Choose Narwhal API when
You need the same country, period, unit, release, freshness, and limitation fields across Narwhal's supported economic jobs.
Narwhal API vs OECD Data Explorer
OECD Data Explorer is the entry point for OECD statistical data and exposes its datasets through a free SDMX API. Narwhal publishes a narrower set of normalized national economic operations designed for direct application use.
Decision
Choose OECD Data Explorer for OECD datasets, member and partner-economy comparability, structural metadata, and catalogue breadth. Choose Narwhal when its published operations cover the job and you want a simpler cross-country contract with hosted MCP.
Choose the alternative when
You need the full OECD statistical warehouse, source-native dataflows, structural metadata, or an OECD series Narwhal does not publish.
Evidence by requirement
OECD Data Explorer and Narwhal organize data differently. Match the indicator definition, adjustment, frequency, unit, geography, and dataset version rather than comparing labels alone.
| Requirement | Narwhal API | OECD Data Explorer |
|---|---|---|
| Catalogue | A curated economic operation set across the published countries. | The OECD statistical warehouse for member countries and partner economies across a wide range of subjects. |
| Query model | Named application resources and filters with stable response fields. | SDMX dataflow, structure, dimension, and period queries generated through Data Explorer or composed directly. |
| Formats | JSON REST and MCP structured content. | SDMX XML, JSON, and CSV formats, including labelled CSV output. |
| Access limits | Plan quotas apply across REST and MCP. | The API is free, but OECD documents rate limits and query restrictions for network stability and very large datasets. |
| Agent access | A hosted MCP endpoint is part of the published product. | No first-party hosted MCP endpoint was established; developers integrate with the SDMX API directly. |
Sources and review date
The comparison uses Narwhal's current public contract and the following first-party competitor pages.
Reviewed: