Every app that meets our API terms can sign up and use the Unsplash API for free, with a default rate limit of 50 requests/hour, referred to as a Demo status. This rate limit is perfect for:
educational purposes, like learning to use an external API, adding dynamic elements to a demo UI, etc.
small personal projects that aren't intended for the public
testing out the API
If your application is going to be consumed by the public or used for internal purposes at a large company, you should apply for Production status. To be eligible, your application must:
meet the API guidelines, including reporting image views via hotlinking and tracking download events
meet our API terms
include screenshots and accurate information, including a relevant title and description
If approved by our team, the rate limit will be increased to 5,000 requests/hour. If your application is especially popular, we can increase the rate limits further, but we do so on an as needed basis.
Note: we do not charge for API requests and we never will, regardless of if you're an indy developer or a large Fortune 500 enterprise. We apply these loose limits to API applications to prevent surges in usage from potentially affecting API reliability and performance.