GDELT Project vs Mediastack: full comparison for 2026
Quick verdict
GDELT Project (3.9/5) edges ahead of Mediastack (3.8/5) overall. GDELT Project is the better choice for zero-budget data projects and research prototypes. Mediastack is the stronger option for low-traffic sites needing a cheap commercial headline feed. The right pick depends on your budget, how much history you need and whether you need full text.
GDELT Project vs Mediastack: head-to-head summary
| Criterion | GDELT Project | Mediastack |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2013 | 2015 |
| HQ | Open research project (no commercial HQ) | Vienna, Austria (apilayer); owned by Idera |
| Team size | Not publicly disclosed | Part of Idera |
| Rating | 3.9 / 5 | 3.8 / 5 |
| Primary differentiator | No key, no fee and global coverage refreshed every 15 minutes | Commercial use and historical news from $24.99 a month |
| Pricing model | Free | Monthly request plans |
| Entry price | Free | $24.99/mo |
| Formats & SDKs | REST API, JSON, CSV | REST API, JSON |
| Typical uses | Research & academia, Risk & compliance, Media monitoring | News & content apps, Marketing & PR |
GDELT Project vs Mediastack: 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.
Mediastack
Mediastack belongs to apilayer, the Vienna company behind ipstack and weatherstack, which Julian and Paul Zehetmayr founded in 2015 and the US software group Idera bought in January 2021. If you already use another apilayer API, the key format, parameters and error codes will look familiar. It covers live and historical news from 7,500+ sources in 13 languages, with filters for country, category, language and keyword. The free plan gives 100 requests a month, which a day of testing can use up, and paid plans run from $24.99 for 10,000 requests to $249.99 for 250,000. Responses carry descriptions and metadata, without full text or enrichment.
Features: GDELT Project vs Mediastack
| Capability | GDELT Project | Mediastack |
|---|---|---|
| Full article text | ✗ | ✗ |
| Historical archive | ✓ | ✓ |
| NLP enrichment | ✓ | ✗ |
| Story/event clustering | ✗ | ✗ |
| Official SDK | ✗ | ✗ |
| Streaming or webhooks | ✗ | ✗ |
| Free access | ✓ | ✓ |
Formats and SDKs: GDELT Project vs Mediastack
| Format / SDK | GDELT Project | Mediastack |
|---|---|---|
| REST API | ✓ | ✓ |
| Python SDK | N/A | N/A |
| Node.js SDK | N/A | N/A |
| Webhooks | N/A | N/A |
| WebSocket | N/A | N/A |
| MCP server | N/A | N/A |
| S3/bulk delivery | N/A | N/A |
| BigQuery | ✓ | N/A |
Pricing comparison: GDELT Project vs Mediastack
| Criterion | GDELT Project | Mediastack |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | Free | $24.99/mo |
| Pricing model | Free | Monthly request plans |
| Access models | Open data | Free tier, Monthly plans |
| Price transparency | Public price | Public price |
| Price tier | Free | Budget |
Who each API suits: GDELT Project vs Mediastack
| Dimension | GDELT Project | Mediastack |
|---|---|---|
| Buyer type | Individuals to enterprise | Individuals to enterprise |
| Typical uses | Research & academia, Risk & compliance, Media monitoring | News & content apps, Marketing & PR |
| Example use cases | A free signal source that tells you which articles to fetch. Geopolitical dashboards in BigQuery. | A category news feed on a small website. Classroom projects that need commercial terms. |
| How you get access | Open data | Free tier |
GDELT Project vs Mediastack: 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 |
| Mediastack | |
|---|---|
| + | Among the lowest paid entry prices for general news |
| + | Shares conventions with the other apilayer APIs |
| + | History included on paid plans |
| + | Short docs with copy-paste code |
| - | 100 free requests a month barely covers testing |
| - | Only 7,500 sources in 13 languages |
| - | No full text, entities or sentiment |
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 Mediastack?
A typical fit: a category news feed on a small website.
Commercial use and historical news from $24.99 a month. Paid access starts at $24.99/mo. Typical uses: News & content apps, Marketing & PR.
Decision matrix: GDELT Project vs Mediastack
| 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 | Neither; both are plain REST |
| You are wiring news into an LLM agent | Both work through plain REST calls |
Use case fit: GDELT Project vs Mediastack
| Use case | GDELT Project fit | Mediastack fit | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Research & academia | Strong | Limited | GDELT Project |
| Risk & compliance | Strong | Limited | GDELT Project |
| Media monitoring | Strong | Limited | GDELT Project |
| News & content apps | Limited | Strong | Mediastack |
| Marketing & PR | Limited | Strong | Mediastack |
Verdict: GDELT Project vs Mediastack
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.
Mediastack (3.8/5) is worth a look if you need classroom projects that need commercial terms. If your situation matches that, Mediastack is a competitive option.
Related comparisons
GDELT Project vs Mediastack FAQ
Is GDELT Project better than Mediastack?
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. Mediastack's strongest advantage: among the lowest paid entry prices for general news.
How do GDELT Project and Mediastack differ in pricing?
GDELT Project: free, with paid access from Free. Mediastack: monthly request plans, with paid access from $24.99/mo. Both offer some free access for testing.
Which is better for enterprise: GDELT Project or Mediastack?
Neither sells an enterprise contract. Neither carries licensed publisher content, so check copyright terms before republishing anything.
What are the main differences between GDELT Project and Mediastack?
What sets GDELT Project apart: no key, no fee and global coverage refreshed every 15 minutes. What sets Mediastack apart: commercial use and historical news from $24.99 a month. They also differ on entry price (Free vs $24.99/mo) and typical uses (Research & academia, Risk & compliance vs News & content apps, Marketing & PR).
Verify all details directly with each API before making a decision.