ReadingRate · What's new · 2026-08-24
Look up any book's difficulty through a public API
ReadingRate has a public, read-only API for its catalogue. Search by title or author, or ask for a book by its address, and get back its difficulty score with the dimensions behind it, its reading time, word count, page count and literary regard as JSON. It needs no key and no account, and it is documented at /developers with an OpenAPI description.
Available on web.
It exists because assistants and scripts were already asking the site these questions and getting web pages back. Book pages also answer in Markdown when a client asks for it, and the site has an llms.txt that describes the product in plain terms.
The API is limited to about 120 requests a minute for each address, and says so in standard rate-limit headers on every response. Changes within version 1 only add; anything that breaks would arrive as version 2, and a retired version would keep working for at least six months.
What it can't do
- Two things only: look up a book, and search. There are no endpoints for lists, prizes or authors.
- It is read-only and holds catalogue facts. Your own reading is not in it; that goes through the assistant connection, behind your sign-in.
- Search returns at most fifty results.
- Scores appear only for books that have been scored.
Questions people ask
- Does ReadingRate have an API?
- Yes. A free, read-only API returns a book's difficulty score, reading time, word count and literary regard as JSON, with no key. It is limited to about 120 requests a minute for each address.