GDELT Project vs Massive (ex-Polygon.io) News: full comparison for 2026
Quick verdict
GDELT Project (3.9/5) edges ahead of Massive (ex-Polygon.io) News (3.8/5) overall. GDELT Project is the better choice for zero-budget data projects and research prototypes. Massive (ex-Polygon.io) News is the stronger option for trading-app developers already using Polygon or Massive data. The right pick depends on your budget, how much history you need and whether you need full text.
GDELT Project vs Massive (ex-Polygon.io) News: head-to-head summary
| Criterion | GDELT Project | Massive (ex-Polygon.io) News |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2013 | 2016 |
| HQ | Open research project (no commercial HQ) | Atlanta, Georgia, USA |
| Team size | Not publicly disclosed | Not publicly disclosed |
| Rating | 3.9 / 5 | 3.8 / 5 |
| Primary differentiator | No key, no fee and global coverage refreshed every 15 minutes | Per-ticker sentiment with a written reason, included in stock data plans |
| Pricing model | Free | Monthly plans per asset class |
| Entry price | Free | $29/mo |
| Formats & SDKs | REST API, JSON, CSV | REST API, JSON, WebSocket |
| Typical uses | Research & academia, Risk & compliance, Media monitoring | Financial services, Research & academia |
GDELT Project vs Massive (ex-Polygon.io) News: overview
GDELT Project
The GDELT Project, created by Kalev Leetaru, watches broadcast, print and web news in more than 65 languages and publishes fresh data every 15 minutes. The DOC 2.0 API needs no key and no signup, which makes it the fastest free start here, and it returns article lists and timelines for a query. Bulk event and knowledge-graph tables are also available in Google BigQuery for SQL users. Two things trip developers up. Responses contain metadata and links only, so you have to fetch and parse each article yourself, and the data formats were designed for researchers, with field names and conventions that take some reading to understand.
Massive (ex-Polygon.io) News
Massive is the name Polygon.io took on October 30, 2025. The company was founded in Atlanta around 2016 by Quinton Pike, and old api.polygon.io endpoints keep working beside the new api.massive.com base. Its ticker news endpoint returns recent articles for a symbol with summaries, publisher details and an insights array giving a sentiment label and a one-sentence reason for each ticker mentioned. Sentiment only exists for articles published after July 2, 2024. Ticker news is included in every Stocks plan: the free Basic tier reaches two years of history, and Stocks Starter costs $29 a month. Official SDKs cover Python, Go, JavaScript and more, and flat files can be pulled from S3.
Features: GDELT Project vs Massive (ex-Polygon.io) News
| Capability | GDELT Project | Massive (ex-Polygon.io) News |
|---|---|---|
| Full article text | ✗ | ✗ |
| Historical archive | ✓ | ✓ |
| NLP enrichment | ✓ | ✓ |
| Story/event clustering | ✗ | ✗ |
| Official SDK | ✗ | ✓ |
| Streaming or webhooks | ✗ | ✗ |
| Free access | ✓ | ✓ |
Formats and SDKs: GDELT Project vs Massive (ex-Polygon.io) News
| Format / SDK | GDELT Project | Massive (ex-Polygon.io) News |
|---|---|---|
| REST API | ✓ | ✓ |
| Python SDK | N/A | ✓ |
| Node.js SDK | N/A | ✓ |
| Webhooks | N/A | N/A |
| WebSocket | N/A | ✓ |
| MCP server | N/A | N/A |
| S3/bulk delivery | N/A | ✓ |
| BigQuery | ✓ | N/A |
Pricing comparison: GDELT Project vs Massive (ex-Polygon.io) News
| Criterion | GDELT Project | Massive (ex-Polygon.io) News |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | Free | $29/mo |
| Pricing model | Free | Monthly plans per asset class |
| Access models | Open data | Free tier, Monthly plans, Enterprise contract |
| Price transparency | Public price | Public price |
| Price tier | Free | Budget |
Who each API suits: GDELT Project vs Massive (ex-Polygon.io) News
| Dimension | GDELT Project | Massive (ex-Polygon.io) News |
|---|---|---|
| Buyer type | Individuals to enterprise | Individuals to enterprise |
| Typical uses | Research & academia, Risk & compliance, Media monitoring | Financial services, Research & academia |
| Example use cases | A free signal source that tells you which articles to fetch. Geopolitical dashboards in BigQuery. | News beside charts in a trading app. Explaining price moves with sentiment reasons. |
| How you get access | Open data | Free tier |
GDELT Project vs Massive (ex-Polygon.io) News: pros and cons
| GDELT Project | |
|---|---|
| + | You can call it right now with no account |
| + | BigQuery tables let you query years of events with SQL |
| + | Machine-translated coverage in 65+ languages |
| + | Event coding of who did what to whom suits geopolitical work |
| - | No article text, only links and derived fields |
| - | No SLA or support channel |
| - | Research-style schemas take time to learn |
| Massive (ex-Polygon.io) News | |
|---|---|
| + | News comes with every Stocks plan, including the free one |
| + | Sentiment includes a short explanation you can show users |
| + | Mature SDKs and WebSocket streams for prices |
| + | Old Polygon code keeps working after the rebrand |
| - | Sentiment is missing for anything before July 2024 |
| - | Covers listed companies only |
| - | Each asset class is billed separately |
Who should choose GDELT Project?
