The Exploding Topics API is a REST catalog. Endpoints return topics, a topic by keyword or path, startups, products, meta-trends, and a database search. Auth is an X-API-Key. Rate limit on the public spec is 60 requests per minute. That is a product database, not a Trends scrape. Trends API is the exit when the term is already known and the missing piece is a dated series. Catalog versus keyword sits on Trends API vs Exploding Topics.

A curated database, not a Trends reprint

Exploding Topics' own comparison says Google Trends is search-focused and 0-100, while Exploding Topics is discovery-focused with proprietary datasets, categorization, and raw search volume. The API is how that catalog leaves the app. It is not engine=google_trends.

A caller filters the vendor's list. A caller does not send source google search and an arbitrary phrase and get back a daily index. The official feature FAQ states the API does not offer custom keyword and geo-based data lookups like the in-app Trend Analysis tool. Read that sentence before buying the add-on for a keyword warehouse.

What the official API will not look up

No custom geo. No "type this phrase, pick a country, get Explore." The documented objects are the vendor's topics, products, startups, and meta-trends. If the term is not in the catalog, the API has nothing to return.

Trends API takes the opposite shape. keyword is the caller's string. source is a named feed. Phrase sources accept ordinary language. npm, PyPI, Steam, and Android expect exact package or bundle ids. Those rules sit on the sources reference.

{
  "mode": "get_growth",
  "source": "google search",
  "keyword": "mushroom leather",
  "percent_growth": ["12M"]
}

Parse the body string. growth_percent is a two-date move on that series. It is not an Exploding Topics forecast field.

Add-on pricing checked this session

On 27 Aug 2026, the Exploding Topics API feature page listed the API as an add-on to Pro Business (from $249/month) and three request packs: 1,000 calls for $1,000, 5,000 for $2,000, 25,000 for $4,000. Recheck that page. Do not copy those numbers into a contract without a second look.

Trends API list prices are on the pricing page. This article does not restate them.

When discovery is the wrong object

Keep Exploding Topics when editors want a ranked list of emerging topics the vendor already scored. Leave when the dashboard must accept a merchant's own ASIN list, an Android bundle id, or a Google phrase the catalog never curated. Those are get_time_series jobs, not /topics jobs.

A closer Google-volume product, with a different stop, is Glimpse.