# Benzinga vs Financial Modeling Prep

> Benzinga and Financial Modeling Prep score within a point of each other for market news, 49.2 and 48.7 out of 100. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/benzinga-vs-financial-modeling-prep
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/benzinga-vs-financial-modeling-prep.md (~4,300 tokens)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (the key docs and every listing in one file, at most 16 MB, about 4 million tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- DNS: dig +short TXT <slug>.grade.anchorterminal.com (the grade as a DNS TXT record, for a sandbox with no HTTP where names still resolve; also top., best.<category>. and <a>.vs.<b>. under the zone, and the same under grade.letme.dev)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-11-03

Benzinga and Financial Modeling Prep score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 49.2 (D) and 48.7 (D). Financial Modeling Prep leads on payments & pricing and transparency & trust. Both do market news.

- Benzinga: grade D, 49.2/100, rank #1043 of 1349. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/benzinga.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/benzinga.json
- Financial Modeling Prep: grade D, 48.7/100, rank #1056 of 1349. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/financial-modeling-prep.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/financial-modeling-prep.json
- Best financial market data APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/market-data/index.md
- All 55 markets comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/market-data/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Benzinga (D)

Good for: A licensed firm's agent that needs Benzinga's own newswire, calendars, analyst ratings and transcripts as structured data with deltas.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 60 against 50
- Schema & documentation, 71 against 61
- Agent ergonomics, 65 against 59
- Security & auth, 36 against 30

Watch for: The API token is sent only as the `token` query parameter, with no header option, scopes or rotation found

### Financial Modeling Prep (D)

Good for: Agents doing company research on statements, ratios, DCF, filings, transcripts and calendars with one key, and US coverage on cheap plans.

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 30 against 0
- Transparency & trust, 57 against 44

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: The documented MCP connection URL puts the API key in the query string, and the REST docs accept `?apikey=` too


## Why the edge

### Payments & pricing: Financial Modeling Prep +30

- Benzinga (0): No x402, MPP or L402 (0). No prices are published anywhere we could read; the docs say to email or call licensing and the APIs page on www.benzinga.com answered 403 (0). The FAQ says a trial or sandbox is often available, with no terms, length or card condition, and the registration page was unread (0). A person registers in a browser or by email (0). Total 0, with pricing and registration recorded as unchecked.
- Financial Modeling Prep (30): No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Four personal plans priced per month by calls a minute, public without login, with per-endpoint plan limits in pricing.md; commercial prices are by agreement (10). A free Basic plan at 250 calls a day with no card stated (20). The key comes from a browser signup and no key API was found (0). 0 + 10 + 20 + 0 = 30.

### Transparency & trust: Financial Modeling Prep +13

- Benzinga (44): A closed service whose terms could not be read, since www.benzinga.com answered 403; the docs footer links them (8 of 30). The privacy policy was unread for the same reason, and the docs say nothing about retention (0 of 30, unchecked). No deprecation policy or dated notices; the changelog pages are empty (0 of 20). The architecture page says the platform runs on Amazon Web Services with Kong Gateway, with no subprocessor list or data location statement (5 of 20). Total 13.
- Financial Modeling Prep (57): A closed service under terms that are clear on personal and commercial use and on display licensing, last updated 1 August 2023, but that name no legal entity, address or governing law (12 of 30). The privacy policy is undated, keeps data for as long as necessary with no periods, says no third parties receive data while naming Google AdSense and Analytics, and no DPA was found (8 of 30). The docs keep a Legacy section and api-docs.md says /v3 and /v4 are discontinued, with no notice period stated; behaviour changes such as the Economics Indicators default window appear in the dated changelog (8 of 20). Google services are the only processors named and no data location is given (5 of 20). 12 + 8 + 8 + 5 = 33.

### Reliability: Benzinga +10

- Benzinga (60): Graded as a hosted service. Atlassian Statuspage at benzinga1.statuspage.io with seven API components (20). The incident feed holds 14 incidents, the newest on 14 September 2023, so the 90 days to 3 November 2026 are clean (30). No rate limit numbers are published; the FAQ says limits depend on the API and the subscription tier (0 of 15). No 429, Retry-After or backoff guidance was found in the docs or the specs (0 of 15). No SLA was found; the architecture page cites a 99.9 per cent availability figure as a claim, and the terms were unread (0). The APIs are generally available (10). Total 60.
- Financial Modeling Prep (50): Read with the hosted lines. A public status page at status.financialmodelingprep.com is linked from every page (20), but its figures load by script and our reader got an error, so no incident history could be read (5). Limits are published with numbers, 250 calls a day on Basic and 300, 750 and 3,000 calls a minute on paid plans, with bandwidth caps per plan (15). No 429 behaviour, Retry-After or backoff guidance was found in the docs, api-docs.md or FAQs (0). No SLA found; the terms let FMP change limits without notice (0). The stable API is generally available (10). 20 + 5 + 15 + 0 + 0 + 10 = 50.

