The short answer
Polygon.io (now Massive) and Alpaca differ on what free and real-time cost. Alpaca bundles a free real-time IEX feed at 200 requests/minute and charges $99/month for full SIP plus OPRA; Massive's free tier is end-of-day only, Starter is $29 delayed, and real-time Stocks Advanced is $199/month with unlimited calls (re-checked 2026-10-11). Alpaca wins if you trade there; Massive as a broker-agnostic source.
Polygon.io (now Massive) and Alpaca split on what "free" and "real-time" cost: Alpaca bundles a free real-time IEX feed at 200 requests/minute and charges $99/month (Algo Trader Plus) for the full SIP tape plus OPRA options, while Massive is a standalone data subscription whose free tier is end-of-day only and whose real-time Stocks tier costs $199/month with unlimited calls. Both vendors were re-checked on 2026-10-1112. Alpaca wins if you already trade there; Massive wins as a broker-agnostic source with no per-minute quota. Model both in the Data Vendor TCO.
How do Polygon.io and Alpaca market data compare in 2026?
| Dimension | Polygon.io (Massive) | Alpaca |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | Basic: end-of-day, 5 calls/min, 2 years | Basic: real-time IEX feed, 200 req/min |
| Cheapest intraday paid tier | Starter $29/mo, 15-min delayed, unlimited calls | None between free and $99 |
| Full real-time tape | Stocks Advanced $199/mo | Algo Trader Plus $99/mo |
| Paid rate limit | Unlimited API calls | 10,000 historical requests/min |
| WebSocket symbols | No symbol cap stated; one connection per asset class by default | 30 symbols (free), unlimited (Plus) |
| Options | Separate Options product, $0 to $199/mo | Indicative feed free, OPRA on Plus |
| Broker coupling | Data only | Tied to an Alpaca account |
Massive figures come from massive.com/pricing and its WebSocket quickstart; Alpaca figures from its market-data documentation, all read 2026-10-11123.
Which free tier is more useful?
Alpaca's, for anything intraday. Its free Basic plan streams real-time IEX quotes and trades (one exchange, not the consolidated tape), allows 200 historical requests a minute, caps the WebSocket at 30 equity symbols, and restricts SIP history to data older than 15 minutes2. Massive's free Basic plan is end-of-day only at 5 calls a minute with 2 years of history1, which suits nightly research but cannot watch a live session. An earlier version of this page described Massive's free tier as 15-minute delayed; that applies to the paid Starter tier.
Is $99 or $199 the better real-time deal?
Alpaca's Algo Trader Plus at $99/month carries the full SIP tape from all US exchanges, OPRA options with a 1,000-quote WebSocket cap, unlimited equity WebSocket symbols and 10,000 historical requests a minute2. Massive's Stocks Advanced at $199/month carries real-time data, NBBO quotes, 20+ years of history and unlimited calls, but real-time options are a second $199 subscription1. For most retail workloads Alpaca is $100/month cheaper; Massive earns the difference when you need deep history, flat files, or a data source that is not tied to one broker. Massive limits Stocks Advanced to non-professional individual users; check Alpaca's subscriber terms if you trade for a firm.
When does broker coupling matter?
Alpaca's market data is the data side of an Alpaca brokerage account, which is an advantage if you execute there and a constraint if you do not. Massive is data-only and pairs with any broker (IBKR, Schwab, Tradier), so data and execution stay independent. Massive also sells per-request access for agents without an account; see Massive for AI Agents 2026.
How to choose
- Trading on Alpaca, want free real-time data: Alpaca free IEX feed.
- Cheapest full real-time tape: Alpaca Algo Trader Plus ($99/mo).
- Unlimited calls, deep history, broker-agnostic: Massive Stocks Advanced ($199/mo).
- Delayed intraday research without Alpaca: Massive Starter ($29/mo).
- End-of-day research at $0 without Alpaca: Massive Basic.
Connects to
- Polygon.io Pricing 2026: the full Massive ladder.
- Alpaca API Rate Limits 2026: trading and data limits on Alpaca.
- Alpaca IEX vs SIP Free Tier 2026: the free-feed coverage question.
- Data Vendor TCO: model the annual cost for your universe.
