Provider shortlist
Order: vendors with a computed price per 1,000 calls come first, lowest first. The rest follow by lowest paid plan price, which says nothing about their cost per call. Coverage numbers are the vendors' own claims. Narwhal API is owned and operated by Nusantara Ventures, LLC.
Narwhal API
Economics for 37 countries, 144 currencies, filings, 42 stock exchanges and 80 MCP tools
Trading Economics
Near-global macro data, advertised as 20 million indicators for 196 countries
Financial Modeling Prep
70,000+ securities on 60+ exchanges, with US economic indicators on every plan
Massive (Polygon.io)
US stocks (32K+ tickers), options, indices, futures, forex and crypto
Twelve Data
190,000+ stocks on 250+ exchanges in 90+ countries, and 140 currencies
Alpha Vantage
100,000+ symbols and 130+ endpoints; economic indicators cover the US only
Finnhub
Fundamentals, analyst estimates, calendars and economic data across 70 MCP tools
Compare the options
Best fit is not feature parity. Check the evidence and limitation together.
| Provider | Best for | Evidence checked | Important limitation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Narwhal API | Economics for 37 countries, 144 currencies, filings, 42 stock exchanges and 80 MCP tools | Free: $0 for 5,000 requests a month. Basic: $59 a month for 100,000 requests, so $59 / 100,000 x 1,000 = $0.59 per 1,000. Pro: $149 for 1,000,000, so $0.149. Billed yearly, $49.17 and $124.17 a month. | Free shows the previous day's close for spot prices and FX, with 12 months of history. No Tokyo listings, options or consensus forecasts. |
| Trading Economics | Near-global macro data, advertised as 20 million indicators for 196 countries | No free tier, only a one-week paid trial. Standard: $199 a month for 500 requests, so $199 / 500 x 1,000 = $398 per 1,000. Professional: $399 for 5,000, so $79.80. Yearly billing is 25% off. | Standard is single user. Distribution and white label need Enterprise. Its own pages also say 15,000 series. |
| EODHD | 60 exchanges, 150,000 tickers and 30 years of end-of-day history | Free: 20 calls a day plus 500 welcome-bonus calls, 1 year of history. Lowest paid: $19.99 a month ($16.58 billed yearly) for 100,000 calls a day. A daily limit with no monthly cap, so no figure. | Personal use only; company use starts at $399 a month. Fundamentals cost 10 calls and economic data needs a $59.99 plan. |
| Financial Modeling Prep | 70,000+ securities on 60+ exchanges, with US economic indicators on every plan | Free: 250 calls a day, 5 years of end-of-day history. Starter: $29 a month ($19 billed yearly) for 300 calls a minute. A per-minute limit with no monthly count, so no figure. | Self-serve plans bar business use, and showing data in an app needs Enterprise, unpriced. Starter covers the US only. |
| Massive (Polygon.io) | US stocks (32K+ tickers), options, indices, futures, forex and crypto | Free: 5 calls a minute, end of day, 2 years. Starter: $29 a month ($24 billed yearly) with "unlimited" calls, 15-minute delayed. No monthly count, so no figure. | Individual plans are personal and non-business. Display to customers needs a Business plan, Stocks Business $2,499 a month. No non-US coverage found. |
| Twelve Data | 190,000+ stocks on 250+ exchanges in 90+ countries, and 140 currencies | Free: 8 credits a minute, 800 a day. Grow: $29 a month ($24 billed yearly) for 55 credits a minute, no daily cap. Credits are per minute with no monthly count, so no figure. | Free data cannot be shown to users or used in production. Grow is internal display only. No economic data or economic calendar. |
| Tiingo | 110,431 securities, including 60,804 funds and 4,100+ crypto tickers | Starter: $0 for 1,000 requests a day, 500 symbols a month. Power: $30 a month ($300 billed yearly) for 100,000 requests a day, 40 GB a month. A daily limit with no monthly count, so no figure. | Self-serve plans are internal use only; display needs a quoted licence. No economic data, Japanese equities or MCP server found. |
