Polygon.io (now branded Massive) includes its Ticker News API on every tier, free Basic included, at no extra charge. The endpoint returns recent articles per ticker with an insights array carrying sentiment and sentiment_reasoning fields. The free Basic plan caps news history at 2 years and runs the standard 5 calls/minute limit; paid plans unlock full history back to June 22, 2016. For LLM news ingestion the bundled sentiment is the differentiator. Cost-compare it with the Data Vendor TCO.

TL;DR

The Polygon.io News API is one of the few that ships free with the base data plan rather than as a premium add-on:

Dimension Free Basic Paid plans
News endpoint access Included Included
Monthly price $0 from $29 (Stocks Starter)
API call limit 5 / minute Unlimited
News history depth 2 years All history (since 2016-06-22)
Update cadence Hourly Hourly
Sentiment / insights fields Yes Yes

Every figure is verified 2026-05-25 against the official massive.com pricing table and the Ticker News REST documentation. The endpoint is GET /v2/reference/news.

Which tiers include the News API

All of them. The plan-access table for the Ticker News endpoint marks it "Included" on Stocks Basic (the $0 tier) and on every paid Stocks tier. This is the headline fact: a searcher worried that news is gated behind a $199 Advanced plan can stop worrying. The constraint on the free tier is not access, it is the 2-year history cap and the shared 5-calls-per-minute rate limit, not a paywall on the endpoint itself.

Paid Stocks plans (Starter $29, Developer $79, Advanced $199) lift the history cap to the full archive dating to June 22, 2016 and remove the rate cap (unlimited API calls). The news data itself updates hourly across all individual plans.

What the News API returns

The GET /v2/reference/news response is built for ingestion, not just display. Per the documentation, each article carries:

  • Standard metadata: title, publisher, author, published timestamp, article URL, image.
  • An insights array, where each insight ties a ticker to a sentiment value (for example "positive") and a sentiment_reasoning string explaining the classification.

That pre-computed sentiment is the load-bearing feature for an LLM pipeline. Instead of paying tokens to classify every headline, the agent can filter or pre-rank on Polygon's sentiment field and reserve model calls for the articles that matter. For a news-driven research loop, that is a direct token-cost lever.

News history depth and the free-tier trap

The one constraint to plan around is history. The free Basic tier exposes 2 years of news; only paid plans reach the full archive back to mid-2016. For a backtest that joins news to price action across a multi-year window, the free tier will silently truncate the news side at 2 years while the price history runs longer. Verify the window your strategy needs before committing to Basic.

The economics, computed live

The Data Vendor TCO engine puts the news decision in context: news on Polygon is free with the base plan, so the real cost question is the rest of the data stack the news feeds into. The scenario below models a live minute-bar equities profile (the typical setup a news-driven agent runs on top of) and ranks the annual all-in cost across vendors. The verified output block at the foot of the page is computed from the shipped engine bundle.

The engine snapshot was last refreshed 2026-04-20; treat the news-specific figures in the tables above (verified 2026-05-25) as the current source of truth.

Polygon News vs dedicated news APIs

For raw LLM news ingestion, the trade-off is breadth vs cost:

  • Polygon News (free with plan): bundled sentiment, hourly cadence, ticker-tagged. Good default when you already pay for Polygon market data.
  • Dedicated premium news (e.g. Benzinga): lower latency, broader source coverage, squawk/audio products, but typically sales-gated enterprise pricing. The premium-vs-budget comparison lives in Benzinga News API Pricing 2026.

If news is incidental to an existing Polygon stack, the bundled API is the rational choice. If news latency or source breadth is the strategy's core edge, a dedicated vendor earns its premium.

Decision guidance

  • Already on Polygon for market data: use the bundled News API; it costs nothing extra and ships sentiment.
  • News-history backtest over 2+ years: you need a paid plan (Starter $29 or up) to clear the 2-year free cap.
  • Latency-critical news strategy: evaluate a dedicated low-latency vendor; Polygon's hourly cadence may be the bottleneck.
  • Token-budget-sensitive LLM pipeline: filter on Polygon's sentiment field before spending model calls.

Connects to

References

  • Massive (formerly Polygon.io). "Ticker News, Stocks REST API." massive.com/docs/rest/stocks/news, accessed 2026-05-25 (endpoint, insights/sentiment fields, history depth, hourly cadence).
  • Massive. "Pricing." massive.com/pricing, plan table verified 2026-05-25 (news included on Basic + paid; 5 calls/min on Basic).