A typical fit: a free signal source that tells you which articles to fetch.
No key, no fee and global coverage refreshed every 15 minutes. Paid access starts at Free. Typical uses: Research & academia, Risk & compliance, Media monitoring.
Who should choose Massive (ex-Polygon.io) News?
A typical fit: news beside charts in a trading app.
Per-ticker sentiment with a written reason, included in stock data plans. Paid access starts at $29/mo. Typical uses: Financial services, Research & academia.
Decision matrix: GDELT Project vs Massive (ex-Polygon.io) News
| Your situation | Recommended choice |
|---|---|
| You want to start free before paying | Both |
| Your budget is at the lower end | GDELT Project |
| You need full article text in the response | Neither returns full text |
| You need years of historical news | Both |
| You want an official SDK | Massive (ex-Polygon.io) News |
| You are wiring news into an LLM agent | Both work through plain REST calls |
Use case fit: GDELT Project vs Massive (ex-Polygon.io) News
| Use case | GDELT Project fit | Massive (ex-Polygon.io) News fit | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Research & academia | Strong | Strong | Both equally |
| Risk & compliance | Strong | Limited | GDELT Project |
| Media monitoring | Strong | Limited | GDELT Project |
| Financial services | Limited | Strong | Massive (ex-Polygon.io) News |
Verdict: GDELT Project vs Massive (ex-Polygon.io) News
GDELT Project (3.9/5) is the stronger overall choice as a news data source. No key, no fee and global coverage refreshed every 15 minutes.
Massive (ex-Polygon.io) News (3.8/5) is worth a look if you need explaining price moves with sentiment reasons. If your situation matches that, Massive (ex-Polygon.io) News is a competitive option.
Related comparisons
GDELT Project vs Massive (ex-Polygon.io) News FAQ
Is GDELT Project better than Massive (ex-Polygon.io) News?
GDELT Project (3.9/5) scores higher overall, but "better" depends on your use case. GDELT Project's strongest advantage: you can call it right now with no account. Massive (ex-Polygon.io) News's strongest advantage: news comes with every Stocks plan, including the free one.
How do GDELT Project and Massive (ex-Polygon.io) News differ in pricing?
GDELT Project: free, with paid access from Free. Massive (ex-Polygon.io) News: monthly plans per asset class, with paid access from $29/mo. Both offer some free access for testing.
Which is better for enterprise: GDELT Project or Massive (ex-Polygon.io) News?
Massive (ex-Polygon.io) News sells enterprise contracts with negotiated volume and SLA terms. Neither carries licensed publisher content, so check copyright terms before republishing anything.
What are the main differences between GDELT Project and Massive (ex-Polygon.io) News?
What sets GDELT Project apart: no key, no fee and global coverage refreshed every 15 minutes. What sets Massive (ex-Polygon.io) News apart: per-ticker sentiment with a written reason, included in stock data plans. They also differ on entry price (Free vs $29/mo) and typical uses (Research & academia, Risk & compliance vs Financial services, Research & academia).
Verify all details directly with each API before making a decision.