Best Tarot APIs for Developers in 2026: Features, Pricing, and Comparison

Tarot apps are one of the strongest categories in spiritual technology. Daily card pulls create habitual engagement. Shareable readings drive organic growth. Premium spreads monetize naturally. The top tarot apps generate millions in annual revenue, and the barrier to building one has never been lower.

But behind every tarot app is a data source. The tarot card meanings, spread configurations, card randomization, and interpretation logic all need to come from somewhere. You can hard-code 78 card meanings into your app and handle the logic yourself. Or you can use a tarot API that manages it all through structured endpoints.

This guide compares the tarot API options available to developers in 2026, covering what each provides, what it costs, and which is the best fit depending on your product vision.

What a Tarot API Should Provide

Before comparing providers, here is what you should expect from a production-quality tarot API:

Essential Features

Card data for all 78 cards. The standard tarot deck has 22 Major Arcana cards (The Fool through The World) and 56 Minor Arcana cards across four suits (Cups, Wands, Swords, Pentacles). A complete tarot API covers all 78 cards with names, numbers, suit designation, and imagery descriptions.

Upright and reversed meanings. Every tarot card has a different interpretation when drawn upright versus reversed (upside down). Both meanings should be available per card, with sufficient detail for a meaningful reading experience.

Spread types. At minimum: single card draws and three-card spreads (Past, Present, Future). Advanced spreads like the Celtic Cross (10 cards), Relationship Spread, and Career Spread add premium value.

Randomization with position context. When a user requests a spread, the API should return randomly selected cards with their position labels (e.g., "Position 1: Past"), upright/reversed status, and position-specific interpretation.

Advanced Features

Keywords and themes. Short keyword lists per card for quick-glance displays (e.g., The Tower: "upheaval, sudden change, revelation").

Symbolism descriptions. Explanation of the visual symbolism on each card. This enriches the reading experience and provides content for card detail views.

Daily card endpoint. A dedicated endpoint optimized for the daily card pull use case — the highest-engagement feature in tarot apps.

AI-friendly response structure. Descriptive field names and rich text fields that AI models can use to generate personalized, conversational interpretations.

The Tarot API Landscape in 2026

The tarot API market is significantly smaller and less mature than the astrology API market. There are fewer dedicated providers, and the quality variation is substantial.

Option 1: RoxyAPI Tarot API

Overview: RoxyAPI includes tarot as one of six spiritual domains (alongside Western astrology, Vedic astrology, numerology, I-Ching, and dream interpretation) under a single API key.

Card coverage: All 78 Major and Minor Arcana cards with full meanings.

Spread types: Daily card draws, three-card spreads, and additional spread configurations.

Upright/reversed: Yes. Each card draw includes upright or reversed status with corresponding interpretation.

Response quality: Structured JSON with descriptive field names. Card meanings include sufficient detail for both display and AI consumption. Every response field has semantic context.

Documentation: Interactive Scalar-powered OpenAPI documentation with field-level descriptions, examples, and endpoint exploration.

AI readiness: MCP server for AI agent integration, llms.txt for discoverability, response fields designed for tool-call consumption by LLMs.

Additional domains: Same API key provides Western astrology, Vedic astrology, numerology, I-Ching, and dream interpretation at no extra cost.

Pricing: Starts at $39/month for 5,000 requests (all six domains included). Professional plan: $149/month for 50,000 requests. Every plan includes every domain.

Option 2: Free Open-Source Tarot Data

Overview: Several open-source tarot datasets exist on GitHub. These provide card names, meanings, and metadata as JSON files you can bundle into your application.

Card coverage: Varies. Some datasets cover all 78 cards. Others cover only the 22 Major Arcana.

Spread types: None. You implement spread logic, randomization, and position assignment yourself.

Upright/reversed: Some datasets include both. Quality and depth of meanings vary significantly.

Response quality: Raw data files. No API endpoint. No randomization. No spread logic. You build everything.

Documentation: Typically a README with the JSON schema.

AI readiness: Not applicable. Static data, not an API.

Additional domains: None. Tarot data only.

