Mediastack vs Marketaux: full comparison for 2026
Quick verdict
Mediastack (3.8/5) edges ahead of Marketaux (3.7/5) overall. Mediastack is the better choice for hobby projects and low-volume apps on a tight budget. Marketaux is the stronger option for fintech side projects needing ticker-tagged news cheaply. The right pick depends on your budget, how much history you need and whether you need full text.
Mediastack vs Marketaux: head-to-head summary
| Criterion | Mediastack | Marketaux |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2015 | Not disclosed |
| HQ | Vienna, Austria (apilayer); owned by Idera | Not publicly disclosed |
| Team size | Part of Idera | Not publicly disclosed |
| Rating | 3.8 / 5 | 3.7 / 5 |
| Primary differentiator | Paid plans from $24.99 with commercial use and historical data | Per-entity sentiment scores on every article, even on the free plan |
| Pricing model | Monthly request plans | Monthly request plans |
| Entry price | $24.99/mo | $29/mo |
| Formats & SDKs | REST API, JSON | REST API, JSON |
| Typical uses | News & content apps, Marketing & PR | Financial services, News & content apps |
Mediastack vs Marketaux: overview
Mediastack
Mediastack is one of the apilayer products, alongside ipstack and weatherstack. apilayer was founded in Vienna in 2015 by Julian and Paul Zehetmayr and acquired by the US software group Idera in January 2021. The API aggregates live and historical news from 7,500+ sources in 13 languages, filtered by country, category, language and keyword. The free plan allows 100 requests a month, and paid plans run from $24.99 for 10,000 requests to $249.99 for 250,000. Its source list is far smaller than the big crawlers here, and it adds no enrichment beyond basic metadata.
Marketaux
Marketaux covers stock, crypto and forex news and tags each article with the tickers and entities it mentions, each scored for sentiment between -1 and 1. Listings put coverage at about 5,000 sources in 30+ languages and 200,000+ tracked entities (per company website; independently unverifiable). The free plan allows 100 requests a day at three articles per request, and the official pricing page lists Basic at $29 a month for 2,500 daily requests. Entity statistics and trending endpoints need a paid tier, and the site does not say who operates it or where.
Features: Mediastack vs Marketaux
| Capability | Mediastack | Marketaux |
|---|---|---|
| Full article text | ✗ | ✗ |
| Historical archive | ✓ | ✗ |
| NLP enrichment | ✗ | ✓ |
| Story/event clustering | ✗ | ✗ |
| Licensed publisher content | ✗ | ✗ |
| Streaming or webhooks | ✗ | ✗ |
| Free access | ✓ | ✓ |
Formats and SDKs: Mediastack vs Marketaux
| Format / SDK | Mediastack | Marketaux |
|---|---|---|
| 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 Marketaux
| Criterion | Mediastack | Marketaux |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $24.99/mo | $29/mo |
| Pricing model | Monthly request plans | Monthly request plans |
| Access models | Free tier, Monthly plans | Free tier, Monthly plans |
| Price transparency | Public price | Public price |
| Price tier | Budget | Budget |
Who each API suits: Mediastack vs Marketaux
| Dimension | Mediastack | Marketaux |
|---|---|---|
| Buyer type | Individuals to enterprise | Individuals to enterprise |
| Typical uses | News & content apps, Marketing & PR | Financial services, News & content apps |
| Example use cases | A news ticker or category feed for a small website. A learning project that needs commercial rights cheaply. | A stock news feed in a portfolio tracker. Sentiment features for a hobby trading model. |
| How you get access | Free tier | Free tier |
Mediastack vs Marketaux: pros and cons
| Mediastack | |
|---|---|
| + | One of the cheapest paid entries among general news APIs, at $24.99 a month |
| + | Same conventions as other apilayer APIs, which helps if you already use one |
| + | Historical news included on paid plans |
| + | Short docs with copy-paste examples |
| - | Only 7,500 sources and 13 languages |
| - | The free plan is 100 requests a month, which runs out in a day of testing |
| - | Descriptions only, with no full text, sentiment or entities |
| Marketaux | |
|---|---|
| + | Ticker and entity tagging saves building your own matcher |
| + | Sentiment is scored for each entity mentioned in an article |
| + | Commercial use from $29 a month |
| + | Crypto and forex as well as equities |
| - | The free plan returns only three articles per request |
| - | The operator is anonymous, which complicates vendor due diligence |
| - | Narrow focus on financial topics |
Who should choose Mediastack?
A typical fit: a news ticker or category feed for a small website.
Paid plans from $24.99 with commercial use and historical data. Paid access starts at $24.99/mo. Typical uses: News & content apps, Marketing & PR.
Who should choose Marketaux?
A typical fit: a stock news feed in a portfolio tracker.
Per-entity sentiment scores on every article, even on the free plan. Paid access starts at $29/mo. Typical uses: Financial services, News & content apps.
Decision matrix: Mediastack vs Marketaux
| 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 need licensed premium or wire content | Neither; look at Factiva, AP or LexisNexis |
| You are wiring news into an LLM agent | Both work through plain REST calls |
Use case fit: Mediastack vs Marketaux
| Use case | Mediastack fit | Marketaux fit | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| News & content apps | Strong | Strong | Both equally |
| Marketing & PR | Strong | Limited | Mediastack |
| Financial services | Limited | Strong | Marketaux |
Verdict: Mediastack vs Marketaux
Mediastack (3.8/5) is the stronger overall choice as a news data source. Paid plans from $24.99 with commercial use and historical data.
Marketaux (3.7/5) is worth a look if you need sentiment features for a hobby trading model. If your situation matches that, Marketaux is a competitive option.
Related comparisons
Mediastack vs Marketaux FAQ
Is Mediastack better than Marketaux?
Mediastack (3.8/5) scores higher overall, but "better" depends on your use case. Mediastack's strongest advantage: one of the cheapest paid entries among general news APIs, at $24.99 a month. Marketaux's strongest advantage: ticker and entity tagging saves building your own matcher.
How do Mediastack and Marketaux differ in pricing?
Mediastack: monthly request plans, with paid access from $24.99/mo. Marketaux: monthly request plans, with paid access from $29/mo. Both offer some free access for testing.
Which is better for enterprise: Mediastack or Marketaux?
Neither sells an enterprise contract. Neither carries licensed publisher content, so check copyright terms before republishing anything.
What are the main differences between Mediastack and Marketaux?
What sets Mediastack apart: paid plans from $24.99 with commercial use and historical data. What sets Marketaux apart: per-entity sentiment scores on every article, even on the free plan. They also differ on entry price ($24.99/mo vs $29/mo) 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.