The short answer
Databento and Polygon.io (now Massive) solve the same problem with opposite billing: Databento meters historical data per GB with $125 in free credits and no subscription — or flat plans from $179/month Standard — while Massive charges a flat $199/month (Advanced) for unlimited real-time US-equity calls (verified 2026-07-13). Databento sells venue-level tick and L2 data Massive does not; the flat fee is more predictable.
Databento and Polygon.io (now Massive; the rebrand went official on October 30, 2025, and api.polygon.io and keys are unchanged1) solve the same problem with opposite billing models: Databento meters historical data by uncompressed size in dollars-per-GB with $125 in free credits and no subscription required (or flat plans from $179/month), while Massive charges a flat $199/month (Stocks Advanced) for unlimited real-time US-equity calls; both re-verified on 2026-07-1323. The choice comes down to data depth and usage shape: Databento sells raw venue-level tick and Level-2 (MBO) data that Massive does not offer at all, but Massive's flat fee is more predictable for steady high-call workloads. Compare the effective monthly cost for your universe with the Data Vendor TCO.
TL;DR
- Databento: usage-based metered pricing ($/GB by uncompressed binary size), no subscription required for historical, $125 free credits for new accounts (historical, 6-month expiry)2. Flat plans also exist: Standard $179/month (live + historical), Plus $1,500/month, Unlimited $4,000/month, the latter two on annual contracts2. Subscriptions are licensed per dataset, so venue-specific rates differ: CME Globex Standard is $199/month since June 22, 20264.
- Polygon.io (Massive): flat-rate. Advanced is $199/month for unlimited calls and real-time SIP US equities3.
- Data depth: Databento offers raw venue tick + Level-2 / MBO order-book data. Polygon does not sell exchange depth (L2/MBO).
- Predictability: Polygon's flat fee is steady regardless of volume; Databento's metered bill scales with how much you pull.
- Live data shift: Databento discontinued usage-based pricing for live data (CME live, for example, as of April 16, 2025), moving live to subscription plans2.
The two billing models
| Dimension | Databento | Polygon.io (Massive) |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Metered $/GB (historical); subscriptions for live | Flat monthly subscription |
| Entry cost | $0 base + $125 free credits | $0 free tier; $199 Advanced for real-time |
| Real-time US equities | Subscription (live moved off usage-based) | Included at $199 Advanced |
| Tick data | Yes (raw venue) | Yes (Advanced tier) |
| Level-2 / MBO depth | Yes | No |
| Cost predictability | Scales with usage | Fixed |
| Flat plans | Standard $179 / Plus $1,500 / Unlimited $4,000 (per dataset; CME Standard $199) | Starter $29 / Developer $79 / Advanced $199 |
All figures verified against each vendor's official pricing, accessed 2026-07-13234.
Where Databento wins
Order-book depth. Databento delivers raw venue-level data including Level-2 and full order-book (MBO) feeds, priced by the uncompressed binary size you actually pull2. Polygon does not sell exchange depth at any tier. If a strategy needs the book — microstructure research, queue-position modeling, depth-aware execution — Polygon is simply not an option and Databento is the natural choice.
Pay-for-what-you-use historical. A one-off historical pull (one symbol-year, a single research dataset) costs only the bytes you download against the $125 credit, with no monthly commitment2. For sporadic, bursty historical needs, metered pricing beats paying $179/month for a flat tier you barely use.
Where Polygon wins
Predictable cost on steady, high-call workloads. A research loop hammering the REST API all day pays the same $199 flat fee whether it makes a thousand or a million calls3. Databento's metered bill grows with volume; for continuous broad-universe polling, the flat tier is both cheaper and easier to budget.
Simpler real-time entry. Polygon's $199 Advanced tier turns on the real-time SIP feed with no metering math. Databento moved live data to subscription plans (discontinuing usage-based live pricing, for instance CME live as of April 16, 20252) and has since raised those CME rates again, as the Databento CME price increase (June 2026) details, so the "just pay per byte" simplicity applies mainly to historical.
How to choose
- Need Level-2 / order-book depth: Databento. Polygon does not offer it.
- Sporadic historical pulls, small one-off datasets: Databento metered — the $125 credit covers a lot of experimentation.
- Steady, high-volume real-time US-equity polling: Polygon Advanced ($199 flat) — predictable and unlimited.