### Schema & documentation: Benzinga +10

- Benzinga (71): The docs are generated from 11 OpenAPI 3 specs in the public Benzinga/benzinga-docs repository, 80 operations, and the raw YAML is linked from the welcome page (25). llms.txt and a Markdown twin of every page (10). Operations carry a summary and a sentence or two on scope, with little on when not to use a call (12 of 20). Typed query parameters with enums on the calendar (50) and news (9) specs, and the token as a query parameter (10 of 15). Examples on most operations, but the error responses in the specs are thin, 400, 499 and 500 on news, with the 401 and 404 bodies shown only as examples (9 of 15). Versioned paths (/api/v2) and three changelog pages that are empty templates (5 of 15). Total 71.
- Financial Modeling Prep (61): No OpenAPI document was found. The MCP page says the server supplies strict parameter definitions, but the tool list needs a key and was not read (5 of 25). llms.txt links api-docs.md and pricing.md, Markdown written for agents (10). Each of the 199 endpoints in api-docs.md has a purpose paragraph and a plan marker in pricing.md, with little on when not to use it (13 of 20). Parameters are tabled with type, example and a required star, but allowed values sit in prose and no enums are given (8 of 15). Every endpoint has an example request and response; no error responses are documented anywhere we read (10 of 15). A /stable path, legacy /v3 and /v4 marked discontinued, and a changelog dated by day through 2 November 2026 (15). 5 + 10 + 13 + 8 + 10 + 15 = 61.

### Agent ergonomics: Benzinga +6

- Benzinga (65): `displayOutput` of headline, abstract or full sizes a news response, and `pageSize` runs to 100 (18 of 25). `page` and `pageSize`, ticker, channel, date and `updatedSince` filters, with a 10,000-item cap per query that the docs explain how to work round (18 of 20). Error bodies carry a code, an id and a message in the examples, but an unknown node ID returns 200 with an empty array and the spec's response list doesn't match the examples (10 of 20). Every data call is a read, with no safe-retry guidance; the webhook API registers endpoints (12 of 20). Few required parameters, but the Python client is from 2021, the JavaScript client from 2023 and the docs' SDK page is template text (7 of 15). Total 65.
- Financial Modeling Prep (59): The REST API is the surface graded. `limit` and `page` on list endpoints, `from` and `to` on series, and batch quote endpoints size responses, with no field selection (15 of 25). Page and limit parameters on lists and date filters on series, no cursor (15 of 20). A missing key returned 401 with an `Error Message` text field in our one test call, and no error reference exists (5 of 20). Every call is a GET read; the MCP server's annotations were not read (16 of 20). Few required parameters and sensible defaults, but no official SDK in any language (8 of 15). 15 + 15 + 5 + 16 + 8 = 59.

### Security & auth: Benzinga +6

- Benzinga (36): One token per account with no scopes, sent only as the `token` query parameter, generated in the console; no rotation or expiry found (20 less 10 for the query string, so 10). Every data endpoint is a read (15 of 20). News, press releases and transcripts are third-party text, with no guidance on treating them as untrusted (5 of 15). No usage log or per-call record for the token holder was found (0 of 15). security.txt names security@benzinga.com and a policy page, with an Expires date of 1 June 2025, and the policy itself is on the host that refused our reader; no bounty, SOC 2 or ISO 27001 was found in the docs (6 of 20). Total 36.
- Financial Modeling Prep (30): One key per account with no scopes, accepted as a header or as `?apikey=`, and the documented MCP address carries it in the URL (20 less 10 for the query string, so 10). Every endpoint is a read (15 of 20). News, press releases, transcripts and filings are third-party text and no guidance on treating them as untrusted was found (5 of 15). No usage log or per-call record for the key holder was found (0 of 15). security.txt returns 404, the Trust Center link returns 404, and no disclosure policy, bug bounty or certification was found (0 of 20). 10 + 15 + 5 + 0 + 0 = 30.

