Narwhal API
Official national economics alongside FX and calendars
FRED vs World Bank API
FRED focuses on US economic series, with international data available series by series. The World Bank Indicators API is mostly annual and lagging. Narwhal is a third option for official national economics through shared REST and MCP access.
Decision
Choose FRED for US series and revision vintages. Choose World Bank for mostly annual development indicators without an API key. Choose Narwhal as a third option for official economics across 36 countries, alongside FX and calendars.
Provider shortlist
This comparison covers the World Bank Indicators API. Narwhal API is owned and operated by Nusantara Ventures, LLC.
FRED
US economic series and revision history
World Bank API
Annual indicators without an API key
Compare the options
Best fit is not feature parity. Check the evidence and limitation together.
| Provider | Best for | Evidence checked | Important limitation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Narwhal API | Official national economics alongside FX and calendars | Economics covers 36 countries and 20 operations. REST and hosted MCP share one key and quota, with more than 50 hosted tools. | No forecasts, consensus, policy-rate series or revision vintages. Free history covers the last 12 months. |
| FRED | US economic series and revision history | More than 800,000 series from over 100 sources, ALFRED revision vintages and an official five-tool MCP connector are available. | Mostly US coverage. Commercial use has additional restrictions, and some series need separate copyright permission. |
| World Bank API | Annual indicators without an API key | The free Indicators API offers nearly 16,000 time series indicators across more than 45 databases, with XML, JSON and JSONP output. | Mostly annual and lagging. The official World Bank MCP serves Data360; Indicators API MCP servers are community wrappers. |
Choose by requirement
Match the reporting frequency
World Bank indicators are mostly annual and lagging. FRED includes daily rate series and monthly US unemployment. Narwhal labour releases may be monthly or quarterly.
Decide whether vintages matter
FRED's ALFRED provides revision vintages. Narwhal history shows the current accepted official series, with later revisions replacing earlier figures.
Check access and reuse
World Bank Indicators needs no key. FRED REST requires registration and a key. FRED also requires attribution, restricts replicating apps and places additional restrictions on commercial use.
Sources and review date
Each detailed provider page lists the first-party documentation used, its evidence boundaries, and its review date.
Reviewed: