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TheBitForge
TheBitForge

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101 Best Financial Data APIs in 2026

You find the perfect side project idea, open the docs of the first finance API Google gives you, and twenty minutes later you're staring at a rate-limit error, a pricing page full of "Contact sales" buttons, or data that quietly stops at 2019.

So we went through a long list of financial data APIs, dropped the ones that shut down, got renamed or were never real APIs, and sorted the rest by what you're actually building. Each section below is a table you can scan in seconds.

TL;DR

If you need... Start with
Clean fundamentals and ready-made ratios roic.ai, Financial Modeling Prep
A free key to prototype with Alpha Vantage, Finnhub, Twelve Data
Tick-level and options data Massive (ex-Polygon.io), Databento
SEC filings SEC EDGAR, SEC-API.io
Global macro data FRED, World Bank, Trading Economics
Crypto prices CoinGecko, CoinMarketCap
Currency conversion Open Exchange Rates, Frankfurter
Bank account data Plaid, TrueLayer
Enterprise-grade coverage Bloomberg, LSEG, FactSet, S&P Capital IQ

What's inside

How to pick one without regret

Question Why it matters
What data do you actually need? Prices, fundamentals, filings, macro, crypto and FX each have different leaders
How fresh must it be? End-of-day is cheap and everywhere, real-time and tick data cost real money
Where do your tickers trade? Many free APIs are great for US stocks and thin everywhere else
What do the licensing terms say? Public display or redistribution often needs a different plan than internal use
What if the provider vanishes? IEX Cloud shut down on August 31, 2024, so keep your integration layer thin
What are the rate limits? A free tier that throttles at 5 calls a minute is a demo, not a product

💡 Tip: test with the ten tickers you really care about, including awkward ones like recent IPOs, ADRs and delisted names. It tells you more than any comparison table.

Featured Pick: A Fundamentals-First Financial Data API

If you're building anything that depends on clean company financials, start here.

1. roic.ai ( @vladcx )

The write-up below sticks to what its public docs say.

roic.ai is a fundamentals-first API. Instead of handing you raw statements and leaving the math to you, it returns standardized financial statements next to pre-calculated ratios like ROIC, ROE, debt-to-EBITDA and Altman Z-score, plus valuation multiples and per-share data.

What stands out:

  • Wide coverage: public companies across 70+ global exchanges.
  • Flexible identifiers: API v2 accepts ticker, CIK, CUSIP and ISIN, so you skip a lot of symbol mapping.
  • Earnings call transcripts: a dedicated transcripts API sits beside statements and ratios.
  • AI-ready: an official MCP server connects Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, VS Code and Codex to the data, with OAuth sign-in or an API key.
  • Spreadsheet friendly: a Google Sheets integration pulls the same fundamentals into your sheets.
  • Easy start: the docs describe a free tier with no credit card, and paid plans raise limits and history depth.

Here's the whole "hello world" from their getting-started docs:

curl "https://api.roic.ai/v2/company/profile/AAPL?apikey=YOUR_API_KEY"
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Best for: fundamental investors, equity research tools, AI assistants that need reliable numbers, and devs who'd rather not compute ratios themselves.

Heads-up: it's fundamentals-first. If you need tick-level data or order books, pair it with something like Databento or Massive. Check the pricing page for current limits.

Explore the roic.ai API →

👉 Get a free roic.ai API key → and run it on a few tickers you already know.

Stock Market Data and Fundamentals APIs

This is the busiest corner of the market, and the one most developers care about first. Prices, financial statements, ratios, filings, and technical indicators all live here.

