Timezone handling looks simple until it isn't. DST transitions, historical changes, and those odd :30 and :45 offsets can break applications in subtle ways. We tested six timezone APIs to see how they handle real-world complexity.

Best for: Budget-conscious projects that need reliable basics

At $50/year, TimezoneDB is among the cheapest paid options. The API covers the fundamentals well: coordinate-to-timezone lookups, current time retrieval, and DST offset information.

The free tier allows one request per second but is restricted to non-commercial use only. Paid plans ($5/month or $50/year) remove this limit and add premium features like city name lookups.

Strengths:

• Genuinely inexpensive for timezone-only needs

• Clean, straightforward API design

• Handles unusual offsets correctly (Nepal's UTC+5:45, India's UTC+5:30)

• IANA timezone database updates

Weaknesses:

• Historical timezone data is limited to recent years

• No batch request support

• Documentation could be more detailed

Sample response:

{
	"status": "OK",
	"zoneName": "Asia/Kathmandu",
	"gmtOffset": 20700,
	"dst": "0"
}

Best for: Simple current-time lookups with zero budget

WorldTimeAPI is completely free and requires no API key. You can query by timezone name or IP address to get the current time. That simplicity is both its strength and limitation.

Strengths:

• No signup, no API key, no cost

• IP-based timezone detection

• Returns both raw and formatted time strings

Weaknesses:

• No coordinate-based lookups

• No historical data

• No DST transition information beyond current state

• Occasional availability issues during high traffic

• Cannot query arbitrary timestamps

Sample response:

{
	"timezone": "America/New_York",
	"datetime": "2026-01-19T10:30:45.123456-05:00",
	"utc_offset": "-05:00",
	"dst": false
}

Best for: Applications requiring comprehensive timezone intelligence

TimeAndDate offers the most feature-complete timezone API. Historical data goes back decades, DST transition schedules are available years in advance, and the API handles every edge case we tested.

The pricing tiers ($49-$399/year) reflect different request volumes and feature access. The higher tiers include business day calculations, holiday data, and astronomy information.

Strengths:

• Extensive historical timezone data

• Forward-looking DST transition schedules

• Handles all unusual offsets correctly

• Batch requests supported

• Excellent documentation

Weaknesses:

• No free tier for evaluation

• Higher cost than basic alternatives

• Response format is more complex

Best for: Teams already using Abstract's API suite

Abstract offers a timezone API as part of their broader API platform (IP geolocation, email validation, etc.). The $9-99/month pricing makes sense if you're using multiple Abstract APIs; less so for timezone lookups alone.

Strengths:

• Unified platform if using other Abstract APIs

• Coordinate-based lookups work well

• Clean developer experience

Weaknesses:

• Monthly pricing adds up versus annual alternatives

• No historical timezone data

• Limited DST transition information

• Overkill if you only need timezone data

Best for: Projects already on Google Cloud Platform

Google's offering is technically capable but comes with Google Cloud overhead. You'll need a GCP project, billing enabled, and API credentials before making your first request. The $200 free credit helps, but the setup friction is real.

Pricing runs approximately $5 per 1,000 requests after free credits expire. For high-volume applications, this adds up quickly compared to annual flat-rate alternatives.

Strengths:

• Accurate coordinate lookups using Google's location data

• Historical timezone data available

• High rate limits (50 requests/second default)

• Google's infrastructure reliability

Weaknesses:

• Requires Google Cloud account and billing setup

• Pay-per-request model unpredictable for variable traffic

• More complex authentication than alternatives

• Overkill for simple timezone needs

Sample request:

https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/timezone/json
  ?location=39.6034,-119.6822
  &timestamp=1737295200
  &key=YOUR_API_KEY

Best for: Projects needing timezone plus country/holiday/business day data

World Data API bundles timezone lookups with country information, holidays, business day calculations, and geographic details. Pricing ranges from $79/year (15K requests/month) to $1,349/year (500K requests/month).

Strengths:

• Bundled data types reduce API sprawl

• Includes holidays and business day calculations (unique among timezone APIs)

• Permanent free tier (60/day) with no commercial restrictions

• Coordinate lookups included

Weaknesses:

• No historical timezone data

• Bundle pricing inefficient if you only need timezones

• Less focused than timezone-specific APIs

We tested each API against scenarios that commonly break timezone implementations:

We queried the exact moment of DST transitions in multiple regions. TimezoneDB, TimeAndDate, and Google handled these correctly. WorldTimeAPI only reports current DST status without transition times. Abstract and World Data API provided basic DST flags but not transition schedules.

Not all timezones use whole-hour offsets:

• Nepal: UTC+5:45

• India: UTC+5:30

• Newfoundland: UTC-3:30

• Chatham Islands: UTC+12:45

All six APIs returned correct offsets for these zones. This is table stakes in 2026, but worth verifying.

Timezones change. Samoa skipped December 30, 2011 entirely when switching sides of the International Date Line. Russia has reorganized its timezones multiple times.

Only TimeAndDate and Google provided accurate historical data for these changes. TimezoneDB had partial coverage for recent years. The others returned current timezone rules regardless of the queried timestamp.

For 100,000 requests/month:

For 1,000,000 requests/month:

The flat-rate APIs (TimezoneDB, TimeAndDate) become dramatically cheaper at scale.

For budget projects: Start with WorldTimeAPI if you only need current time by timezone name. Move to TimezoneDB ($50/year) when you need coordinate lookups or hit reliability issues.

For production applications: TimezoneDB handles most real-world needs at minimal cost. The free tier is non-commercial only; the paid tier ($50/year) removes this restriction.

For complex timezone requirements: TimeAndDate Time API justifies its higher price if you need historical data, DST transition schedules, or batch processing. The documentation and accuracy are excellent.

For Google Cloud shops: The Google Time Zone API makes sense if you're already authenticated and billing is configured. Starting from scratch? The setup overhead isn't worth it for timezone lookups alone.

For API consolidation: Abstract or World Data make sense if you're already using their other APIs. Neither is the best choice for timezone functionality alone.

Most applications don't need the complexity (or cost) of premium timezone APIs. TimezoneDB at $50/year handles coordinate lookups, DST information, and unusual offsets correctly. That covers 90% of real-world use cases.

If you need historical accuracy or advanced features, TimeAndDate is worth the investment. For everything else, start simple and upgrade when you hit actual limitations—not theoretical ones.