How to get JSearch API key?
There are two routes to a JSearch API key. Sign up on the OpenWeb Ninja developer portal, subscribe to a plan, which can be the free one, and copy the key from your account. Or create a RapidAPI account, open the JSearch listing, subscribe to a plan there and use your RapidAPI application key. Both take a few minutes.
The route decides how you authenticate. A key issued by OpenWeb Ninja goes in the x-api-key request header. A RapidAPI key goes in the X-RapidAPI-Key header, together with an X-RapidAPI-Host header naming the JSearch host, and the one RapidAPI key works across every API you subscribe to on that marketplace. In both cases the account has to be subscribed to a JSearch plan before calls are accepted, so if a first call is refused, check the subscription before anything else. Once it works, send a search with a query parameter that states the role and the place in plain words, add country and language for searches outside the United States, and keep the key in an environment variable on your server rather than in browser code.
A JobsPipe key is issued the same self-serve way: sign up, and the key is available from the dashboard at jobspipe.dev/dashboard. It is sent as a Bearer token in the Authorization header to the REST API at api.jobspipe.dev, where POST /v1/jobs/search takes filters such as job_title_or, company_name_or, skills_or, description_or and posted_at_gte. There is also a path with no key at all: the sandbox search endpoint returns sample postings in the live schema.
A sensible order is to try the keyless JobsPipe sandbox first to see the response shape, then create the JSearch key and run the same role and location through both. Compare duplicates, description length and which boards appear before you wire either into an application. The comparison page is jobspipe.dev/alternatives/jsearch.
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Related questions
Is a RapidAPI key the same as a JSearch key?
Not quite. RapidAPI issues one application key per app in your account, and that key is accepted by every API you have subscribed to on the marketplace, JSearch included. A key from the OpenWeb Ninja portal is specific to that provider's APIs and is sent in a different header. The two are not interchangeable between channels.
Why does my JSearch key return an authorisation error?
Three things are worth checking in order. Confirm the account is subscribed to a JSearch plan, since signing up alone is not enough. Confirm the key is sent in the header that matches the channel that issued it. Then check whether the free plan's monthly allowance, which is a hard limit, has already been used up.
Where should I store a JSearch API key?
Treat it like any secret: keep it in an environment variable or a secrets manager on the server, never in client-side code or a public repository, and route browser requests through your own backend. If a key leaks, regenerate it from the account that issued it, since anyone holding it can spend your request quota.
Can I test a jobs API without creating a key?
JSearch needs an account and a subscribed plan before it answers, and its developer portal also lists an API playground. JobsPipe exposes a sandbox search endpoint that needs no key and no quota and returns sample data in the same schema as the live API, which is enough to build and test a parser before registering.
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