Perigon vs GDELT Project: full comparison for 2026
Quick verdict
Perigon (4.5/5) edges ahead of GDELT Project (4.0/5) overall. Perigon is the better choice for startups wanting enriched news with transparent tiers. GDELT Project is the stronger option for researchers and data scientists with no budget. The right pick depends on your budget, how much history you need and whether you need full text.
Perigon vs GDELT Project: head-to-head summary
| Criterion | Perigon | GDELT Project |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2022 | 2013 |
| HQ | Austin, Texas, USA | Open research project (no commercial HQ) |
| Team size | 11–50 | Not publicly disclosed |
| Rating | 4.5 / 5 | 4.0 / 5 |
| Primary differentiator | Published plans from $25 with enrichment and saved-query monitors included | Free global coverage with 15-minute updates and BigQuery access |
| Pricing model | Monthly plans; add-ons for real-time and volume | Free |
| Entry price | $25/mo | Free |
| Formats & SDKs | REST API, JSON, Python SDK | REST API, JSON, CSV |
| Typical uses | AI & LLM apps, Media monitoring, Risk & compliance, Marketing & PR | Research & academia, Risk & compliance, Media monitoring |
Perigon vs GDELT Project: overview
Perigon
Perigon was founded in 2022 by Joshua Dziabiak and Josh Rickel, is based in Austin, Texas, and closed a $5 million seed round led by LiveOak Ventures in February 2024. The API collects from more than 230,000 sources (per company website; independently unverifiable) and returns articles with entities, topics, summaries and story clusters, plus Monitors that run saved queries on a schedule. All three plans are public: Individual at $25 a month for personal use, Startup at $250 with limited commercial rights, and Commercial at $1,250 with real-time data, an SLA and SSO. Below the Commercial tier, data carries a one-hour delay unless you buy the real-time add-on.
GDELT Project
The GDELT Project, created by Kalev Leetaru, is an open research database that monitors broadcast, print and web news worldwide in more than 65 languages and publishes updates every 15 minutes. Its DOC 2.0 API searches recent coverage and returns article lists and timelines, while bulk event and knowledge-graph files can be queried in Google BigQuery. The main APIs are free and need no key. What you get back is metadata and links, so you still have to fetch and parse each page yourself.
Features: Perigon vs GDELT Project
| Capability | Perigon | GDELT Project |
|---|---|---|
| Full article text | ✓ | ✗ |
| Historical archive | ✓ | ✓ |
| NLP enrichment | ✓ | ✓ |
| Story/event clustering | ✓ | ✗ |
| Licensed publisher content | ✗ | ✗ |
| Streaming or webhooks | ✓ | ✗ |
| Free access | ✓ | ✓ |
Formats and SDKs: Perigon vs GDELT Project
| Format / SDK | Perigon | GDELT Project |
|---|---|---|
| REST API | ✓ | ✓ |
| Python SDK | ✓ | N/A |
| Node.js SDK | ✓ | N/A |
| Webhooks | ✓ | N/A |
| WebSocket | N/A | N/A |
| MCP server | N/A | N/A |
| S3/bulk delivery | N/A | N/A |
| BigQuery | N/A | ✓ |
Pricing comparison: Perigon vs GDELT Project
| Criterion | Perigon | GDELT Project |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $25/mo | Free |
| Pricing model | Monthly plans; add-ons for real-time and volume | Free |
| Access models | Free trial, Monthly plans, Enterprise contract | Open data |
| Price transparency | Public price | Public price |
| Price tier | Budget | Free |
Who each API suits: Perigon vs GDELT Project
| Dimension | Perigon | GDELT Project |
|---|---|---|
| Buyer type | Individuals to enterprise | Individuals to enterprise |
| Typical uses | AI & LLM apps, Media monitoring, Risk & compliance | Research & academia, Risk & compliance, Media monitoring |
| Example use cases | A startup building a news-aware product that needs commercial rights early. Brand or risk alerts driven by saved searches. | Academic studies of global media coverage. Geopolitical risk dashboards built in BigQuery. |
| How you get access | Free trial | Open data |
