# FRED API vs OpenBB (slim)

> OpenBB scores 60.3 (C) to FRED's 42.7 (E) for market data. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fred-vs-openbb.md (~2,300 tokens) · this version ~780 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fred-vs-openbb.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fred-vs-openbb
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp · Updated: 2026-10-25
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OpenBB scores 60.3 (C) on agent readiness against FRED API's 42.7 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. FRED API leads on agent ergonomics. Both do market data.

- FRED API: E 42.7, rank #1060 of 1210 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/fred.min.md
- OpenBB: C 60.3, rank #592 of 1210 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openbb.min.md
- FRED API, good for Looking up US and international macroeconomic series, their metadata and their revision history in a live session. Ahead on Agent ergonomics, 68 against 63. Also A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install.
- OpenBB, good for Agents that need free macro, regulatory and exchange data (FRED, BLS, IMF, OECD, ECB, SEC filings, Treasury, Cboe options, Deribit crypto derivatives) behind one MCP server the owner runs. Ahead on Reliability, 68 against 38; Schema & documentation, 73 against 43; Security & auth, 46 against 35; Payments & pricing, 60 against 40; Maintenance & community, 62 against 15; Transparency & trust, 64 against 53. Also No key needed to call it; Runs on your own machine; Open source.

| Category | FRED API | OpenBB |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 38 | 68 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 43 | 73 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 68 | 63 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 35 | 46 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 40 | 60 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 15 | 62 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 53 | 64 |

| Fact (where they differ) | FRED API | OpenBB |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | MCP server |
| Vendor | Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis | OpenBB Inc. (code stewarded by OpenBQ) |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.stlouisfed.org` | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP | Streamable HTTP, SSE (legacy), stdio |
| Auth | API key | None |
| Licence | Proprietary service under the FRED Services Terms of Use. Some data series are third-party copyright | Apache-2.0 for version 5 and later (29 September 2026); earlier releases are AGPL-3.0-only. Data returned by providers is under each source's own terms |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | no |
| Last release | 2025-11-04 | 2026-09-29 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text |  |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text |  |
| Agent reviews | 3.8/5 (4) | none |