RAWG vs The Visual Novel Database

RAWG is a video game database and discovery service that provides game data, search, and machine-learning recommendations through an API, alongside its web platform. Its API page lists 500,000+ games across 50 platforms, including mobile. Records can include descriptions, genres, release dates, store links, ESRB and Metacritic ratings, playtime, gameplay videos, system requirements, and downloadable content and franchise information. RAWG says similar-game recommendations use computer vision; player activity data includes Steam average playtime and RAWG player counts and ratings. Every API request requires an API key. The Free plan is for non-commercial projects, allows up to 20,000 requests per month, and requires backlinks to RAWG where data is used. Business costs $149 a month and allows commercial use with up to 50,000 monthly requests. Terms permit free commercial use for startups and hobby projects at or below 100,000 monthly active users or 500,000 page views per month; larger projects are directed to request commercial terms. Attribution with an active RAWG hyperlink is required, and resale or redistribution to other businesses is prohibited.

The Visual Novel Database (VNDB) is a free resource for information about visual novels and eroge, available on the web and through an API. Its wiki lets people add and contribute information, including general details and practical coverage of releases, localisations and producers. Registered users can vote on visual novels and maintain lists of games they want to play or have finished. VNDB also aims to introduce visual novels to a broader audience across geographic and cultural differences. The Kana HTTPS API can query the database and manage user lists. Non-commercial API access costs nothing and is subject to limits: 200 requests per 5 minutes, one second of execution time per minute, and automatic abortion of requests exceeding three seconds. API availability is best-effort, with no guarantees about stability or applicability. It does not provide some site functions, including forums, database editing and account creation. Users can obtain API tokens from the Applications tab in My Profile, and a sandbox endpoint at beta.vndb.org/api/kana is available for testing and development. VNDB's first version went live in September 2007.