# Provider What it is Good to know
2 Financial Modeling Prep (FMP) FMP is a go-to for statements, ratios, and market prices in one REST API. It also covers ETFs, forex, crypto, and news. Developers like that the endpoints are predictable and the free tier lets you test before paying. It also marketed itself as an alternative after IEX Cloud closed.
3 Alpha Vantage One of the most recognizable names for hobbyists and startups. You get stocks, ETFs, FX, crypto, commodities, fundamentals, and a long list of built-in technical indicators over simple JSON or CSV calls. It has a free key, and it has added MCP support for AI agents. The free tier is rate-limited, so plan for that.
4 EOD Historical Data (EODHD) EODHD focuses on broad global coverage at a lower price than the enterprise vendors. It offers end-of-day, intraday, fundamentals, options, and forex data across a large number of exchanges. A solid choice when you need international tickers without an enterprise contract.
5 Massive (formerly Polygon.io) Polygon.io rebranded as Massive on October 30, 2025. The old api.polygon.io base is still supported, with a parallel api.massive.com base. It is best known for deep tick-level and options data across stocks, options, forex, and crypto, and it is priced per asset class.
6 Databento Databento delivers raw, normalized market data straight from exchange feeds, with historical and live access. It suits quant teams, backtesting, and anyone who cares about tick-level accuracy and clean symbology more than a friendly spreadsheet export.
7 Tiingo Tiingo pairs clean end-of-day price history with news and a developer-friendly API. It has a long-standing reputation for data quality among retail quants and Python users, with a free tier for experimenting.
8 Finnhub Finnhub covers real-time US quotes, fundamentals, company news, alternative datasets, and forex and crypto. Its free tier is generous enough for side projects, which is why it shows up in so many tutorials.
9 Twelve Data Twelve Data offers time series, technical indicators, fundamentals, and WebSocket streaming across stocks, forex, and crypto. The documentation is tidy and the client libraries are easy to get running quickly.
10 Intrinio Intrinio sells standardized fundamentals, real-time and historical prices, options, and other datasets with clear licensing options. It was the provider IEX named when it told customers about its closure, and it is aimed at fintechs that need compliant redistribution.
11 FinancialData.net A newer entrant covering stock prices, fundamentals, insider transactions, and more through a simple API. Worth a look if you want one provider for several datasets and clear flat-rate pricing.
12 Marketstack Part of the APILayer family, Marketstack provides real-time, intraday, and end-of-day stock data from many global exchanges. It is simple, low-cost, and a comfortable pick for dashboards and basic apps.
13 Nasdaq Data Link (formerly Quandl) The home of the datasets that made Quandl famous, now under Nasdaq. You can browse a large catalog of free and premium datasets covering markets, economics, and alternative data, accessed through one consistent API.
14 Xignite A cloud market-data provider used by banks, brokerages, and fintechs. Morningstar acquired Xignite in 2019, so it sits in the same family as Morningstar's data products. Expect a sales-led process rather than a self-serve signup.
15 Barchart OnDemand Barchart's APIs cover equities, futures, options, and forex, with a particularly strong reputation for futures and commodities data. They are usually bought by firms that want licensed exchange data with support.
16 Tradier Tradier is a brokerage with an API that exposes quotes, options chains, and trading. It is a handy choice if you want market data and order execution from the same developer platform.
17 Alpaca Market Data Alpaca is an API-first broker that also sells market data for US stocks, options, and crypto. It is popular with algo traders who want data and paper trading in the same ecosystem.
18 Yahoo Finance (unofficial, via yfinance) Yahoo no longer offers a supported public API, but the open-source yfinance library scrapes its pages and is everywhere in tutorials. Great for learning and quick experiments. We would not build a paid product on it, because there is no SLA and it can break without notice.
19 Morningstar Morningstar's developer portal sells fund, equity, ESG, and ratings data. If your product revolves around mutual funds and ETFs, Morningstar's research depth is hard to beat, though it comes with enterprise pricing.
20 FactSet FactSet offers a wide set of APIs for fundamentals, estimates, ownership, and market data, mostly used by institutions. Expect enterprise contracts and strong support.
21 S&P Capital IQ S&P Global Market Intelligence provides company financials, estimates, and credit data through Capital IQ products and APIs. It is an institutional standard for corporate research.
22 LSEG Data & Analytics (formerly Refinitiv) Refinitiv is now part of the London Stock Exchange Group. The developer portal exposes real-time and historical data, fundamentals, news, and Datastream content. It is built for large firms with licensing needs.
23 Bloomberg (B-PIPE and Data License) The heavyweight of the industry. Bloomberg offers real-time feeds and reference data for firms that already live in its ecosystem. It is rarely the right call for a small team, but it is the benchmark everyone else is measured against.
24 ICE Data Services ICE sells exchange data, reference data, and pricing for equities, fixed income, and derivatives. It is part of the company that owns the New York Stock Exchange.
25 Zacks Zacks is known for earnings estimates, rankings, and stock research. It has data products for institutions and developers who want its estimate-driven view of stocks.
26 TradeStation API TradeStation exposes market data and trading through its brokerage API, covering equities, options, and futures. It is a practical option for traders building automated strategies.
27 Charles Schwab Trader API Schwab's developer portal offers market data and trading APIs for clients, including quotes and order management. Access requires an approved developer app and a brokerage relationship, so budget time for onboarding.
28 Interactive Brokers API Interactive Brokers provides APIs for market data and order execution across global markets, but you need a brokerage account. It is powerful and a bit old-school to set up.

