Mediastack vs Benzinga: full comparison for 2026
Quick verdict
Mediastack (3.8/5) edges ahead of Benzinga (3.5/5) overall. Mediastack is the better choice for low-traffic sites needing a cheap commercial headline feed. Benzinga is the stronger option for trading platforms needing a licensed market newswire. The right pick depends on your budget, how much history you need and whether you need full text.
Mediastack vs Benzinga: head-to-head summary
| Criterion | Mediastack | Benzinga |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2015 | 2010 |
| HQ | Vienna, Austria (apilayer); owned by Idera | Detroit, Michigan, USA |
| Team size | Part of Idera | Not publicly disclosed |
| Rating | 3.8 / 5 | 3.5 / 5 |
| Primary differentiator | Commercial use and historical news from $24.99 a month | Original market headlines with ratings and earnings events in one feed |
| Pricing model | Monthly request plans | Custom quote; six-month low-cost start |
| Entry price | $24.99/mo | Custom quote |
| Formats & SDKs | REST API, JSON | REST API, JSON, WebSocket |
| Typical uses | News & content apps, Marketing & PR | Financial services, News & content apps |
Mediastack vs Benzinga: overview
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.
Benzinga
Benzinga, founded in Detroit in 2010 by Jason Raznick and majority-owned by private-equity firm Beringer Capital since late 2021, licenses its own market newswire to brokerages and trading platforms. The APIs pair that news with analyst ratings, earnings and other corporate events, over REST and WebSocket. For a developer, the free entry is a basic headlines-and-teasers API on AWS Marketplace. The full real-time feed is sold by quote, though Benzinga advertises six months of low-cost production access in place of a short trial. Coverage stays on markets and listed companies.
Features: Mediastack vs Benzinga
| Capability | Mediastack | Benzinga |
|---|---|---|
| Full article text | ✗ | ✓ |
| Historical archive | ✓ | ✗ |
| NLP enrichment | ✗ | ✗ |
| Story/event clustering | ✗ | ✗ |
| Official SDK | ✗ | ✓ |
| Streaming or webhooks | ✗ | ✓ |
| Free access | ✓ | ✓ |
Formats and SDKs: Mediastack vs Benzinga
| Format / SDK | Mediastack | Benzinga |
|---|---|---|
| REST API | ✓ | ✓ |
| Python SDK | N/A | ✓ |
| Node.js SDK | N/A | N/A |
| Webhooks | N/A | N/A |
| WebSocket | N/A | ✓ |
| MCP server | N/A | N/A |
| S3/bulk delivery | N/A | N/A |
| BigQuery | N/A | N/A |
Pricing comparison: Mediastack vs Benzinga
| Criterion | Mediastack | Benzinga |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $24.99/mo | Custom quote |
| Pricing model | Monthly request plans | Custom quote; six-month low-cost start |
| Access models | Free tier, Monthly plans | Free tier, Enterprise contract |
| Price transparency | Public price | Quote only |
| Price tier | Budget | Enterprise / quote |
Who each API suits: Mediastack vs Benzinga
| Dimension | Mediastack | Benzinga |
|---|---|---|
| Buyer type | Individuals to enterprise | Individuals to enterprise |
| Typical uses | News & content apps, Marketing & PR | Financial services, News & content apps |
| Example use cases | A category news feed on a small website. Classroom projects that need commercial terms. | Real-time news in a brokerage app. Alerts on analyst rating changes. |
| How you get access | Free tier | Free tier |
Mediastack vs Benzinga: pros and cons
| 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 |
| Benzinga | |
|---|---|
| + | Its own reporting focused on market-moving news |
| + | Ratings and earnings data in the same API |
| + | WebSocket streaming for real-time delivery |
| + | A six-month production start instead of a long contract |
| - | The full feed has no public price |
| - | Market and company news only |
| - | Private-equity ownership since 2021 may shift terms |
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.
Who should choose Benzinga?
A typical fit: real-time news in a brokerage app.
Original market headlines with ratings and earnings events in one feed. Paid access is quote-based. Typical uses: Financial services, News & content apps.
Decision matrix: Mediastack vs Benzinga
| 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 | Benzinga |
| You need years of historical news | Mediastack |
| You want an official SDK | Benzinga |
| You are wiring news into an LLM agent | Both work through plain REST calls |
Use case fit: Mediastack vs Benzinga
| Use case | Mediastack fit | Benzinga fit | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| News & content apps | Strong | Strong | Both equally |
| Marketing & PR | Strong | Limited | Mediastack |
| Financial services | Limited | Strong | Benzinga |
Verdict: Mediastack vs Benzinga
Mediastack (3.8/5) is the stronger overall choice as a news data source. Commercial use and historical news from $24.99 a month.
Benzinga (3.5/5) is worth a look if you need alerts on analyst rating changes. If your situation matches that, Benzinga is a competitive option.
Related comparisons
Mediastack vs Benzinga FAQ
Is Mediastack better than Benzinga?
Mediastack (3.8/5) scores higher overall, but "better" depends on your use case. Mediastack's strongest advantage: among the lowest paid entry prices for general news. Benzinga's strongest advantage: its own reporting focused on market-moving news.
How do Mediastack and Benzinga differ in pricing?
Mediastack: monthly request plans, with paid access from $24.99/mo. Benzinga: custom quote; six-month low-cost start, priced by quote. Both offer some free access for testing.
Which is better for enterprise: Mediastack or Benzinga?
Benzinga 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 Mediastack and Benzinga?
What sets Mediastack apart: commercial use and historical news from $24.99 a month. What sets Benzinga apart: original market headlines with ratings and earnings events in one feed. They also differ on entry price ($24.99/mo vs Custom quote) and typical uses (News & content apps, Marketing & PR vs Financial services, News & content apps).
Verify all details directly with each API before making a decision.