What does a call cost on each?

Asterwise: $1.00 (Builder); $0.60 (Launch, $30 for 50,000); $0.33 (Scale, $100 for 300,000). Prokerala: ₹9.99 per 1,000 credits on Ruby; a per-call price is not derivable because endpoints cost from 10 credits (panchang) to 800 (Western charts), 2,000 for calendar and batch calls and 20,000 for raja-yoga, and non-English responses cost double (its pricing page, read on 5 September 2026: Ruby: ₹999 a month for 100,000 credits, shown as 50% off ₹1,999; prices exclude GST).

Can I try both without paying?

Asterwise: 500 calls a month, no card, does not expire. Prokerala: 5,000 credits a month, 5 requests a minute, no card (the FAQ says 2,500 credits).

Is Asterwise a drop-in replacement?

No. The request and response shapes differ, so a switch is a small migration, not a URL change. Prokerala authenticates with OAuth2 client credentials; Asterwise uses a Bearer token or X-API-Key header. Asterwise takes the ayanamsa as a request field on every chart call (Lahiri, Raman, KP or tropical) and returns Rajju and Vedha as vetoes on the matchmaking response. The OpenAPI document and the generated SDKs give you the exact field names to map to.

What does Prokerala have that Asterwise does not?

Your users need Vedic output in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati or Punjabi. You need batch matchmaking, PDF reports or a WordPress plugin. Your usage is dominated by the cheapest endpoints, where Prokerala's credit pricing works in your favour.

How were these facts checked?

From Prokerala's own public pages, read on 5 September 2026; every row of the full comparison links the page it came from.

Prokerala API Alternative: What to Check Before Switching

Short answer: Prokerala publishes a thorough OpenAPI document, serves more than twenty languages and can match 500 profiles in one call. What it does not do is tell you what a call costs: credits per endpoint range from 10 to 20,000, so the same ₹999 buys anywhere from fifty calls to a hundred thousand. Asterwise charges per call, publishes what it computes with, and runs an official MCP server.

Five things to check before you switch

Check	Asterwise	Prokerala
Price of a call	$1.00 (Builder); $0.60 (Launch, $30 for 50,000); $0.33 (Scale, $100 for 300,000)	₹9.99 per 1,000 credits on Ruby; a per-call price is not derivable because endpoints cost from 10 credits (panchang) to 800 (Western charts), 2,000 for calendar and batch calls and 20,000 for raja-yoga, and non-English responses cost double. Entry plans: Ruby: ₹999 a month for 100,000 credits, shown as 50% off ₹1,999; prices exclude GST source
Free tier	500 calls a month, no card, does not expire	5,000 credits a month, 5 requests a minute, no card (the FAQ says 2,500 credits) source
What computes the positions	Swiss Ephemeris with the full data files	not published
Published accuracy check	Yes: 80 positions checked against NASA JPL Horizons, median 0.050 arcseconds, raw data and script published	not published
Machine-readable contract	Yes, public at api.asterwise.com/openapi.json	Yes, OpenAPI 3.0 at api.prokerala.com/spec/astrology.v2.yaml source

Where a cell says not published, we could not find the fact on Prokerala's pages on 5 September 2026. That is a statement about what you can verify before you build, not about the service.

Where Prokerala is the better fit

Your users need Vedic output in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati or Punjabi.
You need batch matchmaking, PDF reports or a WordPress plugin.
Your usage is dominated by the cheapest endpoints, where Prokerala's credit pricing works in your favour.

Its coverage rows, read on 5 September 2026: SDKs, PHP SDK (MIT) plus sample clients in C#, Python, JavaScript and Ruby; languages, "20+ languages" on Vedic endpoints (English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi and more); English, German and Spanish on Western endpoints; reports and images, PDF reports (minimum 6,000 credits each), WordPress plugins, public status page; no refunds. If any of those is a requirement, the switch will cost you something and this page will not pretend otherwise.