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Benzinga | Financial Modeling Prep | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 60 | 50 | Benzinga +10 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 71 | 61 | Benzinga +10 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 65 | 59 | Benzinga +6 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 36 | 30 | Benzinga +6 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 0 | 30 | Financial Modeling Prep +30 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 56 | 60 | Financial Modeling Prep +4 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 44 | 57 | Financial Modeling Prep +13 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **49.2 · D** | **48.7 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Benzinga | Financial Modeling Prep |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Benzinga | Financial Modeling Prep |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.benzinga.com` | `https://financialmodelingprep.com/stable` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Paid | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-11-03 | 2026-11-02 |
| Terms last updated | couldn't be read | couldn't be read |
| Privacy policy last updated | couldn't be read | couldn't be read |
| Customer content may train models | couldn't be read | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict automated access | couldn't be read | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | couldn't be read | couldn't be read |
| Terms or service can change without notice | couldn't be read | couldn't be read |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | couldn't be read | couldn't be read |
| Popularity | 34 stars | none |

## Verdicts

**Benzinga.** Benzinga's news, calendar and transcript APIs are documented from 11 public OpenAPI specs with an llms.txt and a Statuspage. The token travels in the query string, no prices or rate limit numbers are published, the Python client was last released in February 2021, and the vendor's main site refused our reader, so its terms and privacy policy are unread.

**Financial Modeling Prep.** About 199 stable REST endpoints with Markdown docs for agents, a dated changelog and a free key at 250 calls a day. The one key travels in the query string on the documented MCP address, error responses and 429 handling are undocumented, the status history could not be read, and personal plans forbid any company use.

## Before you call either

### Benzinga

1. Keep the token out of logs; it can only travel as `?token=`, so strip query strings before recording request URLs
2. Page through news with `page` and `pageSize` (max 100) and narrow by `tickers`, `dateFrom` or `channels`; a query can't pass 10,000 items
3. Poll with `updatedSince` (news) or `parameters[updated]` (calendar, signals) rather than re-reading history
4. An unknown or unentitled news node ID returns 200 with an empty array, not 404; treat empty as not found
5. Don't plan on a free key; access starts with licensing@benzinga.com and a contract

### Financial Modeling Prep

1. Send the key as an `apikey` header, not in the URL, and treat the MCP `?apikey=` address as a secret
2. Use the /stable paths from api-docs.md; /api/v3 and /v4 are discontinued even though the FAQ still shows a v3 example
3. On the free plan expect 5 results and page 0 on many list endpoints; read pricing.md before planning a crawl
4. A missing or wrong key returns HTTP 401 with an `Error Message` field; stop and ask the user rather than retry
5. Do not display or pass on the data in a product; personal plans forbid it

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Benzinga or Financial Modeling Prep?

Benzinga and Financial Modeling Prep score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 49.2 (D) and 48.7 (D). Financial Modeling Prep leads on payments & pricing and transparency & trust.

### Do Benzinga and Financial Modeling Prep need an API key?

Both need an API key.

### Can an agent call Benzinga and Financial Modeling Prep without installing anything?

Yes. Benzinga has a hosted endpoint at https://api.benzinga.com and Financial Modeling Prep at https://financialmodelingprep.com/stable.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/benzinga-vs-financial-modeling-prep.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/benzinga-vs-financial-modeling-prep.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "benzinga", "b": "financial-modeling-prep"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare benzinga financial-modeling-prep`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/benzinga.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/financial-modeling-prep.json

## Other comparisons with Benzinga or Financial Modeling Prep

- [Alpha Vantage vs Benzinga](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/alpha-vantage-vs-benzinga.md)
- [Alpha Vantage vs Financial Modeling Prep](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/alpha-vantage-vs-financial-modeling-prep.md)
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- [Financial Modeling Prep vs Massive (formerly Polygon.io)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/financial-modeling-prep-vs-massive.md)
- [Financial Datasets vs Financial Modeling Prep](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/financial-datasets-vs-financial-modeling-prep.md)
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- [Financial Modeling Prep vs Twelve Data](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/financial-modeling-prep-vs-twelve-data.md)
- [EODHD vs Financial Modeling Prep](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/eodhd-vs-financial-modeling-prep.md)
- [Benzinga vs EODHD](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/benzinga-vs-eodhd.md)
- [Benzinga vs Financial Datasets](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/benzinga-vs-financial-datasets.md)
- [Benzinga vs Finnhub](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/benzinga-vs-finnhub.md)
- [Benzinga vs Intrinio](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/benzinga-vs-intrinio.md)
- [Benzinga vs Tiingo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/benzinga-vs-tiingo.md)
- [Benzinga vs Twelve Data](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/benzinga-vs-twelve-data.md)

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Query this catalogue directly over MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key). How: https://www.anchorterminal.com/agents/#mcp