Pricing: Free. But development time is not free. Implementing spread randomization, position logic, reversed card handling, and serving this as an API endpoint in your backend takes meaningful development time.

When this makes sense: Prototyping. Learning. Apps where you want full control over the data and do not mind building the logic layer. Not recommended for production apps that need to ship quickly.

Option 3: Build Your Own from Scratch

Overview: Hard-code 78 card meanings, write randomization logic, implement spread configurations, and serve it all from your own backend.

The work involved:

• Research and write descriptions for 78 cards (upright and reversed = 156 meaning texts)
• Implement Fisher-Yates shuffle for fair card randomization
• Build spread configurations (position labels, card count, position meanings)
• Handle reversed card logic (typically 50% chance per card)
• Build an internal API or service layer
• Maintain and update card content

When this makes sense: When you have specific content requirements that no provider meets, when you want complete creative control over card interpretations, or when you are building a highly custom tarot experience with unique card content.

Drawback: Significant upfront time investment. For most developers, the time spent building tarot logic from scratch exceeds a year of API subscription costs.

Option 4: RapidAPI Marketplace Tarot APIs

Overview: Several tarot-related APIs are listed on RapidAPI. Quality, reliability, and maintenance status vary widely.

Common issues:

• Many are hobby projects with no maintenance commitment
• Documentation is often minimal
• Response formats vary (some return HTML, not JSON)
• No guarantee of continued availability
• Limited or no support

When this makes sense: Quick prototyping where data quality is not critical. Not recommended for production apps.

Comparison Table

Feature	RoxyAPI	Open-Source Data	Build Your Own	RapidAPI Marketplace
All 78 cards	Yes	Varies	You write them	Varies
Upright + reversed	Yes	Varies	You write them	Varies
Multiple spreads	Yes	You build them	You build them	Limited
Daily card endpoint	Yes	You build it	You build it	Sometimes
AI/MCP ready	Yes	No	You build it	No
Other domains	5 additional	None	None	Separate APIs
Documentation	Scalar (interactive)	README	Your own	Basic
Reliability	Production-grade	N/A (static data)	Your infrastructure	Unpredictable
Time to integrate	Hours	Days	Weeks	Hours-Days
Monthly cost	From $39	Free	Your server costs	Varies

Building a Tarot App: API Integration Patterns

Regardless of which data source you choose, here are the integration patterns that successful tarot apps use:

Daily Card Pull

The highest-engagement feature. User opens the app, taps a card, sees their daily reading.

API pattern:

GET /tarot/daily
Headers: X-API-Key: your-key

UX pattern: Show a face-down card. User taps to reveal. Card flips with CSS animation. Meaning fades in below. Cache the result per user per day so they see the same card if they return.

Three-Card Spread

The most popular multi-card reading. Three cards representing Past, Present, Future.

API pattern:

GET /tarot/spread?spread=three-card
Headers: X-API-Key: your-key

UX pattern: Three face-down cards in a row, labeled by position. Reveal one at a time or all at once. Show position-specific interpretation for each card.

AI-Enhanced Readings

Pass the structured tarot card data to an LLM along with the user's question for a personalized, conversational interpretation.

Pattern:

1. User types a question ("What should I focus on this week?")
2. Call the tarot API for a card or spread
3. Send the card data + user question to an LLM
4. LLM generates a personalized reading using the card meanings as grounding data
5. Display the conversational reading alongside the card imagery

This is where AI-ready APIs shine. An API that returns rich, descriptive card data gives the LLM better context for generating relevant, grounded interpretations. An API that returns minimal data forces the LLM to hallucinate card meanings, reducing reading quality.

Combining Tarot with Other Domains

The most engaging spiritual apps combine multiple modalities:

Tarot + Daily Horoscope: "Your daily card is The Star. Combined with Mercury entering your sign today, this suggests a period of clarity in communication."

Tarot + Numerology: "Your Life Path Number is 7 (the Seeker). Today's card, The Hermit, amplifies your natural introspective energy."

Tarot + I-Ching: Offer users a choice between Western and Eastern divination methods, or combine both for a dual-perspective reading.