SEC Filings, Company and Research APIs

Filings and research data are where fundamental investors and AI builders spend a lot of time. Some of the best sources here cost nothing.

# Provider What it is Good to know
29 SEC EDGAR APIs The SEC's own APIs deliver filing metadata and structured XBRL data for US public companies, free of charge. Raw EDGAR is the ground truth for 10-Ks and 8-Ks, though you will do some parsing work yourself. Respect the SEC's fair-access limits.
30 SEC-API.io A commercial layer on top of EDGAR that offers search, real-time filing streams, and parsed sections of filings. It saves a lot of engineering time if you need filings turned into usable JSON.
31 AlphaSense AlphaSense is a market-intelligence platform for filings, transcripts, broker research, and news, with enterprise APIs. It absorbed Sentieo, the older research platform some lists still mention.
32 Crunchbase Crunchbase's API covers private companies, funding rounds, investors, and acquisitions. It is the usual starting point for startup and venture data.
33 CB Insights CB Insights offers tech and startup intelligence, deals, and market maps, with enterprise data access. It suits corporate strategy and VC teams more than individual developers.
34 MSCI MSCI is a major provider of indexes, risk analytics, and ESG ratings. Its data is typically licensed by asset managers and large platforms.
35 RepRisk RepRisk specializes in ESG and business-conduct risk data built from media and public sources. It is a common choice for compliance and sustainable-investing workflows.
36 Trading Economics Trading Economics serves macro indicators, forecasts, and market data for a large number of countries. It is a convenient single source when you need global economic series in one place.

Government and Central Bank Data APIs

These are official sources. They are free, authoritative, and often more stable than commercial vendors, although the formats can be quirky.

