# LSEG API Pricing and Alternatives (2026) > The Refinitiv API is now the LSEG API. What it costs in 2026, and how it compares to Bloomberg, Capital IQ, and FactSet. - Canonical: https://multiples.vc/compare/lseg-api-alternatives - Facts last verified: 2026-08-20 - Method: https://multiples.vc/compare/methodology (estimates labelled *; corrections: hi@multiples.vc) ## What is the LSEG API, and what happened to Refinitiv? LSEG APIs, offered through its Data & Analytics division (building on the former Refinitiv platform), provide programmatic access to a broad range of financial market data, analytics, news, and reference content. These include the LSEG Data Platform, Real-Time SDKs and WebSocket APIs, DataScope Select, Knowledge Direct, Historical Pricing, Tick History, and specialized services for evaluated pricing, research, ESG, and quantitative analytics. Various delivery options: request-response, streaming, bulk feeds, and cloud or on-premises deployments. Core features cover real-time and delayed pricing across more than 80 million instruments on over 500 exchanges and OTC venues, historical tick data dating back to 1996, company fundamentals and estimates, fixed-income and derivatives analytics, economic indicators, news feeds, and screening tools. Pricing is set up by dataset rather than by the whole product. Real-time entitlements, I/B/E/S consensus estimates, evaluated fixed-income pricing and Reuters news are separate line items, which is why reported pricing runs from $25,000 a year into six figures. Typical use cases for LSEG API range from powering trading workflows and price-discovery systems, middle-office risk and compliance processes, and back-office reporting, to quantitative research, portfolio construction, KYC screening, and integration into internal applications. ## Compare LSEG (Refinitiv) API cost and features vs alternatives | | LSEG | Bloomberg | FactSet | Capital IQ | Multiples | Massive | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | License cost | $25k-$100k+/yr* | $32k/yr; API quoted* | $30k-$100k+/yr* | $30k-$100k+/yr* | from $1,499/mo | From $29/mo | | Type | REST · SOAP | SDK | REST | REST · bulk file | REST | REST · WebSocket · flat files | | Geo coverage | Global | Global | Global | Global | Global | US | | Public companies | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Private companies | Partial | Yes | Partial (Add-on) | Yes | Yes | No | | Cross asset coverage | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | | Consensus estimates | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (Licensed from FactSet) | No | | Metrics coverage | Fundamentals, estimates, prices, news | Fundamentals, estimates, prices, news | Fundamentals, estimates, prices, news | Fundamentals, estimates, prices, news | Basic fundamentals, estimates, prices, valuation ratios | Prices, financials, ratios, corporate actions, news | | Pre-computed ratios | No | No | Partial | Partial | Yes | Yes | | Real-time prices | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | | Time to first call | Weeks+ | Weeks+ | Weeks+ | Weeks+ | Minutes | Minutes | _* = reported figure, vendor does not publish pricing. Refinitiv products are sold as LSEG Data & Analytics. Workspace desktop seats are separately reported at $12k-$24k per user per year. Prices are stated as they stand in August 2026._ ## Overview of LSEG (Refinitiv) API alternatives ### Bloomberg Bloomberg's APIs allow for 'gold standard' programmatic access to real-time market data, history, content, and analytics. LSEG’s APIs cover much of the same ground: prices, fundamentals, estimates, and news. Bloomberg is commonly chosen by clients who already use Terminal and need the biggest real-time depth. **Pricing:** $31,980/seat/yr single seat. $28,320 multi-seat (as of 2026). 2-year minimum contract. Data License priced separately. **Strengths:** - Streaming, reference breadth - Bloomberg News and the IB chat network - FIGI symbology **Limitations:** - May be a major overkill for simple use cases - API feed quoted separately from the seat - Very steep learning curve **Best for:** Swapping one enterprise feed for its closest equivalent. ### FactSet FactSet is a good API alternative to LSEG when consensus estimates matter the most. FactSet estimates carry deeper analyst revision history than I/B/E/S. Outside of that, LSEG APIs cover similar company data plus real-time and historical market prices and news. Consider also Multiples API that licenses FactSet data, with much more affordable pricing starting at $1,499 a month. **Pricing:** Custom quote. Reported $12k-$40k per seat per year, depending on add-on packages. **Strengths:** - Deepest estimates and revision history - One of the best coverage of the major platforms - Gold standard for buy-side research **Limitations:** - Limited data on FX and fixed income - Limited private