Alpha Vantage News & Sentiment vs Mediastack: full comparison for 2026
Quick verdict
Alpha Vantage News & Sentiment (3.8/5) edges ahead of Mediastack (3.8/5) overall. Alpha Vantage News & Sentiment is the better choice for hobby quants wanting news sentiment beside price data. Mediastack is the stronger option for low-traffic sites needing a cheap commercial headline feed. The right pick depends on your budget, how much history you need and whether you need full text.
Alpha Vantage News & Sentiment vs Mediastack: head-to-head summary
| Criterion | Alpha Vantage News & Sentiment | Mediastack |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2017 | 2015 |
| HQ | Boston, Massachusetts, USA | Vienna, Austria (apilayer); owned by Idera |
| Team size | Not publicly disclosed | Part of Idera |
| Rating | 3.8 / 5 | 3.8 / 5 |
| Primary differentiator | Ticker and topic sentiment scores from the same key as market data | Commercial use and historical news from $24.99 a month |
| Pricing model | Free key; premium plans by rate limit | Monthly request plans |
| Entry price | $49.99/mo | $24.99/mo |
| Formats & SDKs | REST API, JSON, CSV | REST API, JSON |
| Typical uses | Financial services, Research & academia | News & content apps, Marketing & PR |
Alpha Vantage News & Sentiment vs Mediastack: overview
Alpha Vantage News & Sentiment
Alpha Vantage was founded in Boston in 2017 by Olivier Porte and Steve Zheng and went through Y Combinator's Summer 2018 batch. Its NEWS_SENTIMENT function returns market news with an overall sentiment score plus per-ticker and per-topic scores, from the same key that serves prices, fundamentals and technical indicators. Many hobby trading projects start here because the free key arrives instantly. Third-party guides describe the free allowance as 25 requests a day at five a minute, and premium plans as starting at $49.99 a month for 75 requests a minute with no daily cap. Commercial use is a separate question, and one source reports commercial licences in the $499 to $2,499 a month range. Responses carry summaries and links; full articles live on the publishers' sites.
Mediastack
Mediastack belongs to apilayer, the Vienna company behind ipstack and weatherstack, which Julian and Paul Zehetmayr founded in 2015 and the US software group Idera bought in January 2021. If you already use another apilayer API, the key format, parameters and error codes will look familiar. It covers live and historical news from 7,500+ sources in 13 languages, with filters for country, category, language and keyword. The free plan gives 100 requests a month, which a day of testing can use up, and paid plans run from $24.99 for 10,000 requests to $249.99 for 250,000. Responses carry descriptions and metadata, without full text or enrichment.
Features: Alpha Vantage News & Sentiment vs Mediastack
| Capability | Alpha Vantage News & Sentiment | Mediastack |
|---|---|---|
| Full article text | ✗ | ✗ |
| Historical archive | ✗ | ✓ |
| NLP enrichment | ✓ | ✗ |
| Story/event clustering | ✗ | ✗ |
| Official SDK | ✗ | ✗ |
| Streaming or webhooks | ✗ | ✗ |
| Free access | ✓ | ✓ |
Formats and SDKs: Alpha Vantage News & Sentiment vs Mediastack
| Format / SDK | Alpha Vantage News & Sentiment | Mediastack |
|---|---|---|
| REST API | ✓ | ✓ |
| Python SDK | N/A | N/A |
| Node.js SDK | N/A | N/A |
| Webhooks | N/A | N/A |
| WebSocket | N/A | N/A |
| MCP server | ✓ | N/A |
| S3/bulk delivery | N/A | N/A |
| BigQuery | N/A | N/A |
Pricing comparison: Alpha Vantage News & Sentiment vs Mediastack
| Criterion | Alpha Vantage News & Sentiment | Mediastack |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $49.99/mo | $24.99/mo |
| Pricing model | Free key; premium plans by rate limit | Monthly request plans |
| Access models | Free tier, Monthly plans, Enterprise contract | Free tier, Monthly plans |
| Price transparency | Public price | Public price |
| Price tier | Budget | Budget |
Who each API suits: Alpha Vantage News & Sentiment vs Mediastack
| Dimension | Alpha Vantage News & Sentiment | Mediastack |
|---|---|---|
| Buyer type | Individuals to enterprise | Individuals to enterprise |
| Typical uses | Financial services, Research & academia | News & content apps, Marketing & PR |
| Example use cases | Adding a sentiment column to a backtest. Student finance projects. | A category news feed on a small website. Classroom projects that need commercial terms. |
| How you get access | Free tier | Free tier |
Alpha Vantage News & Sentiment vs Mediastack: pros and cons
| Alpha Vantage News & Sentiment | |
|---|---|
| + | Free key with no approval wait |
| + | Sentiment per ticker and per topic in each response |
| + | Prices and fundamentals on the same account |
| + | Premium tiers are sold by rate limit, which makes scaling simple to price |
| - | 25 free requests a day runs out quickly |
| - | Commercial use may need a separate, much pricier licence |
| - | Summaries and links only, no article text |
| Mediastack | |
|---|---|
| + | Among the lowest paid entry prices for general news |
| + | Shares conventions with the other apilayer APIs |
| + | History included on paid plans |
| + | Short docs with copy-paste code |
| - | 100 free requests a month barely covers testing |
| - | Only 7,500 sources in 13 languages |
| - | No full text, entities or sentiment |
Who should choose Alpha Vantage News & Sentiment?
