Finance APIs are easy to confuse because "market data" can mean live quotes, historical candles, exchange rates, public-company records, or broker operations. This shortlist separates those use cases so you can pick the right API for your product.
Quick comparison
| API | Best for | Auth | Free tier signal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpha Vantage | Historical stock, forex, crypto data | API key | Free |
| Finnhub | Real-time quotes and company news | API key | Free |
| Kur.TC | Türkiye-focused finance rates | API key | Free |
| SPK Web Servisleri | Official Turkish capital-market data | Open | Free |
| TradeWise Developer API | Brokerage account and order workflows | API key to OAuth 2.0 | Unknown |
What "free" actually means here
Free finance APIs can be very useful, but they come with important limits:
- Market-data licensing may restrict redistribution.
- Free tiers usually have request limits and delayed data.
- Brokerage APIs require a much higher compliance bar than read-only data APIs.
Use free APIs for prototypes, dashboards, learning projects, and internal tools. For trading or public redistribution, verify licensing and provider terms before launch.
API options
Alpha Vantage API
Alpha Vantage API is a popular general-purpose market-data API. It covers stocks, forex, crypto, and historical time series behind a simple API-key model.
Use it when:
- You need daily or intraday historical stock data.
- You are building charting, portfolio, or research tools.
- You want one API that also covers forex and crypto.
Integration complexity is medium. The endpoints are simple, but you need to manage rate limits carefully on the free tier.
Finnhub API
Finnhub API focuses on financial market data, real-time stock quotes, forex, crypto, and company news. It is a strong option for portfolio trackers and market dashboards.
Use it when:
- You want real-time quote-style data.
- You need company-specific financial news.
- You are building a market overview or watchlist feature.
Like most market-data APIs, the product fit depends on your region, exchange coverage, and allowed use case.
Kur.TC
Kur.TC is a Türkiye-focused finance API covering exchange rates, commodities, gold, crypto, and stock-market data. It is useful for local dashboards, e-commerce integrations, and finance websites.
Use it when:
- Your product focuses on Turkish users.
- You need FX, gold, commodity, or local finance rates.
- You want a practical API for finance websites or CRM integrations.
The API uses a key, so plan for backend-side request handling rather than exposing credentials in frontend code.
SPK Web Servisleri
SPK Web Servisleri is the official public web-service surface from Turkey's Capital Markets Board. It covers institution lists, authorization data, administrative sanctions, trading bans, and public-company datasets.
Use it when:
- You need official capital-market reference data.
- You are validating brokerage or institution information.
- You are building compliance, registry, or public-company tools.
This is not a price-feed API. It is an official regulatory and capital-market data source.
TradeWise Developer API
TradeWise Developer API is the brokerage-style option in this list. It supports account, order, and symbol-list operations through an API key to JWT flow.
Use it when:
- You are building broker-connected workflows.
- You need account, position, or order endpoints.
- You can handle OAuth-style authentication and regulated integration requirements.
Integration complexity is high. Treat this as a financial product integration, not a casual side-project data source.
Picking the right one
Choose by use case:
- Global stock time series -> Alpha Vantage.
- Real-time quotes and company news -> Finnhub.
- Türkiye-focused finance rates -> Kur.TC.
- Official capital-market reference data -> SPK Web Servisleri.
- Brokerage workflows -> TradeWise Developer API.
For most dashboards, Alpha Vantage or Finnhub is the starting point. For Turkish finance products, Kur.TC and SPK fill local data gaps that global APIs usually do not cover well.
When not to use free market-data APIs
Avoid free tiers when you need:
- Guaranteed low-latency data.
- Exchange-approved redistribution rights.
- Trading-grade uptime.
- Full-depth order book data.
- Compliance support for regulated financial workflows.
Free finance APIs are excellent for discovery and dashboards, but production trading systems need provider contracts and legal review.
Related API Deposu entries
Sources
Frequently Asked Questions
›Which API is best for global stock price data?
Alpha Vantage and Finnhub are the best general-purpose options in this list for global stock and market data. Alpha Vantage is strong for historical time series, while Finnhub is strong for real-time quotes and company news.
›Which API is best for Türkiye-focused finance data?
Kur.TC is the most direct option for Türkiye-focused FX, commodity, crypto, gold, and stock-market data. SPK Web Servisleri is better for official capital-market institution and public-company datasets.
›Can I place trades with these APIs?
Most APIs in this list are data APIs, not trading APIs. TradeWise is the brokerage-style option, but it has higher integration complexity and should be treated as a regulated financial integration.
›Are free stock APIs suitable for production trading?
Free market-data APIs are useful for dashboards, research, and portfolio tracking. They are usually not enough for production trading systems that need guaranteed latency, entitlements, and market-data licensing.