References
Footnotes
-
Massive (formerly Polygon.io). "Pricing" (Stocks Basic end-of-day 5 calls/min 2 years; Starter $29 15-minute delayed unlimited; Advanced $199 real-time 20+ years; Options product). Read 2026-10-11. https://massive.com/pricing ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4
-
Alpaca. "About Market Data API" (Basic free: IEX, 30 WebSocket symbols, 200 req/min, SIP history limited to older than 15 minutes, options indicative feed; Algo Trader Plus $99/mo: all US exchanges, OPRA, unlimited equity WebSocket, 1,000 option quotes, 10,000 req/min). Read 2026-10-11. https://docs.alpaca.markets/us/docs/about-market-data-api ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4
-
Massive. "WebSocket Quickstart" (one concurrent WebSocket connection per asset class by default). Read 2026-10-11. https://massive.com/docs/websocket/quickstart ↩
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 | 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 | 2026-10-11 |
| 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 › history years | 20 |
| tier › notes › row 1 | Full real-time |
| tier › notes › row 2 | Unlimited API calls |
| tier › notes › row 3 | 20+ years history; adds quotes; non-professional users only |
| tier › notes › row 4 | $1,920/yr billed annually |
| monthly | 199 |
| one time | 0 |
| annual total | 2388 |
| meets resolution | true |
| meets live | true |
| meets options | true |
| meets futures | true |
| meets history | true |
| history verified | true |
| meets all | true |
Computed live at build time.
| vendor_id | alpaca |
|---|---|
| universe | medium |
| resolution | minute |
| needs_live | 1 |
| vendor › id | alpaca |
|---|---|
| vendor › name | Alpaca Markets |
| vendor › url | https://alpaca.markets |
| vendor › short pitch | Broker-bundled market data. Generous free tier via IEX feed; SIP feed requires paid plan. |
| vendor › has overage | false |
| vendor › last checked | 2026-10-11 |
| vendor › tiers › row 1 › name | Free (IEX feed) |
| vendor › tiers › row 1 › monthly | 0 |
| vendor › tiers › row 1 › includes live | true |
| 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 | IEX feed only (subset of volume) |
| vendor › tiers › row 1 › notes › row 2 | Free with Alpaca brokerage account |
| vendor › tiers › row 2 › name | Algo Trader Plus (SIP feed) |
| vendor › tiers › row 2 › monthly | 99 |
| vendor › tiers › row 2 › includes live | true |
| vendor › tiers › row 2 › includes options | true |
| 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 › resolutions › row 4 | tick |
| vendor › tiers › row 2 › notes › row 1 | Full SIP consolidated tape |
| vendor › tiers › row 2 › notes › row 2 | Options chains included |
| tier › name | Free (IEX feed) |
| tier › monthly | 0 |
| tier › includes live | true |
| tier › includes options | false |
| tier › includes futures | false |
| tier › resolutions › row 1 | daily |
| tier › resolutions › row 2 | minute |
| tier › notes › row 1 | IEX feed only (subset of volume) |
| tier › notes › row 2 | Free with Alpaca brokerage account |
| monthly | 0 |
| one time | 0 |
| annual total | 0 |
| meets resolution | true |
| meets live | true |
| meets options | true |
| meets futures | true |
| meets history | true |
| history verified | false |
| meets all | true |
Computed live at build time.
Frequently asked questions
- Polygon.io vs Alpaca market data: which is cheaper for real-time?
- Alpaca. Algo Trader Plus is $99/month for the full SIP tape plus OPRA options at 10,000 requests/minute, against Massive (formerly Polygon.io) Stocks Advanced at $199/month with unlimited calls. Alpaca's free IEX feed is also real-time, limited to one exchange (re-checked 2026-10-11).
- Is the Polygon.io free tier real-time or delayed?
- Neither: Massive's free Basic tier is end-of-day data at 5 calls/minute with 2 years of history. 15-minute-delayed intraday data starts at the $29 Starter tier, and real-time at the $199 Advanced tier.
- Does Alpaca have a free real-time feed?
- Yes. Alpaca's free Basic plan streams real-time IEX data with a 30-symbol WebSocket cap and 200 historical requests/minute. Full consolidated SIP and OPRA options require the $99/month Algo Trader Plus plan.
- Is Polygon broker-agnostic?
- Yes. Massive is a data-only API you can pair with any broker. Alpaca's market data is bundled with the Alpaca brokerage account.