Sunday, June 15, 2025
mediastack vs finlight: Lightweight News API or Domain-Specific Powerhouse?
When building applications powered by news data, choosing the right API is more than just about access — it's about the depth of data, real-time capability, support, and pricing transparency.
In this article, we’ll compare mediastack, a lightweight general news API, with finlight, a premium platform built for finance, trading, and geopolitical analysis. Whether you’re building a news widget, alert system, or macro research dashboard, understanding the differences will help you make a more informed decision.
🔍 Feature Comparison
| Feature | mediastack | finlight |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | General-purpose news headlines | Financial & geopolitical intelligence |
| Article Content | Summary, title, URL only | Full article text with structured metadata |
| Real-Time Updates | REST only (polling) | REST & WebSocket with near-instant delivery |
| Sentiment Analysis | Not supported | Yes, included from Premium Standard tier |
| WebSocket Streaming | Not available | Yes |
| Free Tier | 100 requests/month, non-commercial use only | 5,000 requests/month (10,000 via Viral Boost), commercial allowed |
| Free Tier Support | No support | Community support on Discord |
| Overage Handling | No hard limit — may lead to unexpected billing | Hard cap with usage notifications before reach, predictable billing |
| Custom Request Quotas | Not offered | Available per customer |
| Source Coverage | 7,500+ general sources | Curated premium finance and risk-related sources |
| Use Case Fit | News apps, SEO, blogging | Trading, research, finance, analytics |
Content & Depth
mediastack is best suited for projects that only need headlines and short snippets. However, it does not include full-text access, structured metadata, or sentiment, which limits its usefulness for deeper analysis.
In contrast, finlight provides full articles alongside structured metadata, sentiment scoring, and entity recognition — tools essential for systems that analyze news impact on markets or geopolitical events.
Real-Time Delivery
- mediastack is REST-only and may experience some latency. It is not built for real-time streaming.
- finlight supports real-time news via WebSocket, offering millisecond-level delivery for critical systems like trading platforms or alerting engines.
Developer & Community Support
mediastack’s free tier is limited to 100 requests per month, and is prohibited for commercial use. There is no support included for free users.
finlight, on the other hand, offers 5,000 monthly requests and 10,000 monthly requests via its Viral Boost, allows commercial usage even on the free plan, and provides community support through Discord, enabling faster problem solving and integrations.
Who Should Use What?
| Use Case | Best Fit |
|---|---|
| You need basic headlines for a blog or feed | mediastack |
| You want full article text for in-depth analysis | finlight |
| You're building a financial or macroeconomic tool | finlight |
| You want to avoid surprise billing from overages | finlight |
| You need sentiment or metadata for context-aware systems | finlight |
| You want a simple, low-cost API for non-commercial use | Tie |
| You need WebSocket streaming for live alerts | finlight |
| You want support even while testing or on free plan | finlight |
Conclusion
mediastack is a strong choice if your needs are basic, your budget is tight, and your project is non-commercial. It gives you fast access to global headlines and works well for SEO tools, news feeds, and small-scale apps.
finlight, on the other hand, shines when accuracy, analysis, and timing matter. It’s designed for professionals who need actionable news — with full content, real-time streaming, structured data, and developer support out of the box. Whether you're building an investment engine or a geopolitical alert system, finlight offers the infrastructure to do it right.