- Tight budget, delayed data is fine: neither flagship tier; start with Polygon's free or $29 Starter and revisit. See Cheapest Stock Market Data API 2026.
The decision is really "do I need the book, and is my usage steady or bursty." Feed your universe size, resolution, and whether you need live data into the Data Vendor TCO below to see the effective annual cost for each model.
What changed (July 2026)
- Databento's flat ladder corrected and re-verified (2026-07-13): Standard is $179/month (live + historical: 16+ years of L0 history, 1 year of L1, 1 month of L2/L3), Plus $1,500/month, and Unlimited $4,000/month, the latter two on annual contracts2. An earlier revision of this page carried $199/$1,399/$3,500; those figures are retired.
- Subscriptions are licensed per dataset, and rates diverge. The ladder above is what databento.com/pricing displays; venue-specific plans differ. CME Globex MDP 3.0 moved to $199/$1,750/$4,500 per month on June 22, 2026 (existing CME Standard subscribers keep $179 for 12 months if the plan stays continuously active), and several ICE datasets list at $2,500/month4. Details in Databento CME price increase (June 2026).
- Unchanged: Databento's metered per-GB historical model with $125 new-account credits (6-month expiry)2, and Massive's Stocks ladder ($0 / $29 / $79 / $199 Advanced)3.
Verified figures
Databento's metered model, $125 new-account credit, and the $179/$1,500/$4,000 flat ladder were verified on its official pricing page, accessed 2026-07-132; the per-dataset rates (CME at $199/$1,750/$4,500 from June 22, 2026) come from Databento's official pricing-update announcement, accessed the same day4. Specific per-GB rates are not publicly displayed (Databento previews fees in its data catalog per dataset). Massive's flat tiers were verified from the plan data embedded in massive.com/pricing, accessed 2026-07-133. Where a figure was not visible on a live source, it is omitted rather than estimated.
Connects to
- Polygon.io Pricing Plans 2026: the full Polygon flat ladder.
- Cheapest Stock Market Data API 2026: budget options below both.
- Tiingo vs Polygon vs Finnhub 2026: the budget-data three-way.
- Data Vendor TCO: model metered versus flat for your universe.
References
Footnotes
-
Massive. "Polygon.io is Now Massive" (effective October 30, 2025; api.polygon.io remains supported). verified 2026-05-25. https://massive.com/blog/polygon-is-now-massive ↩
-
Databento. "Pricing" and "Usage-based pricing and credits" (metered $/GB; $125 new-account credits with 6-month expiry; Standard $179/mo live + historical with 16+ years L0, 1 year L1, 1 month L2/L3; Plus $1,500/mo and Unlimited $4,000/mo on annual contracts; live-data pricing change). accessed 2026-07-13. https://databento.com/pricing ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11
-
Polygon.io / Massive. "Pricing." massive.com (redirected from polygon.io/pricing; plan figures from the page's embedded plan data), accessed 2026-07-13. https://massive.com/pricing ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6
-
Databento. "Updates to subscription pricing" (per-dataset plan rates; CME Globex MDP 3.0 at $199/$1,750/$4,500 per month effective June 22, 2026; existing CME Standard grandfathered at $179 for 12 months while continuously active; ICE datasets at $2,500/month). accessed 2026-07-13. https://databento.com/blog/updates-to-subscription-pricing ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4
Verified engine output
Show the recompute-verified inputs and outputs
| vendor_id | databento |
|---|---|
| universe | medium |
| resolution | minute |
| needs_live | 1 |
| vendor › id | databento |
|---|---|
| vendor › name | Databento |
| vendor › url | https://databento.com |
| vendor › short pitch | Per-unit metered pricing. Strong for institutional-quality tick + L2 data. No subscriptions on base offer. |
| vendor › has overage | true |
| vendor › last checked | 2026-07-12 |
| vendor › tiers › row 1 › name | Databento metered (typical retail) |
| vendor › tiers › row 1 › monthly | 125 |
| vendor › tiers › row 1 › includes live | true |
| vendor › tiers › row 1 › includes options | false |
| vendor › tiers › row 1 › includes futures | true |
| vendor › tiers › row 1 › resolutions › row 1 | daily |
| vendor › tiers › row 1 › resolutions › row 2 | minute |