| Alpha Vantage | 100,000+ symbols and 130+ endpoints; economic indicators cover the US only | Free: 25 requests a day. Lowest paid: $49.99 a month ($499 billed yearly) for 75 requests a minute, no daily limit. A per-minute limit with no monthly count, so no figure. | Terms say personal, non-commercial use; the commercial price is unpublished. The ten economic endpoints are US series sourced from FRED. |
| Finnhub | Fundamentals, analyst estimates, calendars and economic data across 70 MCP tools | Free: 60 calls a minute. Separate data plans start near $50 a month (economic data $50, fundamentals $50, market data $49.99 to $199.99), and All-In-One is $3,500 a month. No monthly call count, so no figure. | Standard plans are personal use; only the commercial plan lists a redistribution right. The economic calendar needs the $50 economic data plan or All-In-One. |
| FRED | 800,000+ economic series from 100+ sources, with revision vintages | Free with an API key and a FRED account, 120 requests a minute. No paid API, so no price per 1,000 calls and no figure. | Free use is for non-commercial, educational and personal uses. The terms bar storing or caching content and machine learning use. |
Choose by requirement
What counts as a call
Narwhal counts each successful REST or MCP call once; errors and rate-limit responses are free. EODHD charges 1 call for end-of-day prices, 5 for intraday, 10 for fundamentals and 100 for a whole exchange, and failed lookups still count. Twelve Data charges 1 credit per symbol on a price series and 100 on an income statement. Trading Economics counts requests and series exports separately, 500 each on Standard. FMP counts MCP requests against the plan.
Free tier per month, per day or per minute
Narwhal Free is 5,000 requests a month at 30 a minute. FMP gives 250 calls a day, Alpha Vantage 25 a day and Tiingo 1,000 a day. EODHD gives 20 a day plus 500 welcome-bonus calls. Twelve Data gives 800 a day, Massive 5 a minute, Finnhub 60 a minute and FRED 120 a minute. Trading Economics has no free tier. A monthly pool and a daily cap behave differently under bursty use.
Why only two vendors get a price per 1,000 calls
The formula needs a monthly call count. Narwhal and Trading Economics publish one, so a figure exists for them. FMP, Twelve Data, Alpha Vantage and Finnhub state calls per minute. EODHD and Tiingo state calls per day. Massive paid plans state no limit. Multiplying a daily cap by 30 would assume you use every call, so this page does not. Ask a rate-metered vendor for your monthly volume before comparing it with a quota price.
Commercial use and showing data to customers
Narwhal Free includes commercial app use. FMP, EODHD and Finnhub standard plans are personal use, and Alpha Vantage terms say non-commercial. Massive individual plans are personal and non-business. Twelve Data Free cannot be shown to users, and Grow allows internal display only. Tiingo self-serve plans are internal use. Trading Economics ties distribution to Enterprise. Check each vendor's own licence page before you put its data in a product your customers see.
Economic data and calendars
Narwhal covers economics for 37 countries and publishes a release calendar. Trading Economics advertises 196 countries. Alpha Vantage offers 10 US-only indicators and Massive US-only Treasury, inflation and labour series. FMP indicators are US series, and EODHD macro data is annual from the World Bank. Twelve Data and Tiingo sell none. EODHD's economic events start in 2020 and need a $59.99 plan. Consensus forecasts are in Trading Economics and Finnhub; Narwhal has none.
MCP availability
Narwhal's hosted MCP server has 80 tools on the same key and quota as REST. Alpha Vantage lists 120 tools in its reference tables and EODHD lists 72, included on every plan. Finnhub lists 70 and Trading Economics 46, which needs paid or trial credentials. FMP has 27 and FRED has 5, at no charge. Massive's self-hosted server has 3 tools. Twelve Data's page gives no count. We found no Tiingo MCP server.
Each detailed provider page lists the first-party documentation used, its evidence boundaries, and its review date. Reviewed: