A trading card API built for builders
Most card data products were built for collectors first and opened an API later. CardSight AI started as infrastructure: a free tier with no credit card, monthly billing instead of annual contracts, rate limits measured in requests per second, and a thirteen million card catalog behind identification that runs at 99.5% accuracy in under 300ms.
Whether you are a developer shipping a marketplace or a collector building your first app with no-code tools, these are the numbers that decide whether an API is usable. Every one of ours is current.
CardSight AI by the numbers
Six figures that describe the service as it is today. Easy to quote, easy to check against the pricing page.
750
Free API calls a month.
No credit card.
4–10 req/s
Rate limits by tier, Free included.
240 to 600 calls a minute.
$14.95/mo
Where paid plans start.
Monthly, no annual contract.
13M+
Cards from 1933 to today.
Every parallel cataloged.
99.5%
Identification accuracy from a photo.
In under 300ms.
What builders run into
Three ways to get card data into an application today, and the gate each one puts in front of you.
Collector apps with a bolt-on API
- Annual plans from $299 to $1,199, card required to trial
- 10 to 500 calls a minute, with daily caps on every plan
- Graded-card image lookups capped at 2,000 a day, on every tier
- Key endpoints locked behind a commercial agreement or Enterprise key
Fine for a dashboard. Painful for a binder scan.
Price trackers and databases
- Built for a person at a screen
- Where an API exists, you apply for it and explain what you are building first
- Scrape it instead and it breaks the next time the page changes
- Nothing identifies a card from a photo
Great for research. Not something you can ship on.
Building it yourself
- A catalog, assembled from scratch
- An identification pipeline, trained and kept current
- Marketplace data, matched card by card
- New releases to catalog every week, forever
Each one is a multi-year project. The cost breakdown below is the honest version.
CardSight AI is API-first
The API is the product, not a feature added to a collector app. CardSight AI is the first company to build trading card infrastructure that way, and it shows in how you get in.
- No approvals. Sign up, create a key, start building.
- No questions about what you are building or who you compete with.
- We never turn a builder away for what they are building.
- Every feature on every tier, including Free.
We grow with you
Nobody should pay $199.95 a month for a system that is not in production yet. Start on Free, move up when your users do, and keep the difference in your platform.
- Start on Free, with every feature, for as long as testing takes.
- Move up a tier when your volume does. Paid plans start at $14.95 a month.
- Cover a busy month with a call pack instead of a bigger plan.
- Enterprise when you need it, never as the entry point.
Side by side
The things builders check before picking a card data provider.
| Capability | CardSight AIBuilt for builders | Collector apps with an API | Price trackers and databases |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free tier | 750 calls a monthNo credit card | 7-day trial, card required | Browse only, no API |
| Billing | Monthly, from $14.95No annual contract | Annual only, $299 to $1,199 | No API plans |
| Rate limit | 4 to 10 requests a second240 to 600 calls a minute, no daily cap | 10 to 500 calls a minuteDaily caps on every plan | No API |
| Call volume | No hard ceilingAdd call packs on any paid tier, with deeper discounts as you grow | Daily caps by plan | No API |
| Catalog | 13M+ cards, 1933 to todayEvery parallel cataloged | About 4M cards | Varies by site |
| Identify a card from a photo | 99.5% in under 300msMulti-card, slabs, parallels | One best match per image, about a secondGraded-card image lookups capped at 2,000 a day on every tier | Not offered |
| Card language detection | Eight languagesISO 639-1 code on every result | Not listed | Not offered |
| Live video identification | Continuous, from a streamNo capture or upload step | Not listed | Not offered |
| Population reports | Included at no chargeBy card, set, and release | Enterprise key plus your own GemRate contract | Some sites |
| Collection management API | Collections, binders, want listsAnalytics and breakdowns included | Price watchlist only | Not offered |
| Official SDKs | Five open-source SDKsNode.js, Python, Swift, Java, and .NET, plus the OpenAPI 3.0 spec | OpenAPI spec only | None |
Free tier
CardSight AI
750 calls a monthNo credit cardThem
Collector apps with an API: 7-day trial, card required
Price trackers and databases: Browse only, no API
Billing
CardSight AI
Monthly, from $14.95No annual contractThem
Collector apps with an API: Annual only, $299 to $1,199
Price trackers and databases: No API plans
Rate limit
CardSight AI
4 to 10 requests a second240 to 600 calls a minute, no daily capThem
Collector apps with an API: 10 to 500 calls a minuteDaily caps on every plan
Price trackers and databases: No API
Call volume
CardSight AI
No hard ceilingAdd call packs on any paid tier, with deeper discounts as you growThem
Collector apps with an API: Daily caps by plan
Price trackers and databases: No API
Catalog
CardSight AI
13M+ cards, 1933 to todayEvery parallel catalogedThem
Collector apps with an API: About 4M cards
Price trackers and databases: Varies by site
Identify a card from a photo
CardSight AI
99.5% in under 300msMulti-card, slabs, parallelsThem
Collector apps with an API: One best match per image, about a secondGraded-card image lookups capped at 2,000 a day on every tier
Price trackers and databases: Not offered
Card language detection
CardSight AI
Eight languagesISO 639-1 code on every resultThem
Collector apps with an API: Not listed
Price trackers and databases: Not offered
Live video identification
CardSight AI
Continuous, from a streamNo capture or upload stepThem
Collector apps with an API: Not listed
Price trackers and databases: Not offered
Population reports
CardSight AI
Included at no chargeBy card, set, and releaseThem
Collector apps with an API: Enterprise key plus your own GemRate contract
Price trackers and databases: Some sites
Collection management API
CardSight AI
Collections, binders, want listsAnalytics and breakdowns includedThem
Collector apps with an API: Price watchlist only
Price trackers and databases: Not offered
What Used to Cost Millions Now Takes Minutes
Skip months of development and millions in costs. Get enterprise-grade trading card infrastructure starting at $0/month with our free tier.