Verified engine output

Show the recompute-verified inputs and outputs
Live minute-bar equities profile a news-driven agent runs on top of — annual TCO ranked across vendors
Inputs
universemedium
resolutionminute
needs_livetrue
needs_optionsfalse
needs_futuresfalse
Result
scenario › universemedium
scenario › resolutionminute
scenario › history5-year
scenario › needs livetrue
scenario › needs optionsfalse
scenario › needs futuresfalse
ranked › row 1 › vendor › idalpaca
ranked › row 1 › vendor › nameAlpaca Markets
ranked › row 1 › vendor › urlhttps://alpaca.markets
ranked › row 1 › vendor › short pitchBroker-bundled market data. Generous free tier via IEX feed; SIP feed requires paid plan.
ranked › row 1 › vendor › has overagefalse
ranked › row 1 › vendor › last checked2026-05-25
ranked › row 1 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › nameFree (IEX feed)
ranked › row 1 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › monthly0
ranked › row 1 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › includes livetrue
ranked › row 1 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › includes optionsfalse
ranked › row 1 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › includes futuresfalse
ranked › row 1 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › resolutions › row 1daily
ranked › row 1 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › resolutions › row 2minute
ranked › row 1 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › notes › row 1IEX feed only (subset of volume)
ranked › row 1 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › notes › row 2Free with Alpaca brokerage account
ranked › row 1 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › nameAlgo Trader Plus (SIP feed)
ranked › row 1 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › monthly99
ranked › row 1 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › includes livetrue
ranked › row 1 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › includes optionstrue
ranked › row 1 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › includes futuresfalse
ranked › row 1 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › resolutions › row 1daily
ranked › row 1 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › resolutions › row 2minute
ranked › row 1 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › resolutions › row 3second
ranked › row 1 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › resolutions › row 4tick
ranked › row 1 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › notes › row 1Full SIP consolidated tape
ranked › row 1 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › notes › row 2Options chains included
ranked › row 1 › tier › nameFree (IEX feed)
ranked › row 1 › tier › monthly0
ranked › row 1 › tier › includes livetrue
ranked › row 1 › tier › includes optionsfalse
ranked › row 1 › tier › includes futuresfalse
ranked › row 1 › tier › resolutions › row 1daily
ranked › row 1 › tier › resolutions › row 2minute
ranked › row 1 › tier › notes › row 1IEX feed only (subset of volume)
ranked › row 1 › tier › notes › row 2Free with Alpaca brokerage account
ranked › row 1 › monthly0
ranked › row 1 › one time0
ranked › row 1 › annual total0
ranked › row 1 › meets resolutiontrue
ranked › row 1 › meets livetrue
ranked › row 1 › meets optionstrue
ranked › row 1 › meets futurestrue
ranked › row 1 › meets alltrue
ranked › row 2 › vendor › idfmp
ranked › row 2 › vendor › nameFinancial Modeling Prep
ranked › row 2 › vendor › urlhttps://site.financialmodelingprep.com
ranked › row 2 › vendor › short pitchFundamentals-heavy. Earnings, filings, transcripts. Price data is a secondary offer.
ranked › row 2 › vendor › has overagefalse
ranked › row 2 › vendor › last checked2026-04-20
ranked › row 2 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › nameStarter
ranked › row 2 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › monthly14
ranked › row 2 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › includes livefalse
ranked › row 2 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › includes optionsfalse
ranked › row 2 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › includes futuresfalse
ranked › row 2 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › resolutions › row 1daily
ranked › row 2 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › notes › row 15 years history
ranked › row 2 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › notes › row 2250 API calls/day
ranked › row 2 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › notes › row 3Price unconfirmed 2026-05-25 — FMP list prices not consistently published
ranked › row 2 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › namePremium
ranked › row 2 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › monthly29
ranked › row 2 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › includes livefalse
ranked › row 2 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › includes optionsfalse
ranked › row 2 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › includes futuresfalse
