OpenTopography

free (NSF-funded); rate-limited free API key; OT+ subscription and paid Enterprise API key for commercial use Win & Set Up the Work

NSF-funded nonprofit portal and REST API for accessing global DEMs (Copernicus, SRTM) and US LiDAR/3DEP topography. Provides RESTful web services (global DEM API + USGS 3DEP raster API) with rate-limited free API keys (200 calls/24h academic, 50/24h non-academic). US 3DEP 1m DEM access is restricted to academic users; commercial or intensive use requires a paid Enterprise API key.

4.0 /5 composite score

Coordinate-to-terrain layer -- RESTful web services (global DEM API + USGS 3DEP raster API) return DEM GeoTIFF rasters and LiDAR point clouds in open formats with a free rate-limited API key; global DEMs are free, though US 3DEP 1m DEM is academic-restricted and commercial/intensive use needs a paid Enterprise key.

Worth it

Rubric Scorecard

How we grade →

Criterion	Score	Evidence
Value for the price	4/5	free (NSF-funded); rate-limited free API key; OT+ subscription and paid Enterprise API key for commercial use, free tier
Agent Friendliness	4/5	API: RESTful web services: global DEM API and USGS 3DEP raster API (opentopography.org/developers) Source →
Ease of adoption	4/5	--
Portability & lock-in	5/5	2 file formats
Interoperability	3/5	--

Pricing

Modelfree (NSF-funded); rate-limited free API key; OT+ subscription and paid Enterprise API key for commercial use

Free tieryes

Free vieweryes

Free tier scopeusable

Visit OpenTopography →

How we verified this: we checked OpenTopography against its live site and an independent source — atlas.co. Nothing on this page is listed from memory. See how we grade. Verified 2026-07-19.

Evidence

File formats

Format	Direction	Support
GeoTIFF	export	full -- DEM rasters (1m/10m/30m).
LAS	export	full -- LiDAR point clouds.

Sources

API docs

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