MarketParquet vs Alpha Vantage
> free-tier API with technical indicators and FX
Alpha Vantage offers a generous free tier and built-in technical indicators. MarketParquet sticks to raw OHLCV but delivers it as Parquet instead of paginated JSON. The right pick depends on whether you want a query API or a bulk historical store.
[ Side-by-side ]
| Alpha Vantage | MarketParquet | |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier limits | around 25 requests/day, 5/min | 5 file downloads/day; full EOD history, 30-day intraday window |
| Format | JSON / CSV via REST | Parquet, by-date partitioned |
| Coverage | global stocks, FX, crypto, commodities | US stocks, ETFs, futures |
| Built-in indicators | yes (RSI, MACD, etc. as endpoints) | no -- you compute these yourself with pandas/talib |
| Bulk download | no -- request per ticker per timeframe | yes -- one file = one trading day, all tickers |
| Paid tier entry | around $50/mo for unlimited | $36/mo (annual) Pro |
[ Where Alpha Vantage wins ]
- Pre-computed technical indicators if you don't want to roll your own.
- Global coverage including non-US markets.
- FX and commodities data.
[ Where MarketParquet wins ]
- Bulk-load a whole trading day in one request, not 10,000 ticker-by-ticker calls.
- Free tier returns useful data for serious backtesting (full EOD history).
- Parquet format is friendlier to pandas/polars/duckdb pipelines.
- No 25-call daily limit kneecapping your research.
[ Which to pick ]
Pick Alpha Vantage if you need pre-computed indicators, non-US coverage, or are doing one-ticker-at-a-time analysis.
Pick MarketParquet if you need to load thousands of symbols x thousands of days for cross-sectional research and the per-call rate limits are in your way.
> Pricing and feature snapshots reflect public information at time of writing and may shift. Always confirm against Alpha Vantage's own pricing page before committing.