Mediastack vs DataForSEO Google News: full comparison for 2026
Quick verdict
Mediastack (3.8/5) edges ahead of DataForSEO Google News (3.7/5) overall. Mediastack is the better choice for low-traffic sites needing a cheap commercial headline feed. DataForSEO Google News is the stronger option for high-volume Google News rank tracking on a budget. The right pick depends on your budget, how much history you need and whether you need full text.
Mediastack vs DataForSEO Google News: head-to-head summary
| Criterion | Mediastack | DataForSEO Google News |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2015 | 2016 |
| HQ | Vienna, Austria (apilayer); owned by Idera | Tallinn, Estonia |
| Team size | Part of Idera | 11–50 |
| Rating | 3.8 / 5 | 3.7 / 5 |
| Primary differentiator | Commercial use and historical news from $24.99 a month | About $0.60 per 1,000 Google News result pages in the Standard queue |
| Pricing model | Monthly request plans | Pay per result page; prepaid balance |
| Entry price | $24.99/mo | $0.60 per 1,000 SERPs |
| Formats & SDKs | REST API, JSON | REST API, JSON, Postback callbacks |
| Typical uses | News & content apps, Marketing & PR | SEO, Marketing & PR, Media monitoring |
Mediastack vs DataForSEO Google News: overview
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.
DataForSEO Google News
DataForSEO, based in Tallinn, Estonia, began as in-house tooling in 2011 and launched its first API in 2016; its own history says most of the team moved to western Ukraine and later Kyiv after 2022. Its Google News SERP API is cheap if you can wait. In the Standard queue you POST a task and fetch the result later (about five minutes on average) for $0.0006 per page of 10 results, or roughly $0.60 per 1,000. Priority queue costs $1.20 per 1,000 and Live mode, which answers in up to about six seconds, costs $2.00. Asking for deeper results multiplies the price. That asynchronous task model is more work to code than a plain GET, and responses are SERP data without article text.
Features: Mediastack vs DataForSEO Google News
| Capability | Mediastack | DataForSEO Google News |
|---|---|---|
| Full article text | ✗ | ✗ |
| Historical archive | ✓ | ✗ |
| NLP enrichment | ✗ | ✗ |
| Story/event clustering | ✗ | ✗ |
| Official SDK | ✗ | ✗ |
| Streaming or webhooks | ✗ | ✗ |
| Free access | ✓ | ✗ |
Formats and SDKs: Mediastack vs DataForSEO Google News
| Format / SDK | Mediastack | DataForSEO Google News |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | N/A |
Pricing comparison: Mediastack vs DataForSEO Google News
| Criterion | Mediastack | DataForSEO Google News |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $24.99/mo | $0.60 per 1,000 SERPs |
| Pricing model | Monthly request plans | Pay per result page; prepaid balance |
| Access models | Free tier, Monthly plans | Pay-as-you-go |
| Price transparency | Public price | Public price |
| Price tier | Budget | Budget |
Who each API suits: Mediastack vs DataForSEO Google News
| Dimension | Mediastack | DataForSEO Google News |
|---|---|---|
| Buyer type | Individuals to enterprise | Teams with budget |
| Typical uses | News & content apps, Marketing & PR | SEO, Marketing & PR, Media monitoring |
| Example use cases | A category news feed on a small website. Classroom projects that need commercial terms. | Tracking thousands of keywords in Google News daily. PR reports on where coverage ranks. |
| How you get access | Free tier | Pay-as-you-go |
Mediastack vs DataForSEO Google News: pros and cons
| 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 |
| DataForSEO Google News | |
|---|---|
| + | The lowest per-query price for Google News data found in this review |
| + | Three speed tiers let you trade latency for cost |
| + | Callbacks can notify your server when a task finishes |
| + | Same account covers other Google SERP types |
| - | The cheap queue is asynchronous, so you need task polling or callbacks |
| - | Deeper result pages multiply the cost |
| - | No article text or archive |
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.
Who should choose DataForSEO Google News?
A typical fit: tracking thousands of keywords in Google News daily.
About $0.60 per 1,000 Google News result pages in the Standard queue. Paid access starts at $0.60 per 1,000 SERPs. Typical uses: SEO, Marketing & PR, Media monitoring.
Decision matrix: Mediastack vs DataForSEO Google News
| Your situation | Recommended choice |
|---|---|
| You want to start free before paying | Mediastack |
| Your budget is at the lower end | DataForSEO Google News |
| You need full article text in the response | Neither returns full text |
| You need years of historical news | Mediastack |
| 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: Mediastack vs DataForSEO Google News
| Use case | Mediastack fit | DataForSEO Google News fit | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| News & content apps | Strong | Limited | Mediastack |
| Marketing & PR | Strong | Strong | Both equally |
| SEO | Limited | Strong | DataForSEO Google News |
| Media monitoring | Limited | Strong | DataForSEO Google News |
Verdict: Mediastack vs DataForSEO Google News
Mediastack (3.8/5) is the stronger overall choice as a news data source. Commercial use and historical news from $24.99 a month.
DataForSEO Google News (3.7/5) is worth a look if you need PR reports on where coverage ranks. If your situation matches that, DataForSEO Google News is a competitive option.
Related comparisons
Mediastack vs DataForSEO Google News FAQ
Is Mediastack better than DataForSEO Google News?
Mediastack (3.8/5) scores higher overall, but "better" depends on your use case. Mediastack's strongest advantage: among the lowest paid entry prices for general news. DataForSEO Google News's strongest advantage: the lowest per-query price for Google News data found in this review.
How do Mediastack and DataForSEO Google News differ in pricing?
Mediastack: monthly request plans, with paid access from $24.99/mo. DataForSEO Google News: pay per result page; prepaid balance, with paid access from $0.60 per 1,000 SERPs. Only Mediastack offers free access.
Which is better for enterprise: Mediastack or DataForSEO Google News?
Neither sells an enterprise contract. Neither carries licensed publisher content, so check copyright terms before republishing anything.
What are the main differences between Mediastack and DataForSEO Google News?
What sets Mediastack apart: commercial use and historical news from $24.99 a month. What sets DataForSEO Google News apart: about $0.60 per 1,000 Google News result pages in the Standard queue. They also differ on entry price ($24.99/mo vs $0.60 per 1,000 SERPs) and typical uses (News & content apps, Marketing & PR vs SEO, Marketing & PR).
Verify all details directly with each API before making a decision.