Perigon vs Mediastack: full comparison for 2026
Quick verdict
Perigon (4.5/5) edges ahead of Mediastack (3.8/5) overall. Perigon is the better choice for startups wanting enriched news with transparent tiers. Mediastack is the stronger option for hobby projects and low-volume apps on a tight budget. The right pick depends on your budget, how much history you need and whether you need full text.
Perigon vs Mediastack: head-to-head summary
| Criterion | Perigon | Mediastack |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2022 | 2015 |
| HQ | Austin, Texas, USA | Vienna, Austria (apilayer); owned by Idera |
| Team size | 11–50 | Part of Idera |
| Rating | 4.5 / 5 | 3.8 / 5 |
| Primary differentiator | Published plans from $25 with enrichment and saved-query monitors included | Paid plans from $24.99 with commercial use and historical data |
| Pricing model | Monthly plans; add-ons for real-time and volume | Monthly request plans |
| Entry price | $25/mo | $24.99/mo |
| Formats & SDKs | REST API, JSON, Python SDK | REST API, JSON |
| Typical uses | AI & LLM apps, Media monitoring, Risk & compliance, Marketing & PR | News & content apps, Marketing & PR |
Perigon vs Mediastack: 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.
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.
Features: Perigon vs Mediastack
| Capability | Perigon | Mediastack |
|---|---|---|
| Full article text | ✓ | ✗ |
| Historical archive | ✓ | ✓ |
| NLP enrichment | ✓ | ✗ |
| Story/event clustering | ✓ | ✗ |
| Licensed publisher content | ✗ | ✗ |
| Streaming or webhooks | ✓ | ✗ |
| Free access | ✓ | ✓ |
Formats and SDKs: Perigon vs Mediastack
| Format / SDK | Perigon | Mediastack |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | N/A |
Pricing comparison: Perigon vs Mediastack
| Criterion | Perigon | Mediastack |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $25/mo | $24.99/mo |
| Pricing model | Monthly plans; add-ons for real-time and volume | Monthly request plans |
| Access models | Free trial, Monthly plans, Enterprise contract | Free tier, Monthly plans |
| Price transparency | Public price | Public price |
| Price tier | Budget | Budget |
Who each API suits: Perigon vs Mediastack
| Dimension | Perigon | Mediastack |
|---|---|---|
| Buyer type | Individuals to enterprise | Individuals to enterprise |
| Typical uses | AI & LLM apps, Media monitoring, Risk & compliance | News & content apps, Marketing & PR |
| Example use cases | A startup building a news-aware product that needs commercial rights early. Brand or risk alerts driven by saved searches. | A news ticker or category feed for a small website. A learning project that needs commercial rights cheaply. |
| How you get access | Free trial | Free tier |
Perigon vs Mediastack: 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 |
| 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 |
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 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.
Decision matrix: Perigon vs Mediastack
| 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 | 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 Mediastack
| Use case | Perigon fit | Mediastack fit | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI & LLM apps | Strong | Limited | Perigon |
| Media monitoring | Strong | Limited | Perigon |
| Risk & compliance | Strong | Limited | Perigon |
| Marketing & PR | Strong | Strong | Both equally |
| News & content apps | Limited | Strong | Mediastack |
Verdict: Perigon vs Mediastack
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.
Mediastack (3.8/5) is worth a look if you need a learning project that needs commercial rights cheaply. If your situation matches that, Mediastack is a competitive option.
Related comparisons
Perigon vs Mediastack FAQ
Is Perigon better than Mediastack?
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. Mediastack's strongest advantage: one of the cheapest paid entries among general news APIs, at $24.99 a month.
How do Perigon and Mediastack differ in pricing?
Perigon: monthly plans; add-ons for real-time and volume, with paid access from $25/mo. Mediastack: monthly request plans, with paid access from $24.99/mo. Both offer some free access for testing.
Which is better for enterprise: Perigon or Mediastack?
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 Mediastack?
What sets Perigon apart: published plans from $25 with enrichment and saved-query monitors included. What sets Mediastack apart: paid plans from $24.99 with commercial use and historical data. They also differ on entry price ($25/mo vs $24.99/mo) and typical uses (AI & LLM apps, Media monitoring vs News & content apps, Marketing & PR).
Verify all details directly with each API before making a decision.