If you are picking an astrology API for a production app, the choice between Astrology API and Prokerala usually comes down to three things: what calculations you actually need, how predictable the pricing is at scale, and how fast the API responds when a real user hits a "show my chart" button.
TL;DR comparison
| Dimension | Astrology API | Prokerala API |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $0/mo (50 requests) | $0/mo (5,000 credits, ~1k–2.5k requests) |
| Paid entry tier | $11/mo (1,000 requests) | $19/mo (100,000 credits) |
| Pricing model | Flat per-request | Credit-based, varies per endpoint |
| Endpoints | 100+ (natal, transit, astrocartography, Vedic, Chinese, Tarot, Numerology) | ~40 across Vedic, Western, KP, numerology, panchang |
| House systems | 23 | ~6 commonly documented |
| Languages | 9+ output languages | Multiple Indian languages, English |
| Response time | ~300ms median | 400–800ms median (region dependent) |
| Ephemeris | Swiss Ephemeris (DE431-derived) | Swiss Ephemeris-based |
| OpenAPI / Swagger | Yes | OAuth2 documented, no public Swagger spec |
| Free tier | Always-free 50/mo | 5,000 monthly credits, 5 req/min |
| Best for | Multi-tradition apps, Western + Vedic + Chinese | Vedic-heavy apps targeting Indian market |
What each provider is
Both are real, working APIs with active customers. The differences show up when you look at coverage, pricing predictability, and how the API behaves at scale.
Pricing in detail
- Free: $0/mo, 5,000 credits, 5 req/min
- Ruby: $19/mo, 100,000 credits, 60 req/min
- Emerald: $49/mo, 350,000 credits, 120 req/min
- Sapphire: $99/mo, 1,000,000 credits, 300 req/min
- Enterprise: custom
Astrology API uses a flat tier model where 1 request = 1 request, regardless of endpoint:
- Free: $0/mo, 50 requests (always free)
- Starter: $11/mo, 1,000 requests
- Professional: $37/mo, 55,000 requests
- Business: $99/mo, 220,000 requests (all endpoints)
- Enterprise: $399+/mo, unlimited with dedicated capacity
Cost at two scale points
The credit model is fine when you understand your traffic profile. The flat model is easier to forecast.
Endpoint coverage
Astrology API ships ~100 endpoints organized into categories. The relevant ones for this comparison:
- Natal: planet positions, house cusps in 23 systems, aspects, dignities, Arabic parts (97+), fixed stars, asteroids, midpoints, antiscia
- Transits and progressions: secondary progressions, solar arc directions, primary directions, profections, zodiacal releasing
- Predictive: solar return, lunar return, Venus return, eclipses, ingresses
- Astrocartography: full ACG lines, local space, paran lines, relocation charts
- Vedic: nakshatra, navamsa and other divisional charts, vimshottari dasha, KP-style point calculations
- Chinese: BaZi (Four Pillars), Zi Wei Dou Shu, Chinese zodiac, flying stars
- Other: Tarot (multiple spreads), numerology (Pythagorean, Chaldean, Lo Shu), human design, palm reading
Prokerala's documented endpoints cover:
- Vedic astrology: kundli, charts, dasha, yogas, doshas, ashtakavarga
- Marriage compatibility: Ashta Kuta and Dasha Kuta matching
- KP astrology: chart, planet positions, house significators
- Western astrology: natal chart, aspects, synastry, planetary positions
- Daily horoscopes by sign
- Panchang and muhurta: auspicious timings, choghadiya
- Numerology: Pythagorean and Chaldean (separate endpoints)
If you need broad Western feature coverage (Arabic parts, solar arc, harmonics, composite, Davison, astrocartography, asteroids), Astrology API is significantly deeper. If you need KP astrology specifically, or panchang and muhurta for Indian users, Prokerala is the better fit out of the box. You can do panchang and Vedic dashas on Astrology API too, but KP-specific endpoints are less of a focus.
Performance and accuracy
Where they differ is response time and consistency.
Astrology API's median response sits around 300ms for most natal endpoints. Astrocartography and full progression sets run higher (400–600ms) because they involve more calculation. The platform runs behind a CDN with multiple regional points of presence.
Prokerala's response times in our testing ranged from 400ms to 800ms depending on endpoint and time of day. Indian-region requests are fastest. From US-East and Europe, expect noticeable extra latency on top of base computation.
