# Twelve Data vs Alpha Vantage (2026) > Twelve Data vs Alpha Vantage compares 190,000+ global symbols and streaming against a documented free tier and indicators, priced from both providers' pages. Source: https://www.marketdata.app/alternatives/twelve-data-vs-alpha-vantage/ --- (image: Wooden blocks lettered S&P 500, each on a taller stack of coins than the last, against a black background.) - [Alternatives](/alternatives/) # Twelve Data vs Alpha Vantage: Global Reach vs a Free Tier Twelve Data vs Alpha Vantage compares 190,000+ global symbols and streaming against a documented free tier and indicators, priced from both providers' pages. - [Max Nowak](/about/), Operations Manager - Last updated September 26, 2026 Twelve Data vs Alpha Vantage sets a 190,000-symbol global data API with websocket streaming against a cheaper, thinner one with a documented free tier. Twelve Data wins for exchange reach and streaming; Alpha Vantage wins for anyone who needs a real, working free plan today rather than a $66-a-month entry price. ## Twelve Data vs Alpha Vantage: the feature comparison Scale is the story on one side: 190,000-plus stocks plus forex and crypto pairs across 250-plus exchanges, live quotes over a websocket, and a Trustpilot rating of 4.4 out of 5 on 57 reviews. None of that is free to use meaningfully: its free plan is capped at 800 requests a day against “global trial symbols” only, not the live market, and the cheapest plan with any real access is $66 a month billed annually. Alpha Vantage’s free tier is thinner in volume, 25 requests a day, but it is the real product: any of its 100,000-plus global symbols, EOD only, no card required. It also packs in 50-plus built-in technical indicators and an economic-data catalog Twelve Data does not itemize as clearly, though Twelve Data answers back with a native websocket and a documented MCP server against Alpha Vantage’s REST-only delivery. Twelve Data sells no options data at all. Alpha Vantage’s `REALTIME_OPTIONS` endpoint exists but has no chain filtering by strike or expiration. | Feature | Twelve Data | Alpha Vantage | Market Data | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Real-time US stocks | Yes on paid plans, view-only 1 | Real-time on paid plans (gated) 2 | SmartMid (API); IEX quote (Sheets) | | WebSocket streaming | Yes, wss stream 3 | No 4 | No 5 | | US options | No 6 | Basic, real-time endpoint exists 4 | Excellent, real-time OPRA (Trader+) | | Technical indicators | Excellent, 70-100+ indicators 3 | Excellent, 50+ indicators 4 | No, raw candles only | | AI agents and MCP | Yes, dedicated MCP server 6 | Yes, official hosted MCP server 7 | No | | Free tier | 800 req/day, trial symbols only 1 | 25 req/day, EOD only, no real-time 8 | 100 credits/day, 1yr history, delayed | | Cheapest paid plan | $66/mo (Grow, annual) 1 | $41.58/mo (Premium 1, annual) 8 | $12/mo (Starter, annual) | | Cost of real-time stocks + options | Not offered 6 | $166.58/mo (annual) 4 | $30/mo (annual) 9 | | Trustpilot | 4.4 of 5 (57 reviews) 10 | 2.4 of 5 (11 reviews) 11 | 4.5 of 5 (110 reviews) 12 | Sources for this table, checked 2026-09-26 1. [twelvedata.com/pricing](https://twelvedata.com/pricing) 2. [alphavantage.co/realtime\_data\_policy/](https://www.alphavantage.co/realtime_data_policy/) 3. [twelvedata.com/](https://twelvedata.com/) 4. [alphavantage.co/documentation/](https://www.alphavantage.co/documentation/) 5. [marketdata.app/llms.txt](/llms.txt) 6. [twelvedata.com/docs](https://twelvedata.com/docs) 7. [github.com/alphavantage/alpha\_vantage\_mcp](https://github.com/alphavantage/alpha_vantage_mcp) 8. [alphavantage.co/premium/](https://www.alphavantage.co/premium/) 9. [marketdata.app/docs/account/plan-limits/index.md](/docs/account/plan-limits/index.md) 10. [trustpilot.com/review/twelvedata.com](https://www.trustpilot.com/review/twelvedata.com) 11. [trustpilot.com/review/alphavantage.co](https://www.trustpilot.com/review/alphavantage.co) 12. [trustpilot.com/review/www.marketdata.app](https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.marketdata.app) ## Does Twelve Data’s free plan work for a real project? Not for one that needs live market data. The 800-requests-a-day free plan restricts symbols to a trial list, so it proves the API works rather than feeding a real screener or dashboard. An Alpha Vantage free tier request, by contrast, is smaller at 25 a day, but it runs against the actual market from day one. Twelve Data pricing is transparent about the trade: nothing works against real symbols until you pay $66 a month, and even then redistribution costs hundreds