With a multi-domain API like RoxyAPI, these combinations require no additional providers. Same API key, same integration pattern, additional endpoints.

Monetization Strategies for Tarot Apps

Freemium (Most Common)

Free tier:

• 1 daily card pull
• Limited three-card spreads per week

Premium ($3.99-9.99/month):

• Unlimited card pulls and spreads
• Advanced spread types (Celtic Cross, Relationship, Career)
• AI-powered personalized interpretations
• Reading history archive
• No ads

Ad-Supported

Free with ads between readings. Premium removes ads. Works best for high-traffic apps with casual users.

Consumption-Based

Charge per reading or sell reading packs. Works for apps targeting serious tarot practitioners who want depth over frequency.

Combined with Astrology

Bundle tarot with birth charts, horoscopes, and compatibility readings. The multi-domain bundle has higher perceived value and supports premium pricing above $9.99/month.

The AI Advantage in Tarot Apps

The tarot apps that will win in 2026 and beyond are the ones that use AI to transform structured card data into personalized conversational experiences. A static card meaning is the same for everyone. An AI-interpreted reading considers the user's question, the specific combination of cards drawn, and the relationships between card positions.

This is why AI readiness in your tarot API matters. APIs that ship with:

• MCP server support let AI agents call tarot endpoints directly
• Rich semantic responses give LLMs the context to generate meaningful readings
• llms.txt make your API discoverable by AI systems

Building an AI-powered tarot experience with a non-AI-ready API means writing extensive prompt engineering to compensate for minimal response data. Building it with an AI-ready API means the structured data does most of the work.

Getting Started

RoxyAPI's Tarot API provides card draws, spread generation, and detailed card meanings through structured JSON endpoints. The same API key includes Western astrology, Vedic astrology, numerology, I-Ching, and dream interpretation, letting you build a complete spiritual app with a single integration.

Steps to start:

1. Get an API key at roxyapi.com/pricing
2. Explore the tarot endpoints in the interactive documentation
3. Build your daily card pull feature (1-2 hours)
4. Add the three-card spread (1-2 hours)
5. Add AI interpretation using your LLM of choice
6. Ship it

Check the full API documentation for endpoint details and response schemas. Browse the complete product suite to see all available domains.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can I use tarot card images from the Rider-Waite-Smith deck? A: The original Rider-Waite-Smith artwork (published in 1909 by Pamela Colman Smith) is in the public domain. You can use these images freely. However, some modern re-colored or re-drawn versions may still be under copyright. The API provides card data and meanings, not images — you control your visual assets entirely.

Q: How many API calls does a typical tarot app generate? A: Very few per user. A daily card pull is 1 call. A three-card spread is 1 call. An active daily user generates approximately 30-40 calls per month. The Starter plan (5,000 requests/month) comfortably supports 100+ daily active users with headroom for growth.

Q: Should I hard-code card meanings or use an API? A: For a quick prototype, hard-coding works. For a production app that you want to ship fast and iterate on, use an API. The API handles randomization, spread logic, upright/reversed determination, and provides consistent, professionally written card meanings. Your development time is better spent on the user experience that differentiates your app.

Q: Can I customize the card meanings from an API? A: You can supplement or override API-provided meanings with your own content. Common pattern: use the API for randomization and spread logic, then layer your own interpretive text on top. This gives you API convenience with content customization.

Q: What makes RoxyAPI different from other tarot APIs? A: Three things. First, multi-domain coverage: the same API key gives you astrology, numerology, I-Ching, and dream interpretation alongside tarot. Second, AI readiness: MCP server, llms.txt, and semantically rich responses designed for AI agent consumption. Third, pricing: all domains included in every plan, no per-domain surcharges. View the full comparison or check pricing.

Q: Is tarot a good niche for a new app in 2026? A: Yes. Tarot has daily-use engagement (card pulls), strong social sharing mechanics (shareable readings), clear monetization (free tier + premium spreads), and growing mainstream acceptance. The spiritual app market exceeds $6 billion globally with 20%+ annual growth. Tarot is one of the most accessible entry points for new builders.

Explore tarot API features. Visit RoxyAPI Tarot API, check pricing, or read the API documentation.