Openverse by WordPress (Openverse project)

Search engine and API for openly licensed and public-domain images and audio.

Open and public-domain media Library

Website License API docs

Price

Free

Free.

Commercial use

With conditions

Per item (CC licenses and public domain)

Credit the author

Per item

Credit depends on the item

Agent access

Public API

no key needed

Rules for your agent

- Openverse (Open and public-domain media). Search engine and API for openly licensed and public-domain images and audio. Price: free; commercial use with conditions; credit depends on the item; ship inside your app with conditions; no bots or bulk downloading.
  Connect: API docs https://api.openverse.org/v1/. Limits: Anonymous < registered (OAuth client_credentials) < 'Enhanced' (selectively granted); no numbers published; /v1/rate_limit/ shows usage.
  Rule: Filter with license_type=commercial,modification to exclude NC and ND works.
  Rule: Verify each item's license yourself; Openverse does not verify licensing status.
  Rule: Credit creators as each item's CC license requires.
  Rule: Do not scrape the catalog or use multiple machines to evade rate limits.
  License: https://docs.openverse.org/terms_of_service.html (checked 2026-10-10; details: https://agentgid.com/assets/openverse/)

Paste it into your prompt or AGENTS.md. It is built from the license and API terms below.

License

License	Per item (CC licenses and public domain)
Commercial use	Commercial use with conditions
Credit	Credit depends on the item
Inside your app or game	Ship inside your app with conditions
Monetized YouTube	Monetized YouTube unclear
AI training	Not stated
Bots and bulk downloads	Banned by the terms
Rules	Filter with license_type=commercial,modification to exclude NC and ND works. Verify each item's license yourself; Openverse does not verify licensing status. Credit creators as each item's CC license requires. Do not scrape the catalog or use multiple machines to evade rate limits.

Connect it to an agent

MCP server	None found
API	API docs · no key
Limits	Anonymous < registered (OAuth client_credentials) < 'Enhanced' (selectively granted); no numbers published; /v1/rate_limit/ shows usage.

Pricing

Free	Free.
Paid from	—
Usage price	—
Good to know	ShareAlike (BY-SA) items may force the derived work onto the same license. Search returns only the top results (~10,000) and is not meant for bulk download. No video media type.

Sources

Read on Oct 10, 2026: api.openverse.org/v1/schema/, docs.openverse.org/api/reference/authentication_and_throt..., docs.openverse.org/terms_of_service.html.

Not confirmed: Numeric rate limits.

Not legal advice. Check the license page before you ship.

Alternatives to Openverse

All open and public-domain media

Source	Price	License	Monetized YouTube	Agent access
Commonkite Free API and MCP server that searches openly licensed images across Openverse, NASA and three museums, returning license and credit lines.	Free	Commercial: conditions Credit varies	With conditions	MCP API
Icosa Gallery Open-source community 3D gallery with a public REST API and per-asset Creative Commons licenses.	Free	Commercial: conditions Credit varies	—	API
NASA Image and Video Library NASA images, video and audio, generally not copyrighted in the US, with a keyless search API.	Free	Commercial: conditions Credit required	With conditions	API
Smithsonian Open Access CC0 Smithsonian collection records and 3D models, with a REST API (api.data.gov key) and an alpha 3D API.	Free	Commercial: conditions No credit	With conditions	API
Wikimedia Commons Free media repository of photos, SVGs, video and audio under per-file free licenses, with the MediaWiki API.	Free	Commercial: conditions Credit varies	With conditions	API
NASA 3D Resources Free NASA 3D models, with a GitHub mirror (nasa/NASA-3D-Resources); no API.	Free	Commercial: conditions Credit required	—	Download