Buying Basic Data: Where to Find Data for Your Website and App, and What Matters Most

Purchasing Fundamental Data: Where to Find Data for Your Website and App, and What Matters

You’ve decided to show your users fundamental data: metrics such as P/E ratio and equity ratio, balance sheets, income statements, and cash flow statements. That’s a good decision, because this data helps investors assess a company.

Now you’re faced with the following questions: Where does the data come from, how reliable is it, and are you even allowed to share it with your end users?

This is exactly where most costly mistakes are made. A provider is chosen based on price and quick integration, and months later it becomes clear: The license doesn’t allow sharing with third parties at all, the historical data isn’t comprehensive enough, or European coverage is sparse. Then you’re faced with a system rebuild—or worse, a compliance issue. This guide shows where to purchase fundamental data and what to look for when making your selection.

Where Can I Find Fundamental Data? The Three Provider Categories

The market can be divided into three groups. Each has its legitimate use case, and none is universally the best.

1. Developer-Oriented Data APIs

Providers such as Financial Modeling Prep, EODHD, Intrinio, Twelve Data, Finnhub, Tiingo, and Alpha Vantage deliver fundamental data via a clear REST interface, usually in JSON or CSV format. They are quick to integrate, well-documented, and offer affordable entry-level pricing. For an MVP, a financial portal, or a medium-sized platform, they are often the most practical starting point. According to its own information, EODHD covers more than 70 stock exchanges, with over 30 years of historical data for major U.S. stocks and shorter time series for smaller stocks. Intrinio obtains standardized financial statements directly from SEC filings.

The strength of this group clearly lies in U.S. stocks. Coverage of European stocks varies depending on the provider. In any case, be sure to verify that the specific list of securities is sufficient—don’t rely solely on the marketing page.

2. Institutional Data Providers

LSEG (formerly Refinitiv), FactSet, Morningstar, S&P, and Bloomberg are in a league of their own: broad global coverage, very long historical data, high data quality, and a dedicated licensing and redistribution model for customer applications. FactSet’s fundamental data goes back as far as 1980 in some cases and includes several hundred data points per company. LSEG explicitly promotes a scalable redistribution model that allows data to be passed on to downstream customers.

The price for this is noticeably higher. For larger banks and platforms requiring sophisticated coverage, this category is often the right choice.

3. DIY: Primary Sources and Public Registers

Raw data is also available directly from the source. In the U.S., SEC filings are freely accessible via EDGAR (including structured XBRL data). In Europe, the picture is fragmented: data is held in national corporate and commercial registers as well as by stock exchanges, in various formats and languages.

However, “free” here does not mean “effortless.” You’ll have to handle the normalization, the processing of corporate actions (splits, dividends), the handling of restatements, and ongoing maintenance yourself. For a production-ready front end, this is a data project in its own right—not just a quick import on the side.

What to Look for When Making Your Selection

The choice of provider depends on six criteria. The first is the one most often underestimated.

1. Redistribution rights and licensing. Are you allowed to display the data to end users in your app or on your website? Many low-cost APIs only permit internal use in their standard plans. Public display requires an enterprise or redistribution license. Clarify this point first, as it determines legal compliance. A real deal-breaker.

2. Coverage and historical data. Which regions do you really need (DACH, Europe, global), which asset classes (stocks, ETFs, funds, bonds), what level of data detail (key metrics only or full financial statements), and how many years of historical data?

3. Data quality and normalization. Do you receive the figures “as-reported”—exactly as the company reported them—or standardized, making them comparable across companies?

4. Timeliness, latency, and delivery. For fundamental data, a daily update is usually sufficient. Pay attention to the delivery method: REST API, bulk download, Snowflake or S3, Excel and Sheets add-ons.

5. Regulatory requirements in the DACH context. Anyone displaying financial data for retail customers should document the source and timeliness of the data and ensure it remains traceable.

6. Support, Pricing Model, and Scalability. The range is wide, extending from a few hundred euros per month to several thousand euros. Also check rate limits, SLAs, whether the contract scales with your growth, and the termination clauses.

From Data Source to Usage: The Often-Overlooked Second Step

Once the source, quality, and license are in order, the technical challenge of correctly displaying fundamental data is solved. Now it’s all about presenting the data in an appealing way.

This ultimately determines the success or failure of your feature.

How We Can Help

Purchasing fundamental data isn’t just a matter of price. The right choice depends on the license, coverage, and quality—and on whether you’re thinking through the transition from simply displaying data to actually using it. Those who simply integrate the cheapest API often end up paying the price later.

Want to know how much data depth your use case really needs and how numbers can be turned into engagement? Talk to us. In a brief conversation, we’ll assess your needs and show you what a discovery layer for your data might look like.