Great free on-ramp — but shallow fundamentals with no point-in-time or audit trail.
Alpha Vantage is a beginner-friendly API known for its generous free tier, technical indicators, FX, crypto, and macro data. Its fundamentals are shallow. Valuein is the opposite trade: a focused, deep, point-in-time-correct SEC fundamentals dataset built for serious research and AI agents.
The short version, including where Alpha Vantage is the better pick.
Alpha Vantage is the easiest way to make a first API call. Valuein is what you graduate to when shallow, point-in-time-naive fundamentals start biasing your backtests — deep SEC history, survivorship-free, every number traceable to its filing.
First API call in minutes: Free SEC tier, no card.
Alpha Vantage has a more generous, simpler free tier for absolute beginners
Builders who started on Alpha Vantage's free tier and now need deep, point-in-time-correct SEC fundamentals they can trust in a backtest or hand to an AI agent.
What you get done, not just a feature checklist.
Grouped by what you are trying to do. Scroll sideways on a phone.
| Feature | Valuein | Alpha Vantage |
|---|---|---|
| Data integrity and audit | ||
| Point-in-Time | accepted_at vintage — no look-ahead | No PIT |
| Survivorship Bias | All delisted companies included | Not addressed |
| Per-fact Audit Trail | fact_id → SEC filing | None |
| Agents and workflow | ||
| AI Agent Access | MCP + agent-safety guardrails | Official MCP server |
| Coverage and depth | ||
| Fundamentals Depth | 1993 → present, 350+ concepts + ratios | Shallow fundamentals suite |
| Access and pricing | ||
| Paid tier value | Tiers add data + universe | Paid tiers differ only by rate limit |
Alpha Vantage details and pricing are based on publicly available information as of June 2026 and may have changed; verify on their site. Where a competitor's figure is vendor-reported or estimated, we say so.
Install the SDK and read a company with no token and no card: the free sample runs the same code your plan will. Add a key later and nothing else changes.
from valuein_sdk import ValueinClient with ValueinClient() as client: # What a ticker or CIK resolves to. A CIK also reaches delisted companies. print(client.resolve(["AAPL", 320193])) # One company's rows from a table, with the point-in-time filter applied. facts = client.read_table( "fact", tickers="AAPL", columns=["standard_concept", "period_end", "fiscal_period", "numeric_value"], limit=10, ) print(facts) # Named SQL templates. Pass parameters as keyword arguments. print(client.list_templates()[:5]) df = client.run_template("fundamentals_by_ticker", ticker="AAPL") print(df.head()) # Links to the SEC filings behind the numbers. links = client.filing_links("AAPL", form_types=["10-K"], limit=3) print(links[["form_type", "filing_date", "document_url"]]) # Restatement Radar: figures a later filing changed (every plan). changed = client.restatements(ticker="AAPL", limit=5) print(changed[["standard_concept", "period_end", "first_value", "current_value", "disclosure_class"]])Yes. Alpha Vantage's fundamentals are shallow and not point-in-time. Valuein is a deep, survivorship-free, point-in-time SEC fundamentals dataset with per-fact filing provenance — a much stronger base for backtests and AI agents.
Alpha Vantage prices on requests-per-minute, not on data depth. Valuein's tiers unlock more universe and history (free Benchmark → Pro 15-year → Institutional 1993 + smart money), so you pay for data, not just throughput.
Start with the free sample. No card, no sales call; pricing is public.