MarketParquet vs Financial Modeling Prep (FMP)
> affordable API strong on fundamentals + financial statements
Financial Modeling Prep is popular with retail quants for cheap, broad access to fundamentals and financial statements alongside prices, all through a REST API. MarketParquet is narrower -- bulk US OHLCV as Parquet, no fundamentals -- but one-time and rate-limit-free. Here's how they compare for price data.
Side-by-side
| Financial Modeling Prep | MarketParquet | |
|---|---|---|
| Coverage | US + global stocks, ETFs, forex, crypto, indices + deep fundamentals | US stocks, ETFs, futures |
| Historical price depth | 30+ yrs daily (5 yr on free/Starter tiers) | stocks/ETFs from 2000, futures from Dec 2007 |
| Format | JSON/CSV via REST; bulk CSV on the Ultimate tier | Apache Parquet, by-date partitioned |
| Finest resolution | 1-minute (no tick) | 1-minute bars |
| Real-time data | paid tiers (free is end-of-day only) | no -- end-of-day batch only |
| Fundamentals | yes -- 30+ years of statements, ratios, DCF | no -- OHLCV only |
| Pricing | subscription ~$29-$139/mo (annual ~$19-$99) | one-time $79 |
| Split / dividend adjusted | yes (close split-adj, adjClose split+dividend) | yes |
| Survivorship-bias-free | yes (delisted + survivorship endpoint) | yes -- delisted included |
Where Financial Modeling Prep wins
- Deep fundamentals -- 30+ years of standardized and as-reported financial statements, ratios, DCF, 13F, and transcripts at a low price point.
- Broad single-API coverage (stocks, ETFs, forex, crypto, indices, commodities) plus news and reference data.
- Cheap, transparent, self-serve pricing with a free tier -- popular with retail quants.
- Survivorship-bias-free price endpoints and raw / split / split+dividend adjustment options.
Where MarketParquet wins
- Bulk Parquet for backtesting -- no 250-call/day free cap or per-minute limits, and no paging a REST API for full history.
- One file per trading day, all tickers, cached locally for fast cross-sectional research.
- One-time $79 vs a recurring subscription; FMP's 30+ year price depth needs the Premium/Ultimate tiers.
- Actual US futures (from Dec 2007) and clean split-adjusted OHLCV, focused on price data.
Which to pick
Pick Financial Modeling Prep if you need company fundamentals and financial statements, global coverage, or real-time quotes alongside prices.
Pick MarketParquet if you want bulk US OHLCV history as Parquet for backtesting -- one-time, no rate limits -- and don't need fundamentals.
FAQ
Is MarketParquet a good FMP alternative for price data?
For bulk US stock/ETF/futures OHLCV, yes -- MarketParquet is Parquet you download once (one-time $79) with no API rate limits, whereas FMP meters a REST API and caps deep history behind its Premium and Ultimate tiers. FMP is the better choice if you also need fundamentals, financial statements, or global coverage.
Does FMP provide Parquet files?
No -- FMP delivers JSON/CSV over a REST API, with bulk CSV endpoints on its Ultimate tier; there's no Parquet. MarketParquet ships Parquet partitioned by trading day, which loads faster into pandas, Polars, and DuckDB.
How much history does FMP's free tier include?
FMP's free Basic plan is US-only, end-of-day, roughly 5 years of history, at 250 API calls/day; 30+ years of daily history requires the Premium or Ultimate plan (~$69-$139/month). MarketParquet's one-time $79 archive covers US stocks/ETFs from 2000 and futures from December 2007, with a free daily sample.
Is FMP survivorship-bias-free?
Yes -- FMP offers a survivorship-bias-free price endpoint and a delisted-companies endpoint. MarketParquet also includes delisted tickers so US backtests aren't survivorship-biased, and both provide split- and dividend-adjusted prices.
> Pricing and feature snapshots reflect public information at time of writing and may shift. Always confirm against Financial Modeling Prep's own pricing page before committing.