Free fake data APIs for prototypes and tutorials, no API key
You need a REST endpoint that returns believable users, posts, products or avatars so you can finish a front-end, write a tutorial or test a fetch call, and you do not want to sign up for anything. These 14 services each returned HTTP 200 with no key when I probed them on 7 Oct 2026. The table shows what each one fakes, a URL you can paste into a browser, whether it allows calls from a web page (CORS) and how long the response took.
How this was checked: one GET request per endpoint from a single location, retried once on failure. "CORS yes" means the response carried an allow-origin header. Fake-data services are run by volunteers and can change or disappear, so keep a fallback and read each provider's terms.
| Service | What it fakes | Test it (no key) | CORS | Latency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JSONPlaceholder | Posts, comments, todos, users | https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts/1 | yes | 0.2s |
| DummyJSON | Products, carts, recipes, users | https://dummyjson.com/products/1 | yes | 0.64s |
| ReqRes | Paged user list and CRUD responses | https://reqres.in/api/users/2 | yes | 0.27s |
| Random User | Person profiles with photos | https://randomuser.me/api/ | yes | 0.2s |
| httpbin | Echoes your request, status codes, delays | https://httpbin.org/get | yes | 0.52s |
| Lorem Picsum | Placeholder photos and an image list | https://picsum.photos/v2/list?limit=1 | yes | 0.27s |
| DiceBear | Generated avatar SVGs | https://api.dicebear.com/9.x/initials/svg?seed=AB | yes | 0.28s |
| Robohash | Robot or monster avatars from any text | https://robohash.org/test.png?size=50x50 | yes | 0.49s |
| UUID Tools | Random v4 UUIDs | https://www.uuidtools.com/api/generate/v4 | yes | 0.23s |
| QR Code Server | QR code images for any text | https://api.qrserver.com/v1/create-qr-code/?size=50x50&data=hi | yes | 0.64s |
| Dog CEO | Random dog photo URLs by breed | https://dog.ceo/api/breeds/image/random | yes | 0.37s |
| Cat Facts | Short text snippets for cards | https://catfact.ninja/fact | yes | 0.58s |
| Useless Facts | Random sentences for filler copy | https://uselessfacts.jsph.pl/api/v2/facts/random | yes | 0.49s |
| Open Trivia DB | Quiz questions with answers | https://opentdb.com/api.php?amount=1 | yes | 0.26s |
Which one for which job
- Learning fetch, axios or React Query: JSONPlaceholder is the classic. It accepts POST, PUT and DELETE and replies as if it saved, but nothing is stored, so do not expect a created post to appear on the next GET.
- A shop or dashboard demo: DummyJSON has products with images, prices and categories, plus carts and users, which fills a realistic UI faster than posts and todos.
- Testing error and loading states: httpbin can return a chosen status code or delay a response, so you can see how your spinner and error message behave.
- Profile cards and avatars: Random User gives names, addresses and photos in one call. DiceBear and Robohash make an avatar from any string, which is handy for stable placeholders per user id.
- Image grids: Lorem Picsum returns an id, author and download URL per photo, so you can build a gallery without storing images.
Before you ship
These are for prototypes. Do not point a production app at a free demo service with no uptime promise. Do not send real user data to them: httpbin and ReqRes echo what you post, and you cannot know who can read it. Check any other API from the browser with the free CORS tester. More lists: front-end demo APIs, weather APIs and government and science APIs.
The full Keyless API Atlas ($7) covers all 161 verified APIs with curl and fetch code, JSON keys, rate-limit headers and a list of 35 popular APIs that failed the probe. The 20-row sample CSV is free.