NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry) vs Mediastack: full comparison for 2026
Quick verdict
NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry) (4.3/5) edges ahead of Mediastack (3.8/5) overall. NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry) is the better choice for developers building multilingual event or research tools. 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.
NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry) vs Mediastack: head-to-head summary
| Criterion | NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry) | Mediastack |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2017 | 2015 |
| HQ | Ljubljana, Slovenia | Vienna, Austria (apilayer); owned by Idera |
| Team size | 11–50 | Part of Idera |
| Rating | 4.3 / 5 | 3.8 / 5 |
| Primary differentiator | Event records that join coverage of one story across languages | Commercial use and historical news from $24.99 a month |
| Pricing model | Monthly token plans; per-token overage | Monthly request plans |
| Entry price | $90/mo | $24.99/mo |
| Formats & SDKs | REST API, JSON, Python SDK | REST API, JSON |
| Typical uses | Research & academia, Media monitoring, Financial services, Risk & compliance | News & content apps, Marketing & PR |
NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry) vs Mediastack: overview
NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry)
NewsAPI.ai is sold by Event Registry d.o.o., a Ljubljana company that left the Jožef Stefan Institute's AI lab as a spin-off in 2017. Its query model is built around events: articles about the same real-world story in different languages are linked into one event record, and each article carries concepts mapped to Wikipedia entities, categories and sentiment. Developers get an open-source Python client on GitHub and a published token price list, with recent-news searches at one token and archive searches costing more; the 5K-token plan is about $90 a month. Expect to write paging code. A search returns at most 100 articles, so bigger pulls take many calls, each billed in tokens, and some developers report pagination and rate-limit friction on larger jobs (user reports; independently unverifiable).
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: NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry) vs Mediastack
| Capability | NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry) | Mediastack |
|---|---|---|
| Full article text | ✓ | ✗ |
| Historical archive | ✓ | ✓ |
| NLP enrichment | ✓ | ✗ |
| Story/event clustering | ✓ | ✗ |
| Official SDK | ✓ | ✗ |
| Streaming or webhooks | ✓ | ✗ |
| Free access | ✓ | ✓ |
Formats and SDKs: NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry) vs Mediastack
| Format / SDK | NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry) | Mediastack |
|---|---|---|
| REST API | ✓ | ✓ |
| Python SDK | ✓ | N/A |
| Node.js SDK | ✓ | N/A |
| Webhooks | ✓ | 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: NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry) vs Mediastack
| Criterion | NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry) | Mediastack |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $90/mo | $24.99/mo |
| Pricing model | Monthly token plans; per-token overage | Monthly request plans |
| Access models | Free tier, Monthly plans, Enterprise contract | Free tier, Monthly plans |
| Price transparency | Public price | Public price |
| Price tier | Budget | Budget |
Who each API suits: NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry) vs Mediastack
| Dimension | NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry) | Mediastack |
|---|---|---|
| Buyer type | Individuals to enterprise | Individuals to enterprise |
| Typical uses | Research & academia, Media monitoring, Financial services | News & content apps, Marketing & PR |
| Example use cases | Following one story as it spreads across countries and languages. Research tools that analyse media coverage over time. | A category news feed on a small website. Classroom projects that need commercial terms. |
| How you get access | Free tier | Free tier |
NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry) vs Mediastack: pros and cons
| NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry) | |
|---|---|
| + | Cross-language event linking that would take months to build yourself |
| + | Concepts resolve to Wikipedia entities, which makes filters exact |
| + | Token prices are public, so you can estimate a bill before signing up |
| + | The open-source Python client ships with many worked query examples |
| - | A 100-article cap per search means writing and paying for many paginated calls |
| - | Developers report pagination and rate-limit friction on large jobs (user reports; independently unverifiable) |
| - | Archive searches cost more tokens, and unused tokens expire monthly |
| - | The query language has a learning curve |
| 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 NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry)?
A typical fit: following one story as it spreads across countries and languages.
Event records that join coverage of one story across languages. Paid access starts at $90/mo. Typical uses: Research & academia, Media monitoring, Financial services, Risk & compliance.
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: NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry) vs Mediastack
| Your situation | Recommended choice |
|---|---|
| You want to start free before paying | Both |
| Your budget is at the lower end | Mediastack |
| You need full article text in the response | NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry) |
| You need years of historical news | Both |
| You want an official SDK | NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry) |
| You are wiring news into an LLM agent | Both work through plain REST calls |
Use case fit: NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry) vs Mediastack
| Use case | NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry) fit | Mediastack fit | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Research & academia | Strong | Limited | NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry) |
| Media monitoring | Strong | Limited | NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry) |
| Financial services | Strong | Limited | NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry) |
| Risk & compliance | Strong | Limited | NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry) |
| News & content apps | Limited | Strong | Mediastack |
| Marketing & PR | Limited | Strong | Mediastack |
Verdict: NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry) vs Mediastack
NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry) (4.3/5) is the stronger overall choice as a news data source. Event records that join coverage of one story across languages.
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
NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry) vs Mediastack FAQ
Is NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry) better than Mediastack?
NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry) (4.3/5) scores higher overall, but "better" depends on your use case. NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry)'s strongest advantage: cross-language event linking that would take months to build yourself. Mediastack's strongest advantage: among the lowest paid entry prices for general news.
How do NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry) and Mediastack differ in pricing?
NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry): monthly token plans; per-token overage, with paid access from $90/mo. Mediastack: monthly request plans, with paid access from $24.99/mo. Both offer some free access for testing.
Which is better for enterprise: NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry) or Mediastack?
NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry) 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 NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry) and Mediastack?
What sets NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry) apart: event records that join coverage of one story across languages. What sets Mediastack apart: commercial use and historical news from $24.99 a month. They also differ on entry price ($90/mo vs $24.99/mo) and typical uses (Research & academia, Media monitoring vs News & content apps, Marketing & PR).
Verify all details directly with each API before making a decision.