ranked › row 2 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › resolutions › row 1daily
ranked › row 2 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › resolutions › row 2minute
ranked › row 2 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › notes › row 1Full history
ranked › row 2 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › notes › row 2750 calls/day
ranked › row 2 › vendor › tiers › row 3 › nameUltimate
ranked › row 2 › vendor › tiers › row 3 › monthly79
ranked › row 2 › vendor › tiers › row 3 › includes livetrue
ranked › row 2 › vendor › tiers › row 3 › includes optionsfalse
ranked › row 2 › vendor › tiers › row 3 › includes futuresfalse
ranked › row 2 › vendor › tiers › row 3 › resolutions › row 1daily
ranked › row 2 › vendor › tiers › row 3 › resolutions › row 2minute
ranked › row 2 › vendor › tiers › row 3 › resolutions › row 3second
ranked › row 2 › vendor › tiers › row 3 › notes › row 1Real-time
ranked › row 2 › vendor › tiers › row 3 › notes › row 2Unlimited calls
ranked › row 2 › tier › nameUltimate
ranked › row 2 › tier › monthly79
ranked › row 2 › tier › includes livetrue
ranked › row 2 › tier › includes optionsfalse
ranked › row 2 › tier › includes futuresfalse
ranked › row 2 › tier › resolutions › row 1daily
ranked › row 2 › tier › resolutions › row 2minute
ranked › row 2 › tier › resolutions › row 3second
ranked › row 2 › tier › notes › row 1Real-time
ranked › row 2 › tier › notes › row 2Unlimited calls
ranked › row 2 › monthly79
ranked › row 2 › one time0
ranked › row 2 › annual total948
ranked › row 2 › meets resolutiontrue
ranked › row 2 › meets livetrue
ranked › row 2 › meets optionstrue
ranked › row 2 › meets futurestrue
ranked › row 2 › meets alltrue
ranked › row 3 › vendor › iddatabento
ranked › row 3 › vendor › nameDatabento
ranked › row 3 › vendor › urlhttps://databento.com
ranked › row 3 › vendor › short pitchPer-unit metered pricing. Strong for institutional-quality tick + L2 data. No subscriptions on base offer.
ranked › row 3 › vendor › has overagetrue
ranked › row 3 › vendor › last checked2026-05-25
ranked › row 3 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › nameDatabento metered (typical retail)
ranked › row 3 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › monthly125
ranked › row 3 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › includes livetrue
ranked › row 3 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › includes optionsfalse
ranked › row 3 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › includes futurestrue
ranked › row 3 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › resolutions › row 1daily
ranked › row 3 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › resolutions › row 2minute
ranked › row 3 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › resolutions › row 3second
ranked › row 3 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › resolutions › row 4tick
ranked › row 3 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › resolutions › row 5level2
ranked › row 3 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › notes › row 1Usage-metered: historical is pay-as-you-go priced per GB (uncompressed binary), no subscription required; $125 free credits on signup
ranked › row 3 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › notes › row 2Subscription option: Standard $199/mo (historical core schemas + 1yr L1 / 1mo L2-L3); $125/mo modeled typical retail metered spend
ranked › row 3 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › notes › row 3Live data + dedicated support on Plus ($1,399/mo, annual); Unlimited $3,500/mo (verified 2026-05-25)
ranked › row 3 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › notes › row 4Per-GB cost scales aggressively with universe and resolution
ranked › row 3 › tier › nameDatabento metered (typical retail)
ranked › row 3 › tier › monthly125
ranked › row 3 › tier › includes livetrue
ranked › row 3 › tier › includes optionsfalse
ranked › row 3 › tier › includes futurestrue
ranked › row 3 › tier › resolutions › row 1daily
ranked › row 3 › tier › resolutions › row 2minute
ranked › row 3 › tier › resolutions › row 3second
ranked › row 3 › tier › resolutions › row 4tick
ranked › row 3 › tier › resolutions › row 5level2
ranked › row 3 › tier › notes › row 1Usage-metered: historical is pay-as-you-go priced per GB (uncompressed binary), no subscription required; $125 free credits on signup
ranked › row 3 › tier › notes › row 2Subscription option: Standard $199/mo (historical core schemas + 1yr L1 / 1mo L2-L3); $125/mo modeled typical retail metered spend
ranked › row 3 › tier › notes › row 3Live data + dedicated support on Plus ($1,399/mo, annual); Unlimited $3,500/mo (verified 2026-05-25)
ranked › row 3 › tier › notes › row 4Per-GB cost scales aggressively with universe and resolution
ranked › row 3 › monthly125
ranked › row 3 › one time0
ranked › row 3 › annual total1500
ranked › row 3 › meets resolutiontrue
ranked › row 3 › meets livetrue
ranked › row 3 › meets optionstrue
ranked › row 3 › meets futurestrue
ranked › row 3 › meets alltrue
ranked › row 4 › vendor › idpolygon
