Real Market API vs Alpaca — broader instruments, no brokerage required
Alpaca's market data is built around a US equities brokerage. Real Market API is a standalone data API covering Forex, Metals, Crypto, Oil, Indices, and Stocks — no account approval, no per-feed surcharges.
Why developers switch from Alpaca Markets Data
Four key reasons to choose Real Market API
Forex, Metals, Oil, and Indices — Alpaca has none
Alpaca covers US/crypto only. Forex pairs (EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDJPY, 14 total), Gold (XAUUSD), Silver (XAGUSD), WTI Oil, Brent, and global indices like DE30, UK100, and JP225 are all missing. Real Market API includes all of them.
No brokerage account or approval process
Alpaca's live SIP data feed costs $9/user/mo on top of a brokerage sign-up. Real Market API issues a standalone API key in seconds — free plan, no credit card, no KYC, no brokerage relationship.
MCP Server for LLM agents — built in
Real Market API ships a native Model Context Protocol server with 34 quota-free tools. Your LLM agents can call `get_price`, `get_candles`, or `get_volatility` as native tool calls — no custom wrapper.
Published latency SLA on the free plan
Alpaca publishes no latency guarantee. Real Market API documents sub-150ms average response times from the free tier upward, on the same infrastructure used by paid customers.
Real Market API vs Alpaca Markets Data — feature comparison
Side-by-side breakdown of what matters most
Alpaca's free data uses the IEX exchange feed (≈15–20% of NASDAQ volume). Consolidated SIP data costs $9/user/mo extra. Real Market API's free plan covers 6 live instruments across multiple asset classes with no add-on fees.
Every way to consume Real Market API
REST API
Standard JSON responses for price, OHLC candles, and market snapshots.
WebSocket Streaming
Persistent real-time feed for price ticks, candle updates, and order-flow streams.
MCP Server
34 quota-free tools for LLM agents via Model Context Protocol.
Telegram Bot
Price alerts, candle signals, and market summaries delivered to Telegram.
Ready to switch from Alpaca Markets Data?
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