The short answer
Intrinio and Polygon.io sit at opposite ends of the data market. Intrinio sells per-product institution-priced feeds (EquitiesEdge real-time $1,250/month, Real-Time Options $2,500/month) with sales onboarding, while Polygon.io is self-serve retail topping out at $199/month for unlimited real-time US-equity calls (verified 2026-05-25). Polygon wins on cost and simplicity; Intrinio when you need a specific institutional feed a la carte.
Intrinio and Polygon.io sit at opposite ends of the market-data market: Intrinio sells per-product, institution-priced feeds (EquitiesEdge real-time at $1,250/month, Real-Time Options at $2,500/month) with free trials and sales-assisted onboarding, while Polygon.io is a self-serve retail subscription topping out at $199/month (Stocks Advanced) for unlimited real-time US-equity calls, both verified 2026-05-25 against each vendor's pricing page. Polygon wins on cost and self-serve simplicity for a solo or small-team build; Intrinio wins when you need a specific institutional feed (synthetic options without OPRA complexity, index constituents, fundamentals) packaged à la carte. Model Polygon's tier against your universe in the Data Vendor TCO.
TL;DR
| Dimension | Intrinio | Polygon.io |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | per-product, institution-priced | flat retail subscription |
| Entry to real-time equities | EquitiesEdge $1,250/mo | Stocks Advanced $199/mo |
| Real-time options | $2,500/mo (streaming + Greeks) | not sold as a flagship retail tier |
| Self-serve signup | free trial, sales-assisted | yes, instant |
| Cheapest path | trial, then per-product | Starter $29/mo (15-min delayed) |
| Best fit | institutional / specific feeds | solo + small-team retail |
All figures verified 2026-05-25 against each vendor's official pricing page. Intrinio lists per-product prices; Polygon lists flat subscription tiers.
Two different markets, not two versions of the same product
Polygon.io is built for the self-serve retail and small-team developer: pick a tier, pay a flat monthly fee, get an API key, go. Intrinio is built for buyers who want a specific data product (a named feed) priced on its own, often with a sales conversation and a free trial. The comparison is less "which is cheaper" and more "are you buying a retail subscription or an institutional feed."
- Polygon Stocks tiers (verified 2026-05-25): Starter $29/month (15-minute delayed), Developer $79/month (delayed, unlimited calls), Advanced $199/month (full real-time SIP, unlimited calls).
- Intrinio products (verified 2026-05-25): EquitiesEdge real-time $1,250/month, Real-Time Options $2,500/month, OptionsEdge (synthetic, no OPRA) $1,250/month, US EOD Index Levels $600/month, Index Constituents $600/month, plus annual-priced fundamentals and historical feeds. Free trials are offered.
Where Polygon.io wins
Cost and onboarding for retail builds. Polygon's $199/month Advanced tier turns on full real-time US-equity SIP data with unlimited API calls, no sales call, instant key (verified 2026-05-25). For a solo AI trader or a small team building a US-equities stack, that is roughly a fifth of Intrinio's $1,250/month real-time equities product and self-serve from minute one.
Predictable flat billing. A research loop hammering the REST API all day pays the same $199 whether it makes a thousand or a million calls. There is no per-product assembly to budget.
Where Intrinio wins
Specific institutional feeds, à la carte. Intrinio sells data products Polygon does not package as a retail tier: synthetic options pricing without OPRA exchange-agreement complexity (OptionsEdge, $1,250/month), index constituents with display rights ($600/month), and curated fundamentals (verified 2026-05-25). If your requirement is one named feed with the licensing and support to match, buying it directly is cleaner than forcing a retail subscription to fit.
Streaming options with Greeks. Intrinio's Real-Time Options product ($2,500/month) is a low-latency streaming feed with Greeks. Polygon does not sell an equivalent flagship retail real-time-options tier, so an options-streaming requirement points to Intrinio.
How to choose
- Solo or small-team US-equities build, cost-sensitive: Polygon Advanced ($199/mo) or Developer ($79/mo, delayed).
- Need a specific institutional feed (synthetic options, index constituents, fundamentals): Intrinio, priced per product.
- Streaming real-time options with Greeks: Intrinio Real-Time Options ($2,500/mo).
- Prototyping, delayed data is fine: Polygon Starter ($29/mo, 15-min delayed).
The decision is really "retail subscription or institutional feed." For an equities-only retail stack, Polygon is the obvious starting point; reach for Intrinio when you need a named feed it sells and Polygon does not.
Connects to
- Polygon.io Pricing Plans 2026: the full Polygon flat ladder.
- Polygon.io vs Alpaca Market Data 2026: Polygon against the free-IEX alternative.
- Cheapest Stock Market Data API 2026: budget options below both.
- Data Vendor TCO: model the effective annual cost for your universe.