| vendor › tiers › row 1 › resolutions › row 3 | second |
| vendor › tiers › row 1 › resolutions › row 4 | tick |
| vendor › tiers › row 1 › resolutions › row 5 | level2 |
| vendor › tiers › row 1 › notes › row 1 | Usage-metered: historical is pay-as-you-go priced per GB (uncompressed binary), no subscription required; $125 free credits on signup (6-month expiry) |
| vendor › tiers › row 1 › notes › row 2 | Flat plans: Standard $179/mo (live + historical; 16+ yrs L0, 1 yr L1, 1 mo L2-L3); Plus $1,500/mo and Unlimited $4,000/mo on annual contracts (verified 2026-07-12) |
| vendor › tiers › row 1 › notes › row 3 | $125/mo here models typical retail metered spend (medium universe, minute bars) |
| vendor › tiers › row 1 › notes › row 4 | Per-GB cost scales aggressively with universe and resolution |
| tier › name | Databento metered (typical retail) |
| tier › monthly | 125 |
| tier › includes live | true |
| tier › includes options | false |
| tier › includes futures | true |
| tier › resolutions › row 1 | daily |
| tier › resolutions › row 2 | minute |
| tier › resolutions › row 3 | second |
| tier › resolutions › row 4 | tick |
| tier › resolutions › row 5 | level2 |
| tier › notes › row 1 | Usage-metered: historical is pay-as-you-go priced per GB (uncompressed binary), no subscription required; $125 free credits on signup (6-month expiry) |
| tier › notes › row 2 | Flat plans: Standard $179/mo (live + historical; 16+ yrs L0, 1 yr L1, 1 mo L2-L3); Plus $1,500/mo and Unlimited $4,000/mo on annual contracts (verified 2026-07-12) |
| tier › notes › row 3 | $125/mo here models typical retail metered spend (medium universe, minute bars) |
| tier › notes › row 4 | Per-GB cost scales aggressively with universe and resolution |
| monthly | 125 |
| one time | 0 |
| annual total | 1500 |
| meets resolution | true |
| meets live | true |
| meets options | true |
| meets futures | true |
| meets all | true |
Computed live at build time.
| vendor_id | polygon |
|---|---|
| universe | medium |
| resolution | minute |
| needs_live | 1 |
| vendor › id | polygon |
|---|---|
| vendor › name | Massive (formerly Polygon.io) |
| vendor › url | https://massive.com |
| vendor › short pitch | Flat-rate subscription. Real-time + historical for US equities, with a separate Futures product line. Popular retail default. Rebranded from Polygon.io on 2025-10-30. |
| vendor › has overage | false |
| vendor › last checked | 2026-07-12 |
| vendor › tiers (7 items) | [...] |
| tier › name | Stocks Advanced |
| tier › monthly | 199 |
| tier › includes live | true |
| tier › includes options | false |
| tier › includes futures | false |
| tier › asset class | stocks |
| tier › resolutions › row 1 | daily |
| tier › resolutions › row 2 | minute |
| tier › resolutions › row 3 | second |
| tier › resolutions › row 4 | tick |
| tier › notes › row 1 | Full real-time |
| tier › notes › row 2 | Unlimited API calls |
| monthly | 199 |
| one time | 0 |
| annual total | 2388 |
| meets resolution | true |
| meets live | true |
| meets options | true |
| meets futures | true |
| meets all | true |
Computed live at build time.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Databento or Polygon cheaper in 2026?
- It depends on usage shape. Databento meters historical data by the gigabyte with $125 free credits, so it is cheaper for sporadic pulls. Polygon's $199/month Advanced flat tier is cheaper and more predictable for steady high-volume real-time polling.
- Does Polygon.io offer Level-2 order-book data?
- No. Polygon does not sell exchange depth (Level-2 / MBO) at any tier. Databento does offer raw venue-level order-book data, so it is the choice for microstructure work.
- How does Databento pricing work?
- Databento meters historical data by uncompressed binary size in dollars per gigabyte, with no subscription required and $125 in free credits for new accounts (6-month expiry). Live data moved to subscription plans — Standard $179, Plus $1,500, Unlimited $4,000 per month on the official pricing page — licensed per dataset, with venue-specific rates like CME Globex Standard at $199 since June 22, 2026 (accessed 2026-07-13).
- Is Polygon.io now Massive?
- Yes. Polygon.io rebranded to Massive on October 30, 2025. The api.polygon.io base URL and existing keys are unchanged; pricing now lives at massive.com.