# Massive (formerly Polygon.io) vs TickerLayer

> Massive scores 73.1 (BB) to TickerLayer's 71.5 (BB) for market prices. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/massive-vs-tickerlayer
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/massive-vs-tickerlayer.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: 2026-11-11

Massive (formerly Polygon.io) scores 73.1 (BB) on agent readiness against TickerLayer's 71.5 (BB), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. TickerLayer leads on security & auth. Both do market prices.

- Massive (formerly Polygon.io): grade BB, 73.1/100, rank #114 of 1520. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/massive.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/massive.json
- TickerLayer: grade BB, 71.5/100, rank #160 of 1520. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/tickerlayer.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/tickerlayer.json
- Best financial market data APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/market-data/index.md
- All 78 markets comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/market-data/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Massive (formerly Polygon.io) (BB)

Good for: Agents that need US equities, options or futures data with real history, and the only listing here selling US stock data over x402.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 78 against 70
- Transparency & trust, 67 against 38

Watch for: 14 partial incidents from 3 August to 1 November 2026, mostly stale or missing data on stock aggregates and quotes

### TickerLayer (BB)

Good for: An agent that needs latest prices, bars and market hours across stocks, forex, crypto, indices, ETFs, commodities, bond yields and perpetual futures from one schema, and wants to pay per call without an account.

Ahead on:
- Security & auth, 49 against 35

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

Watch for: The data is derived and indicative from unnamed non-exchange sources, and no page says it is licensed from an exchange


## Why the edge

### Transparency & trust: Massive (formerly Polygon.io) +29

- Massive (formerly Polygon.io) (67): Closed service under business terms last updated 6 October 2026, Massive.com, Inc. under Georgia law, which now also cover pay-per-request purchases without an account. The MCP server and clients are MIT (15). Privacy policy last updated 22 March 2024, with retention 'as long as we are providing the Services' and no periods. The business terms require deleting data on termination. No DPA found (12 of 30). Dated sunsets in the changelog. The terms let Massive change the Services at its discretion, with a 30-day route to report a change that materially degrades a subscribed service (10 of 20). Stripe, Google and Hotjar are named, and data may sit 'in the United States and locations around the world'. No subprocessor list (8 of 20).
- TickerLayer (38): The editorial half. A closed service whose terms of use, user agreement and market data disclaimer (all effective 3 November 2026) set out internal, commercial and redistribution rights by plan and a liability cap. They name no legal entity, address or governing law, so the contracting party is unknown. The plugin and npm client are MIT. Soldfetch took 10 in the same position (10 of 30). The privacy policy keeps WebSocket connection records for 7 days but gives no period for request and tool-call logs or account data after closure, says nothing on model training, names no transfer mechanism and has no DPA (12 of 30). No deprecation policy. The terms allow MCP tools to change 'with reasonable notice where practical' and the user agreement promises notice before a plan is materially reduced, and the changelog records changes after the fact. Kite took 4 (4 of 20). Subprocessors are given only as categories (hosting, authentication, card and crypto payments, email, an AI model for support replies), with analytics vendors deferred to the cookie policy, no data locations, and no named data suppliers (4 of 20). 10+12+4+4 = 30. The provenance half is computed from the provenance block.

### Security & auth: TickerLayer +14

- Massive (formerly Polygon.io) (35): A plain account key with no scopes, sent as a Bearer header or as `?apiKey=` in the query string, a documented option (20 less 10, so 10). The x402 route at agent.massive.com needs no key. Read-only market data with no write actions (15 of 20). The x402 set includes news and SEC filing text written by third parties, and we found no guidance on treating it as untrusted (5 of 15). Paid x402 calls leave an on-chain USDC transfer. We found no request log documented for keyed callers (5 of 15). security.txt returns 404, and the terms and privacy policy name no SOC 2, ISO 27001, bug bounty or disclosure policy, only safeguards 'consistent with general industry standards' (0 of 20).
- TickerLayer (49): A plain account key with no scopes, shown once and replaced by regenerating it in the dashboard (20). The OpenAPI file defines an `apiKey` query parameter as a 'compatibility fallback', and the WebSocket takes the key only in its URL, so 10 off. The MCP server adds OAuth 2.1 with PKCE S256, dynamic registration, refresh tokens, a revocation endpoint and one scope, `market.read`. Twelve-data took 18 on the same pattern, one less here because the WebSocket has no header option (17 of 30). Every operation reads data, and the OAuth scope is read-only, as for twelve-data and financial-datasets (15 of 20). Responses are prices, bars, symbols, calendars and yields. There is no news feed, and SignalPoint signals are structured fields, so no untrusted text reaches the agent (10 of 15). Rate-limit headers on every response, quota 429s that state the limit and when it renews, and a dashboard list of WebSocket connections with source IP, key and how each ended (24 October 2026). No per-call REST log for the key holder was found, though the privacy policy says request logs are kept (7 of 15). security.txt answered a client error, and no disclosure policy, bug bounty, SOC 2 or ISO 27001 was found (0 of 20). 17+15+10+7+0 = 49.