For mobile apps where time-to-first-chart matters, ~300ms versus ~600ms is the difference between a chart that feels instant and one that feels like a loading screen. For batch jobs, neither will be your bottleneck.
Developer experience
Astrology API ships an OpenAPI 3.0 specification, which means you can generate clients in any language via openapi-generator or use the spec directly in Postman, Insomnia, or your IDE. Responses follow a consistent JSON shape across endpoints. Errors use HTTP status codes plus a structured error body.
Prokerala uses OAuth2 client-credentials flow for authentication, which is reasonable for production but adds a token-refresh step compared to a simple API key. The docs are organized by endpoint and include curl examples. There is no public OpenAPI/Swagger file as of this writing, so SDK generation requires hand-rolling clients or scraping the docs.
Both have sandbox/playground capabilities. Astrology API's docs include inline "try it" panels with sample birth data. Prokerala provides example requests and an interactive token-acquisition tool.
Documentation quality is comparable. Prokerala's strength is the depth of Vedic and KP coverage with specific worked examples (good for developers new to Vedic astrology). Astrology API's strength is consistency across the full surface area and explicit response schemas.
When to choose Astrology API
Pick Astrology API if any of these apply:
- You need Western + Vedic + Chinese in one bill
- You need astrocartography, harmonics, Arabic parts, asteroids, or other deep Western features
- You want flat per-request pricing for clean cost forecasting at scale
- You need sub-500ms latency from US/EU regions for a real-time UI
- Your team prefers working from a published OpenAPI spec
- You want a free tier you can leave running indefinitely without ever paying
The flat pricing matters most once you cross 20,000–50,000 requests per month. Credit costs become hard to predict when each endpoint has a different rate.
When to choose Prokerala
Pick Prokerala if any of these apply:
- Your app is Indian-market-focused and needs first-class panchang, muhurta, and KP astrology
- You need Ashta Kuta / Dasha Kuta compatibility matching specifically (not Western synastry)
- Your traffic is bursty and the 5,000-credit free tier comfortably covers off-peak load
- You already have OAuth2 client-credentials flow in your stack
- You prefer paying in INR and dealing with an India-based support team
Prokerala's panchang and muhurta calculations are battle-tested on their consumer site, which serves millions of users a month. That is a real signal of correctness for those specific endpoints.
Migration notes
If you are migrating from Prokerala to Astrology API, here is a high-level endpoint mapping:
| Prokerala | Astrology API equivalent |
|---|---|
/astrology/birth-chart (Vedic) | /v1/vedic/birth-chart |
/astrology/kundli | /v1/vedic/birth-chart (composite) + /v1/vedic/divisional-charts |
/astrology/marriage-compatibility | /v1/vedic/compatibility |
/astrology/dasha-periods | /v1/vedic/vimshottari-dasha |
/astrology/panchang | /v1/vedic/panchang |
/astrology/horoscope | /v1/horoscope/daily |
/astrology/kp-chart | /v1/vedic/birth-chart with KP options |
/astrology/natal-chart (Western) | /v1/natal/chart |
Two operational notes:
- Prokerala uses OAuth2 client-credentials; Astrology API uses a bearer API key. You will remove the token-refresh step.
- Prokerala dates accept multiple formats. Astrology API requires ISO 8601 (
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ssZ) plus latitude/longitude as decimal degrees. Run a small adapter during migration to normalize input.
FAQ
Is Prokerala cheaper than Astrology API?
Which API is more accurate?
Both use Swiss Ephemeris, which derives from NASA JPL's DE431 ephemeris. Planetary positions agree to within fractions of an arcsecond. If you see differences, they are almost always due to different default house systems, ayanamsa settings, or timezone handling — not the underlying ephemeris.
Does Prokerala have astrocartography?
Can I use both APIs together?
Yes. Some teams use Prokerala for panchang and KP-specific calls while running everything else through Astrology API. Two API keys, two billing relationships, but a clean architectural split.
How do credit-based pricing models compare to flat pricing?
Credit pricing rewards apps with predictable, single-endpoint traffic profiles. Flat pricing rewards apps with mixed endpoint usage. If your traffic is 90% one endpoint, credits can be cheaper. If you call 10 different endpoints per user session, flat pricing is easier to forecast.
