Wolfram|Alpha API Overview Documentation Language Libraries API Explorer FAQs Terms of Use Sign In

Content

• What knowledge domains does Wolfram|Alpha cover?

  Wolfram|Alpha LLC's goal is to cover all domains of systematic factual knowledge. The system is continually growing, but already includes by far the largest amount of computable knowledge ever assembled, spanning a huge range of areas. See the examples to get an indication of topics currently covered. Contact us to inquire about specific knowledge domains.

• How trustworthy are Wolfram|Alpha's results?

  Wolfram|Alpha uses expertly reviewed curated data, trusted data providers, and extensively validated internal algorithms. Unlike search-based systems, it does not rely on material dynamically retrieved from public web sources. The Wolfram|Alpha system is built on Mathematica, one of the world's most respected software systems. Wolfram|Alpha uses extensive quality assurance on all components, and the system is continually updated to correct errors and omissions.

• Can I cache the results from Wolfram|Alpha?

  Caching is generally inadvisable with Wolfram|Alpha, both because data is continually updated and because a surprisingly large fraction of results depend on user location (not only directly through geography, but also through unit, currency, linguistic, and other conventions, as well as locally determined importance rankings of entities). The standard Wolfram|Alpha API contract does not allow caching.

• Can I contribute data to Wolfram|Alpha?

  The standard Wolfram|Alpha API provides access to Wolfram|Alpha's large and continually growing collection of data. Contact us to suggest additional data for the system. Custom and enterprise Wolfram|Alpha services can use Wolfram|Alpha technology together with proprietary data.

Comparisons

• How does Wolfram|Alpha relate to free data sources?

  Search engines, either interactively or through a programmatic API, give you links to pages that exist on the web. Wolfram|Alpha computes answers to specific questions using its built-in knowledge base and algorithms.

• How does Wolfram|Alpha relate to Wikipedia?

  Wikipedia gives you pages of narrative about topics. Wolfram|Alpha computes answers to specific questions you ask, just giving facts, not narrative. Wolfram|Alpha often includes sidebar links to Wikipedia.

• Does Wolfram|Alpha use semantic web technology?

  Not directly. Wolfram|Alpha has its own internal knowledge base, with its own extensive internal semantics and ontology.

• How does Wolfram|Alpha relate to business intelligence?

  Traditional business intelligence systems rely on a strict schema for the data and encoded business logic for understanding relationships between datasets. Wolfram|Alpha uses a unique paradigm for modeling data, based on algorithmic computation, that allows for implicit relationships among the data and the emergence of new knowledge.

Data

• Where does Wolfram|Alpha's data come from?

  Wolfram|Alpha's data comes from its internal knowledge base, curated by the Wolfram|Alpha team. Some of that data is derived from official public or private sources, but most of it is from more systematic primary sources. Source information is available for results, providing background sources and references.

• How often is Wolfram|Alpha's data updated?

  Many kinds of data—such as financial and weather—stream in all the time. Other kinds of data are updated when they become available, on a daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, or other basis.

• Can I get the raw data from Wolfram|Alpha?

  No. The purpose of Wolfram|Alpha is to provide specific answers to questions, using both data and algorithms. The standard Wolfram|Alpha API is intended to provide fully processed answers, rather than raw data.

• Can I get a download of data from Wolfram|Alpha?

  No. Almost every data result that Wolfram|Alpha gives is computed on the fly, so it would be impossible to download all of Wolfram|Alpha's data. Additionally, the data in Wolfram|Alpha's internal knowledge base is updated continually; a download of the data would quickly become out of date.

Technology

• Does Wolfram|Alpha use natural language processing (NLP)?

  Wolfram|Alpha introduces many new methods for understanding linguistic inputs. Mostly they're unlike traditional NLP, not least because Wolfram|Alpha has to deal with linguistic fragments rather than full grammatical sentences. Wolfram|Alpha does not rely on NLP methods to extract data from sources.

• Can I pass geolocation information to Wolfram|Alpha?

