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While working on stock portfolio trackers, SaaS tools, and financial analytics projects, I’ve spent time comparing different free and low-cost financial data APIs to see how they actually perform in real development environments. This list is meant to save developers time when choosing an API for portfolio tracking, options data, and general market analysis.
These are APIs worth checking out if you’re building dashboards, backtesting tools, or lightweight trading apps.
[SteadyAPI](https://steadyapi.com/pages/stock-and-options-data-api) – Stock and options data
* Price: Free tier available, paid plans start around $14.95/month
* Free tier: Yes
* Notes: Simple endpoints, solid options chains and Greeks, easy to integrate
* Docs: [https://docs.steadyapi.com](https://docs.steadyapi.com/#stocks-options)
[Yahoo Finance](https://pypi.org/project/yfinance/) (via yfinance or other wrappers)
* Price: Free
* Free tier: Yes
* Notes: Useful for quick prototypes and Python projects, but unofficial
* Docs: [https://pypi.org/project/yfinance/](https://pypi.org/project/yfinance/)
[Mboum AP](https://mboum.com/pages/api)I – Global market data and technical indicators
* Price: Free tier available, premium plans start around $9.95/month
* Free tier: Yes
* Notes: Strong international coverage, fast responses, good for portfolio dashboards
* Docs: [https://mboum.com/docs](https://mboum.com/docs)
[Marketstack](https://marketstack.com) – Real-time and historical stock data
* Price: Free tier available, paid plans vary by usage
* Free tier: Yes
* Notes: Clean REST API with real-time and historical market data
* Docs: [https://marketstack.com/documentation](https://marketstack.com/documentation)
[Alpha Vantage](https://www.alphavantage.co) – Stocks, ETFs, forex, and crypto
* Price: Free tier available, premium plans start around $29.99/month
* Free tier: Yes
* Notes: Popular for portfolio trackers, indicators, and data visualization
* Docs: [https://www.alphavantage.co](https://www.alphavantage.co)
[Finnhub](https://finnhub.io) – Market data, news, and sentiment
* Price: Free tier available, paid plans scale with usage
* Free tier: Yes
* Notes: Real-time data with fundamentals, earnings, and sentiment
* Docs: [https://finnhub.io/docs/api](https://finnhub.io/docs/api)
[IEX Cloud](https://iexcloud.io) – US-focused market data
* Price: Free tier available, usage-based paid plans
* Free tier: Yes
* Notes: Stock prices, fundamentals, and research data (availability may vary)
* Docs: [https://iexcloud.io/docs/api/](https://iexcloud.io/docs/api/)
[Twelve Data](https://twelvedata.com) – Multi-asset financial data
* Price: Free tier available, paid plans scale with usage
* Free tier: Yes
* Notes: Covers equities, forex, crypto, and technical indicators
* Docs: [https://twelvedata.com/docs](https://twelvedata.com/docs)