Best inflation and CPI data APIs in 2026

Compare CPI and inflation APIs by country, frequency and history. Narwhal normalizes official national series; FRED and BLS offer US depth, while other providers add larger economies, forecasts or broader catalogues.

Decision

Choose Narwhal for official CPI and inflation across countries through REST and MCP. Use FRED or BLS for US depth, API Ninjas for additional large economies, or Trading Economics for forecasts.

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Provider shortlist

Coverage differs between CPI and inflation series. Narwhal API is owned and operated by Nusantara Ventures, LLC.

Massive

US CPI and PCE within a market-data API.

Alpha Vantage

US economics alongside market data and official MCP.

Compare the options

Best fit is not feature parity. Check the evidence and limitation together.

ProviderBest forEvidence checkedImportant limitation
Narwhal APIOfficial national CPI and inflation in one schema through REST and MCP.Official CPI for 34 countries and inflation for 35, with year-over-year, month-over-month and year-to-date measures.No forecasts or consensus; history shows the current accepted series rather than revision vintages.
FREDFree US economic depth and revision vintages through ALFRED.More than 800,000 economic series from over 100 sources, with XML or JSON output.Commercial use has additional restrictions; international coverage is series by series without one normalized schema.
BLS Public Data APIFree access to US CPI and labour statistics.Registered version 2 allows 500 daily queries, 50 series and 20 years per query.US only; requests need series IDs, and BLS publishes no catalogue of them.
API NinjasInflation coverage for large economies Narwhal does not cover.Monthly and annual inflation for 38 countries, plus CPI and HICP for 22 European countries.Inflation endpoints are Premium only; Free excludes commercial use.
MassiveUS CPI and PCE within a market-data API.Its monthly inflation endpoint has records from January 1947 and is included in all plans.US only; individual plans are for individual use.
Trading EconomicsBroad macro coverage with forecasts and calendar consensus.Its MCP documentation cites 300,000+ series across 196 countries; Standard costs $199/month for 500 requests.No ongoing free tier; the $49 one-week Standard trial is limited to 100 requests.
Alpha VantageUS economics alongside market data and official MCP.US CPI and inflation sit alongside GDP, unemployment and payrolls; Free allows 25 daily requests.Economics is US only, and the inflation series is annual.
World Bank APIFree annual development indicators without an API key.Nearly 16,000 time-series indicators span more than 45 databases.Mostly annual development data, rather than a monthly CPI feed.
DBnomicsFree access to economic series across many publishers.Its daily pipeline covers 94 providers and millions of series, preserving numerical values and provider codes.No cross-country normalization; freshness depends on each provider's fetcher.

Choose by requirement

Check countries and measures

Narwhal covers CPI for 34 countries and inflation for 35. API Ninjas adds China, India, Brazil, South Korea and Indonesia, which Narwhal does not cover.

Match frequency and history

Narwhal offers year-over-year, month-over-month and year-to-date inflation. Alpha Vantage's inflation series is annual. Use ALFRED when revision vintages matter.

Compare commercial access

Narwhal Free allows commercial apps and 5,000 successful monthly requests. FRED commercial use has additional restrictions. API Ninjas inflation endpoints require Premium.

Sources and review date

Each detailed provider page lists the first-party documentation used, its evidence boundaries, and its review date.

Reviewed:

Test the overlapping job

Inspect Narwhal's published coverage and response contract before choosing a provider.

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