Perigon vs GDELT Project: pros and cons
| Perigon | |
|---|---|
| + | Even the $25 tier returns entity and topic data instead of bare headlines |
| + | Monitors turn a saved query into a recurring alert without extra code |
| + | The Commercial tier bundles a 10+ year archive, an SLA and SSO in one price |
| + | License terms spell out that you are buying the structured data, which helps legal review |
| - | Real-time data costs extra below the $1,250 Commercial plan; otherwise expect a one-hour delay |
| - | Request quotas are tight for the price, with 10,000 a month on Startup |
| - | The license does not cover republishing full article text |
| GDELT Project | |
|---|---|
| + | Completely free, bulk files and BigQuery tables included |
| + | Machine-translated coverage across 65+ languages, which is rare at any price |
| + | Event coding (who did what to whom, and where) supports geopolitical analysis |
| + | Fresh data every 15 minutes |
| - | No full article text, only URLs, metadata and derived signals |
| - | No SLA, commercial support or guaranteed uptime |
| - | Research-grade data structures take time to understand |
Who should choose Perigon?
A typical fit: a startup building a news-aware product that needs commercial rights early.
Published plans from $25 with enrichment and saved-query monitors included. Paid access starts at $25/mo. Typical uses: AI & LLM apps, Media monitoring, Risk & compliance, Marketing & PR.
Who should choose GDELT Project?
A typical fit: academic studies of global media coverage.
Free global coverage with 15-minute updates and BigQuery access. Paid access starts at Free. Typical uses: Research & academia, Risk & compliance, Media monitoring.
Decision matrix: Perigon vs GDELT Project
| Your situation | Recommended choice |
|---|---|
| You want to start free before paying | Both |
| Your budget is at the lower end | GDELT Project |
| You need full article text in the response | Perigon |
| You need years of historical news | Both |
| You need licensed premium or wire content | Neither; look at Factiva, AP or LexisNexis |
| You are wiring news into an LLM agent | Perigon |
Use case fit: Perigon vs GDELT Project
| Use case | Perigon fit | GDELT Project fit | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI & LLM apps | Strong | Limited | Perigon |
| Media monitoring | Strong | Strong | Both equally |
| Risk & compliance | Strong | Strong | Both equally |
| Marketing & PR | Strong | Limited | Perigon |
| Research & academia | Limited | Strong | GDELT Project |
Verdict: Perigon vs GDELT Project
Perigon (4.5/5) is the stronger overall choice as a news data source. Published plans from $25 with enrichment and saved-query monitors included.
GDELT Project (4.0/5) is worth a look if you need geopolitical risk dashboards built in BigQuery. If your situation matches that, GDELT Project is a competitive option.
Related comparisons
Perigon vs GDELT Project FAQ
Is Perigon better than GDELT Project?
Perigon (4.5/5) scores higher overall, but "better" depends on your use case. Perigon's strongest advantage: even the $25 tier returns entity and topic data instead of bare headlines. GDELT Project's strongest advantage: completely free, bulk files and BigQuery tables included.
How do Perigon and GDELT Project differ in pricing?
Perigon: monthly plans; add-ons for real-time and volume, with paid access from $25/mo. GDELT Project: free, with paid access from Free. Both offer some free access for testing.
Which is better for enterprise: Perigon or GDELT Project?
Perigon 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 Perigon and GDELT Project?
What sets Perigon apart: published plans from $25 with enrichment and saved-query monitors included. What sets GDELT Project apart: free global coverage with 15-minute updates and BigQuery access. They also differ on entry price ($25/mo vs Free) and typical uses (AI & LLM apps, Media monitoring vs Research & academia, Risk & compliance).
Verify all details directly with each API before making a decision.