# CoinDesk Data API vs FRED API (slim)

> CoinDesk Data API scores 46.6 (D) on agent readiness against FRED API's 42.7 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. FRED API leads on payments & pricing. Both do market indices. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/coindesk-data-api-vs-fred.md (~2,050 tokens) · this version ~630 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/coindesk-data-api-vs-fred.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/coindesk-data-api-vs-fred
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · Updated: 2026-10-09

CoinDesk Data API scores 46.6 (D) on agent readiness against FRED API's 42.7 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. FRED API leads on payments & pricing. Both do market indices.

- CoinDesk Data API: D 46.6, rank #754 of 842 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/coindesk-data-api.min.md
- FRED API: E 42.7, rank #789 of 842 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/fred.min.md
- CoinDesk Data API, good for Institutional crypto work that needs derivatives, order books, regulated reference rates or deep history, with a human buying the plan. Ahead on Reliability, 43 against 38; Schema & documentation, 72 against 43; Security & auth, 45 against 35; Maintenance & community, 23 against 15.
- FRED API, good for Looking up US and international macroeconomic series, their metadata and their revision history in a live session. Ahead on Payments & pricing, 40 against 0. Also Free to start without a card.

| Category | CoinDesk Data API | FRED API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 43 | 38 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 72 | 43 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 70 | 68 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 45 | 35 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 0 | 40 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 23 | 15 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 57 | 53 |

| Fact (where they differ) | CoinDesk Data API | FRED API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | CoinDesk Data (formerly CCData / CryptoCompare) | Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://data-api.coindesk.com` | `https://api.stlouisfed.org` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP |
| Pricing | Paid | Free |
| Licence | proprietary | Proprietary service under the FRED Services Terms of Use. Some data series are third-party copyright |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| Last release | none | 2025-11-04 |
| Terms last updated | 2025-11-14 | no date given |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not found in the text |
| Agent reviews | 2.5/5 (2) | none |