ranked › row 4 › vendor › namePolygon.io
ranked › row 4 › vendor › urlhttps://polygon.io
ranked › row 4 › vendor › short pitchFlat-rate subscription. Real-time + historical for US equities. Popular retail default.
ranked › row 4 › vendor › has overagefalse
ranked › row 4 › vendor › last checked2026-05-25
ranked › row 4 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › nameStocks Starter
ranked › row 4 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › monthly29
ranked › row 4 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › includes livefalse
ranked › row 4 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › includes optionsfalse
ranked › row 4 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › includes futuresfalse
ranked › row 4 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › resolutions › row 1daily
ranked › row 4 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › resolutions › row 2minute
ranked › row 4 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › notes › row 115-min delayed market data
ranked › row 4 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › notes › row 25 calls/min
ranked › row 4 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › nameStocks Developer
ranked › row 4 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › monthly79
ranked › row 4 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › includes livefalse
ranked › row 4 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › includes optionsfalse
ranked › row 4 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › includes futuresfalse
ranked › row 4 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › resolutions › row 1daily
ranked › row 4 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › resolutions › row 2minute
ranked › row 4 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › resolutions › row 3second
ranked › row 4 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › notes › row 115-min delayed
ranked › row 4 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › notes › row 2Unlimited API calls
ranked › row 4 › vendor › tiers › row 3 › nameStocks Advanced
ranked › row 4 › vendor › tiers › row 3 › monthly199
ranked › row 4 › vendor › tiers › row 3 › includes livetrue
ranked › row 4 › vendor › tiers › row 3 › includes optionsfalse
ranked › row 4 › vendor › tiers › row 3 › includes futuresfalse
ranked › row 4 › vendor › tiers › row 3 › resolutions › row 1daily
ranked › row 4 › vendor › tiers › row 3 › resolutions › row 2minute
ranked › row 4 › vendor › tiers › row 3 › resolutions › row 3second
ranked › row 4 › vendor › tiers › row 3 › resolutions › row 4tick
ranked › row 4 › vendor › tiers › row 3 › notes › row 1Full real-time
ranked › row 4 › vendor › tiers › row 3 › notes › row 2Unlimited API calls
ranked › row 4 › tier › nameStocks Advanced
ranked › row 4 › tier › monthly199
ranked › row 4 › tier › includes livetrue
ranked › row 4 › tier › includes optionsfalse
ranked › row 4 › tier › includes futuresfalse
ranked › row 4 › tier › resolutions › row 1daily
ranked › row 4 › tier › resolutions › row 2minute
ranked › row 4 › tier › resolutions › row 3second
ranked › row 4 › tier › resolutions › row 4tick
ranked › row 4 › tier › notes › row 1Full real-time
ranked › row 4 › tier › notes › row 2Unlimited API calls
ranked › row 4 › monthly199
ranked › row 4 › one time0
ranked › row 4 › annual total2388
ranked › row 4 › meets resolutiontrue
ranked › row 4 › meets livetrue
ranked › row 4 › meets optionstrue
ranked › row 4 › meets futurestrue
ranked › row 4 › meets alltrue
ranked › row 5 › vendor › idtiingo
ranked › row 5 › vendor › nameTiingo
ranked › row 5 › vendor › urlhttps://www.tiingo.com
ranked › row 5 › vendor › short pitchStrong fundamentals + EOD pricing at low cost. Limited intraday. Favorite for long-horizon research.
ranked › row 5 › vendor › has overagefalse
ranked › row 5 › vendor › last checked2026-04-20
ranked › row 5 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › nameTiingo Starter
ranked › row 5 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › monthly10
ranked › row 5 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › includes livefalse
ranked › row 5 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › includes optionsfalse
ranked › row 5 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › includes futuresfalse
ranked › row 5 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › resolutions › row 1daily
ranked › row 5 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › notes › row 1EOD equities
ranked › row 5 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › notes › row 2News API included
ranked › row 5 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › notes › row 3Price unconfirmed 2026-05-25 — official pricing page not machine-readable
ranked › row 5 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › nameTiingo Power
ranked › row 5 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › monthly50
ranked › row 5 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › includes livefalse
ranked › row 5 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › includes optionsfalse
