• Geographic & Location

• Coinbase Pro WebSocket - Real-time market data including order books, trades, and ticker updates. No authentication required for public channels. 🔴 Try it live

  wss://ws-feed.exchange.coinbase.com
  

• Binance WebSocket Streams - Real-time cryptocurrency trading data, order books, and market updates for 1000+ trading pairs. 🔴 Try it live

  wss://stream.binance.com:9443/ws/btcusdt@trade
  

• Blockchain.com WebSocket - Real-time Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchain transaction notifications. 🔴 Try it live

  wss://ws.blockchain.info/inv
  

• Kraken WebSocket - Real-time cryptocurrency market data. Public feeds available without authentication. 🔴 Try it live

  wss://ws.kraken.com
  

• DexPaprika SSE - Real-time cryptocurrency prices and DEX data via Server-Sent Events. Multi-chain support. No authentication. 🟡 Try it live

  https://mcp.dexpaprika.com/sse
  

• CoinGecko API - Real-time prices for 12,000+ cryptocurrencies. Free tier: 50 calls/minute, no API key needed for basic endpoints. 🔵 Try it live

  https://api.coingecko.com/api/v3/simple/price?ids=bitcoin&vs_currencies=usd
  

• Mempool.space API - Real-time Bitcoin blockchain data including mempool, blocks, transactions. No authentication required. 🔵 Try it live

  https://mempool.space/api/mempool
  https://mempool.space/api/blocks/tip/height
  

• Transport for London (TfL) API - Real-time data for London Underground, buses, bikes. No API key required for many endpoints.

  https://api.tfl.gov.uk/StopPoint/{id}/Arrivals
  

• Helsinki Regional Transport (HSL) - MQTT-based real-time vehicle positions and transit data.

  mqtt://mqtt.hsl.fi:1883
  

• MTA Real-Time Data Feeds - NYC subway and bus real-time arrival data in GTFS format. Requires free API key registration.

• Transport for NSW Open Data - Real-time public transport data for Sydney, Australia.

• OpenSky Network API - Real-time flight tracking data from crowd-sourced ADS-B receivers. Free tier: 400 requests/day. 🔵 Try it live

  https://opensky-network.org/api/states/all
  

• Norwegian Coastal AIS Data - Ship positions via AIS within Norwegian waters.

• GBFS (General Bikeshare Feed Specification) - Real-time bike share data from 400+ systems worldwide.
  • NYC Citi Bike: https://gbfs.citibikenyc.com/gbfs/gbfs.json
  • Find more systems: GBFS Systems List

• Open-Meteo API - Free weather API with no API key required. Real-time weather, forecasts, historical data. 🔵 Try it live

  https://api.open-meteo.com/v1/forecast?latitude=52.52&longitude=13.41&current_weather=true
  

• NOAA Weather API - Real-time weather data from US National Weather Service. Requires proper User-Agent header.

  curl -A "YourApp/1.0 (contact@example.com)" https://api.weather.gov/gridpoints/TOP/31,80/forecast

• NOAA Buoy Data - Real-time oceanographic and meteorological data from buoys worldwide.

• EPA AirNow API - US air quality data. Free API key with generous limits.

• Sensor.Community API - Global crowdsourced air quality data from 15,000+ sensors. No authentication required. 🔵 Try it live

  https://data.sensor.community/airrohr/v1/filter/area=51.3,7.5,10
  

• UK Environment Agency Flood API - Real-time UK flood monitoring data. No authentication. 🔵 Try it live

  https://environment.data.gov.uk/flood-monitoring/id/stations
  

• USGS Water Services - Real-time stream flow, groundwater, and water quality data for US. 🔵 Try it live

  https://waterservices.usgs.gov/nwis/iv/?format=json&sites=01646500&parameterCd=00060,00065
  

• NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) - Real-time solar wind, geomagnetic, and space weather data. No authentication. 🔵 Try it live

  https://services.swpc.noaa.gov/products/solar-wind/mag-7-day.json
  https://services.swpc.noaa.gov/products/geospace/geospace-1-day.json
  

