A free stock API is enough for learning, a prototype or a small personal dashboard, but no two free tiers give the same thing. We compared 15 free stock market APIs on call limits, delay, history and terms. Tradier ranks first on free real-time data with a brokerage account. We rank sixth, because our free plan is 24 hours delayed.
We sell a paid API with a free plan, so we have an interest here. We scored our free plan with the same rubric as the others, and it lost on freshness.
How did we rank the free stock APIs?
Each free tier was scored from 0 to 10 on six criteria. The allowance and the freshness of the data count double, because they decide whether the free tier is usable at all. History counts one and a half. Terms, the price of the first paid step, and reliability count once each.
“Terms” asks whether the free route is official and documented, and whether it needs anything beyond an email address. A scraped endpoint scores low there, and so does a free tier that needs a brokerage account.
Which free stock market API ranks best?
| Rank | Provider | Score | Best for | Paid plans from |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tradier | 7.1 | Free real-time stocks and options | $10/mo |
| 2 | Alpaca | 6.5 | Real-time free data via a brokerage | $99/mo |
| 2 | Yahoo Finance | 6.5 | Free real-time quotes, no official terms | $9.95/mo |
| 4 | Tiingo | 6.4 | Generous free quota with deep history | $25/mo |
| 5 | Google Finance | 5.8 | Unlimited free quotes in Sheets | Not published |
| 6 | Market Data | 5.6 | Free forever, no card needed | $12/mo |
| 7 | EODHD | 5.4 | Small free quota, best reviews | $16.58/mo |
| 7 | ThetaData | 5.4 | Free EOD options and stock snapshots | $40/mo |
| 9 | Financial Modeling Prep | 5.1 | Free fundamentals and filings access | $22/mo |
| 10 | Massive | 4.8 | Free access to a broad multi-asset API | $23.20/mo |
| 11 | Twelve Data | 4.6 | Free trial-symbol access, generous quota | $66/mo |
| 12 | Finnhub | 4.4 | Broad data, undocumented free limit | $49.99/mo |
| 13 | Nasdaq Data Link | 4.2 | Free key to a broad marketplace | $9/mo |
| 14 | Alpha Vantage | 3.8 | Free access to global symbols | $41.58/mo |
| 15 | Marketstack | 3.5 | Cheap international EOD, small quota | $8.99/mo |
What each of the leading free tiers includes:
| Feature | Tradier | Alpaca | Yahoo Finance | Tiingo | Google Finance | Market Data |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free tier | Yes, $0 min., real-time data included 1 | Yes, IEX equities + indicative options 2 | Yes, real-time US quotes, no card 3 | 1,000 req/day, DOW 30 fundamentals 4 | Yes, entirely free, no tiers 5 | 100 credits/day, 1yr history, delayed |
| Real-time US stocks | Yes, free with any account 6 | Free: IEX only. Paid: full-SIP 7 | Yes, Nasdaq/NYSE/most Cboe, free 8 | IEX; full TOPS needs IEX agreement 9 | No, delayed up to 20 minutes 5 | SmartMid (API); IEX quote (Sheets) |
| Stock price history | Full company lifetime (daily) 10 | 7+ yrs (pages disagree on start) 2 | 5yr free; 40+ yrs on Gold plan 3 | 30+ yrs EOD; 1-min bars since 2017 11 | Daily prices, up to 40 yrs charted 12 | 2010 onward; 1-5yr free, unlimited paid |
| US options | Excellent, real-time OPRA, free 6 | Good, indicative free; OPRA paid | Basic, always 15m delayed 8 | No | No, no options attribute at all 5 | Excellent, real-time OPRA (Trader+) |
| REST API | Yes 13 | Yes 14 | No official API (shut down 2017) 15 | Yes 16 | No (API shut down 2012) 17 | Yes |
| Official SDKs | None official (community only) 18 | Python, JS, Go, C#, Java 19 | None official (yfinance, unofficial) 20 | None official; community only 21 | None, spreadsheet formula only 5 | Python, JS, TS, Java, C#, Go, PHP |
