Access & authentication
Bulk data lives in several buckets with different access rules. This page is the map.
| What | Where | Auth |
|---|---|---|
| Public snapshot | s3://openalex (S3, data/ prefix) |
None — free, anonymous |
| Daily-refreshed snapshot (paid) | s3://openalex-snapshots (staging bucket, dated folders under full/) |
API key via credential_process |
| Changefile listings | api.openalex.org/changefiles |
None — free to browse |
| Changefile data files | content.openalex.org/changefiles/... |
API key on a paid plan |
| Content archive per-file | content.openalex.org/works/... |
API key ($0.01/file) |
| Content archive bucket sync | Cloudflare R2 (S3-compatible) | Time-limited R2 credentials issued by us |
The public snapshot bucket: free, no account
The openalex bucket is free to download and needs no AWS account. Use the AWS CLI with --no-sign-request for anonymous access:
aws s3 sync "s3://openalex/data/jsonl" "openalex-snapshot/data/jsonl" --no-sign-requestYou can also browse it in a browser: openalex.s3.amazonaws.com/browse.html. Many thanks to the AWS Open Data program, which covers the data-transfer fees (about $70 per download) so users don’t have to.
The daily snapshot bucket (paid plans)
Subscribers get a full snapshot rebuilt every day, published to dated folders in the openalex-snapshots staging bucket in both formats. Access is via your OpenAlex API key, exchanged automatically for temporary AWS credentials.
Add this to ~/.aws/config (replace YOUR_KEY with your API key):
[profile openalex]
credential_process = curl -sf -X POST "https://api.openalex.org/snapshots/credentials?api_key=YOUR_KEY"The AWS CLI fetches and refreshes credentials automatically. Then:
aws s3 ls s3://openalex-snapshots/full/ --profile openalex
aws s3 sync s3://openalex-snapshots/full/2026-04-29/jsonl/ ./openalex-snapshot-jsonl --profile openalexChangefiles (paid plans)
Two different access levels, often confused:
- Browsing what’s available is free —
api.openalex.org/changefilesand/changefiles/{date}need no key at all. Look before you subscribe. - Downloading the data files requires an API key on a paid plan. The
content.openalex.org/...URLs in the listings take?api_key=YOUR_KEY. There’s no per-file charge — changefile downloads are included with the plan.
See Data feed & changefiles for what these files are, and the changefiles recipe for the workflow.
Content archive
Per-file downloads use your API key directly ($0.01/file): https://content.openalex.org/works/W2741809807.pdf?api_key=YOUR_KEY. For full-archive sync we issue read-only Cloudflare R2 credentials — 30-day access for a one-time download, persistent access with an enterprise subscription. Details on the content archive page.
Where’s my API key?
Sign up free at openalex.org and find your key in Settings → API key. See API authentication for how keys, credits, and plans work.
Common access problems
| Symptom | Likely cause & fix |
|---|---|
AccessDenied / 403 on s3://openalex |
You’re making a signed request with your own AWS credentials. Add --no-sign-request. |
credential_process errors for the staging bucket |
Test the curl command by itself — if it returns nothing, the API key is wrong or your plan doesn’t include the daily snapshot. curl must be on the PATH the AWS CLI uses. |
401/403 from content.openalex.org changefile URLs |
Missing api_key parameter, or the key’s plan doesn’t include changefiles. The listings being free is what makes this surprising — data files are gated. |
| Sync re-downloads or duplicates records | Re-syncing into an old copy without --delete; see Updates & releases. |
| Download is slow or flaky | The snapshot is hundreds of GB — use aws s3 sync (it parallelizes and resumes) rather than single cp streams, and re-run it to pick up where it left off. |
Still stuck? Contact support with the exact command and error.