Mediastack vs Guardian Open Platform: full comparison for 2026
Quick verdict
Mediastack (3.8/5) edges ahead of Guardian Open Platform (3.8/5) overall. Mediastack is the better choice for low-traffic sites needing a cheap commercial headline feed. Guardian Open Platform is the stronger option for students and researchers needing free full-text articles. The right pick depends on your budget, how much history you need and whether you need full text.
Mediastack vs Guardian Open Platform: head-to-head summary
| Criterion | Mediastack | Guardian Open Platform |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2015 | 1821 |
| HQ | Vienna, Austria (apilayer); owned by Idera | London, UK |
| Team size | Part of Idera | 1,000+ (Guardian Media Group) |
| Rating | 3.8 / 5 | 3.8 / 5 |
| Primary differentiator | Commercial use and historical news from $24.99 a month | Free full article bodies from a major newspaper, with editorial tags |
| Pricing model | Monthly request plans | Free developer key; commercial licence on request |
| Entry price | $24.99/mo | Free |
| Formats & SDKs | REST API, JSON | REST API, JSON |
| Typical uses | News & content apps, Marketing & PR | Research & academia, News & content apps, AI & LLM apps |
Mediastack vs Guardian Open Platform: 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.
Guardian Open Platform
The Guardian's Open Platform exposes the same content API that powers the Guardian's websites and apps. A free developer key returns full article bodies with tags and sections back to 1999, and commonly reported limits are about 5,000 calls a day and 12 a second. The key is for non-commercial projects; commercial use needs a deal with Guardian News & Media. Developers like it for teaching because the tagging is consistent and the responses are predictable, which makes it a good dataset for NLP exercises. The obvious limit is that every article comes from one newspaper.
Features: Mediastack vs Guardian Open Platform
| Capability | Mediastack | Guardian Open Platform |
|---|---|---|
| Full article text | ✗ | ✓ |
| Historical archive | ✓ | ✓ |
| NLP enrichment | ✗ | ✗ |
| Story/event clustering | ✗ | ✗ |
| Official SDK | ✗ | ✗ |
| Streaming or webhooks | ✗ | ✗ |
| Free access | ✓ | ✓ |
Formats and SDKs: Mediastack vs Guardian Open Platform
| Format / SDK | Mediastack | Guardian Open Platform |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | N/A |
| S3/bulk delivery | N/A | N/A |
| BigQuery | N/A | N/A |
Pricing comparison: Mediastack vs Guardian Open Platform
| Criterion | Mediastack | Guardian Open Platform |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $24.99/mo | Free |
| Pricing model | Monthly request plans | Free developer key; commercial licence on request |
| Access models | Free tier, Monthly plans | Free tier, Enterprise contract |
| Price transparency | Public price | Public price |
| Price tier | Budget | Free |
Who each API suits: Mediastack vs Guardian Open Platform
| Dimension | Mediastack | Guardian Open Platform |
|---|---|---|
| Buyer type | Individuals to enterprise | Individuals to enterprise |
| Typical uses | News & content apps, Marketing & PR | Research & academia, News & content apps, AI & LLM apps |
| Example use cases | A category news feed on a small website. Classroom projects that need commercial terms. | NLP coursework with real articles. Coverage studies of UK and world news over time. |
| How you get access | Free tier | Free tier |
Mediastack vs Guardian Open Platform: 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 |
| Guardian Open Platform | |
|---|---|
| + | Full text at no cost |
| + | Clean tags and sections for filtering |
| + | More than 25 years of archive |
| + | Stable, well-documented, used in production by the Guardian itself |
| - | One publisher and one editorial voice |
| - | Commercial projects must negotiate a licence |
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 Guardian Open Platform?
A typical fit: NLP coursework with real articles.
Free full article bodies from a major newspaper, with editorial tags. Paid access starts at Free. Typical uses: Research & academia, News & content apps, AI & LLM apps.
Decision matrix: Mediastack vs Guardian Open Platform
| Your situation | Recommended choice |
|---|---|
| You want to start free before paying | Both |
| Your budget is at the lower end | Guardian Open Platform |
| You need full article text in the response | Guardian Open Platform |
| You need years of historical news | Both |
| 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: Mediastack vs Guardian Open Platform
| Use case | Mediastack fit | Guardian Open Platform fit | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| News & content apps | Strong | Strong | Both equally |
| Marketing & PR | Strong | Limited | Mediastack |
| Research & academia | Limited | Strong | Guardian Open Platform |
| AI & LLM apps | Limited | Strong | Guardian Open Platform |
Verdict: Mediastack vs Guardian Open Platform
Mediastack (3.8/5) is the stronger overall choice as a news data source. Commercial use and historical news from $24.99 a month.
Guardian Open Platform (3.8/5) is worth a look if you need coverage studies of UK and world news over time. If your situation matches that, Guardian Open Platform is a competitive option.
Related comparisons
Mediastack vs Guardian Open Platform FAQ
Is Mediastack better than Guardian Open Platform?
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. Guardian Open Platform's strongest advantage: full text at no cost.
How do Mediastack and Guardian Open Platform differ in pricing?
Mediastack: monthly request plans, with paid access from $24.99/mo. Guardian Open Platform: free developer key; commercial licence on request, with paid access from Free. Both offer some free access for testing.
Which is better for enterprise: Mediastack or Guardian Open Platform?
Guardian Open Platform 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 Guardian Open Platform?
What sets Mediastack apart: commercial use and historical news from $24.99 a month. What sets Guardian Open Platform apart: free full article bodies from a major newspaper, with editorial tags. They also differ on entry price ($24.99/mo vs Free) and typical uses (News & content apps, Marketing & PR vs Research & academia, News & content apps).
Verify all details directly with each API before making a decision.