• NASA POWER API - Solar and meteorological data from NASA satellites. No authentication. 🔵 Try it live

  https://power.larc.nasa.gov/api/temporal/daily/point?parameters=T2M&community=RE&longitude=-95.37&latitude=29.76&start=20241201&end=20241201&format=JSON
  

• UK Carbon Intensity API - Real-time UK electricity carbon intensity. No authentication. 🔵 Try it live

  https://api.carbonintensity.org.uk/intensity
  https://api.carbonintensity.org.uk/regional
  

• USGS Earthquake API - Real-time earthquake data globally. No authentication required. 🔵 Try it live

  https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/feed/v1.0/summary/all_hour.geojson
  

• European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) WebSocket - Real-time seismic events via WebSocket. 🔴 Try it live

  wss://www.seismicportal.eu/standing_order/websocket
  

• NASA APIs - Multiple APIs including APOD, Mars Rover photos, asteroids. Free API key with high limits (1000/hour).

  https://api.nasa.gov/planetary/apod?api_key=DEMO_KEY
  

• International Space Station (ISS) Position - Real-time ISS location. No authentication. 🔵 Try it live

  http://api.open-notify.org/iss-now.json
  

• SpaceX API - Real-time data on SpaceX launches, rockets, capsules. No authentication. 🔵 Try it live

  https://api.spacexdata.com/v4/launches/latest
  

• N2YO Satellite Tracking API - Real-time satellite positions. Free tier available.

• Wikimedia EventStreams - Server-Sent Events (SSE) stream of real-time edits to Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects. No authentication required. 🟡 Try it live

  curl -N https://stream.wikimedia.org/v2/stream/recentchange

  Additional streams:
  • Page creation: https://stream.wikimedia.org/v2/stream/page-create
  • Page deletion: https://stream.wikimedia.org/v2/stream/page-delete
  • Revision create: https://stream.wikimedia.org/v2/stream/revision-create

• New York Times Newswire API - Up-to-the-minute stream of published NYT articles. Free API key required.

• Hacker News API - Near real-time tech news. Firebase-based, no authentication. Supports both REST and SSE (set Accept header to text/event-stream). 🟡 Try SSE live

  https://hacker-news.firebaseio.com/v0/topstories.json
  https://hacker-news.firebaseio.com/v0/newstories.json
  

• Free Dictionary API - English dictionary definitions. No authentication required. 🔵 Try it live

  https://api.dictionaryapi.dev/api/v2/entries/en/hello
  

• DuckDuckGo Instant Answer API - Instant answers for queries including weather, definitions, calculations. 🔵 Try it live

  https://api.duckduckgo.com/?q=weather&format=json
  

• OpenFEMA API - Real-time US disaster declarations, flood maps, and emergency management data. No authentication. 🔵 Try it live

  https://www.fema.gov/api/open/v2/DisasterDeclarationsSummaries
  https://www.fema.gov/api/open/v2/FemaRegions
  

• NYC Open Data - Fire Incidents - Real-time NYC fire department incident data. No authentication. 🔵 Try it live

  https://data.cityofnewyork.us/resource/8m42-w767.json?$limit=100
  

• disease.sh COVID-19 API - Real-time global COVID-19 statistics. No authentication. 🔵 Try it live

  https://disease.sh/v3/covid-19/all
  https://disease.sh/v3/covid-19/countries
  

• World Bank API - Global economic indicators for 200+ countries. No authentication. 🔵 Try it live

  https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/us/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?format=json&date=2022
  https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/all/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?format=json
  

• US Treasury Fiscal Data - US government financial data including debt, revenue, spending. No authentication. 🔵 Try it live

  https://api.fiscaldata.treasury.gov/services/api/fiscal_service/v2/accounting/od/debt_to_penny
  

• FRED Economic Data (Federal Reserve) - US economic time series data. Free API key required.

  https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred/series/observations?series_id=GNPCA&api_key=YOUR_KEY
  

• Last.fm API - Music charts, artist info, and listening trends. Free API key with generous limits.

  https://ws.audioscrobbler.com/2.0/?method=chart.gettopartists&limit=10&format=json
  

