Mediastack vs Diffbot: full comparison for 2026
Quick verdict
Mediastack (3.8/5) edges ahead of Diffbot (3.7/5) overall. Mediastack is the better choice for low-traffic sites needing a cheap commercial headline feed. Diffbot is the stronger option for developers collecting news from a fixed list of sites. The right pick depends on your budget, how much history you need and whether you need full text.
Mediastack vs Diffbot: head-to-head summary
| Criterion | Mediastack | Diffbot |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2015 | 2008 |
| HQ | Vienna, Austria (apilayer); owned by Idera | Menlo Park, California, USA |
| Team size | Part of Idera | 11–50 |
| Rating | 3.8 / 5 | 3.7 / 5 |
| Primary differentiator | Commercial use and historical news from $24.99 a month | Parser-free extraction from any article URL, linked to a Knowledge Graph |
| Pricing model | Monthly request plans | Monthly credit plans |
| Entry price | $24.99/mo | $299/mo |
| Formats & SDKs | REST API, JSON | REST API, JSON, Python SDK |
| Typical uses | News & content apps, Marketing & PR | AI & LLM apps, Research & academia, Marketing & PR, Financial services |
Mediastack vs Diffbot: 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.
Diffbot
Diffbot, founded by Mike Tung in 2008 and based in Menlo Park, California, has an estimated 30–40 staff. Point its Article API at any news URL and it returns title, author, date and clean text without a site-specific parser, and Crawlbot can follow a list of publishers you choose. Its Knowledge Graph links articles to companies, people and topics, so it can also be queried as a news source. The free plan includes 10,000 credits at five calls a minute, Startup costs $299 a month for 250,000 credits, and each exported Knowledge Graph entity costs 25 credits. It works best when you want to build your own news collection from chosen sites.
Features: Mediastack vs Diffbot
| Capability | Mediastack | Diffbot |
|---|---|---|
| Full article text | ✗ | ✓ |
| Historical archive | ✓ | ✓ |
| NLP enrichment | ✗ | ✓ |
| Story/event clustering | ✗ | ✗ |
| Official SDK | ✗ | ✓ |
| Streaming or webhooks | ✗ | ✗ |
| Free access | ✓ | ✓ |
Formats and SDKs: Mediastack vs Diffbot
| Format / SDK | Mediastack | Diffbot |
|---|---|---|
| REST API | ✓ | ✓ |
| Python SDK | N/A | ✓ |
| Node.js SDK | N/A | N/A |
| Webhooks | N/A | N/A |
| WebSocket | N/A | N/A |
| MCP server | N/A | N/A |
| S3/bulk delivery | N/A | N/A |
| BigQuery | N/A | N/A |
Pricing comparison: Mediastack vs Diffbot
| Criterion | Mediastack | Diffbot |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $24.99/mo | $299/mo |
| Pricing model | Monthly request plans | Monthly credit plans |
| Access models | Free tier, Monthly plans | Free tier, Monthly plans, Enterprise contract |
| Price transparency | Public price | Public price |
| Price tier | Budget | Mid-market |
Who each API suits: Mediastack vs Diffbot
| Dimension | Mediastack | Diffbot |
|---|---|---|
| Buyer type | Individuals to enterprise | Individuals to enterprise |
| Typical uses | News & content apps, Marketing & PR | AI & LLM apps, Research & academia, Marketing & PR |
| Example use cases | A category news feed on a small website. Classroom projects that need commercial terms. | Monitoring niche trade publications. Clean article text for an LLM from known URLs. |
| How you get access | Free tier | Free tier |
Mediastack vs Diffbot: 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 |
| Diffbot | |
|---|---|
| + | No custom scrapers to maintain when a site changes layout |
| + | 10,000 free credits with no card |
| + | Knowledge Graph links coverage to companies and people |
| + | Crawlbot handles crawling the publishers you pick |
| - | Five calls a minute on the free plan |
| - | Knowledge Graph exports cost 25 credits each |
| - | You assemble the feed yourself |
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 Diffbot?
A typical fit: monitoring niche trade publications.
Parser-free extraction from any article URL, linked to a Knowledge Graph. Paid access starts at $299/mo. Typical uses: AI & LLM apps, Research & academia, Marketing & PR, Financial services.
Decision matrix: Mediastack vs Diffbot
| 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 | Diffbot |
| You need years of historical news | Both |
| You want an official SDK | Diffbot |
| You are wiring news into an LLM agent | Both work through plain REST calls |
Use case fit: Mediastack vs Diffbot
| Use case | Mediastack fit | Diffbot fit | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| News & content apps | Strong | Limited | Mediastack |
| Marketing & PR | Strong | Strong | Both equally |
| AI & LLM apps | Limited | Strong | Diffbot |
| Research & academia | Limited | Strong | Diffbot |
| Financial services | Limited | Strong | Diffbot |
Verdict: Mediastack vs Diffbot
Mediastack (3.8/5) is the stronger overall choice as a news data source. Commercial use and historical news from $24.99 a month.
Diffbot (3.7/5) is worth a look if you need clean article text for an LLM from known URLs. If your situation matches that, Diffbot is a competitive option.
Related comparisons
Mediastack vs Diffbot FAQ
Is Mediastack better than Diffbot?
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. Diffbot's strongest advantage: no custom scrapers to maintain when a site changes layout.
How do Mediastack and Diffbot differ in pricing?
Mediastack: monthly request plans, with paid access from $24.99/mo. Diffbot: monthly credit plans, with paid access from $299/mo. Both offer some free access for testing.
Which is better for enterprise: Mediastack or Diffbot?
Diffbot 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 Diffbot?
What sets Mediastack apart: commercial use and historical news from $24.99 a month. What sets Diffbot apart: parser-free extraction from any article URL, linked to a Knowledge Graph. They also differ on entry price ($24.99/mo vs $299/mo) and typical uses (News & content apps, Marketing & PR vs AI & LLM apps, Research & academia).
Verify all details directly with each API before making a decision.