A typical fit: adding a sentiment column to a backtest.
Ticker and topic sentiment scores from the same key as market data. Paid access starts at $49.99/mo. Typical uses: Financial services, Research & academia.
Who should choose Mediastack?
A typical fit: a category news feed on a small website.
Commercial use and historical news from $24.99 a month. Paid access starts at $24.99/mo. Typical uses: News & content apps, Marketing & PR.
Decision matrix: Alpha Vantage News & Sentiment vs Mediastack
| Your situation | Recommended choice |
|---|---|
| You want to start free before paying | Both |
| Your budget is at the lower end | Mediastack |
| You need full article text in the response | Neither returns full text |
| You need years of historical news | Mediastack |
| You want an official SDK | Neither; both are plain REST |
| You are wiring news into an LLM agent | Both work through plain REST calls |
Use case fit: Alpha Vantage News & Sentiment vs Mediastack
| Use case | Alpha Vantage News & Sentiment fit | Mediastack fit | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Financial services | Strong | Limited | Alpha Vantage News & Sentiment |
| Research & academia | Strong | Limited | Alpha Vantage News & Sentiment |
| News & content apps | Limited | Strong | Mediastack |
| Marketing & PR | Limited | Strong | Mediastack |
Verdict: Alpha Vantage News & Sentiment vs Mediastack
Alpha Vantage News & Sentiment (3.8/5) is the stronger overall choice as a news data source. Ticker and topic sentiment scores from the same key as market data.
Mediastack (3.8/5) is worth a look if you need classroom projects that need commercial terms. If your situation matches that, Mediastack is a competitive option.
Related comparisons
Alpha Vantage News & Sentiment vs Mediastack FAQ
Is Alpha Vantage News & Sentiment better than Mediastack?
Alpha Vantage News & Sentiment (3.8/5) scores higher overall, but "better" depends on your use case. Alpha Vantage News & Sentiment's strongest advantage: free key with no approval wait. Mediastack's strongest advantage: among the lowest paid entry prices for general news.
How do Alpha Vantage News & Sentiment and Mediastack differ in pricing?
Alpha Vantage News & Sentiment: free key; premium plans by rate limit, with paid access from $49.99/mo. Mediastack: monthly request plans, with paid access from $24.99/mo. Both offer some free access for testing.
Which is better for enterprise: Alpha Vantage News & Sentiment or Mediastack?
Alpha Vantage News & Sentiment sells enterprise contracts with negotiated volume and SLA terms. Neither carries licensed publisher content, so check copyright terms before republishing anything.
What are the main differences between Alpha Vantage News & Sentiment and Mediastack?
What sets Alpha Vantage News & Sentiment apart: ticker and topic sentiment scores from the same key as market data. What sets Mediastack apart: commercial use and historical news from $24.99 a month. They also differ on entry price ($49.99/mo vs $24.99/mo) and typical uses (Financial services, Research & academia vs News & content apps, Marketing & PR).
Verify all details directly with each API before making a decision.