Migration

The Spotify Web API endpoints that went away — and the call that answers here

Three Spotify changes since November 2024 removed related artists, recommendations, audio features, bulk lookups and more for most new apps. This page states what changed, when, for whom — each claim linked to Spotify's own announcement — and maps every removed endpoint to the equivalent here, marked as a recorded sample or live only.

By Eduardo Airaudo, maintainer of the API · Updated 2 September 2026

What changed and when

  1. 27 November 2024

    Endpoint removals

    Related Artists, Recommendations, Audio Features, Audio Analysis, Featured Playlists, Category Playlists, the genre-seed list, algorithmic and Spotify-owned editorial playlists, and 30-second preview URLs in multi-get responses — removed for newly registered apps and for development-mode apps without a pending extension request.

    Spotify for Developers blog

  2. 15 May 2025

    Extended quota narrows

    Extended-quota applications are accepted from organizations only, sent from a company email, for an active launched service that meets Spotify's listed criteria including a minimum of 250k monthly active users. Review can take up to six weeks.

    Quota modes documentation

  3. 11 February / 9 March 2026

    Development-mode migration

    New development-mode apps from 11 February 2026, existing ones from 9 March: a Premium owner, five users, one client ID, and the removal of bulk lookups, artist top tracks, browse new-releases and categories, /markets and /users/{id}. Search limit capped at 10. Extended-quota apps are unaffected.

    February 2026 migration guide

Who is affected

Spotify's 27 November 2024 announcement applies the removals to two groups, quoted here verbatim: Existing apps that are still in development mode without a pending extension request and New apps that are registered on or after today's date. It also states that Applications with existing extended mode Web API access that were relying on these endpoints remain unaffected by this change.

Getting that extended access has since narrowed. Spotify's quota-modes page states: As of May 15th 2025, Spotify only accepts applications from organizations (not individuals), applying from a company email with a launched service and, among the listed criteria, at least 250k monthly active users. The February 2026 migration applies to development-mode apps only; extended-quota apps are unaffected.

In plain terms: if your app was registered after 27 November 2024, or sits in development mode, the calls in the table below answer 403 or 404 from Spotify. If you hold extended quota from before that date, nothing in this table applies to you.

Endpoint map

Every row is an endpoint from the committed OpenAPI spec. Sample means a recorded response, captured on the date shown, is viewable in the reference; live only means this site has no recording and will not fake one — press Run on the reference page to fetch a real response.

  • GET /v1/artists/{id}/related-artists

    Removed 27 Nov 2024 for new and development-mode apps

    GET /artist_related?id=sample · 2025-06-07

  • GET /v1/recommendations

    Removed 27 Nov 2024 for new and development-mode apps

    GET /recommendations?seed_tracks=&seed_artists=&seed_genres=&limit=live only

    Genre-only seed sets are rejected upstream; pair a genre with a track or artist id.

  • GET /v1/audio-features?ids=

    Removed 27 Nov 2024 for new and development-mode apps

    GET /audio_features?ids=live only

    Twelve features per track: tempo, energy, danceability, valence, key, mode and more.

  • GET /v1/audio-analysis/{id}

    Removed 27 Nov 2024 for new and development-mode apps

    no equivalent

    No equivalent. The beat, bar and segment grid is not served here.

  • GET /v1/browse/featured-playlists

    Removed 27 Nov 2024 for new and development-mode apps

    GET /browse/featured-playlists?country=&locale=live only

  • GET /v1/browse/categories/{id}/playlists

    Removed 27 Nov 2024 for new and development-mode apps

    no equivalent

    No equivalent. /browse/categories/{id} returns the category record only, not its playlists.

  • GET /v1/recommendations/available-genre-seeds

    Removed 27 Nov 2024 for new and development-mode apps

    no equivalent

    No list endpoint; /recommendations accepts seed_genres directly.

  • GET /v1/playlists/{id} for Spotify-owned editorial playlists

    Removed 27 Nov 2024 for new and development-mode apps

    GET /playlist?id=live only

    The demo's default playlist (Peaceful Piano) is a Spotify-owned editorial one.

  • preview_url in multi-get responses

    Removed 27 Nov 2024 for new and development-mode apps

    GET /download_track?q=live only

    Returns the Spotify 30-second preview URL alongside a YouTube-sourced m4a.

  • GET /v1/tracks?ids=

    Removed Feb–Mar 2026 for development-mode apps

    GET /tracks?ids=sample · 2025-06-07

  • GET /v1/artists?ids=

    Removed Feb–Mar 2026 for development-mode apps

    GET /artists?ids=sample · 2025-06-07

    The recorded sample carries each artist's followers.

