Best Stock Market APIs in 2022

Need data? Historical or real-time. Prices or fundamentals. This list has you covered with the Best Free and Premium API provider.

First things first, what’s an API?

API stands for Application Programming Interface. It’s basically a way for two computer programs to transmit data between one another. In the context of stock market APIs, they permit you to request and receive financial data.

So why would you need an API?

Suppose you want to backtest or analyze the past performance of a specific strategy or portfolio composition. In that case, you’ll need data to do so. An API will permit you to get that information, whether it’s historical prices or fundamental data. Maybe you want to build an App or a screener to alert you of a potential setup you’re looking for. In that case, you’ll need some real-time streaming data.

So now that you want one, how do you choose one?

The process is actually very simple:

1. Firstly you want an API that provides high-quality data. This means that the data must but accurate, consistent across datasets, and up to date. This is a non-negotiable. So any provider that doesn’t provide high-quality data is automatically disqualified.
2. Out of all the high-quality data providers, you want the cheapest one that provides you with all the data you need (it can be free). For example, if you only need historical price data, you can find a free API provider for that. But you’ll have to get your wallet out if you need real-time or historical fundamental data. APIs that provide more data are usually more expensive, so you want to choose the cheapest one that satisfies all your requirements.

Now that you’re ready to choose, here is my list of top API providers. I’ve put them in order, from Cheapest to most expensive. You can go down the list and stop at the one that meets your needs.

My Top 6 Stock Market APIs:

1. Yahoo Finance

Website: yfinance
Price: Free

Pros:

• Completely free
• Global coverage
• 50+ years of historical prices
• Some intraday data
• Some fundamental data
• Forex and Crypto data available

Cons:

• No real-time data
• Limited intraday data
• Limited fundamental data

2. EODhistoricaldata

Website: eodhistoricaldata.com
Price: Premium plans ranging from $20 up to $80/month
Free plan: Limited to 20 API calls/day

Pros:

• Multiple plans to choose from
• Global coverage
• 30+ years of historical prices
• 15+ years of intraday data for US markets
• Real-time data for US markets, Forex, and Crypto
• Global fundamental data
• 20+ years of global historical fundamental data
• Economic & Technical data
• Forex & Crypto data available

Cons:

• Limit of 50 symbols for real-time data

3. IQFeed

Website: iqfeed.net
Price: $99/month + add-ons

Pros:

• Global coverage
• 80+ years of historical prices
• 11+ years of intraday data
• Real-time data for US & Canadian markets
• Fundamental data on US stocks
• Real-time streaming news
• Forex data available

Cons:

• No free version
• Free trial is only 7 days

4. Polygon

Website: polygon.io
Price: Premium plans ranging from $29 up to $200/month
Free plan: Limited to 5 API calls/min & 2-year historical data

Pros:

• Multiple plans to choose from
• 15+ years of historical prices
• Intraday tick-level (and NBBO quotes) data going back to 2004
• Real-time data
• Fundamental data on US stocks
• Forex, Crypto, and Options data available

Cons:

• Only US exchanges

5. Alpha Vantage

Website: alphavantage.co
Price: Premium plans ranging from $50 up to $250/month
Free plan: Limited to 5 API calls/min & 500 calls/day

Pros:

• Multiple plans to choose from
• Global coverage
• 20+ years of historical prices
• 1–2 months of intraday data
• Fundamental data on US stocks
• Economic & Technical data
• Forex and Crypto data available

Cons:

• No real-time data

6. Intrinio

Website: Intrinio.com
Price: Premium plans ranging from $300 up to $1000/month

Pros:

• Multiple plans to choose from
• Full US historical data
• Intraday data going back to Jan-2019
• Real-time data
• Fundamental data
• Full historical fundamental data
• Economic & Technical data
• Options data available

Cons:

• Expensive
• US markets only

I hope this list was helpful. And please share your experience with these (or any other) APIs you’ve used in the comments below.

Oh, and one last thing. If you want to save some bucks:

• Check if your brokers has an API you can use. You can often get some free historical/fundamental data and real-time data directly from your broker.
• Don’t forget you can use more than one provider. For example, you can use the free plan on one provider for some fundamental data and use your broker’s API or another provider for real-time data.