Where Asterwise is the better fit

You want a bill you can forecast: a call is a call, at $1.00, $0.60 or $0.33 per thousand depending on tier.
You need Yogini, Ashtottari or Char dasha, or Vimshottari deeper than three levels; Prokerala's OpenAPI document offers Vimshottari to Pratyantar only.
You need Rajju and Vedha as vetoes on the main Ashtakoot result rather than inside the Kerala Porutham response.
You want an official MCP server on the registry; Prokerala has none, only a personal third-party wrapper.
You want to verify accuracy before you commit: Asterwise publishes its ephemeris basis and a NASA JPL Horizons check; Prokerala publishes neither.

What the migration involves

Asterwise is not a drop-in replacement; the endpoints and field names differ. In practice a migration is four steps:

Authentication. Prokerala uses OAuth2 client credentials. Asterwise uses a Bearer token or an X-API-Key header, and API responses carry an HMAC signature header you can verify.
Ayanamsa. On Asterwise the ayanamsa is a request field on every chart call (lahiri by default, raman, kp, tropical), and the natal chart response reports the ayanamsa used and its value, so the chart is never ambiguous about its offset.
Field mapping. Pull the OpenAPI document or install the Python or TypeScript SDK generated from it; the Vedic and Western pages show real responses for the reference chart so you can map fields before writing code.
Matchmaking semantics. Asterwise returns Rajju and Vedha as explicit vetoes beside the 36-point Ashtakoot score rather than folding them into it; if your product surfaces a single number, decide how to show a veto. Details on the kundli matching page.

Run both APIs on the same birth data during the switch. The free tier is enough for that, and the reference chart gives you a known-good chart to compare against.

Questions people ask

Is Asterwise an alternative to Prokerala?: Prokerala publishes a thorough OpenAPI document, serves more than twenty languages and can match 500 profiles in one call. What it does not do is tell you what a call costs: credits per endpoint range from 10 to 20,000, so the same ₹999 buys anywhere from fifty calls to a hundred thousand. Asterwise charges per call, publishes what it computes with, and runs an official MCP server.
What does a call cost on each?: Asterwise: $1.00 (Builder); $0.60 (Launch, $30 for 50,000); $0.33 (Scale, $100 for 300,000). Prokerala: ₹9.99 per 1,000 credits on Ruby; a per-call price is not derivable because endpoints cost from 10 credits (panchang) to 800 (Western charts), 2,000 for calendar and batch calls and 20,000 for raja-yoga, and non-English responses cost double (its pricing page, read on 5 September 2026: Ruby: ₹999 a month for 100,000 credits, shown as 50% off ₹1,999; prices exclude GST).
Can I try both without paying?: Asterwise: 500 calls a month, no card, does not expire. Prokerala: 5,000 credits a month, 5 requests a minute, no card (the FAQ says 2,500 credits).
Is Asterwise a drop-in replacement?: No. The request and response shapes differ, so a switch is a small migration, not a URL change. Prokerala authenticates with OAuth2 client credentials; Asterwise uses a Bearer token or X-API-Key header. Asterwise takes the ayanamsa as a request field on every chart call (Lahiri, Raman, KP or tropical) and returns Rajju and Vedha as vetoes on the matchmaking response. The OpenAPI document and the generated SDKs give you the exact field names to map to.
What does Prokerala have that Asterwise does not?: Your users need Vedic output in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati or Punjabi. You need batch matchmaking, PDF reports or a WordPress plugin. Your usage is dominated by the cheapest endpoints, where Prokerala's credit pricing works in your favour.
How were these facts checked?: From Prokerala's own public pages, read on 5 September 2026; every row of the full comparison links the page it came from. See the full sourced table.

How this page stays honest

Every statement about another vendor on this page is a statement about what that vendor's public pages said on the date shown, not a statement about the quality of its calculations or its service. Where a page did not say, the row reads not published, and that means only that we could not find it. Vendors change prices and features; verify anything that matters to you on the vendor's own page before you decide.

Report an error. Email support@asterwise.com with the row, the correct fact and a public page that shows it. We check it within five business days, change the row, and record the change in the corrections log on this page with the date. The full row-by-row table with every source is on Asterwise vs Prokerala; the same table exists for six other vendors.

Trademarks and independence. AstrologyAPI, Prokerala, DivineAPI, FreeAstrologyAPI, VedicAstroAPI, RoxyAPI and AstroWay are the names of their respective owners and are used only to identify those products. Asterwise is not affiliated with, endorsed by or partnered with any of them.