Wikipedia API pricing, limits and access
What the MediaWiki Action API and Wikimedia Enterprise costs, who can use it and its published limits, from the official pages.
Short answer
MediaWiki Action API and Wikimedia Enterprise is a public API. Free; no API key is needed for read requests. No hard speed limit on read requests; requests should be serial, use an informative User-Agent with contact details, and back off when rate-limited.
Rates and dates checked 2026-11-11 against the sources below. How the comparison works.Facts that decide the bill
| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Status | Public API |
| Official API | MediaWiki Action API and Wikimedia Enterprise |
| Who can use it | Every Wikipedia edition exposes the MediaWiki Action API (for example en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php) for reading pages, search and metadata without a key. Wikimedia Enterprise offers On-demand, Snapshot and Realtime APIs for high-volume use |
| Published price | Free; no API key is needed for read requests. Wikimedia Enterprise free accounts get up to 50,000 On-demand requests and 30 Snapshot requests per month; paid pricing is bespoke and not published |
| Limits | No hard speed limit on read requests; requests should be serial, use an informative User-Agent with contact details, and back off when rate-limited. Numeric limits may change |
Routes that work for Wikipedia data
The official route first, then the catalogue Actors that fit this problem, by their published fields. Store figures are the publisher's public numbers.
| Route | Core fields | Price / 1K | Success, 30 days | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public APIMediaWiki Action API and Wikimedia Enterprise | not compared | below | Official docs | |
| Wikipedia Article Lookup by URL or Keyword | 7/7 | $0.99 | 2 runs, too few to rate | Open in Apify Store |
Official price: Free; no API key is needed for read requests. Wikimedia Enterprise free accounts get up to 50,000 On-demand requests and 30 Snapshot requests per month; paid pricing is bespoke and not published. Compare all 9 Wikipedia routes.
Sources
Every dated claim on this page comes from the public sources below. Check the source before you make a business decision on it.
- MediaWiki Action API and Wikimedia Enterprise documentation — checked 2026-11-11
- MediaWiki Action API and Wikimedia Enterprise pricing — checked 2026-11-11
- Wikipedia official source — checked 2026-11-11
- Wikipedia official source — checked 2026-11-11
- Wikipedia terms — checked 2026-11-11
Need the data without the official API?
Wikipedia Article Lookup by URL or Keyword returns 7 of 7 core Wikipedia fields at $0.99 per 1,000 results. Compare all 9 Wikipedia routes.