Polygon.io's free tier (the Basic plan) caps you at 5 API calls per minute on 15-minute-delayed data, with roughly 2 years of historical daily bars and no WebSocket streaming — verified against the official pricing and docs on 2026-05-2512. That set of limits is the single most-misread thing about Polygon: the free plan is a learning-and-backtesting sandbox, not a thin slice of the production feed. One housekeeping note: Polygon.io rebranded to Massive on October 30, 2025, so the limits live at massive.com now, though api.polygon.io and your existing key still work unchanged3. Size a paid tier against your real universe with the Data Vendor TCO.
TL;DR
- Rate limit: 5 API calls per minute on the free Basic plan2.
- Data freshness: 15-minute delayed. Real-time SIP requires the $199 Advanced tier1.
- History: roughly 2 years of historical daily data on the free tier2.
- Streaming: no WebSocket access on Basic — REST polling only2.
- Asset classes: the free Stocks tier covers US equities; Options, FX, and Crypto have their own separate free/paid ladders.
- Branded Massive (formerly Polygon.io) since October 30, 2025; keys and base URL unchanged3.
Every free-tier constraint
| Constraint | Free Basic plan |
|---|---|
| API call rate | 5 calls/minute |
| Data freshness | 15-minute delayed |
| Historical lookback | ~2 years (daily) |
| WebSocket streaming | Not available |
| Real-time SIP feed | Not available (Advanced only) |
| Asset class | US equities (Stocks product) |
| Cost | $0 |
All values verified against the official pricing page and Stocks documentation on 2026-05-2512.
What each limit actually rules out
5 calls/minute is the hard ceiling, and it is low by design. A loop polling even 20 symbols once a minute already breaches it. The free tier rewards batching: pull what you need in a few aggregate requests, cache locally, and never poll a live universe.
15-minute delay means the free feed is unusable for any execution decision. It is fine for end-of-day research, delayed backtests, and prototyping API integration. The moment a strategy keys off the live price, you need the real-time SIP feed, which starts at the $199 Advanced tier — not at Starter or Developer, both of which are also delayed.
~2 years of history caps how far back a free backtest reaches. Deeper history (5 years on Starter, 10 on Developer, 15+ on Advanced) is a paid upgrade. For a multi-cycle backtest the free window is too short.
No WebSocket means no push updates. Everything on the free tier is REST polling, which compounds the 5-calls/min problem for anyone wanting near-live data.
The free tier is per-product
The constraints above are the Stocks free tier. Polygon's Options, Currencies/FX, and Crypto products each have their own free/paid ladders, so a free Stocks key does not grant free options or FX data. If you are evaluating the free tier as a foundation, decide per asset class. For the full paid ladder this free tier sits beneath, see Polygon.io Pricing Plans 2026.
When the free tier is enough (and when it isn't)
- Enough: learning the API, delayed end-of-day research, integration prototyping, backtests within a 2-year window on a small symbol set.
- Not enough: live signals, intraday polling across a broad universe, multi-cycle backtests needing deep history, anything requiring streaming.
If you outgrow it, Starter ($29) lifts the call cap to unlimited but stays delayed; Advanced ($199) is the first tier with real-time data. Run your universe size and resolution through the Data Vendor TCO below to see whether a Polygon paid tier or a metered alternative is cheaper for your shape of usage.
Verified figures
All free-tier limits were verified against the official Polygon.io (Massive) pricing page and Stocks documentation on 2026-05-25. Where a precise figure (for example, exact intraday-bar history on the free tier) was not visible on a live source, it is omitted rather than estimated.
Connects to
- Polygon.io Pricing Plans 2026: the full paid tier ladder.
- Databento vs Polygon.io 2026: the metered alternative for deeper data.
- Cheapest Stock Market Data API 2026: where Polygon's free tier ranks against other $0 options.
- Data Vendor TCO: cost-model the upgrade path.
References
Footnotes
-
Polygon.io / Massive. "Pricing." massive.com (redirected from polygon.io/pricing), verified 2026-05-25. https://massive.com/pricing ↩ ↩2 ↩3
-
Polygon.io / Massive. "Stocks API documentation and free-tier limits." verified 2026-05-25. https://massive.com/docs ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5
-
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 ↩ ↩2
Verified engine output
Show the recompute-verified inputs and outputs
| vendor_id | polygon |
|---|---|
| universe | small |
| resolution | daily |
| needs_live | 0 |
| 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 Starter |
| tier › monthly | 29 |
| tier › includes live | false |
| tier › includes options | false |
| tier › includes futures | false |
| tier › resolutions › row 1 | daily |
| tier › resolutions › row 2 | minute |
| tier › notes › row 1 | 15-min delayed market data |
| tier › notes › row 2 | 5 calls/min |
| monthly | 29 |
| one time | 0 |
| annual total | 348 |
| meets resolution | true |
| meets live | true |
| meets options | true |
| meets futures | true |
| meets all | true |
Computed live at build time.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the Polygon.io free tier rate limit in 2026?
- The free Basic plan allows 5 API calls per minute. That cap is unchanged in 2026 and is the defining constraint of the free tier.
- Is Polygon.io free tier data real-time?
- No. Free Basic data is 15-minute delayed. Real-time SIP data starts at the $199/month Advanced tier, not at Starter or Developer.
- How much historical data does the Polygon.io free tier include?
- Roughly 2 years of historical daily data on the free Basic plan. Deeper history is a paid upgrade: 5 years on Starter, 10 on Developer, 15+ on Advanced.
- Does the Polygon.io free tier include WebSocket streaming?
- No. The free Basic plan is REST-only with no WebSocket streaming. Streaming access begins on the Developer tier.
- Is Polygon.io still free now that it is Massive?
- Yes. Polygon.io rebranded to Massive on October 30, 2025, but the free Basic tier, existing API keys, and the api.polygon.io base URL are all unchanged.