specification: API Commons Plans
specificationVersion: '0.1'
schema: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/interface-research/main/schema/api-commons.yml#/$defs/Plans
provider: Gutendex
providerId: gutendex
created: '2026-05-29'
modified: '2026-05-29'
reconciled: true
tags:
  - Books
  - Open Source
  - Free
  - Project Gutenberg
description: >-
  Gutendex is a free, open-source web API distributed under the MIT license. The hosted
  instance at https://gutendex.com is offered free of charge with no API key, no signup,
  and no commercial tier. Operators who need higher throughput or guaranteed availability
  can self-host the Django application from github.com/garethbjohnson/gutendex on their
  own infrastructure.
sources:
  - https://gutendex.com
  - https://github.com/garethbjohnson/gutendex
  - https://github.com/garethbjohnson/gutendex/blob/master/license
plans:
  - id: gutendex-free
    name: Free Hosted
    type: free
    description: The publicly hosted gutendex.com instance is free of charge with no authentication,
      no quotas, and no commercial tier. Best-effort uptime, no SLA.
    entries:
      - label: API access
        name: api_access
        type: free
        metric: request
        limit: -1
        timeFrame: month
        geo: global
        unit: 1
        price: '0.00'
        userMultiplied: false
    elements:
      - name: Full /books and /books/{id} access
      - name: No API key required
      - name: All query parameters available
      - name: Public domain ebook metadata for 70,000+ Project Gutenberg titles
  - id: gutendex-self-hosted
    name: Self-Hosted
    type: open-source
    description: Run your own Gutendex instance from the MIT-licensed Django source. You bear
      hosting costs and operational responsibility; the software itself is free.
    entries:
      - label: Software license
        name: software_license
        type: free
        metric: install
        limit: -1
        timeFrame: perpetual
        geo: global
        unit: 1
        price: '0.00'
        userMultiplied: false
    elements:
      - name: MIT-licensed source code
      - name: Django + Django REST Framework stack
      - name: Nightly Project Gutenberg catalog sync via management command
      - name: Self-determined rate limits and scaling
maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    email: kin@apievangelist.com