Financial data provider tested and ranked

Take a look at any fastest-growing API list in the last few years, and you’ll find financial data APIs at first glance. The open banking initiatives, digital payments, and the ever-increasing need for trading have been the driver for this unprecedented growth.

More and more individuals, especially millennials and Gen Zs, are increasingly interested in investing in the stock market. The need for stock market APIs has been on the rise.

You can be building an algorithm trading prediction app, a stock market historical data app, a stock market API that would come to excellent use.

So what do you choose, and what do each of these financial data APIs bring to the table?

There are hundreds of stock market APIs that you could find with a few simple searches. As someone who works closely with data and the stock markets, I’ve taken time from my schedule to test a few of the most important ones. After countless hours of testing, I finally made a Top 5 list.

Each of these APIs has its pros and cons, and in the end, it depends on what you require.

Here’s a lineup of the Top 5 (ranked from 1 to 5) of the overall Stock Market APIs.

1. EODHD APIs
2. Nasdaq API
3. Yahoo Finance
4. Alpha Vantage
5. FinnHub

There is a reason each of these finance market APIs gets this ranking, and we’ll discuss all of that soon.

#5 FinnHub

Finnhub’s powerful stock market API can be resourceful in building financial products. The API provides real-time WebSocket and Restful APIs for stocks, cryptocurrencies, and fiat currencies.

The main plus point that Finnhub brings to the table is its vast archive of financial statements in detail for companies dating back 30+ years. You have complete lists of shareholders based on institutions, dividend data, and even further than that.

Finnhub also goes to the level of providing 20 years of call transcripts, press releases, acquisition and merger histories, along with the other data.

However, these historical data do not come in handy if you build a product for algorithm trading and have very little relevance to the subject. Also, the all-in-one package starts at $1000 a month, which is not an ideal price point by any means.

Rating — 2/5

#4 Alpha Vantage

Alpha Vantage is a vast stock API that offers historical and real-time data for stocks, forex, and cryptocurrencies. Several timeframes are available for data retrieval ranging from a minute up to a monthly basis.

In addition to the price data, there are 50+ technical indications available alongside 10 US equity sectors.

Alpha Vantage also consists of price data of up to 20 years regarding stocks and forex. With the introduction of Cryptocurrencies in the last decade, records are dating as early as 2011.

However, the price point for Alpha Vantage for commercial use can be one reason you want to opt-out. The premium plan starts at $29.99 per month for 30 requests per minute and goes to a high of $249.99 for 1200 requests/ minute.

There are also indications that Alpha Vantage isn’t as accurate as the rest and, at times, can be a little confusing when it comes to algorithmic trading.

Rating: 3/5

#3 Yahoo Finance

If you’ve been in the investor circle for a while, you know about the big players in the market — Yahoo Finance and Google Finance.

Yahoo Finance is one of the most widely used finance data API out of the two. The finance data API has a wide range of information, including market data on currencies, stocks, bonds, cryptocurrencies, and market analysis.

If you are a beginner and getting started in algorithm trading, Yahoo Finance is where you start. The API, in contrast to the rest, is entirely free. The setup process in Python is quite simple and will take only a few minutes. You can just dive straight without the complicated documentation and get started.

But its simplicity eventually becomes one of the reasons for you not to choose the API. If you are looking for much more detailed and vast, this is not the way to go. There is a little bit of fragility in the API where the Yahoo API is no longer fully official, so there can be times when it will not provide all the requested information.

Since this finance data API is free, there can be instances where you will become rate-limited or blacklisted by Yahoo Finance from time to time for the excessive number of scrapes.

Rating: 3.5/5

#2 Nasdaq Data Link

Nasdaq Data Link is a finance and economical data API that delivers data by accumulating hundreds of numerous sources with the help of an API key. These data derivatives will be from official sources such as the Bank of England, India, etc., and other independent sources.

NDL’s(Nasdaq Data Link) data sources are vast — the possibilities are endless. You could be asking about US Market data, economic indicators, and essential federal reserve economic data. The data that NDL provides is not limited to a selected country, with a majority of the economies covered.

More detailed information on NDL’s finance data API can be found here, where it is covered in detail.

Despite having a vast archive of data and easy accessibility, NDL does not have market data to use from 2018 onwards. The finance data API does not contain any records beyond that timeframe, and there have been significant changes in 2020 & 2021 alone.

If you look at today’s market situation, it cannot be even compared to how it was in 2018 or earlier, and progressing to 2022, there is no relevant data to be used.

Rating 4/5

#1 EOD Historical Data API

There is a reason why the EODHD APIs take the top spot in the Stock API list. The other four APIs are highly functional, but with the advantages that EODHD APIs bring to the table, it ranks above the rest.

The comprehensive API covers 70+ exchanges worldwide and includes 20,000+ ETFs, 600+ indices, 150,000+ tickers, and 1,100 forex pairs. The API consists of 30+ years of fundamental data that can be accessed to analyze a stock’s value. Additionally, the service provides a wide range of API endpoints, including historical data, real-time data, news and sentiment data, macroeconomic data, and more. There is also a broad spectrum of assets available, including cryptocurrencies.

Like the others, the API has a free tier that accommodates 20 API calls a day, and upon registration, the service provides a bonus of 500 extra calls, which are used when the daily limit is reached. The prices are very reasonable, starting at $19.99 per month. The entry-level paid service will get you ample access to 100k API calls a day and 1,000 calls per minute. The all-in-one package, which includes all possible accesses, is the best fit for the entire solution and is priced at $99.99.

With the pricing, you can’t complain since the value they provide is quite broad. The EODHD APIs documentation is relatively straightforward, so getting started wasn’t too much of an issue for me.

EODHD APIs are built to support investment and trading seamlessly. With timely updates and refreshing times being less than five minutes, the data service provider constantly ensures that the platform is in sync with all the major exchanges worldwide.

EODHD APIs have direct contacts with multiple exchanges and the corresponding data streams with an immense pool of historical data and a large amount of syncing.

The flexible API integrates with almost all major environments. But one of the biggest flexes is data access. The finance data API can be called using Python, Java, Excel VBA, R, C#, and API responses can be in JSON or CSV formats. Additionally, there are no-coding solutions available such as Excel Add-On and Google Sheets Integration, Power BI, and other useful tools.

With flexible access levels, users get access to all datasets or specific instruments to ease their choices.

One of the standout features of EODHD APIs is their excellent customer support, considered the best in the industry. Reviews on TrustPilot highlight their 24/7 availability, rapid assistance, even on weekends. No competitor offers such a high level of service.

Out of all the 5, EODHD APIs stand out as the best of the lot with their added functionality, compatibility, and vast information range.

Rating: 4.5/5

Final Thoughts & Comparison

I hope this guide comes in handy before starting with a finance data API. The five shortlisted here are the result of several hours spent researching and testing. While all five of them are good to use, specific plus points come with each finance data API. Yahoo Finance can be considered the best-suited free option, but EODHD APIs stand out as a clear winner.

Below, I created a comparison table to make your choice:

This table provides a quick comparison of the top 5 stock market APIs to help you choose the best one based on your needs for data quality, ease of use in coding, and pricing.

Happy coding !

Sajid

Top 5 Stock Market APIs — All that you need to know before getting started was originally published in Level Up Coding on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.