| Cheapest paid plan | $10/mo (Pro) 1 | $99/mo (Algo Trader Plus) 2 | $9.95/mo (Bronze) 3 | $25/mo (Power, annual) 4 | Not published (no paid tier) 5 | $12/mo (Starter, annual) |
| Cost of real-time stocks + options | Free, partial 1 | $99/mo 2 | Not offered 3 | Not offered 11 | Not offered 5 | $30/mo (annual) 22 |
Sources for this table, checked 2026-09-26
- tradier.com/pricing
- alpaca.markets/data
- help.yahoo.com/kb/yahoo-finance-plus/select-plans-sln36623.html
- tiingo.com/about/pricing
- support.google.com/docs/answer/3093281?hl=en
- docs.tradier.com/docs/market-data.md
- alpaca.markets/support/data-provider-alpaca
- help.yahoo.com/kb/exchanges-data-providers-yahoo-finance-sln2310.html
- tiingo.com/documentation/websockets/iex
- docs.tradier.com/docs/historical-data.md
- tiingo.com/products/
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Finance
- docs.tradier.com/docs/getting-started.md
- docs.alpaca.markets/us/docs/about-market-data-api
- marketdata.app/alternatives/yahoo-finance-api/
- tiingo.com/documentation/general/overview
- groups.google.com/g/google-finance-apis/c/q-DbjbzQDGQ
- docs.tradier.com/docs/libraries.md
- github.com/alpacahq
- github.com/ranaroussi/yfinance
- tiingo.com/documentation/appendix/integrations
- marketdata.app/docs/account/plan-limits/index.md
Tradier
7.1/10 Real-time US equities and OPRA options at no data fee, but only with a Tradier brokerage account and for personal use.
- Free allowance ×2
- 6/10
- Freshness on the free plan ×2
- 10/10
- History on the free plan ×1.5
- 8/10
- Terms that allow real use ×1
- 5/10
- Cost of the first paid step ×1
- 9/10
- Reliability ×1
- 2/10
Strengths
- Real-time data included with any brokerage account, no extra fee
- Full company lifetime of daily history
Weaknesses
- Requires a Tradier brokerage account
- Trustpilot 2.0/5 (28 reviews), the weakest here
Tradier gives real-time US stock and options data at no data fee to anyone with a Tradier brokerage account, with daily history for each company’s whole life. The API is for personal use, and Trustpilot rates Tradier 2.0 from 28 reviews, the lowest here.
Alpaca
6.5/10 200 calls a minute and real-time IEX equities at no data fee, but only with an Alpaca account and for personal use.
- Free allowance ×2
- 9/10
- Freshness on the free plan ×2
- 9/10
- History on the free plan ×1.5
- 6/10
- Terms that allow real use ×1
- 5/10
- Cost of the first paid step ×1
- 2/10
- Reliability ×1
- 3/10
Strengths
- Real-time IEX equities free on Basic
- 200 API calls/minute, 30 websocket symbols free
Weaknesses
- Requires opening a brokerage account
- Trustpilot 2.2/5 (41 reviews)
Alpaca’s free Basic plan streams real-time IEX prices and allows 200 calls a minute, the most generous allowance of any official free tier. IEX carries only part of US volume, and the full consolidated feed costs $99 a month.
Yahoo Finance
6.5/10 Free real-time quotes for major US exchanges, but it is unofficial with no documented limit.
- Free allowance ×2
- 7/10
- Freshness on the free plan ×2
- 9/10
- History on the free plan ×1.5
- 6/10
- Terms that allow real use ×1
- 1/10
- Cost of the first paid step ×1
- 8/10
- Reliability ×1
- 5/10
Strengths
- Free real-time quotes, no signup needed
- 5 years of history free
Weaknesses
- No official API — terms bar automated collection and commercial reuse
- Subject to undocumented rate limiting and IP blocks
Yahoo Finance has had no official API since 2017. The yfinance library still reads real-time quotes for major US exchanges, but Yahoo’s terms forbid automated collection, and its GitHub issues record rate-limit errors and blocks through 2026. Our page on the Yahoo Finance API covers the details.
Tiingo
6.4/10 1,000 requests/day free with 30+ years of price history included.
