Sentinel Hub API
Sentinel Hub provides cloud API access to petabytes of Copernicus Sentinel, Landsat, MODIS, and commercial satellite imagery with on-the-fly processing via custom Evalscript analysis scripts.
Score Breakdown
⚙ Agent Friendliness
🔒 Security
OAuth 2.0 client credentials with short-lived tokens (1hr). TLS enforced. Client secrets should be stored securely. No PII in imagery data. GDPR compliant EU infrastructure.
⚡ Reliability
Best When
Building earth observation agents that need flexible, scriptable access to multi-source satellite data with on-the-fly band math, index calculation, or custom analysis without downloading raw imagery.
Avoid When
You need sub-meter resolution imagery, proprietary commercial satellite data not in the Sentinel Hub catalog, or fully offline processing pipelines.
Use Cases
- • Vegetation monitoring agents computing NDVI time series over agricultural fields using Sentinel-2 imagery
- • Flood detection pipelines generating SAR-based water extent maps from Sentinel-1 data after rainfall events
- • Climate research agents querying multi-year MODIS land surface temperature trends over specific regions
- • Change detection workflows comparing before/after imagery for disaster response or urban growth analysis
- • Environmental compliance agents monitoring deforestation, surface mining, or coastal erosion over time
Not For
- • Sub-meter resolution imagery — Sentinel Hub covers 10m-500m resolution; use commercial providers (Planet, Maxar) for sub-meter
- • Real-time streaming data — API provides on-demand access, not continuous satellite streaming
- • Offline or air-gapped environments — cloud-only processing platform
Interface
Authentication
OAuth 2.0 client credentials flow. Obtain client_id and client_secret from Sentinel Hub Dashboard. Token endpoint: https://services.sentinel-hub.com/auth/realms/main/protocol/openid-connect/token. Tokens expire after 1 hour.
Pricing
Processing Units (PU) are consumed per request based on output pixels and data collection. Sentinel-2 L2A costs 1-3 PU per request. Free trial available without credit card.
Agent Metadata
Known Gotchas
- ⚠ OAuth tokens expire after 1 hour — agents must implement token refresh logic
- ⚠ Evalscript is a custom JavaScript DSL — agents generating scripts must learn the specific API
- ⚠ Processing unit consumption varies by request — agents should estimate PU cost before bulk operations
- ⚠ Cloud cover can return mostly empty imagery — agents should check cloud coverage metadata before processing
- ⚠ Coordinate systems must match the data collection — EPSG:4326 vs EPSG:32633 mismatch is a common error
- ⚠ Large area requests are automatically tiled — agents must handle multi-tile responses for AOIs > ~2500km²
Alternatives
Full Evaluation Report
Comprehensive deep-dive: security analysis, reliability audit, agent experience review, cost modeling, competitive positioning, and improvement roadmap for Sentinel Hub API.
AI-powered analysis · PDF + markdown · Delivered within 30 minutes
Package Brief
Quick verdict, integration guide, cost projections, gotchas with workarounds, and alternatives comparison.
Delivered within 10 minutes
Score Monitoring
Get alerted when this package's AF, security, or reliability scores change significantly. Stay ahead of regressions.
Continuous monitoring
Scores are editorial opinions as of 2026-03-07.