The Bid Banana API

We meter returned records, not API calls. One request that returns 117 matches uses 117 of your 10,000 monthly records, and the same record returned twice counts twice — so fetch what you need and set max_results deliberately.

Records are refreshed daily from their source agencies. Every result carries last_updated_ms1970, and you can pass updated_since_ms1970 to fetch only what has changed since your last sync — the efficient way to keep a local copy current.

That depends on volume and how it’s presented. Each result includes bb_page_url_partner, a link that opens the bid on Bid Banana without a login and without counting against the anonymous view limit — That’s the intended way to surface an opportunity to your audience. If you’re redistributing data at scale, talk to us about a partnership first.

The download links in doc_files expire 15 minutes after the API call that returned them was made. You should download any solicitation files you want soon after each API call you make. Or contact us if you’d like longer-term access to our solicitation file library.

No need! All data is present in the JSON response body, including any errors that may have occurred (designated by the presence of an "error" field). You can additionally check HTTP status if you prefer — Good responses come back as 200s, and errors come back as 400s.

Searches return an error once you’ve used your 10,000 records, and work again as soon as the next month starts. You can check your usage at any time on your API Settings page — And if you need more, just reach out and we’ll raise your limit or size a partnership around your volume.

Yes. The category parameter selects the dataset: "open" for active solicitations, "closed" for past ones, and "awarded" for contracts that have been won — which adds the winning vendors, the final award value, and the contract terms.

Not a separate sandbox. The playground on this page runs live queries so you can see real responses before writing any code, and your own key works against the same endpoint from day one.