more. **Twelve Data** 7.1/10 190,000+ symbols and 250+ exchanges, but the entry tier for real reach is $66-79/month. Real-time stock prices ×2 5/10 Historical depth ×1.5 8/10 Breadth ×1 8/10 Price for value ×2 5/10 Developer experience ×1.5 9/10 Reliability and reputation ×1.5 9/10 Strengths - 190,000+ symbols across 250+ exchanges - History to ~1980, intraday since 2022 - Trustpilot 4.4/5 (57 reviews) Weaknesses - Free tier limited to trial symbols only - Entry paid tier is $66-79/month Twelve Data is the broader choice: 250-plus exchanges, with forex and crypto included, streaming over `wss://ws.twelvedata.com`, and both Excel and Google Sheets add-ons already shipped. Its own [fundamentals page](https://twelvedata.com/fundamentals) still advertises a $29 entry tier, while the live [pricing page](https://twelvedata.com/pricing) starts at $66 to $79, so confirm the price before you budget. Redistribution needs the $499-a-month Venture business tier or a separate add-on; nothing below that clears display rights. **Alpha Vantage** 5.2/10 20+ years of history and global symbols, but real-time is gated and unconfirmed in feed basis. Real-time stock prices ×2 4/10 Historical depth ×1.5 8/10 Breadth ×1 6/10 Price for value ×2 5/10 Developer experience ×1.5 6/10 Reliability and reputation ×1.5 3/10 Strengths - 100,000+ international symbols - 20+ years of history claimed - 50+ built-in technical indicators Weaknesses - Free tier capped at 25 requests/day - No websocket delivery - Trustpilot 2.4/5 (11 reviews) Alpha Vantage is the cheaper way into global symbols and indicators: a real free tier, then paid plans from $49.99 a month ($41.58 billed annually). It ships an official hosted MCP server with 120-plus tools and a Google Sheets add-on rated 4.2 out of 5, though its own Trustpilot score is 2.4 out of 5 on 11 reviews, with complaints about stale “real-time” data and slow support. ## Why do we refer commercial use of Twelve Data and Alpha Vantage to a partner? We stopped selling to business customers ourselves in February 2025, when IEX ended free redistribution of real-time stock prices for business use. From then on, every business plan carried exchange fees per customer and compliance work our small team could not carry. So we refer commercial buyers to our partner Intrinio. Between 1 and 25 September 2026 we sent it 22 commercial enquiries, about one a day. The test we apply is display: if other people see the prices, or scores built from them, the use is commercial. ## Why can prices from Twelve Data and Alpha Vantage differ from ours on the same day? Usually because one source adjusts past prices for later splits and corporate actions and the other does not. Adjusted history changes whenever a new corporate action lands, so a value you fetched last month can come back different today. That default cost us. In April 2026 an institution valuing donated stock told us our highs and lows disagreed with other quote sites, and it withheld a subscription payment for five weeks while we investigated. A donation is valued at the price that traded that day, so it needed unadjusted candles: two query parameters removed all five discrepancies it reported. The same review found a real bug that dropped the third decimal from some prices, and we fixed it. ## Should you choose Twelve Data or Alpha Vantage? Choose Twelve Data for exchange breadth, websocket streaming or a stronger reputation, and accept the $66-a-month floor for anything beyond trial symbols. Choose Alpha Vantage for a genuinely usable free tier, built-in technical indicators, or an AI agent wired to its MCP server, and accept 25 requests a day until you pay. Twelve Data sells no options at all. Alpha Vantage’s unfiltered options endpoint is not a serious substitute for either. That is where Market Data fits: US equities and options only, stated identically to prospects from the UK, Poland, Hungary, Saudi Arabia, and elsewhere, every year from 2022 to 2026, with no forex or crypto, and no international symbols to compete with either provider’s global reach. Commercial plans begin at $333 per month through our partner Intrinio rather than a self-serve checkout; Twelve Data’s display rights start at $499 a month. Our [options data API](/data/options/) page shows the full, filterable chains that neither competitor sells. Both providers appear in our ranking of [financial data providers](/alternatives/financial-data-providers/), and the [best stock API](/alternatives/best-stock-api/) comparison scores Twelve Data and Alpha Vantage, alongside Market Data, on the same six criteria.