Datasheet & Part Aggregators
Where to look up parts, find datasheets, and check stock — distributors, search engines, and APIs.
The "where do I find this part?" infrastructure layer beneath every hardware project. For pulling EDA-ready symbols/footprints from these see Footprint & Symbol Libraries; for cost-rolling and quoting see BOM Tooling.
Cross-distributor search engines
- ★ Octopart (Nexar / Altium) — the reference. Cross-references DigiKey, Mouser, Newark, Arrow, etc. Free web search; paid API tiers.
- Findchips (Aspencore) — older alternative, still indexes some sources Octopart misses; free.
- Oemstrade — global / EU broker focus; surfaces parts when DigiKey/Mouser are out of stock.
- Datasheets360 — basic, ad-supported.
- Z2Data / Silicon Expert — enterprise lifecycle / supply-chain risk; expensive.
Datasheet hosting
- ★ Vendor's own product page — always the canonical, current revision. Don't trust a third party for safety-critical specs.
- Datasheet Archive (
datasheetarchive.com) — for old / obsolete parts no vendor still hosts. - Alldatasheet, Datasheets.com, Datasheetcatalog — third-party mirrors; ad-heavy; useful as a last resort.
Major distributors with strong web search & APIs
- ★ DigiKey — broadest US/global stock, best parametric search UI, free public API. The default for "I need this part now."
- ★ Mouser — same tier as DigiKey, slightly different stock; free API. Often pricing-competitive.
- Arrow — global, more industrial; free API.
- Newark / element14 / Farnell — global; UK / EU stronger.
- RS Components / RS Pro — UK/EU strong.
- LCSC — China-based, JLCPCB-aligned; cheapest for many parts; web search is OK but the parametric filters lag behind DigiKey.
- Avnet, TI Store, Analog.com — vendor-direct; useful for samples and engineering qty.
Stock / shortage tracking
- Octopart — has historical stock and lead-time graphs.
- SourceCode.io, Z2Data — supply-chain risk monitoring; enterprise.
- Nexar Search API (Octopart's API tier) — programmatic stock and price alerts.
- DigiKey product change notifications, Mouser PCN feeds — vendors' own change-notice tooling.
Reference / parametric / educational
- ★ Wikipedia — surprisingly good for transistor / connector / standard-package references.
- Eevblog forums — community knowledge for specific obscure parts.
- chipdb.org, alldatasheet — quick datasheet lookup.
- FlukeView / TI Reference Designs / Maxim app notes — vendor app notes; underused but golden for application context.
- Hackaday.io / OSHWA project registry — sometimes the best info on a niche IC is in someone's project log.
APIs (programmatic access)
- DigiKey API — official, OAuth, generous; the most-used part API.
- Mouser API — official, simple key auth.
- Octopart / Nexar API — cross-distributor; free tier is rate-limited.
- Arrow API — public, less commonly used.
- LCSC — no public API; community scrapers exist (use politely).
- Newark API — public.
Pick this if…
- You're building a BOM and want one search: Octopart.
- You're ordering today and need stock: DigiKey, Mouser; secondarily Newark/Arrow.
- You're going to assemble at JLC: LCSC stock first via jlcparts (see BOM Tooling).
- Programmatic price/stock checks in CI: DigiKey API or Octopart/Nexar.
- Hunting an obsolete part: Octopart + Findchips + the Datasheet Archive.
- You need authoritative specs: the vendor's own product page; never a mirror.