Polygon.io's Stocks API has four tiers in 2026: Basic is free (5 API calls/minute, 15-minute-delayed, ~2 years of history), Starter is $29/month, Developer is $79/month (both 15-minute-delayed with unlimited calls), and Advanced is $199/month for full real-time SIP data. Here is every tier, verified against the official pricing page12. One change matters before you read the rest: Polygon.io rebranded to Massive on October 30, 2025, and the pricing page now lives at massive.com/pricing. The api.polygon.io base URL still works and existing keys are unchanged3, so the product most engineers still call "Polygon" is intact; only the brand moved. Model the tier you actually need with the Data Vendor TCO.
TL;DR
- Basic (free): $0, 5 API calls/minute, 15-minute-delayed quotes, ~2 years of historical daily data, no WebSocket streaming2.
- Starter: $29/month, unlimited REST calls, 15-minute-delayed data, 5 years of history1.
- Developer: $79/month, unlimited calls, 15-minute-delayed data, 10 years of history, WebSocket access1.
- Advanced: $199/month, unlimited calls, full real-time SIP data, 15+ years of history, real-time WebSocket1.
- The Stocks plan covers US equities only. Options, Indices, and Currencies/FX are separate product lines billed on their own ladders.
- Now branded Massive (formerly Polygon.io) since October 30, 2025; APIs and keys unchanged3.
The four Stocks tiers
The headline question for most retail and indie-quant buyers is "which tier gives me real-time data, and what does the free tier actually allow." Here is the verified 2026 ladder for the Stocks product:
| Tier | Monthly price | API call limit | Real-time vs delayed | History | WebSocket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $0 | 5 calls/min | 15-min delayed | ~2 years | No |
| Starter | $29 | Unlimited | 15-min delayed | 5 years | No |
| Developer | $79 | Unlimited | 15-min delayed | 10 years | Yes |
| Advanced | $199 | Unlimited | Real-time (SIP) | 15+ years | Yes (real-time) |
All figures verified against the official pricing page on 2026-05-2512. Note the most common misconception: real-time SIP data starts at the $199 Advanced tier. Starter and Developer are both 15-minute-delayed feeds; Developer's upgrade over Starter is unlimited deeper history and WebSocket access, not real-time quotes. If a strategy needs the live consolidated tape, budget for Advanced.
The free tier is a sandbox, not a production feed
Basic is genuinely free and useful for learning, backtesting on delayed data, or low-frequency research. Its constraints are deliberate: 5 API calls per minute is the hard cap2, quotes are 15 minutes delayed, history reaches back roughly two years on daily bars, and there is no WebSocket streaming. That makes Basic fine for a nightly batch over a handful of symbols and unworkable for anything polling a live universe. For the exact free-tier limits and what they rule out, see Polygon.io Free Tier Limits 2026.
Stocks is one product line, not all of Polygon
The $29/$79/$199 ladder above is the Stocks product only, and it covers US equities. Polygon (Massive) sells separate product lines, each with its own tier ladder and its own real-time-vs-delayed split:
- Options — a distinct product with its own Starter/Developer/Advanced pricing. Covered in Polygon.io Options API Pricing 2026.
- Indices — index values and aggregates, billed separately.
- Currencies (FX) and Crypto — separate ladders; see Polygon.io Futures and Forex API 2026 for the FX and futures-coverage picture.
- News — the News endpoint and its tier availability are covered in Polygon.io News API Pricing 2026.
Buying the Stocks Advanced plan does not unlock options or FX real-time data. If a stack needs equities plus options in real time, that is two subscriptions.
How to pick a tier
- Learning, delayed backtests, low-frequency research: Basic (free). The 5 calls/min cap forces batching, which is the correct discipline anyway.
- Production research on delayed data, broad symbol universe: Starter ($29) for unlimited calls; Developer ($79) if you need WebSocket or deeper history.
- Live trading / real-time signals on US equities: Advanced ($199) — the only Stocks tier with the real-time SIP feed.
- Tick-level history or Level-2 depth: Polygon does not sell exchange depth (L2/MBO). For that, compare against a metered venue-data vendor in Databento vs Polygon.io 2026.
The flat-rate model is Polygon's defining trait: an unlimited-call subscription with predictable monthly cost, versus the per-byte metering of venue-data vendors. Feed your real universe size and resolution into the Data Vendor TCO below to see where the flat tier beats or loses to metered alternatives.
Verified figures
All prices and limits above were verified against the official Polygon.io (Massive) pricing page on 2026-05-25. Polygon does not publish a separate annual-discount percentage on the public Stocks ladder; the listed prices are monthly. Where a figure was not visible on a live source it is omitted rather than estimated.
Connects to
- Polygon.io Free Tier Limits 2026: the exact $0-tier constraints.
- Polygon.io Options API Pricing 2026: the separate options ladder.
- Databento vs Polygon.io 2026: flat-rate versus metered venue data.
- Data Vendor TCO: model your universe size against every vendor's tiers.
References
Footnotes
-
Polygon.io / Massive. "Pricing." massive.com (redirected from polygon.io/pricing), verified 2026-05-25. https://massive.com/pricing ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5
-
Polygon.io / Massive. "Stocks API documentation and free-tier limits." verified 2026-05-25. https://massive.com/docs ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4
-
Massive. "Polygon.io is Now Massive" (effective October 30, 2025; api.polygon.io remains supported, keys unchanged). 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 | 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
- How much does Polygon.io cost in 2026?
- The Stocks API has four tiers: Basic is free, Starter is $29/month, Developer is $79/month, and Advanced is $199/month. Only Advanced includes the full real-time SIP feed; Starter and Developer are 15-minute delayed.
- Is Polygon.io now called Massive?
- Yes. Polygon.io rebranded to Massive on October 30, 2025. The pricing page is at massive.com/pricing, but the api.polygon.io base URL still works and existing API keys are unchanged.
- Which Polygon.io tier has real-time stock data?
- Real-time SIP data starts at the $199/month Advanced tier. The free Basic, the $29 Starter, and the $79 Developer plans are all 15-minute delayed.
- What does the free Polygon.io plan include?
- Basic is free with 5 API calls per minute, 15-minute-delayed quotes, roughly 2 years of historical daily data, and no WebSocket streaming.
- Does the Polygon.io stocks plan include options or forex?
- No. The Stocks plan covers US equities only. Options, Indices, Currencies/FX, and Crypto are separate product lines, each with its own pricing ladder.