Verified figures
Polygon's flat Stocks tiers (Starter $29, Developer $79, Advanced $199, with Advanced carrying full real-time SIP and unlimited calls) and Intrinio's per-product prices (EquitiesEdge $1,250/mo, Real-Time Options $2,500/mo, OptionsEdge $1,250/mo, US EOD Index Levels and Index Constituents $600/mo each) were verified on 2026-05-25 against each vendor's pricing page. Intrinio publishes no per-product rate limits on its pricing page; where a figure was not shown, it is omitted rather than estimated. The Polygon tier estimate below is computed live from the shipped engine bundle.
References
- Intrinio. "Pricing / Data Products." verified 2026-05-25 (EquitiesEdge $1,250/mo, Real-Time Options $2,500/mo, OptionsEdge $1,250/mo, US EOD Index Levels $600/mo, Index Constituents $600/mo; free trials offered; rate limits not shown on pricing page). https://intrinio.com/pricing
- Polygon.io / Massive. "Pricing." verified 2026-05-25 (Stocks Starter $29/mo 15-min delayed, Developer $79/mo unlimited calls, Advanced $199/mo full real-time SIP unlimited calls). https://polygon.io/pricing
Verified engine output
Show the recompute-verified inputs and outputs
| vendor_id | polygon |
|---|---|
| universe | medium |
| resolution | minute |
| needs_live | 1 |
| vendor › id | polygon |
|---|---|
| vendor › name | Polygon.io |
| vendor › url | https://polygon.io |
| vendor › short pitch | Flat-rate subscription. Real-time + historical for US equities. Popular retail default. |
| vendor › has overage | false |
| vendor › last checked | 2026-05-25 |
| vendor › tiers › row 1 › name | Stocks Starter |
| vendor › tiers › row 1 › monthly | 29 |
| vendor › tiers › row 1 › includes live | false |
| vendor › tiers › row 1 › includes options | false |
| vendor › tiers › row 1 › includes futures | false |
| vendor › tiers › row 1 › resolutions › row 1 | daily |
| vendor › tiers › row 1 › resolutions › row 2 | minute |
| vendor › tiers › row 1 › notes › row 1 | 15-min delayed market data |
| vendor › tiers › row 1 › notes › row 2 | 5 calls/min |
| vendor › tiers › row 2 › name | Stocks Developer |
| vendor › tiers › row 2 › monthly | 79 |
| vendor › tiers › row 2 › includes live | false |
| vendor › tiers › row 2 › includes options | false |
| vendor › tiers › row 2 › includes futures | false |
| vendor › tiers › row 2 › resolutions › row 1 | daily |
| vendor › tiers › row 2 › resolutions › row 2 | minute |
| vendor › tiers › row 2 › resolutions › row 3 | second |
| vendor › tiers › row 2 › notes › row 1 | 15-min delayed |
| vendor › tiers › row 2 › notes › row 2 | Unlimited API calls |
| vendor › tiers › row 3 › name | Stocks Advanced |
| vendor › tiers › row 3 › monthly | 199 |
| vendor › tiers › row 3 › includes live | true |
| vendor › tiers › row 3 › includes options | false |
| vendor › tiers › row 3 › includes futures | false |
| vendor › tiers › row 3 › resolutions › row 1 | daily |
| vendor › tiers › row 3 › resolutions › row 2 | minute |
| vendor › tiers › row 3 › resolutions › row 3 | second |
| vendor › tiers › row 3 › resolutions › row 4 | tick |
| vendor › tiers › row 3 › notes › row 1 | Full real-time |
| vendor › tiers › row 3 › notes › row 2 | Unlimited API calls |
| tier › name | Stocks Advanced |
| tier › monthly | 199 |
| tier › includes live | true |
| tier › includes options | false |
| tier › includes futures | false |
| 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 Intrinio or Polygon.io cheaper in 2026?
- Polygon.io, for a retail US-equities build. Polygon's Stocks Advanced tier is $199/month for full real-time SIP with unlimited calls; Intrinio's comparable real-time equities product, EquitiesEdge, is $1,250/month. Intrinio is priced for institutional buyers of specific feeds (verified 2026-05-25).
- What does Intrinio sell that Polygon does not?
- Intrinio sells per-product institutional feeds Polygon does not package as a retail tier, including synthetic options pricing without OPRA complexity (OptionsEdge, $1,250/month), index constituents with display rights ($600/month), streaming real-time options with Greeks ($2,500/month), and curated fundamentals (verified 2026-05-25).
- Which is better for a solo developer?
- Polygon.io. It is self-serve with an instant API key and flat pricing: $29/month Starter (15-min delayed), $79/month Developer, $199/month Advanced (full real-time). Intrinio's per-product, sales-assisted model and institutional prices fit teams buying a specific named feed.
- Does Polygon.io offer streaming real-time options data?
- Polygon does not sell a flagship retail real-time-options streaming tier equivalent to Intrinio's Real-Time Options product ($2,500/month with Greeks). An options-streaming requirement points to Intrinio.