# Provider What it is Good to know
37 FRED (St. Louis Fed) FRED hosts hundreds of thousands of economic time series, from interest rates to inflation, through a free API key. It is the first stop for anyone building an economics dashboard.
38 World Bank Open Data API Free, well-documented access to development indicators for most of the world's economies. Good for long-term, cross-country analysis.
39 IMF Data The International Monetary Fund publishes international financial statistics and macro data through its data portal and web services. It's useful for balance-of-payments, exchange rates, and country-level economics.
40 OECD Data API The OECD provides statistics for its member economies through an SDMX-based API. It is excellent for comparing developed economies on labor, trade, and prices.
41 BIS Data Portal The Bank for International Settlements shares banking, credit, and exchange-rate statistics, including data via its bulk download and API tools. It is niche but valuable for systemic-risk research.
42 ECB Data Portal The European Central Bank's data portal exposes euro-area statistics and official euro foreign exchange reference rates. It replaced the older Statistical Data Warehouse interface.
43 Eurostat API Eurostat offers EU-wide economic and social statistics through web services. Handy for anything tied to European macro trends.
44 Bank of England Database The Bank of England publishes UK interest rates, gilt yields, and monetary statistics in its Statistical Interactive Database, with CSV and XML access. —
45 Bank of Canada Valet API Valet is the Bank of Canada's free API for exchange rates, interest rates, and other time series. It is simple and refreshingly easy to use.
46 Bank of Japan Time-Series Data The Bank of Japan's statistics portal provides time-series data on rates, money supply, and prices. Check the current documentation for programmatic access options.
47 Banque de France Webstat Banque de France publishes French and euro-area statistics through Webstat, including an API for series access. —
48 U.S. Treasury FiscalData API The US Treasury's free API covers debt, interest rates, exchange rates, and federal finance data. No signup required for most endpoints.

Crypto Data APIs

Crypto data is its own universe, with thousands of assets, hundreds of exchanges, and lots of ways for the numbers to disagree.

# Provider What it is Good to know
49 CoinGecko API CoinGecko describes itself as an independent crypto data aggregator, and its API covers prices, market caps, exchange data, NFTs, and DeFi metrics for a huge range of coins. A free tier exists, with paid plans for higher limits.
50 CoinMarketCap API CoinMarketCap offers rankings, quotes, and metadata for crypto assets and exchanges. It's the other big name next to CoinGecko, with a free basic plan.
51 CoinDesk Data (formerly CryptoCompare) CryptoCompare's data business now operates under the CoinDesk Data brand. It provides real-time and historical prices, order books, and indices aimed at both developers and institutions.
52 Messari Messari combines market data with research, asset profiles, and on-chain fundamentals. A good fit for analysts who want context along with prices.
53 Kaiko Kaiko provides institutional-grade tick data, order books, and reference rates across many exchanges. It is targeted at funds, banks, and index providers.
54 CoinAPI CoinAPI normalizes trades, quotes, and order books from a large number of crypto exchanges into one API, with REST, WebSocket, and FIX access. —
55 CoinCap API CoinCap offers simple, real-time crypto prices and market data via REST and WebSocket. A friendly pick for demos and lightweight apps.
56 Glassnode Glassnode is known for on-chain analytics such as active addresses, supply metrics, and market indicators. Its API is popular with analysts who trade on fundamentals of the chain itself.
57 Coinbase Exchange and Advanced Trade API Coinbase exposes market data and trading endpoints for its exchange. Useful when you only need prices and execution for assets listed there.
58 Kraken API Kraken provides public market data and authenticated trading through REST and WebSocket APIs. Public endpoints work without an account.
59 Binance API Binance's public APIs cover spot and derivatives market data with very high liquidity coverage. Availability and rules vary by region, so check where your users are.
60 Gemini API Gemini offers market data and trading APIs for its US-regulated exchange, with public endpoints for prices and order books. —
61 BitMEX API BitMEX provides market data and trading for crypto derivatives like perpetual swaps. It suits derivatives-focused traders and researchers.
62 Bitstamp API One of the longest-running exchanges, Bitstamp provides a clean public API for spot prices and order books. —

Forex and Currency APIs

Currency conversion looks easy until you need history, reliability, and a sensible rate limit. These APIs cover the spectrum from free to broker-grade.

