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RealMarketAPI

RealMarketAPI vs Alpaca Markets Data

Real Market API vs Alpaca — broader instruments, no brokerage required

Alpaca's market data is built around a US equities brokerage. Real Market API is a standalone data API covering Forex, Metals, Crypto, Oil, Indices, and Stocks — no account approval, no per-feed surcharges.

Start free, no credit cardView pricing

Why switch

Why developers switch from Alpaca Markets Data

  • Forex, Metals, Oil, and Indices — Alpaca has none

    Alpaca covers US/crypto only. Forex pairs (EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDJPY, 14 total), Gold (XAUUSD), Silver (XAGUSD), WTI Oil, Brent, and global indices like DE30, UK100, and JP225 are all missing. Real Market API includes all of them.

  • No brokerage account or approval process

    Alpaca's live SIP data feed costs $9/user/mo on top of a brokerage sign-up. Real Market API issues a standalone API key in seconds — free plan, no credit card, no KYC, no brokerage relationship.

  • MCP Server for LLM agents — built in

    Real Market API ships a native Model Context Protocol server with 33 quota-free tools. Your LLM agents can call `get_price`, `get_candles`, or `get_volatility` as native tool calls — no custom wrapper.

  • Published latency SLA on the free plan

    Alpaca publishes no latency guarantee. Real Market API documents sub-150ms average response times from the free tier upward, on the same infrastructure used by paid customers.

Comparison

RealMarketAPI vs Alpaca Markets Data: feature comparison

FeatureRealMarketAPIAlpaca Markets Data
Free planYes — no credit cardFree for paper trading only; live SIP data $9/user/mo
Forex pairs14 pairs (EURUSD, GBPUSD…)Not available
Gold / SilverXAUUSD, XAGUSDNot available
CryptoBTC, ETH, XRP, BNB, SOL…BTC, ETH, and ~20 coins
US Stocks30 selected symbolsFull US market (NYSE + NASDAQ)
Oil & CommoditiesWTI, Brent, Nat. Gas, PlatinumNot available
Global IndicesS&P500, NASDAQ, DAX, FTSE…Not available
REST APIIncludedIncluded
WebSocket streamingIncluded(Plus plan, $14.99/mo)Included(included)
MCP ServerIncluded(Pro plan, $34.99/mo)Not available
Telegram BotIncludedon every planNot available
OHLC candle historyUp to 10 years (H1)Up to 5 years for stocks
Latency SLA<150ms documentedNot published
Brokerage requiredNoYes for live feeds
Entry paid plan$4.99/mo$9/mo (SIP data add-on)

Pricing note

Alpaca's free data uses the IEX exchange feed (≈15–20% of NASDAQ volume). Consolidated SIP data costs $9/user/mo extra. Real Market API's free plan covers 6 live instruments across multiple asset classes with no add-on fees.

Competitor details are based on publicly available information and may change. Check each provider's site for current terms.

Migration

Migration checklist from Alpaca Markets Data

  1. 01Map your current symbol list to the RealMarketAPI instrument set.
  2. 02Validate endpoint parity in the playground before switching production traffic.
  3. 03Define retry and timeout budgets for both REST and WebSocket flows.
  4. 04Run a one-day dual-read verification before cutting over alert workflows.

Channels

Every way to consume RealMarketAPI

Ready to switch from Alpaca Markets Data?

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