  Yes. The API directly supports specifying locations by lat, long, geoIP, etc.

• What web server technology does Wolfram|Alpha use?

  Its server technology is based on Apache Web servers accessing clusters of webMathematica servers.

• How is Wolfram|Alpha's computational infrastructure different from a web search infrastructure?

  Because Wolfram|Alpha computes results in real time, it requires high-performance processors running in parallel and relatively little storage in its computational infrastructure. Web search is the opposite. As web search does not compute results, there is no need for fast processors, but there is a need for large amounts of distributed storage.

• How reliable are the Wolfram|Alpha servers?

  Wolfram|Alpha is designed from top to bottom for reliable operation. We have multiple, distributed data centers. Within each data center there are multiple independent Wolfram|Alpha server modules. Within each server module there are multiple redundant webMathematica instances. Each webMathematica instance uses multiple redundant Mathematica kernels.

Development

• What do I need to access the Wolfram|Alpha API?

  To access the Wolfram|Alpha API you need two things: a current Wolfram|Alpha API account and an API key (AppID). You may sign up for a Wolfram|Alpha API account online.

• What is an API key?

  The API key, also referred to as an Application ID or just an AppID, is a string that uniquely identifies your application to Wolfram|Alpha. The API key must be sent with each Wolfram|Alpha API request. If you have multiple applications using the Wolfram|Alpha API, each must have its own API key.

• What programming languages can I use to develop for the Wolfram|Alpha API?

  The Wolfram|Alpha API is a standard REST-style API that can be used from any programming language. Requests are sent as a URL over HTTP, and the response is XML. Explicit bindings are available for popular languages.

• Does Wolfram|Alpha plan to support SOAP through the API?

  Not at this time. But please let us know if you are interested in using a SOAP interface rather than a REST-style interface.

• Can I develop interactive web applications with the Wolfram|Alpha API?

  Yes. The Wolfram|Alpha API is designed to operate with interactive web technologies such as AJAX, Flash, and Silverlight.

• Can I control what output I get from the Wolfram|Alpha API?

  The Wolfram|Alpha API allows you to select what subsets of full Wolfram|Alpha results you wish to receive. Subsets often correspond to particular types of "pods" in output on the Wolfram|Alpha website.

• Can I get fully formatted images from the Wolfram|Alpha API?

  Yes. You can get images just like on the Wolfram|Alpha website. You can specify the formatting width to use; the API will automatically construct graphics and typeset material to that width.

• What is the response time of the Wolfram|Alpha API?

  It depends on the query. The API provides timeout specifications, and allows additional results to be obtained asynchronously. The API allows optimization through specification of subsets of full Wolfram|Alpha output.

Business

• Is the Wolfram|Alpha API free to use?

  Yes and no. The Wolfram|Alpha API is available for free for non-commercial experimental use with a low monthly cap on queries. Once you're ready to take the next step, contact us for pricing options. The API accesses the complete Wolfram|Alpha system, with all its curated data and built-in algorithms, together with the Wolfram|Alpha supercomputer-class cloud infrastructure.

• How much I may use the Wolfram|Alpha API?

  You can make up to 2000 API calls per month using the free API for non-commercial purposes. For commercial use and other options, the amount of requests you can make is subject to your pricing plan and the Wolfram|Alpha API Terms of Use.

• Can I use the Wolfram|Alpha API for commercial purposes?

  Yes. Contact us to discuss a plan that suits your particular needs.

• Is consulting available to help me build my Wolfram|Alpha application?

  Yes. We have a full-service consulting organization that can handle projects small and large.

• Can I use the Wolfram|Alpha API in my non-web application?

  Yes. The Wolfram|Alpha API is a webservice and can be used in any application, whether deployed to the web, desktop, or a gadget or widget. The only system requirement is an active internet connection.

• Can I use the Wolfram|Alpha API in my mobile application?

  Yes. All you need is access to the internet, either by wifi or over a cellular network. The Wolfram|Alpha API is economical in the amounts of data it sends.

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