# Provider What it is Good to know
63 Open Exchange Rates A long-running JSON API for exchange rates with a free plan and paid tiers for higher volume, more frequent updates, and more features. It is widely used in e-commerce and finance apps.
64 Fixer Another APILayer product, Fixer returns live and historical rates for a wide set of currencies, with a free plan to start. —
65 Currencylayer Also from APILayer, Currencylayer provides real-time and historical rates for many currencies with a free tier and paid upgrades. —
66 XE Currency Data XE is a household name in currency conversion, and its data API serves commercial users. Pricing is paid.
67 OANDA Exchange Rates API OANDA offers exchange-rate data and, for account holders, trading APIs. It is a regulated broker with a long history in FX.
68 1Forge 1Forge focuses on real-time forex quotes with a free tier and paid plans. Check current availability and plans before committing, as smaller vendors change often.
69 TrueFX TrueFX provides free tick-level interbank forex data after registration, which is handy for backtesting. —
70 ExchangeRate-API A straightforward currency API with a free plan and simple pricing. Very quick to integrate.
71 Frankfurter A free, open-source exchange-rate API built on reference rates published by central banks, mainly the European Central Bank. No key required.
72 Currencycloud Currencycloud, now part of Visa, offers cross-border payments and FX APIs. It suits fintechs that need to move money internationally.

Fixed Income, Derivatives and Exchange Data

Bond and derivatives data tends to be more fragmented and more expensive. These are the exchanges, utilities, and platforms behind many feeds.

# Provider What it is Good to know
73 CME Group Market Data CME Group offers real-time and historical futures and options data, including its DataMine historical archive. It is the primary source for CME-listed products.
74 Cboe Market Data Cboe provides options, equities, and volatility index data through its market data services. The go-to source for VIX-related products.
75 MarketAxess MarketAxess runs an electronic bond-trading platform and provides credit market data and analytics to subscribers. —
76 Tradeweb Tradeweb operates electronic markets for rates, credit, and derivatives, and provides market data to clients. —
77 DTCC Data DTCC runs core clearing and settlement infrastructure and publishes data products, including public trade repository reports. —
78 FINRA TRACE FINRA's TRACE system collects US corporate bond trade reports and distributes the data through licensed feeds and public statistics. —
79 MSRB EMMA EMMA is the official source for US municipal bond disclosures and trade data, offered by the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board. —

News, Sentiment and Alternative Data APIs

Headlines and sentiment are noisy by nature. The providers below range from free community sources to quant-grade feeds.

# Provider What it is Good to know
80 NewsAPI.org A simple API for headlines and articles from many publishers. Good for prototypes, with limitations on free use.
81 Webz.io (formerly Webhose) Webz.io delivers structured news, blog, and forum data from across the open and dark web, aimed at monitoring and analytics teams. —
82 Aylien (now part of Quantexa) Aylien built news-intelligence and NLP APIs for entity extraction and sentiment, and is now part of Quantexa. Confirm current product availability before building on it.
83 StockTwits API StockTwits offers social sentiment from a community of retail traders. Useful as a signal, as long as you remember it reflects crowd mood rather than facts.
84 GDELT Project GDELT monitors global news and publishes free datasets and APIs for events, tone, and themes. A favorite of researchers.
85 RavenPack RavenPack turns news and text into structured analytics and sentiment for quant funds and risk teams. Enterprise pricing applies.
86 Meltwater Meltwater provides media monitoring and social listening with API access, mostly for marketing and communications teams. —
87 Dow Jones Factiva Factiva is a deep archive of global news and business content with enterprise APIs. Built for corporate and institutional research.
88 Benzinga APIs Benzinga provides real-time news, calendars, and market-moving headlines to traders and fintech apps. —

Banking, Open Banking and Payments APIs

Not exactly market data, but if your product touches users' money, you will meet these names quickly.

