Free Academic Weather Data for Students and Research
Visual Crossing Weather supports students and academic research by providing a free Academic plan for qualifying educational projects. The Academic plan provides access to Visual Crossing weather data for student coursework, academic research, theses, dissertations, and other qualifying non-commercial academic projects.
Who qualifies for the free Academic plan?
The Academic plan is available to students who:
- Have a valid email address issued by an academic institution, such as a
.eduaddress or an equivalent academic email address in another country. - Are using Visual Crossing Weather for a student or academic research project.
- Are working on a project whose results are intended to be openly available or used for general academic purposes.
The Academic plan is not intended for projects sponsored by a company or other organization where the work or results are being produced primarily for that organization’s exclusive use. Projects performed for a commercial client, employer, or sponsoring organization generally require an appropriate commercial Visual Crossing Weather license.
If you aren’t sure whether your project qualifies, please contact our Support Team and describe your project. We will be happy to help.
How much does the Academic plan cost?
The Visual Crossing Weather Academic plan is free for qualifying students and academic projects.
There is no need to purchase a paid plan and then request a refund or discount. Once your eligibility has been confirmed, your Visual Crossing Weather account can be enabled for the Academic plan.
How do I request the Academic plan?
First, sign up for a Visual Crossing Weather account using your academic institution email address.
After creating your account, contact our Support Team from the same academic email address and briefly describe your project. Please include:
- Your school, college, university, or other academic institution.
- A short description of your project or research.
- How you intend to use the weather data.
- How the results of the project will be used or made available.
A short description is sufficient. We primarily need enough information to confirm that the project qualifies for academic rather than commercial use.
What weather data can I use?
The Academic plan is designed to provide students and researchers with the weather data needed for academic projects, including historical weather data, forecast weather data, and access through Visual Crossing Weather’s data download and API tools.
All accounts remain subject to the usage and technical limits associated with their plan. If your project requires unusually large quantities of data or produces exceptionally high usage, please contact us. We may be able to recommend a more efficient way to retrieve the information you need.
Are there restrictions on Academic plan use?
Yes. The Academic plan is provided specifically for qualifying academic and research use and cannot be used as a substitute for a commercial weather data license.
Weather data obtained through an Academic plan may be used in academic analysis, coursework, research, papers, theses, dissertations, presentations, and similar academic work. The results of the work may be published or otherwise made available as part of the academic project.
Raw Visual Crossing weather data, however, may not be redistributed publicly as a downloadable dataset, API, or other service that allows others to retrieve the underlying weather records.
Use of Visual Crossing Weather is also subject to our Visual Crossing Weather License Terms, including restrictions concerning account sharing, API keys, data redistribution, and service usage.
Do I need to cite Visual Crossing Weather?
Yes. Academic projects using Visual Crossing Weather should identify Visual Crossing as the source of the weather data.
Please see How do I properly cite or attribute the weather data in my project? for recommended citation and attribution information.
What if I am teaching a class or need weather data for multiple students?
The free Academic plan is intended for individual qualifying users. Individual students can request their own Academic accounts using their academic email addresses.
If you are an instructor, university department, research group, or other academic organization that needs shared access, centralized data distribution, or an account supporting multiple users, please contact us. Tell us what you are trying to accomplish and we can recommend the best way to support your class or research team.
What if my research is sponsored or has a commercial partner?
Academic affiliation by itself does not necessarily make a project eligible for the free Academic plan and having a commercial partner does not disqualify a project.
If a company, government organization, nonprofit, consulting client, or other third party is sponsoring the project and the weather data or project results are being produced for that organization’s exclusive or operational use, please contact us so that we can determine the appropriate licensing option.
Projects intended for open academic research, publication, coursework, or other general academic use are the types of projects the Academic plan is designed to support.