Is Unsplash Source (source.unsplash.com) down right now?

Effectively yes for script/tutorial use — Unsplash Source (source.unsplash.com) answered our last plain GET with HTTP 503 (checked 2026-09-11T19:30:49Z). We check source.unsplash.com with a plain keyless GET every hour; 24h OK-rate: 0%.

← all 71 tracked mock & placeholder APIs

Is Unsplash Source (source.unsplash.com) down?

FAILING right now — answering HTTP 503 to plain requests.

Last checked 2026-09-11T19:30:49Z · checked every hour · OK-rate 24h: 0% · 7d: 0% · raw JSON · Atom feed of its down/recovered events

Failing streak began 2026-09-06T22:30:26Z or earlier (5 days) · last successful check: none in the last 7 days

Context: Unsplash's keyless hotlink endpoint — deprecated in the official changelog in 2021, now answering 503 on every URL shape (/random/WxH, /WxH/?keyword, /featured, /user, /collection, /daily). Direct images.unsplash.com CDN links and the keyed official API still work.

What we check: GET https://source.unsplash.com/random/300x200 — a plain, keyless request from Cloudflare's network with an honest bot UA, exactly what a tutorial curl or an <img> tag experiences. OK = HTTP 2xx/3xx within 8s. No retries, no cookies, no API keys.

Need a placeholder image that loads?

If source.unsplash.com is failing (or you're tired of finding out mid-demo), Mockbird gives you a placeholder image URL that renders (SVG: any size, colors, text, round avatars) — free, no signup:

https://mockbird.mockbird.workers.dev/m/demo/img/300x200?text=Hello

Read the honest Unsplash Source (source.unsplash.com) migration guide → (it also says when Unsplash Source (source.unsplash.com) is the better tool) or create your own mock API in one click.

README badge

Does your project's test suite or tutorial depend on source.unsplash.com? Embed a live status badge — it re-renders from our latest check (cached 5 min):

<!-- Markdown -->
[![source.unsplash.com status](https://mockbird.mockbird.workers.dev/status/unsplash-source/badge.svg)](https://mockbird.mockbird.workers.dev/status/unsplash-source)

<!-- HTML -->
<a href="https://mockbird.mockbird.workers.dev/status/unsplash-source"><img src="https://mockbird.mockbird.workers.dev/status/unsplash-source/badge.svg" alt="source.unsplash.com status"></a>

Green = answering plain GETs, red = network-dead, amber = answering but with an error status. Every tracked service has one; there's also a summary badge for all 71.

Get pinged when it goes down

Subscribe any webhook URL — no account needed. One message when source.unsplash.com goes down, one when it recovers (debounced: two consecutive hourly checks must agree, so a single blip never fires). Slack and Discord incoming-webhook URLs get a formatted message; anything else gets an HMAC-signed JSON POST.

Or from a terminal / CI script:

curl -X POST https://mockbird.mockbird.workers.dev/api/status/watch \
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d '{"service": "unsplash-source", "url": "https://hooks.slack.com/services/T000/B000/XXXX"}'

Use "service": "*" to watch all 71 tracked services at once. The response includes an unsubscribe curl; 5 consecutive failed deliveries auto-unsubscribe. No webhook? Omit "url" to get a pollable subscription instead — GET the returned poll URL anytime for the transitions since your last poll. Full API details →

The same checker can watch your own URL: POST /api/status/monitor {"url": "https://api.example.com/health", "notify": "<webhook>"} — every 30 minutes, alert on down + recovery, free, no account. Monitor API →

Recent checks

Checked at (UTC)	Result	Time
2026-09-11T19:30:49Z	HTTP 503	813 ms
2026-09-11T19:30:25Z	HTTP 503	432 ms
2026-09-11T18:30:15Z	HTTP 503	731 ms
2026-09-11T17:30:29Z	HTTP 503	1053 ms
2026-09-11T16:30:26Z	HTTP 503	1037 ms
2026-09-11T13:31:03Z	HTTP 503	907 ms
2026-09-11T12:30:48Z	HTTP 503	170 ms
2026-09-11T11:30:50Z	HTTP 503	214 ms
2026-09-11T10:30:50Z	HTTP 503	318 ms
2026-09-11T09:30:48Z	HTTP 503	301 ms
2026-09-11T08:30:48Z	HTTP 503	397 ms
2026-09-11T07:30:48Z	HTTP 503	134 ms
2026-09-11T06:30:52Z	HTTP 503	317 ms
2026-09-11T05:31:10Z	HTTP 503	259 ms
2026-09-11T04:31:09Z	HTTP 503	255 ms
2026-09-11T03:31:05Z	HTTP 503	279 ms
2026-09-11T02:31:09Z	HTTP 503	281 ms
2026-09-11T01:31:06Z	HTTP 503	254 ms
2026-09-11T00:31:09Z	HTTP 503	256 ms
2026-09-10T23:31:04Z	HTTP 503	258 ms
2026-09-10T22:31:07Z	HTTP 503	297 ms
2026-09-10T21:31:06Z	HTTP 503	289 ms
2026-09-10T20:30:26Z	HTTP 503	899 ms
2026-09-10T19:30:26Z	HTTP 503	827 ms
2026-09-10T18:30:31Z	HTTP 503	697 ms

Bias disclosure: this page is run by Mockbird, a free hosted mock-API service. The status data is real and logged verbatim (pull it yourself), and the linked guides say when the incumbent wins.