markets coverage **Best for:** Estimates-led research pipelines. ### S&P Capital IQ Cap IQ API is a good financial data API alternative when you need deep company fundamentals, deal history and more, rather than live data. LSEG and Capital IQ overlap on public company fundamentals. LSEG is typically used more for real-time and cross-asset markets, Capital IQ more for filing-linked public comps and deal analysis. **Pricing:** Custom quote. Reported $13k-$30k per seat per yr. Add-ons needed for M&A and VC data. **Strengths:** - Brand name across investment banking industry - Deep public comps data, on par with FactSet and Multiples - Decent private markets coverage **Limitations:** - No real-time data - No FX or fixed income depth - M&A/transactions feed is a separate module **Best for:** Historical fundamentals for backtesting. ### Multiples Investment-grade financial data API provider. Offers both public comps (historical and consensus estimates data), and private transactions. Officially licenses public markets data from FactSet and Morningstar. 130+ pre-calculated financial metrics, multiples and ratios. Affordable pricing vs. LSEG starting at $1,499 a month. **Pricing:** Pro: $239/mo (billed annually) or $299 (monthly). Pro Max: $399/mo (billed annually) or $499 (monthly). API: from $1,499/mo. Free 3-day trial. **Strengths:** - Enterprise-grade API for both public comps and precedent transactions - Highest quality data (licensed from FactSet and Morningstar) - Affordable pricing vs. enterprise providers **Limitations:** - No FX, fixed income or news - No real-time prices **Best for:** The equity-valuation slice of an enterprise contract. ### Massive Formerly Polygon.io, rebranded to Massive in October 2025. US market data over REST, WebSocket and flat files across stocks, options, indices, FX, crypto and futures, from $29 a month. Company financials and daily ratios - including trailing P/E and EV/EBITDA - are a $29 add-on or bundled at $199. **Pricing:** Stocks: free Basic tier, Starter $29/mo, Developer $79/mo, Advanced $199/mo. Financials & Ratios $29/mo add-on, or bundled into Advanced. **Strengths:** - Live and historical US prices - Much cheaper than institutional providers **Limitations:** - US markets only - No consensus estimates - No news or FX - Quality and coverage not at institutional level **Best for:** US price data at a fraction of a feed contract. ### Morningstar Morningstar APIs focus on funds and ETFs: holdings, performance, star and Medalist ratings, Style Box analysis, and portfolio tools for wealth and research workflows. Bit of a different use case to LSEG APIs that also include history, Reuters news, Datastream economic time series, I/B/E/S estimates etc. **Pricing:** Custom quote. Reported ~$17k/user/yr for the first seat. **Strengths:** - Deep fund and ETF coverage - Global fund coverage **Limitations:** - Very limited private markets coverage **Best for:** Fund and managed-product analysis. ## Which LSEG (Refinitiv) API alternative fits your use case? | Platform | Best For | Institutional grade | Equity coverage | Deals coverage | Geo coverage | Real-time data | Ease of implementation | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | LSEG Data & Analytics | Investment banks, trading firms, treasury and macro teams | High | High | Medium | High | High | Low | | Bloomberg Terminal | Trading desks, investment banks, hedge funds | High | High | Medium | High | High | Low | | FactSet | Investment banks, buy-side firms, asset managers, equity research | High | High | Medium | High | Medium | Low | | S&P Capital IQ Pro | Bulge bracket banks, hedge funds, large PE/VC firms | High | High | Medium | High | Medium | Low | | Multiples | M&A advisors, VC and PE funds, corp dev teams and CFOs | High | High | High | High | Low | High | | Massive | Developers, individual investors, small-scale data products | Medium | High | Low | Low | High | High | | Morningstar Direct | Equity research teams, fund analysts, asset managers | High | High | Low | High | Medium | Low | ## Should you choose LSEG Data & Analytics or look for an alternative? **LSEG Data & Analytics strengths:** - Strong API workflows across FX, commodities, economics. Datastream history for research desks - Real-Time Optimized and RTDS options for clients that need highest quality market-data feeds - Usually cheaper than a Bloomberg seat for a similar multi-asset terminal + API setup **LSEG Data & Analytics trade-offs:** - Every content set is priced separately, so quotes are hard to compare - Difficult integration - Legacy Eikon/Refinitiv naming and connectors confuse onboarding, docs still split across Refinitiv and LSEG names - No or very limited M&A or VC deal data (choose PitchBook or Multiples instead) ## Why teams look for alternatives to LSEG / Refinitiv APIs - **LSEG/Refinitiv migration headaches:** DataScope