Public JSON API

Free · read-only · CORS open · static (no rate limits)

Every page on os-alt is generated from a small, hand-curated dataset of 100 paid SaaS and the 227 unique open-source projects we recommend as self-host replacements. This API exposes that dataset as JSON, regenerated on every deploy with fresh GitHub stats (stars, last commit, archived flag, alive/stale/dead classification).

No auth, no API keys, no rate limits — the responses are static files served from Vercel's CDN. Embed in dashboards, READMEs, blog posts, or your own tooling. If you build something on top, let us know.

Endpoints

`GET /api/saas/index.json`

List of every SaaS we cover, with slug, name, category, page URL, and the URL of the detail JSON for each.

curl -s https://code-rho-dun.vercel.app/api/saas/index.json | jq '.saas[0:3]'

Schema

generated_at — ISO 8601 timestamp of the build that produced this file
count — number of SaaS entries (integer)
slugs — array of slug strings, alphabetized by SaaS name
saas — array of objects: {slug, name, category, alternatives_count, page_url, api_url}

`GET /api/saas/<slug>.json`

Full detail for one SaaS: the editorial blurb, pricing anchor, every recommended open-source alternative, and live GitHub health for each alternative as of the last build.

curl -s https://code-rho-dun.vercel.app/api/saas/1password.json | jq '.alternatives[0]'

Schema

generated_at — ISO 8601 timestamp
slug, name, category, blurb, saas_pricing_anchor — strings
page_url — string, path on the os-alt site
migration_guide_url — string or null; present when a long-form migration guide exists
alternatives — array of objects:
- name, github ("owner/repo"), github_owner, github_name — strings
- license — SPDX-style string; license_note — string or null
- setup_time — string; setup_score — "easy" | "moderate" | "hard"
- monthly_cost, migration_sketch, good_fit_for, weak_at — strings
- health — object:
  - status — "alive" | "stale" | "dead" | "unknown"
  - stars — integer or null
  - last_commit_at — ISO 8601 string or null
  - last_commit_age_days — integer or null (computed at build time)
  - open_issues — integer or null
  - archived — boolean (archived repos are classified as dead)
  - fetched_at — ISO 8601 string

`GET /api/health.json`

Flat list of every unique open-source repository we track, with its current health classification, star count, last commit date, and which os-alt SaaS pages list it. Useful for dashboards, OSS-health rollups, and READMEs that want to flag stale recommendations.

curl -s https://code-rho-dun.vercel.app/api/health.json | jq '.counts, .repos[] | select(.health == "dead") | .github'

Schema

generated_at — ISO 8601 timestamp
count — number of unique repositories tracked
counts — object: {alive, stale, dead, unknown} integer counts
health_thresholds — the day cutoffs used to classify each repo (currently 90d/365d)
repos — array of objects:
- github ("owner/repo"), owner, name — strings
- stars, open_issues, last_commit_age_days — integers or null
- last_commit_at — ISO 8601 string or null
- archived — boolean
- health — "alive" | "stale" | "dead" | "unknown"
- listed_under — array of SaaS slugs that recommend this repo (e.g. ["aws-s3", "google-cloud-storage"])
- fetched_at — ISO 8601 string

Notes

All endpoints respond with Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8 and Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *, so browser fetch() works from any origin.
Files are regenerated on every deploy. The directory rebuilds automatically on a daily GitHub Actions cron, so generated_at is never more than ~24 hours old.
Health classification uses last-commit age: alive ≤ 90 days, stale ≤ 365 days, dead > 365 days. Archived repos are always dead regardless of commit age.
The dataset is the same one rendering the human pages — there is no separate API store or queue. If a SaaS appears in the directory, it appears in the API at the same time.
Read-only. There is no write API, no authentication, and no quotas.