# Provider What it is Good to know
89 Plaid Plaid connects apps to users' bank accounts for balances, transactions, identity, and payments. It is the most recognized account-aggregation API in North America and also operates in parts of Europe.
90 TrueLayer TrueLayer offers open banking data and payment initiation across the UK and Europe. It is a staple for European fintechs.
91 Yodlee Yodlee, from Envestnet, has long provided account aggregation and financial data enrichment at scale. —
92 Tink Tink is a European open banking platform, now owned by Visa, covering account data, payments, and money-management tools. —
93 Finicity Finicity, part of Mastercard, provides account verification and financial data for lending and personal finance use cases in the US. —
94 MX MX provides data aggregation and enrichment to banks and fintechs, with a focus on cleaner transaction data. —
95 Stripe Stripe is primarily a payments platform, but its APIs for payments, billing, and financial connections make it part of many fintech stacks. —
96 Square Developer Square's APIs power payments, payouts, and commerce for businesses of all sizes. —
97 Dwolla Dwolla offers an API for ACH bank-to-bank payments in the US, aimed at platforms that move money between accounts. —
98 GoCardless Bank Account Data GoCardless provides open banking account data across Europe and the UK through a developer-friendly API. —
99 Wise Platform Wise Platform lets businesses embed international transfers and multi-currency accounts through its APIs. A practical option when your product needs cross-border payouts with transparent FX.
100 BBVA API Market BBVA's API marketplace exposes banking services such as accounts and payments to partners. —
101 Open Banking UK Not a data vendor itself, but the standards body behind UK open banking. Its directory and specifications are essential reading if you build there.

Platforms we left out (and why)

Name Why it's not here
IEX Cloud Retired all products on August 31, 2024
Polygon.io (old name) Still alive, now called Massive, so it's listed that way
Nomics We couldn't confirm it still serves a public API
Google Finance No official public API
Sentieo Folded into AlphaSense, which has its own entry
Venmo / Cash App No public financial-data APIs
Made-up providers If a vendor can't be found on the real web, it doesn't belong here

Before you commit

Do this Because
Compare two vendors Small differences in standardizing fundamentals can change a ratio
Read the terms Personal use, internal use and public display are priced differently
Cache what you can Lower bill and fewer outages
Check the live pricing page Plans change, and no guide can replace the real page

FAQ

What's the best free financial data API?
For prototypes, Alpha Vantage, Finnhub and Twelve Data are common starting points, and roic.ai documents a free tier with no credit card. Free plans are rate-limited, so check the limits against your use case.

Which API is best for fundamentals?
Look for standardized statements and pre-computed ratios. roic.ai, Financial Modeling Prep, Intrinio and FactSet are all built around fundamentals, at very different price points.

What's the best API for real-time stock data?
Massive (formerly Polygon.io), Databento, Alpaca and Finnhub are popular for real-time US data. Confirm whether you're getting consolidated, exchange-licensed or delayed data.

Is there an official Yahoo Finance API?
No. The popular yfinance library scrapes Yahoo pages, which is fine for learning but risky in production.

Where can I get SEC filings through an API?
SEC EDGAR has free APIs. SEC-API.io and AlphaSense add search and parsing on top.

Which API is best for crypto data?
CoinGecko and CoinMarketCap cover broad market data, Kaiko and CoinAPI suit institutional needs, and Glassnode specializes in on-chain metrics.

Can AI assistants use financial data APIs?
Yes. Several providers now offer Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers so tools like Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor can query data directly. roic.ai and Alpha Vantage both document MCP support.

Can I make investment decisions from this data?
A data API only delivers data. It isn't advice, and data can be wrong or delayed. Verify important figures against primary sources.

Where we'd start

There's no single winner, because "best" depends on what you're building. Prototype with a free key, use official sources for macro data, and pay for exchange-grade feeds only when your product truly needs them.

If your project is built on company fundamentals, we'd begin with roic.ai. It returns standardized statements, ready-made ratios, valuation multiples and earnings transcripts through one REST API, and plugs into AI assistants through MCP.

👉 Get a free roic.ai API key →


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Top comments (1)

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thebitforge profile image
TheBitForge •

While putting this list together, I kept thinking about how easy it is to pick an API based on its features, only to run into limitations later when you actually start building with it. Some look great on paper, but the pricing, rate limits, or the data you can access for free can change the whole picture.

I wanted to bring these options together in one place so developers don't have to spend hours jumping between different websites just to get started.

Picked as gem