Provider shortlist
Every rival figure comes from the vendor's own pages, read on 3 November 2026. Consensus quality, release latency and trading results were not tested. Narwhal API is owned and operated by Nusantara Ventures, LLC.
Narwhal API
Release times in UTC, actual and previous values, policy rates and yield curves under one key.
Trading Economics
Consensus, importance and point-in-time calendar data for 150+ countries.
EODHD
Actual, previous and estimate values from a personal plan at $59.99 a month.
Finnhub
Calendar rows with both impact and estimate, on a $50 economic data plan.
Financial Modeling Prep
Treasury rates on a free key and a UTC economic calendar from Starter.
Massive (formerly Polygon.io)
US Treasury yields back to 1962 and SOFR, in every plan.
Alpha Vantage
Ten US economic series on a free key, inside a wider market data API.
Compare the options
Best fit is not feature parity. Check the evidence and limitation together.
| Provider | Best for | Evidence checked | Important limitation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Narwhal API | Release times in UTC, actual and previous values, policy rates and yield curves under one key. | Economics for 37 countries. Calendar entries carry actual, previous and the revised previous value. Basic is $59 for 100,000 calls ($0.59 per 1,000); Pro is $149 for 1,000,000 and adds first-reported and as-of values. | No consensus forecasts and no importance ratings. Free shows only the previous-day close for FX and prediction odds. |
| Trading Economics | Consensus, importance and point-in-time calendar data for 150+ countries. | Fields include Actual, Previous, Forecast, TEForecast, Importance and Revised. Standard is $199 a month for 500 requests and Professional $399 for 5,000: $398 and $79.80 per 1,000 requests. | Its pricing data file marks the calendar as included on Enterprise only, while the pricing page lists it under Standard. Limit of 2 requests per second. |
| EODHD | Actual, previous and estimate values from a personal plan at $59.99 a month. | Economic Events returns actual, previous, estimate and change from 2020, at one call per request, on Fundamentals ($59.99) and All-In-One ($99.99). Paid personal plans allow 100,000 calls a day. | No impact field. Personal plans are for personal use only; a business needs a commercial plan from $399 a month. Macro indicators are annual World Bank series. |
| Finnhub | Calendar rows with both impact and estimate, on a $50 economic data plan. | The economic calendar lists event, country, time, unit, impact, actual, prev and estimate. Free allows 60 calls a minute; the economic data plan allows 150 and All-In-One 900 for market data. | The calendar needs the economic data plan, about $50 a month, or All-In-One at $3,500. Standard plans are labelled personal use. Historical events and surprises are for Enterprise clients. |
| Financial Modeling Prep | Treasury rates on a free key and a UTC economic calendar from Starter. | The calendar takes a country filter, uses UTC and spans up to 90 days a call. Per its pricing page it is off Basic, limited to one year on Starter ($29 a month) and full on Premium ($69) and Ultimate ($139). | Consensus and impact fields were not confirmed. The 24 indicator series are US series, and the terms bar business use on self-serve plans. |
| Massive (formerly Polygon.io) | US Treasury yields back to 1962 and SOFR, in every plan. | Economy endpoints cover Treasury yields (daily since 1962), CPI and PCE (monthly since 1947), inflation expectations, labor market and funding conditions (fed funds, IORB, SOFR). Basic is free at 5 calls a minute. | US only, with no economic calendar and no consensus field in the inflation response. Individual plans are for personal and non-professional use. |
| Alpha Vantage | Ten US economic series on a free key, inside a wider market data API. | Series cover real GDP, Treasury yield, federal funds rate, CPI, inflation, retail sales, durable goods, unemployment and nonfarm payroll. Monthly CPI history starts in January 1913. The free key allows 25 requests a day. | No economic calendar and no consensus field. The series are US indicators sourced from FRED. The licence is personal and non-commercial unless agreed in writing, so commercial use means contacting sales. |
| FRED | Free revision history for backtests, with every vintage of a series. | Vintages through real-time start and end dates, 800,000+ series from 100+ sources, release dates through the releases endpoint. 120 requests a minute at no charge. | Release dates only, with no forecasts. Terms limit use to non-commercial, educational and personal purposes and ban storing or caching. |
Choose by requirement
Release time in UTC
Narwhal gives each release an at timestamp in UTC plus the local timezone name, such as 13:30 UTC for a New York release, so a bot needs no timezone table. FMP says its calendar times are UTC and Trading Economics describes its calendar as near real-time, updated 24 hours a day. The pages read for EODHD and Finnhub list a date or time field but state no timezone, so test a known release before trusting it.
Actual against previous
A fade or breakout rule needs actual and previous side by side, and previous figures get revised. Narwhal releases carry actual, previous and a previous_revised_from field. Trading Economics lists Actual, Previous and Revised. EODHD adds change and change percentage next to estimate. Finnhub returns unit, actual, prev and estimate. Narwhal's value rows also name the measure and its unit, such as percent or thousands. FMP's calendar fields for actual and consensus were not confirmed on the pages read, so open a sample response first.
Consensus forecasts
Narwhal has none. Trading Economics carries Forecast, described as survey consensus, plus its own TEForecast. EODHD returns an estimate and Finnhub one under premium access. A trader who needs consensus beside the calendar should pick one of those: Trading Economics from $199 a month, EODHD from $59.99, Finnhub from $50 a month for its economic data plan. Narwhal does list Kalshi and Polymarket odds on 16 economic data topics and 21 central bank topics, a market view of the same events.
Importance ratings
Bots often filter to high-impact events. Narwhal has no importance rating; its releases carry a topic and a family, such as employment or housing, which you can group by. Trading Economics has an Importance field and Finnhub an impact field. EODHD documents no impact field, and FMP's was not confirmed. Keep your own list of events that matter.
Policy rates and yield curves
Narwhal serves policy rates and yield curves per country, where published, each with a history endpoint. For the United States the policy rate is the federal funds target range, returned as a lower and upper bound with its effective date. Massive has daily US Treasury yields back to 1962, plus SOFR, fed funds and IORB. FMP and EODHD put US Treasury rates on every plan, including free. EODHD adds SOFR and policy rates for the US, EU and UK on Fundamentals.
Backtests without look-ahead
A backtest that uses today's revised CPI sees numbers the market never saw. Narwhal Pro, $149 a month, adds first-reported and as-of values, and has full history. Basic keeps 5 years and Free 12 months, which caps how far back a test can run on those plans. FRED gives vintages through its real-time parameters at no charge, under terms that limit commercial use. Trading Economics offers point-in-time calendar data for past events.
Price per 1,000 calls
Narwhal Basic at $59 for 100,000 calls is $0.59 per 1,000 ($59 divided by 100 thousand), and Pro at $149 for 1,000,000 is $0.149. Trading Economics Standard at $199 a month for 500 requests is $398 per 1,000, and Professional at $399 for 5,000 requests is $79.80, both billed monthly, with 25% off yearly. FMP, EODHD and Finnhub limit by minute or by day, so their per-1,000 price depends on how much you call.
Calendar feeds without polling
You do not have to poll a calendar at all. Narwhal publishes ICS subscriptions for releases and holidays, which a scheduler or calendar tool can read. Trading Economics offers iCalendar and streaming. Its Standard plan lists live streaming, though the pricing data file marks the calendar itself as Enterprise only. Narwhal's calendar also returns a status field, such as scheduled, for each release. Check what your plan delivers before you build a trigger around a feed.
Each detailed provider page lists the first-party documentation used, its evidence boundaries, and its review date. Reviewed: