Polygon vs Alpaca sets Massive’s broad, multi-asset data API against Alpaca’s brokerage-bundled feed, where real-time IEX stock data comes free with an account. Alpaca wins for free real-time equities and a $99-a-month plan that adds full-SIP stocks and real OPRA options; Massive wins for broader asset coverage and deeper history.
Polygon vs Alpaca: the feature comparison
Massive is a pure data vendor; Alpaca is a commission-free brokerage whose alpaca market data api rides on the same account as its trading API. That changes the free tier. Massive’s free plan is 5 calls a minute, end-of-day only. Alpaca’s free plan already carries real-time IEX equities, just not the full-SIP feed. On paid real-time, Alpaca’s $99-a-month Algo Trader Plus adds full-SIP stocks and real OPRA options for about half of Massive’s $199-a-month Advanced plan. Massive still covers forex, crypto and futures. Alpaca sells none of them. Both ship an official MCP server for AI agents and a full slate of language SDKs, one of the few places the two agree.
| Feature | Massive | Alpaca | Market Data |
|---|---|---|---|
| Real-time US stocks | Real-time from Advanced ($199/mo) 1 | Free: IEX only. Paid: full-SIP 2 | SmartMid (API); IEX quote (Sheets) |
| Stock price history | 2yr free; 20+yr (to 2003) Advanced+ 1 | 7+ yrs (pages disagree on start) 3 | 2010 onward; 1-5yr free, unlimited paid |
| US options | Excellent, real-time OPRA (Advanced) 4 | Good, indicative free; OPRA paid | Excellent, real-time OPRA (Trader+) |
| Fundamentals | Good, ratios add-on $29/mo flat | No | Earnings only, no financials |
| WebSocket streaming | Yes 4 | Yes, both tiers 3 | No 5 |
| Official SDKs | Python, JS/TS, Go, Java/Kotlin 6 | Python, JS, Go, C#, Java 7 | Python, JS, TS, Java, C#, Go, PHP |
| Google Sheets | None found 8 | No 9 | Native add-on, free |
| Excel | None found 8 | No 9 | Not yet (planned) |
| AI agents and MCP | Yes, dedicated MCP server 10 | Yes, official MCP server 7 | No |
| Free tier | 5 calls/min, 2yr history, EOD only 1 | Yes, IEX equities + indicative options 3 | 100 credits/day, 1yr history, delayed |
| Cheapest paid plan | $23.20/mo (Stocks Starter, annual) 1 | $99/mo (Algo Trader Plus) 3 | $12/mo (Starter, annual) |
| Cost of real-time stocks + options | $318.4/mo (annual) 1 | $99/mo 3 | $30/mo (annual) 11 |
| Trustpilot | 2.3 of 5 (6 reviews) 12 | 2.2 of 5 (41 reviews) 13 | 4.5 of 5 (110 reviews) 14 |
Sources for this table, checked 2026-09-26
- massive.com/pricing
- alpaca.markets/support/data-provider-alpaca
- alpaca.markets/data
- massive.com/pricing?product=options
- marketdata.app/llms.txt
- github.com/massive-com
- github.com/alpacahq
- massive.com
- docs.alpaca.markets/us/llms.txt
- massive.com/docs
- marketdata.app/docs/account/plan-limits/index.md
- trustpilot.com/review/polygon.io
- trustpilot.com/review/alpaca.markets
- trustpilot.com/review/www.marketdata.app
Is Alpaca’s free plan really real-time?
For stocks, yes: the free Basic plan streams real-time IEX-only quotes over REST and websocket, capped at 30 symbols. In a massive vs alpaca comparison that is the sharpest asymmetry, since Massive’s free tier is end-of-day only. Alpaca’s free options feed is “indicative” pricing, not the real OPRA tape, which only arrives on the paid plan.
Massive
4.8/10 A real $0 tier exists, but it is 5 calls/minute, end-of-day only.
- Free allowance ×2
- 5/10
- Freshness on the free plan ×2
- 1/10
- History on the free plan ×1.5
- 6/10
- Terms that allow real use ×1
- 10/10
- Cost of the first paid step ×1
- 7/10
- Reliability ×1
- 3/10
Strengths
- Real $0 tier, no card required
- 2 years of history included free
Weaknesses
- 5 calls/minute, end-of-day only
- Upgrade to any real-time jumps to $199/mo Advanced
Massive’s free tier is real, and no card is required. But it caps out at 5 calls a minute, with end-of-day data only, across every asset class it sells. Few free tiers offer that much breadth. A Google Apps Script user hit Market Data’s single-IP limit on a rotating-IP setup, trialed Massive the same afternoon, and it worked — then cancelled Market Data within the hour. That shows how easily a script-driven developer moves to Massive’s platform. Its Trustpilot rating is 2.3 out of 5 on 6 reviews.
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 plan is the more generous one for a stock-only budget: real-time IEX equities and 200 API calls a minute, plus keyless historical crypto data, with no minimum deposit required. Its option-chain endpoint does return greeks per contract, though the docs do not say whether those greeks follow the same indicative-versus-OPRA split as the underlying quote. Its options history only reaches back to February 2024, shallower than options specialists that predate it, and its Trustpilot rating is 2.2 out of 5 on 41 reviews, with complaints about support response times.
Why can’t our API run from serverless functions?
Because the exchanges classify our product as a controlled platform only while one customer device at a time reads the data. Serverless platforms send requests from rotating egress IPs, which breaks that promise, so we allow no IP allowlists or exemptions.
A paying customer asked us for an allowlist in July 2026, for a personal portfolio monitor on edge functions. We said no. We gave him the only alternative the exchanges allow: uncontrolled access with no IP limit, which means historical data only, with every intraday and real-time price switched off.
Why does our trial exclude 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.
Should you choose Massive or Alpaca?
Choose Alpaca if you want free real-time US stock quotes today and can add a $99-a-month plan later for full-SIP and real options. Choose Massive if you need other asset classes or flat files in the same account, and can accept its higher real-time floor. Alpaca’s data comes with an Alpaca account, and its terms forbid redistribution.
Market Data is the only one of the three with a native Google Sheets add-on. Its real-time options start at the $30-a-month Trader plan billed annually, with free Greeks and IV included. Real-time options cost one credit per contract returned, on the Trader plan and above, and the 30-day trial never includes them. Market Data is the wrong choice if you need crypto, a brokerage account, or free real-time stock quotes on day one, since our free plan is 24-hour delayed. Our own options data API and Sheets add-on pages cover what that looks like in practice.
Neither Massive nor Alpaca sells a spreadsheet product, which is one reason we rank them against everyone else in our financial data providers list and, for a free-first budget specifically, the free stock API comparison.