### Reliability: Massive (formerly Polygon.io) +8

- Massive (formerly Polygon.io) (78): Atlassian Statuspage at massive-status.com with REST, WebSocket and flat-file components for each asset class (20). The history feed lists 14 unplanned incidents from 3 August to 1 November 2026, each limited to one product, one endpoint, one asset class or some accounts. They include US equity aggregate bars missing for roughly two-thirds of US equities from 18:46 ET on 8 September until 10:29 the next day, stale stocks quotes on 20 August, and slow responses with intermittent 502s on stocks v2 aggregates from 10:37 to 13:08 ET on 2 September. The newest, on 27 October, was delayed WebSocket data and REST errors for some accounts from 13:49 to 14:17 EDT. Read the way partial incidents are read on other listings, that is minor incidents only (20). Free plan limited to 5 calls a minute, paid plans unlimited, nothing stated for x402 (10 of 15). No 429 or Retry-After guidance found in the docs or the OpenAPI file, though the official Python client retries 429 with backoff (8 of 15). The business terms dated 6 October 2026 point to a separate Support Policy and SLA document for customers who buy service levels (10). The REST API is generally available (10).
- TickerLayer (70): Read with the hosted lines, on the REST API. status.tickerlayer.com is an UptimeRobot page linked from the site header (20). Its monitors and history load by script from /api/, which its robots.txt disallows, so no incident record was read, as for eodhd and apitemplate-io (5). Limits are published with numbers, 10 requests a second per account on Free and Individual, 100 on Business, and monthly call quotas per feed (15). The OpenAPI file's 429 carries `Retry-After` and a body with `retryAfterMs`, `resetsAt` and a code that separates the per-second limit from the monthly quota, and every response has carried `X-RateLimit-Limit` and `X-RateLimit-Remaining` since 14 September 2026. Every data operation is a GET, and x402 retries with the same payment identifier return the stored response (15). An SLA is named only for Enterprise under a written agreement and as 'partially available' on Business, with no published terms or figure, and the terms of use promise no uptime. Financial-datasets took 10 for SLAs listed on a self-serve plan, so this is half (5 of 10). No beta or preview label on the REST API, the MCP server or the x402 gateway (10). 20+5+15+15+5+10 = 70.

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Massive (formerly Polygon.io) | TickerLayer | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 78 | 70 | Massive (formerly Polygon.io) +8 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 89 | 88 | Massive (formerly Polygon.io) +1 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 78 | 79 | TickerLayer +1 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 35 | 49 | TickerLayer +14 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 90 | 92 | TickerLayer +2 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 82 | 79 | Massive (formerly Polygon.io) +3 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 67 | 38 | Massive (formerly Polygon.io) +29 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **73.1 · BB** | **71.5 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Massive (formerly Polygon.io) | TickerLayer |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Massive | TickerLayer |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.massive.com` | `https://mcp.tickerlayer.com/mcp` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, websocket |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | yes, from $0.01/call | yes, from $0.01/call |
| Licence | MIT (clients) | Proprietary hosted service under the TickerLayer terms of use, user agreement and market data disclaimer (all effective 3 November 2026), which name no legal entity or governing law. Free and Individual plans are for internal use, Business adds use inside the customer's own product, and redistribution needs a written Enterprise agreement. The agent plugin (github.com/tickerlayer/agent-plugin) and the npm client are MIT |
| Tools exposed | none | 12 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | `com.tickerlayer/market-data` |
| Last release | 2026-10-28 | 2026-11-06 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-10-06 | not read yet |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2024-03-22 | not read yet |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not read yet |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not read yet |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not read yet |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not read yet |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not read yet |
| Popularity | 1.5k stars | none |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (2) | none |

## How the scores have moved

### Massive (formerly Polygon.io)

- +3.2 on 1 November 2026 (B to BB): product, correction
- +0.1 on 27 October 2026: checklist
- -0.2 on 8 October 2026 (BB to B): checklist

### TickerLayer

No score change since it was listed.

## Verdicts

**Massive (formerly Polygon.io).** 24 US stock routes over x402 at agent.massive.com, $0.01 each on Base, and only successful requests are charged. The status history lists 14 partial incidents in the 90 days to 1 November, including US equity aggregate bars missing for about 16 hours on 8 and 9 September.

**TickerLayer.** An agent can read quotes, bars and market hours across eight asset classes through a documented REST API, 12 MCP tools or 41 x402 resources with no account, and 429s carry Retry-After. The data is derived from unnamed non-exchange sources, no operator is named, and the status history couldn't be read.

## Before you call either

### Massive (formerly Polygon.io)

1. Send the key as a Bearer header, not `?apiKey=`, so it stays out of logs
2. Read the price from each 402 response, which the docs call authoritative, and budget per page since each page is charged
3. Use agent.massive.com only for US stocks. Options, crypto, forex and futures need a keyed plan
4. Check `massive-status.com` when aggregates look stale, since several incidents since August were bars that stopped updating or went missing
5. Don't republish prices fetched on an individual plan

### TickerLayer

1. Write stocks as `COUNTRY:TICKER`, such as `US:KO`, and always pass `asset_class` to the data tools.
2. If a 429 carries `REST_QUOTA_EXCEEDED`, stop and tell the user. Waiting doesn't reset the monthly quota.
3. Present prices as indicative TickerLayer values, never as official exchange prices.
4. Call `get_market_status` before you report a quiet symbol as missing data.
5. Send the key in the `x-api-key` header, never as the `apiKey` query parameter.

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Massive (formerly Polygon.io) or TickerLayer?

Massive (formerly Polygon.io) scores 73.1 (BB) on agent readiness against TickerLayer's 71.5 (BB), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. TickerLayer leads on security & auth.

### Do Massive (formerly Polygon.io) and TickerLayer need an API key?

Massive (formerly Polygon.io) needs an API key. TickerLayer takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. An agent can also pay Massive (formerly Polygon.io) per call over x402, with no account. An agent can also pay TickerLayer per call over x402, with no account.

### Can an agent call Massive (formerly Polygon.io) and TickerLayer without installing anything?

Yes. Massive (formerly Polygon.io) has a hosted endpoint at https://api.massive.com and TickerLayer at https://mcp.tickerlayer.com/mcp.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Massive (formerly Polygon.io) or TickerLayer

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