World News API vs GDELT Project: full comparison for 2026
Quick verdict
World News API (4.1/5) edges ahead of GDELT Project (3.9/5) overall. World News API is the better choice for location-aware apps on a small budget. GDELT Project is the stronger option for zero-budget data projects and research prototypes. The right pick depends on your budget, how much history you need and whether you need full text.
World News API vs GDELT Project: head-to-head summary
| Criterion | World News API | GDELT Project |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2015 | 2013 |
| HQ | Dresden, Germany | Open research project (no commercial HQ) |
| Team size | Not publicly disclosed | Not publicly disclosed |
| Rating | 4.1 / 5 | 3.9 / 5 |
| Primary differentiator | Latitude, longitude and radius filters from the $39 plan, plus a URL text extractor | No key, no fee and global coverage refreshed every 15 minutes |
| Pricing model | Daily points plans; per-point overage | Free |
| Entry price | $39/mo | Free |
| Formats & SDKs | REST API, JSON, OpenAPI-generated SDKs | REST API, JSON, CSV |
| Typical uses | News & content apps, Marketing & PR, AI & LLM apps | Research & academia, Risk & compliance, Media monitoring |
World News API vs GDELT Project: overview
World News API
skycraft GmbH, a Dresden company that has built developer APIs since 2015, runs World News API. Besides article search with language, sentiment and location filters, it has front-page and top-news endpoints and an extractor that returns clean text from any article URL, which is useful even if your news comes from somewhere else. SDKs are generated from its OpenAPI spec, so most languages are covered. Billing is in points: the free plan gives 50 a day but requires a backlink and allows one request a second, Reporter costs $39 a month for 500 a day, and the largest self-serve plan is $1,779. Team size and coverage claims are not independently documented.
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.
Features: World News API vs GDELT Project
| Capability | World News API | GDELT Project |
|---|---|---|
| Full article text | ✓ | ✗ |
| Historical archive | ✓ | ✓ |
| NLP enrichment | ✓ | ✓ |
| Story/event clustering | ✗ | ✗ |
| Official SDK | ✗ | ✗ |
| Streaming or webhooks | ✗ | ✗ |
| Free access | ✓ | ✓ |
Formats and SDKs: World News API vs GDELT Project
| Format / SDK | World News API | GDELT Project |
|---|---|---|
| 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: World News API vs GDELT Project
| Criterion | World News API | GDELT Project |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $39/mo | Free |
| Pricing model | Daily points plans; per-point overage | Free |
| Access models | Free tier, Monthly plans | Open data |
| Price transparency | Public price | Public price |
| Price tier | Budget | Free |
Who each API suits: World News API vs GDELT Project
| Dimension | World News API | GDELT Project |
|---|---|---|
| Buyer type | Individuals to enterprise | Individuals to enterprise |
| Typical uses | News & content apps, Marketing & PR, AI & LLM apps | Research & academia, Risk & compliance, Media monitoring |
| Example use cases | News near a user in a mobile app. Positive-only or negative-only news feeds by sentiment. | A free signal source that tells you which articles to fetch. Geopolitical dashboards in BigQuery. |
| How you get access | Free tier | Open data |
World News API vs GDELT Project: pros and cons
| World News API | |
|---|---|
| + | Radius search is rare in this price range |
| + | The extractor cleans any article URL, including ones from other APIs |
| + | OpenAPI spec means client libraries for most languages |
| + | A German company of record, which helps EU vendor checks |
| - | The free plan needs a backlink and runs at one request a second |
| - | Different endpoints cost different points, so bills are harder to predict |
| - | Coverage figures are self-reported |
| 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 |
Who should choose World News API?
A typical fit: news near a user in a mobile app.
Latitude, longitude and radius filters from the $39 plan, plus a URL text extractor. Paid access starts at $39/mo. Typical uses: News & content apps, Marketing & PR, AI & LLM apps.
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.
Decision matrix: World News API vs GDELT Project
| 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 | World News API |
| 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: World News API vs GDELT Project
| Use case | World News API fit | GDELT Project fit | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| News & content apps | Strong | Limited | World News API |
| Marketing & PR | Strong | Limited | World News API |
| AI & LLM apps | Strong | Limited | World News API |
| Research & academia | Limited | Strong | GDELT Project |
| Risk & compliance | Limited | Strong | GDELT Project |
| Media monitoring | Limited | Strong | GDELT Project |
Verdict: World News API vs GDELT Project
World News API (4.1/5) is the stronger overall choice as a news data source. Latitude, longitude and radius filters from the $39 plan, plus a URL text extractor.
GDELT Project (3.9/5) is worth a look if you need geopolitical dashboards in BigQuery. If your situation matches that, GDELT Project is a competitive option.
Related comparisons
World News API vs GDELT Project FAQ
Is World News API better than GDELT Project?
World News API (4.1/5) scores higher overall, but "better" depends on your use case. World News API's strongest advantage: radius search is rare in this price range. GDELT Project's strongest advantage: you can call it right now with no account.
How do World News API and GDELT Project differ in pricing?
World News API: daily points plans; per-point overage, with paid access from $39/mo. GDELT Project: free, with paid access from Free. Both offer some free access for testing.
Which is better for enterprise: World News API or GDELT Project?
Neither sells an enterprise contract. Neither carries licensed publisher content, so check copyright terms before republishing anything.
What are the main differences between World News API and GDELT Project?
What sets World News API apart: Latitude, longitude and radius filters from the $39 plan, plus a URL text extractor. What sets GDELT Project apart: no key, no fee and global coverage refreshed every 15 minutes. They also differ on entry price ($39/mo vs Free) and typical uses (News & content apps, Marketing & PR vs Research & academia, Risk & compliance).
Verify all details directly with each API before making a decision.