- Free allowance ×2
- 7/10
- Freshness on the free plan ×2
- 1/10
- History on the free plan ×1.5
- 10/10
- Terms that allow real use ×1
- 10/10
- Cost of the first paid step ×1
- 6/10
- Reliability ×1
- 7/10
Strengths
- 1,000 requests/day, 50/hour free
- 30+ years of price history on the free Starter tier
- 5 years of DOW 30 fundamentals free
Weaknesses
- No real-time on the free tier
- No official SDK
Tiingo’s free Starter plan allows 1,000 requests a day and reaches back more than 30 years, which is the best free history we found. It has no real-time data on the free plan.
Google Finance
5.8/10 No quota at all and no paid tier, but stock quotes are delayed up to 20 minutes.
- Free allowance ×2
- 10/10
- Freshness on the free plan ×2
- 3/10
- History on the free plan ×1.5
- 9/10
- Terms that allow real use ×1
- 6/10
- Cost of the first paid step ×1
- 0/10
- Reliability ×1
- 4/10
Strengths
- No API key, no quota beyond Sheets' own limits
- Entirely free, no paid tier exists
Weaknesses
- Delayed up to 20 minutes, never real-time
- No options; mutual fund data mostly broken (#N/A)
The GOOGLEFINANCE function in Google Sheets is free, needs no key and has no quota beyond Sheets’ own limits. Quotes are delayed up to 20 minutes, and it has no options. A customer who asked us for a refund in March 2023 wrote that GOOGLEFINANCE “seems to be better at it even if it is 20 minutes delayed”, which is a fair verdict for a quote-only spreadsheet. Our GOOGLEFINANCE alternatives page ranks the paid add-ons.
Market Data
5.6/10 100 credits/day free forever, but stocks and options are 24-hour delayed.
- Free allowance ×2
- 4/10
- Freshness on the free plan ×2
- 2/10
- History on the free plan ×1.5
- 5/10
- Terms that allow real use ×1
- 10/10
- Cost of the first paid step ×1
- 9/10
- Reliability ×1
- 9/10
Strengths
- Never expires, no credit card required
- 1 year of history included free
- Documented, official product
Weaknesses
- Free plan is 24-hour delayed, not real-time
- Only 100 credits/day
Our free plan has no end date and asks for no card. It gives 100 credits a day, one year of history, and stock and options data 24 hours delayed. That delay is why we rank sixth. The first paid step is the Starter plan at $12 a month billed annually, with a real-time stock price, and students get half price on any plan with a valid student ID.
Is there a free stock API with real-time data?
Yes, three, each with a catch. Tradier and Alpaca include real-time data free with a brokerage account, and Alpaca’s free feed is IEX only. Yahoo Finance shows real-time quotes for free, but through an unofficial route its terms do not allow. None of the data-only providers here documents real-time prices on a free plan.
Our real-time stock API ranking prices the paid options, and our historical stock data ranking covers the free archives.
Can you use a free stock API in a commercial app?
Not with any free tier we researched. Every free plan here is for personal or evaluation use, and several forbid display to other people outright. A public website or app that shows prices needs a commercial license, and the ranking of financial data providers shows which providers publish a commercial price.
Our free stock market API tour shows our free plan in the Swagger UI.
Can a free trial include real-time options?
Not on our trial. In September 2026 a prospect asked whether he could try real-time options on the 30-day trial before paying $75 for a month. Real-time options need the OPRA entitlement, and only a paid Trader plan can sign it, so trial options data is at least a day old.
What covers that test instead is our refund: a full refund within 14 days of purchase. Even after paying, two steps come before real-time options switch on, the OPRA subscriber agreement and a self-certification of non-professional status, usually approved within a business day.
Is a product that shows only derived scores still commercial?
Yes, if other people see it. In August 2026 a startup building a paid options research service asked to use our API only on its servers, as a replacement for Yahoo Finance. Its customers would only ever see its own scanner scores and option picks, never our prices.
We still classed it as commercial use, because the output served a paid product to other people, and we referred it to our partner Intrinio. The same rule separates it from the personal case: a subscriber who feeds our data into an AI assistant for his own trading stays on a personal plan.
Which free stock API should you start with?
Start with the free tier whose data matches the job. For long daily history, Tiingo. For a live dashboard, Alpaca if an account is acceptable. For a spreadsheet, GOOGLEFINANCE until it breaks. For US options, ours or Tradier’s.
Alpaca publishes its free-tier limits on its market data documentation, and every other figure here links to its source in the tables above.