  • GET /v1/albums?ids=

    Removed Feb–Mar 2026 for development-mode apps

    GET /albums?ids=live only

  • GET /v1/shows?ids=

    Removed Feb–Mar 2026 for development-mode apps

    GET /shows?ids=live only

  • GET /v1/episodes?ids=

    Removed Feb–Mar 2026 for development-mode apps

    GET /episodes?ids=live only

  • GET /v1/audiobooks?ids=

    Removed Feb–Mar 2026 for development-mode apps

    GET /audiobooks?ids=live only

  • GET /v1/artists/{id}/top-tracks

    Removed Feb–Mar 2026 for development-mode apps

    GET /artist_top_tracks?id=&market=live only

  • GET /v1/browse/new-releases

    Removed Feb–Mar 2026 for development-mode apps

    GET /browse/new-releases?country=live only

  • GET /v1/browse/categories

    Removed Feb–Mar 2026 for development-mode apps

    GET /browse/categories?country=&locale=live only

  • GET /v1/markets

    Removed Feb–Mar 2026 for development-mode apps

    GET /marketslive only

  • GET /v1/users/{id}

    Removed Feb–Mar 2026 for development-mode apps

    GET /user_profile?id=sample · 2025-06-07

  • GET /v1/search (limit capped at 10)

    Limit reduced Feb–Mar 2026 for development-mode apps

    GET /search?q=&type=&limit=sample · 2025-06-07

    limit is an ordinary parameter here; the recorded sample shows the response shape.

  • track.popularity, album.popularity

    Field removed for development-mode apps, Feb–Mar 2026

    GET /track_popularity_batch?ids=live only

  • album.label

    Field removed for development-mode apps, Feb–Mar 2026

    GET /album_metadata?id=live only

    The album page on this site prints the label from this call.

What this API does not replace

  • Audio analysis: the beat, bar, section and segment grid of /v1/audio-analysis has no equivalent here.
  • Category playlists: /browse/categories/{id} returns the category record, not the playlists inside it.
  • Anything user-scoped: no /me, no library reads or writes, no playlist edits, no playback control — there is no user token to act with.
  • Personalised algorithmic playlists such as Discover Weekly, which were never an API endpoint on either side.

Migration in one request

Spotify ids do not change. Related artists for Arijit Singh (4YRxDV8wJFPHPTeXepOstw), the way the two official SDKs and curl send it — the same three tabs the reference generates for every endpoint.

Install: npm install @checkleaked/spotify-api · pip install checkleaked-spotify-api. Public base URL https://spotify-proxy.checkleaked.cc; the full OpenAPI document is at https://spotify-proxy.checkleaked.cc/openapi.json.

Price per request

Computed from the plans on the pricing section — the cheapest plan on each platform whose quota covers the volume. Apify bills per Actor result rather than per request, so it is not on this table.

Requests / monthRapidAPIDirect portal
20,000$10/mo · Pro · $0.5 per 1,000 $9/mo · 20K tier · $0.45 per 1,000
200,000$30/mo · Ultra · $0.15 per 1,000 $27/mo · 200K tier · $0.135 per 1,000
1,000,000$200/mo · Mega · $0.2 per 1,000 $135/mo · 1M tier · $0.135 per 1,000
5,000,000$200/mo · Mega · $0.04 per 1,000 $675/mo · 5M tier · $0.135 per 1,000

Rate limits: 5 requests per second on RapidAPI, 10 on the direct portal. RapidAPI's Basic plan is free for 1,000 requests a month.

FAQ

Why am I getting 403 on /v1/audio-features?

Because your app was registered after 27 November 2024 or is in development mode without a pending extension request. Spotify removed Audio Features for those apps; extended-quota apps kept it. GET /audio_features?ids= here answers the same request with one API key.

Is my app affected if it already has extended quota?

No. Spotify's announcement states that applications with existing extended-mode access relying on these endpoints remain unaffected, and the February 2026 migration explicitly applies to development-mode apps only.

Do Spotify ids stay the same?

Yes. Every endpoint here takes and returns ordinary 22-character Spotify ids, so id-based code, database keys and cached lookups keep working after you change the base URL and the auth header.

What does the search limit of 10 mean for me?

Development-mode apps now get at most 10 search results per call from Spotify, with a default of 5. GET /search here takes limit as an ordinary parameter; the recorded sample on the reference page shows the response shape.

Is this allowed?

This API is an independent commercial service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Spotify. It returns data about the public catalogue only — no user data, no playback, no library writes. Read the terms of any service you build on and make your own assessment.

Can I try it before paying?

Yes. RapidAPI's Basic plan is free for 1,000 requests a month, Apify grants free platform credits on signup, and every endpoint on the reference page can be run from the browser.

Sources

Same ids, one header, 109 endpoints

Pick the billing model that fits, then change the base URL and the auth header.

RapidAPI Apify Direct Portal