Select and Tick History moved to LSEG domains. Applications, configuration files and bookmarks still pointing at Refinitiv hostnames have to be updated, which makes integration testing and deployment more complex. - **Weaker private company and deal data:** The stack is built for public markets, FX, commodities, economics, and Reuters news. Private company and mid-market M&A coverage is thinner than PitchBook or Multiples. - **Various legacy names and connectors:** Eikon, Refinitiv, and LSEG names still sit on the same products. Older connectors are being retired, so some teams rebuild integrations or split the feed across vendors. - **Quotes are hard to compare:** With every dataset priced on its own, two vendor quotes rarely cover the same scope. Fixing the use case first is the only way to make them comparable, and LSEG publishes no prices to anchor against. ## FAQ ### Is the Refinitiv API the same as the LSEG API? Yes. The London Stock Exchange Group acquired Refinitiv and sells it as LSEG Data & Analytics. The Eikon Data API, Refinitiv Data Platform and DataScope Select all continue to work, but the branding and documentation moved to LSEG. ### How much does the LSEG API cost? No official pricing is published. Content sets are licensed individually - real-time entitlements, I/B/E/S estimates, fixed-income pricing and Reuters news each carry their own line item. Reported engagements run from $25,000 a year into six figures. Workspace desktop seats are separately reported at $12,000-$24,000 per user per year. ### Do I need to update my code for the LSEG domain change? Yes, if it calls Refinitiv hostnames. DataScope Select and Tick History moved to LSEG domains, and application code, configuration files and bookmarks must use the new domains by 15 April 2026. ### What is the difference between the LSEG Data Platform and DataScope Select? The Data Platform (formerly the Refinitiv Data Platform) is the REST and streaming layer for on-demand and live data. DataScope Select is bulk extraction - prices, corporate actions, reference, historical and entity data. ### Does DataScope Select use REST or SOAP? Both. The SOAP API launched with DataScope Select in 2006 and the REST API arrived in 2015. LSEG has said "all future functionality is designed around REST". ### What is the Eikon Data API? The Python library for pulling prices, fundamentals, reference data and time series from the desktop. Eikon itself became LSEG Workspace, and LSEG now publishes Python, TypeScript and JavaScript libraries covering streaming and non-streaming data on the LSEG Data Platform. ### Does the LSEG API carry M&A or private company data? Only partly, and it is not what the platform is bought for. For private data, choose PitchBook or Multiples, which carries 165,000+ M&A deals and 330,000+ funding rounds. ### What is the cheapest alternative to the LSEG API? Depends which "line item" you are replacing. For US market data, Massive from $29 a month, but it is not an investment-grade platform. For high quality comps data, choose Multiples, starting at $1,499 a month. For Lipper-style fund data, consider Morningstar. None of them covers FX, fixed income and Reuters news the way one LSEG contract does. ## Keep comparing ### Compare alternatives - [All platforms compared](https://multiples.vc/compare) - [PitchBook alternatives](https://multiples.vc/compare/pitchbook-alternatives) - [FactSet alternatives](https://multiples.vc/compare/factset-alternatives) - [Capital IQ alternatives](https://multiples.vc/compare/capital-iq-alternatives) - [CB Insights alternatives](https://multiples.vc/compare/cb-insights-alternatives) - [Crunchbase alternatives](https://multiples.vc/compare/crunchbase-alternatives) ### Compare APIs - [All data APIs compared](https://multiples.vc/compare/api) - [Bloomberg API alternatives](https://multiples.vc/compare/bloomberg-api-alternatives) - [FactSet API alternatives](https://multiples.vc/compare/factset-api-alternatives) - [Capital IQ API alternatives](https://multiples.vc/compare/capital-iq-api-alternatives) - [PitchBook API alternatives](https://multiples.vc/compare/pitchbook-api-alternatives) - [Crunchbase API alternatives](https://multiples.vc/compare/crunchbase-api-alternatives) - [Harmonic API alternatives](https://multiples.vc/compare/harmonic-api-alternatives) - [Intrinio API alternatives](https://multiples.vc/compare/intrinio-api-alternatives) - [FMP API alternatives](https://multiples.vc/compare/fmp-api-alternatives) - [Alpha Vantage API alternatives](https://multiples.vc/compare/alpha-vantage-api-alternatives) ### Compare pricing - [All financial data providers pricing](https://multiples.vc/compare/pricing) - [All financial data API pricing](https://multiples.vc/compare/api-pricing) - [Multiples pricing](https://multiples.vc/pricing) - [Comparison methodology](https://multiples.vc/compare/methodology)