• Radio Browser API - Global internet radio station directory with 30,000+ stations. No authentication. 🔵 Try it live

  https://de1.api.radio-browser.info/json/stations/bycountry/usa?limit=100
  https://de1.api.radio-browser.info/json/stations/search?name=jazz
  

• TMDb API - Movie and TV show data including trending content. Free API key required.

  https://api.themoviedb.org/3/trending/all/day?api_key=YOUR_KEY
  

• ThingSpeak Public Channels - Crowdsourced IoT sensor data (temperature, humidity, radiation, etc.). Accessible via REST API.

  https://api.thingspeak.com/channels/{channelID}/feeds.json
  

• PurpleAir Sensors - Real-time air quality from 15,000+ sensors worldwide. Public JSON endpoint available (data may be large).

  https://www.purpleair.com/data.json?opt=1/mAQI/a10/cC0&fetch=true&nwlat=38&nwlng=-122&selat=37&selng=-121
  

• Bluesky Firehose - WebSocket stream of all public posts on the Bluesky social network. Requires authentication.

• Mastodon Streaming API - Real-time posts from Mastodon instances. Supports both WebSocket and SSE. Public timeline accessible without auth on many instances.

  • WebSocket: 🔴 Try it live

    wss://mastodon.social/api/v1/streaming/public
    

  • SSE: 🟡 Try it live

    https://mastodon.social/api/v1/streaming/public
    https://mastodon.social/api/v1/streaming/user (requires auth)
    https://mastodon.social/api/v1/streaming/public/local
    

• Pushshift Reddit Stream - Near real-time Reddit comments and submissions via SSE (2-3 second delay). No authentication. ⚠️ Service availability may be intermittent. 🟡 Try it live

  http://stream.pushshift.io/?type=comments
  http://stream.pushshift.io/?type=submissions
  http://stream.pushshift.io/?type=comments&subreddit=python,javascript
  

  Note: HTTP only (no SSL), one connection per IP.

• Reddit JSON Feeds - Real-time posts from any subreddit. Add .json to any Reddit URL. Note: May require User-Agent header or may block automated access.

  curl -A "MyApp/1.0" https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/new.json

• Formula 1 Timing Data - Python library to access live F1 timing and telemetry data.

• Certstream - Real-time certificate transparency log stream via WebSocket. 🔴 Try it live

  wss://certstream.calidog.io
  

• Open Threat Exchange (OTX) - Threat intelligence feed. Free account required.

• WebSocket Echo Server - Public echo server for WebSocket testing. 🔴 Try it live

  wss://echo.websocket.org/
  wss://echo.websocket.events/
  

• Sandy WebSocket Sandbox - Free WebSocket testing sandbox without code.

• SSE.dev Test Server - Public SSE testing endpoint that sends test messages. Customizable interval and data. 🟡 Try it live

  https://sse.dev/test
  https://sse.dev/test?interval=5000
  

• Lorem Picsum - Random placeholder images. No authentication.

  https://picsum.photos/200/300
  

• Unsplash Source - High-quality random images from Unsplash. No API key for basic use.

  https://source.unsplash.com/random
  

• JSONPlaceholder - Free fake REST API for testing and prototyping. 🔵 Try it live

  https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts
  

• Random User Generator - Generate random user data. No authentication. 🔵 Try it live

  https://randomuser.me/api/
  

• REST Countries API - Country data including flags, currencies, languages. No authentication. 🔵 Try it live

  https://restcountries.com/v3.1/all
  

• IP Geolocation (ipify) - Get public IP address. No authentication. 🔵 Try it live

  https://api.ipify.org?format=json
  

• IP Geolocation (ip-api.com) - Free IP geolocation. No API key required for non-commercial use. 🔵 Try it live

  http://ip-api.com/json/
  

To the extent possible under law, the contributors have waived all copyright and related rights to this work.

This list was compiled from research across multiple sources:

• Mixed Analytics - Free Open APIs (No Auth)
• Apipheny - 90+ Free APIs
• GitHub: public-apis/public-apis
• GitHub: awesome-public-streaming-datasets
• GitHub: awesome-public-real-time-datasets (Bytewax)
• Ably - 10 Realtime Data Sources
• Apidog - Best Free Crypto WebSocket APIs
• DEV Community - Free Public APIs 2025