| Feature | Previous Time | Previous Cost | CardSight AI |
|---|---|---|---|
Visual Card Identification | 12-18 months | 500,000+ | Included |
13M+ Card Catalog Database | 6-12 months | 250,000+ | Included |
Market Pricing Integration | 4-6 months | 150,000+ | Included |
AI Integration (MCP/Plugins) | 3-4 months | 125,000+ | Included |
Total Investment | 1+ year | $1,025,000+ | From $0/mo |
Visual Card Identification
Time
12-18 months
Cost
500,000+
CardSight
13M+ Card Catalog Database
Time
6-12 months
Cost
250,000+
CardSight
Market Pricing Integration
Time
4-6 months
Cost
150,000+
CardSight
AI Integration (MCP/Plugins)
Time
3-4 months
Cost
125,000+
CardSight
$1,025,000+
Saved
1+ Years
Faster
5-10
Engineers
Building a trading card API from scratch costs over $2 million and takes 2+ years. CardSight AI provides visual card identification, pricing data, and catalog access starting at $0/month. Save development costs and launch your trading card app this weekend.
Frequently asked questions
The questions builders ask before they pick a card data provider.
Yes. CardSight AI's Free tier includes 750 API calls a month at 4 requests a second, with every feature: identification, catalog, pricing, population reports, collection management, and the MCP endpoint. It does not expire and does not require a credit card.
No. Sign up, create an API key, and start calling the API. A card is only needed when you move to a paid tier.
Not a hard one. Every paid tier includes a monthly allotment, and you can add 10,000-call packs at any time at your tier's per-call rate: $0.0030 on Pro, $0.0025 on Premium, and $0.0020 on Ultra. Packs stack on top of your allotment, never expire, and nothing is billed automatically.
Yes. CardSight AI runs a hosted Model Context Protocol endpoint at mcp.cardsight.ai that works with Claude, ChatGPT, and any MCP-compatible assistant, using the same API key as the REST API. Listing the available tools needs no key; running them does.
Baseball (4.5M+ cards), football (2.5M+), basketball (2M+), and hockey (1M+), plus Pokémon TCG across 172 sets, Magic: The Gathering across 250+ releases, and the One Piece Card Game across every US release since 2022. Yu-Gi-Oh! and soccer are planned for 2026 and will be added to existing plans at no extra charge.
Price-tracking sites are built for a person looking at a screen. CardSight AI is built for software: it identifies a card from a photo, returns structured catalog data, pricing, populations, and collection records over a documented REST API with open-source SDKs, and it is priced per call rather than per seat.
Tap any question to expand
Yes. CardSight AI's Free tier includes 750 API calls a month at 4 requests a second, with every feature: identification, catalog, pricing, population reports, collection management, and the MCP endpoint. It does not expire and does not require a credit card.
No. Sign up, create an API key, and start calling the API. A card is only needed when you move to a paid tier.
Not a hard one. Every paid tier includes a monthly allotment, and you can add 10,000-call packs at any time at your tier's per-call rate: $0.0030 on Pro, $0.0025 on Premium, and $0.0020 on Ultra. Packs stack on top of your allotment, never expire, and nothing is billed automatically.
Yes. CardSight AI runs a hosted Model Context Protocol endpoint at mcp.cardsight.ai that works with Claude, ChatGPT, and any MCP-compatible assistant, using the same API key as the REST API. Listing the available tools needs no key; running them does.
Baseball (4.5M+ cards), football (2.5M+), basketball (2M+), and hockey (1M+), plus Pokémon TCG across 172 sets, Magic: The Gathering across 250+ releases, and the One Piece Card Game across every US release since 2022. Yu-Gi-Oh! and soccer are planned for 2026 and will be added to existing plans at no extra charge.
Price-tracking sites are built for a person looking at a screen. CardSight AI is built for software: it identifies a card from a photo, returns structured catalog data, pricing, populations, and collection records over a documented REST API with open-source SDKs, and it is priced per call rather than per seat.