ranked › row 5 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › includes futuresfalse
ranked › row 5 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › resolutions › row 1daily
ranked › row 5 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › resolutions › row 2minute
ranked › row 5 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › notes › row 1Intraday bars
ranked › row 5 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › notes › row 2Crypto data
ranked › row 5 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › notes › row 3Fundamentals included
ranked › row 5 › tier › nameTiingo Starter
ranked › row 5 › tier › monthly10
ranked › row 5 › tier › includes livefalse
ranked › row 5 › tier › includes optionsfalse
ranked › row 5 › tier › includes futuresfalse
ranked › row 5 › tier › resolutions › row 1daily
ranked › row 5 › tier › notes › row 1EOD equities
ranked › row 5 › tier › notes › row 2News API included
ranked › row 5 › tier › notes › row 3Price unconfirmed 2026-05-25 — official pricing page not machine-readable
ranked › row 5 › monthly10
ranked › row 5 › one time0
ranked › row 5 › annual total120
ranked › row 5 › meets resolutionfalse
ranked › row 5 › meets livefalse
ranked › row 5 › meets optionstrue
ranked › row 5 › meets futurestrue
ranked › row 5 › meets allfalse
ranked › row 6 › vendor › idalpha-vantage
ranked › row 6 › vendor › nameAlpha Vantage
ranked › row 6 › vendor › urlhttps://www.alphavantage.co
ranked › row 6 › vendor › short pitchBudget tier with broad coverage. Rate limits tight. Workable for low-frequency research.
ranked › row 6 › vendor › has overagefalse
ranked › row 6 › vendor › last checked2026-05-25
ranked › row 6 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › namePremium 75
ranked › row 6 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › monthly49.99
ranked › row 6 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › includes livefalse
ranked › row 6 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › includes optionsfalse
ranked › row 6 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › includes futuresfalse
ranked › row 6 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › resolutions › row 1daily
ranked › row 6 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › resolutions › row 2minute
ranked › row 6 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › notes › row 175 calls/min, no daily limit
ranked › row 6 › vendor › tiers › row 1 › notes › row 2Free key capped at 25 calls/day, 5/min
ranked › row 6 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › namePremium 1200
ranked › row 6 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › monthly249.99
ranked › row 6 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › includes livefalse
ranked › row 6 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › includes optionsfalse
ranked › row 6 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › includes futuresfalse
ranked › row 6 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › resolutions › row 1daily
ranked › row 6 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › resolutions › row 2minute
ranked › row 6 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › resolutions › row 3second
ranked › row 6 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › notes › row 11,200 calls/min, no daily limit
ranked › row 6 › vendor › tiers › row 2 › notes › row 2Rate-tiered ladder: $99.99/150, $149.99/300, $199.99/600, $249.99/1200
ranked › row 6 › tier › namePremium 75
ranked › row 6 › tier › monthly49.99
ranked › row 6 › tier › includes livefalse
ranked › row 6 › tier › includes optionsfalse
ranked › row 6 › tier › includes futuresfalse
ranked › row 6 › tier › resolutions › row 1daily
ranked › row 6 › tier › resolutions › row 2minute
ranked › row 6 › tier › notes › row 175 calls/min, no daily limit
ranked › row 6 › tier › notes › row 2Free key capped at 25 calls/day, 5/min
ranked › row 6 › monthly49.99
ranked › row 6 › one time0
ranked › row 6 › annual total599.88
ranked › row 6 › meets resolutiontrue
ranked › row 6 › meets livefalse
ranked › row 6 › meets optionstrue
ranked › row 6 › meets futurestrue
ranked › row 6 › meets allfalse

Computed live at build time.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Polygon.io News API free?
Yes. The Ticker News endpoint is included on the free Basic tier and every paid tier at no extra charge. The free tier caps news history at 2 years and runs 5 calls/minute; paid plans unlock full history and unlimited calls (verified 2026-05-25).
Does Polygon News include sentiment?
Yes. The response includes an insights array with sentiment and sentiment_reasoning fields per ticker, which lets an LLM pipeline pre-filter on sentiment before spending model calls.
How far back does Polygon news history go?
Paid plans reach the full archive dating to June 22, 2016. The free Basic tier is limited to the most recent 2 years.
What is the Polygon News API endpoint?
GET /v2/reference/news, returning recent articles per ticker with metadata and the insights/sentiment array, updated hourly.