IEX Cloud Alternatives — Migration Guide for 2026

IEX Cloud shut down on August 31, 2024. All API keys were deactivated on that date. If your code still references an IEX Cloud endpoint, it is broken. This page is a migration guide: what IEX Cloud offered, which alternatives cover which use cases, and how to choose. No investment advice, no affiliate links — neutral comparisons for researchers choosing their stack.

What IEX Cloud Offered

IEX Cloud provided US equities market data via a developer-friendly REST API: real-time and historical price quotes (via the IEX exchange feed), company fundamentals, earnings calendars, news, and reference data for stocks and ETFs. Its key selling points were a generous free tier, clean documentation, and a straightforward pricing model. It was widely used in open-source trading projects, educational materials, and lightweight production data pipelines. Its discontinuation in August 2024 was not preceded by a migration window announcement; API keys were deactivated on the shutdown date.

Replacement Options Table

Five providers cover the bulk of IEX Cloud migration use cases. Prices marked [approx] were behind signup walls; re-verify before committing.

Five Migration Paths

1. Tiingo — closest IEX Cloud substitute

Tiingo is the most-cited direct IEX Cloud replacement in community discussions. It provides an IEX-style intraday endpoint alongside its own EOD data, fundamentals, and news. The free tier (~50 requests per hour, 500 unique symbols per month) covers lightweight prototyping and small backtests. The Power plan (~$10/month) removes most rate limits. Tiingo's Python library (tiingo-python) follows similar patterns to the iexfinance client, making migration relatively straightforward. If your primary IEX Cloud use was intraday US equities data with fundamentals, Tiingo is the lowest-friction migration target.

2. Polygon/Massive — broadest US equities and real-time coverage

Polygon.io (rebranded Massive.com, October 30, 2025) has the broadest coverage for US equities, options, and crypto in this list. Its free tier (5 requests per minute, delayed data) allows ongoing prototyping. Paid plans split by asset class give access to real-time tick data and full history. The polygon-api-client Python SDK is actively maintained. If your project needed IEX Cloud's real-time or near-real-time US equity data and you want to expand coverage to options or crypto, Polygon/Massive is the broadest choice. Note: api.polygon.io endpoints continue to work post-rebrand; new documentation and pricing live at massive.com.

3. Databento — IEX's recommended path for tick-level data

IEX's own migration documentation pointed to Databento as a recommended migration target. Databento delivers raw exchange feed data — tick-level, Market-By-Order depth, and OHLCV — from 70+ venues including US equities via direct exchange feeds. New accounts receive $125 in data credits valid for 6 months. If your IEX Cloud use involved intraday bar data and you want to upgrade to higher-fidelity tick data, or if you are expanding to futures microstructure research, Databento is the appropriate migration target. It is more complex to consume than Tiingo or Polygon (raw venue schemas vs normalized data) but delivers the highest data quality.

4. Alpha Vantage — for fundamentals, FX, and low request volumes

Alpha Vantage has one of the more generous free tiers for diverse data types: stocks, FX, crypto, commodities, and fundamental data, all accessible with a free API key. The free tier limits are strict (25 requests per day, 5 per minute), which makes it impractical for real-time or large-scale backtesting but useful for low-frequency use cases: fundamental data enrichment, macro indicators, FX rate lookups. If your IEX Cloud usage was primarily fundamentals (earnings, income statements, balance sheets) at low volumes, Alpha Vantage is a cost-effective migration target. Paid tiers (~$50–$250/month approximate) increase rate limits substantially.

5. Finnhub — for free real-time US quotes and alternative data

Finnhub's free tier (60 requests per minute) includes real-time US stock quotes via WebSocket, earnings calendars, company news, and fundamentals — at no cost. This makes it the most capable free-tier alternative for applications that needed IEX Cloud's real-time US equity quotes without a paid subscription. Finnhub also covers international stocks, FX, and crypto on the free tier. Its alternative data (news sentiment, earnings surprises, SEC filings) goes beyond what IEX Cloud offered. The paid tiers add higher rate limits and additional data sources.

Best for Whom

• Migrating IEX intraday US equities at minimal cost: Tiingo. Most similar free tier; IEX-style intraday endpoint; ~$10/mo to remove rate limits.
• Production intraday or real-time US equities: Polygon/Massive. Broadest coverage; real-time on paid tiers; free tier for prototyping.
• Tick-level data or futures alongside equities: Databento. IEX's own migration recommendation; $125 free credits; highest data fidelity.
• Free fundamentals, FX, and macro at low volume: Alpha Vantage. 25 req/day free; stocks, FX, crypto, commodities, fundamentals.
• Free real-time US stock quotes and alternative data: Finnhub. 60 req/min free; real-time US quotes; earnings, news, and sentiment.

When None Fits

If your IEX Cloud use was equity backtesting requiring a survivorship-bias-free universe (delisted symbols included), none of the five alternatives above fully solves this problem. Norgate Data is the only provider in the retail space explicitly marketed as survivorship-bias-free, but it is EOD only and subscription-priced. For free experimentation on modern price history without IEX, yfinance (unofficial Yahoo Finance scraper, daily prices, no key) is the most widely used starting point — with the caveat that it is unofficial, breaks periodically, and Yahoo's terms of service do not permit commercial use.