Alpaca Data API VS Alpaca Broker API

Alpaca Broker API

Launch your own commission-free trading app

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2023-02-15

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2023-01-30

Alpaca Data API features and specs

Comprehensive Market Data
Alpaca Data API provides access to a wide range of financial market data, including historical and real-time information for stocks, ETFs, and other assets, which is beneficial for conducting detailed analysis and making informed decisions.
Integrated Trading Platform
The data API is conveniently integrated with Alpaca's trading platform, allowing for seamless transition from data analysis to executing trades, which can increase efficiency for users.
User-Friendly Documentation
Alpaca offers well-documented API resources that help developers easily understand and implement the service into their applications, facilitating a smoother development process.
Free Tier Access
Alpaca provides a free tier for accessing its data API, which is attractive for individual traders and small startups who may have budget constraints.
Compliance with Various Regulations
Alpaca is a registered broker-dealer, ensuring that the data provided adheres to essential compliance and regulatory standards, providing users with a reliable and legal data source.

Possible disadvantages of Alpaca Data API

Limited Asset Coverage
While Alpaca offers substantial data for U.S. securities, its coverage outside the United States is limited, which may not be suitable for traders interested in global markets.
Rate Limits on API Calls
The free and lower-tier subscriptions have rate limits on API calls, which can be restrictive for users requiring extensive data access or high-frequency data requests.
Potential Delays in Real-Time Data
Depending on the subscription tier, there might be delays in receiving real-time data, which can be a disadvantage for high-frequency traders who rely on minimal latency.
Complex Pricing Structure
The pricing model for accessing different levels of data and other features via the API can be complex, making it difficult for users to estimate costs effectively without a thorough understanding.
Dependency on Internet Connectivity
As with any online API service, the reliability and performance of Alpaca's data feed depend on the user's Internet connectivity, which could be a concern in areas with unstable connections.

Alpaca Broker API features and specs

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Getting Started With Alpaca Broker API: Brokerage Edition

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Alpaca Data API and Alpaca Broker API)

Alpaca Broker API

Fintech

68 68%

Fintech

32% 32

Investing

71 71%

Investing

29% 29

Finance

71 71%

Finance

29% 29

Developer Tools

63 63%

Developer Tools

37% 37

User comments

Share your experience with using Alpaca Data API and Alpaca Broker API. For example, how are they different and which one is better?

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Alpaca Data API seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 8 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Alpaca Data API mentions (8)

Why is trading info so slow?
Have you looked at Alpaca's Market Data API or Polygon.io. Both premium options are reasonably priced and give you access to both historical and real time trades. Source: over 2 years ago
Algo trading for dissertation
I think https://alpaca.markets/data still offers free api keys for research purposes. Source: over 2 years ago
Costs for Algo Traders
Https://alpaca.markets/data - As you see you get 100% market coverage for all US exchanges and unlimited API / WebSocket access. They also have 1min bar historical data (I do not know about the tick level). I can not speak to the quality of the API Access as I have a TotalView subscription. Source: almost 3 years ago
API for Fund Analysis
Free tier for researchers, now $99/month for the algotrading access (link: https://alpaca.markets/data). Source: almost 3 years ago
Question about (somewhat) live market volume data
Https://alpaca.markets/data free plan has 200 calls/minute limit which is what you want anyway. Source: about 3 years ago