Webz.io vs Mediastack: full comparison for 2026
Quick verdict
Webz.io (4.4/5) edges ahead of Mediastack (3.8/5) overall. Webz.io is the better choice for data teams needing deep archives and broad source coverage. Mediastack is the stronger option for hobby projects and low-volume apps on a tight budget. The right pick depends on your budget, how much history you need and whether you need full text.
Webz.io vs Mediastack: head-to-head summary
| Criterion | Webz.io | Mediastack |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2014 | 2015 |
| HQ | Tel Aviv area, Israel | Vienna, Austria (apilayer); owned by Idera |
| Team size | 51–200 | Part of Idera |
| Rating | 4.4 / 5 | 3.8 / 5 |
| Primary differentiator | Largest claimed source count on this list and history going back to 2008 | Paid plans from $24.99 with commercial use and historical data |
| Pricing model | Usage-based credits; pay-as-you-go or subscription | Monthly request plans |
| Entry price | Pay-as-you-go | $24.99/mo |
| Formats & SDKs | REST API, JSON, Python SDK | REST API, JSON |
| Typical uses | Risk & compliance, Media monitoring, AI & LLM apps, Research & academia | News & content apps, Marketing & PR |
Webz.io vs Mediastack: overview
Webz.io
Webz.io started in 2014 as Webhose.io, later rebranded, and is headquartered in the Tel Aviv area under co-founder and CEO Ran Geva. Its News API claims 3.5 million new articles a day from 350,000+ sources in 170+ languages (per company website; independently unverifiable), and the same company sells blog, forum, review and dark-web feeds. Queries use a field syntax such as title:, language: and sentiment:, and anything older than 30 days goes through a separate archive that reaches back to 2008. Every account receives $5 of free credit a month, with pay-as-you-go and custom high-volume contracts above that.
Mediastack
Mediastack is one of the apilayer products, alongside ipstack and weatherstack. apilayer was founded in Vienna in 2015 by Julian and Paul Zehetmayr and acquired by the US software group Idera in January 2021. The API aggregates live and historical news from 7,500+ sources in 13 languages, filtered by country, category, language and keyword. The free plan allows 100 requests a month, and paid plans run from $24.99 for 10,000 requests to $249.99 for 250,000. Its source list is far smaller than the big crawlers here, and it adds no enrichment beyond basic metadata.
Features: Webz.io vs Mediastack
| Capability | Webz.io | Mediastack |
|---|---|---|
| Full article text | ✓ | ✗ |
| Historical archive | ✓ | ✓ |
| NLP enrichment | ✓ | ✗ |
| Story/event clustering | ✗ | ✗ |
| Licensed publisher content | ✗ | ✗ |
| Streaming or webhooks | ✓ | ✗ |
| Free access | ✓ | ✓ |
Formats and SDKs: Webz.io vs Mediastack
| Format / SDK | Webz.io | Mediastack |
|---|---|---|
| REST API | ✓ | ✓ |
| Python SDK | ✓ | N/A |
| Node.js SDK | ✓ | N/A |
| Webhooks | N/A | N/A |
| WebSocket | N/A | N/A |
| MCP server | N/A | N/A |
| S3/bulk delivery | ✓ | N/A |
| BigQuery | N/A | N/A |
Pricing comparison: Webz.io vs Mediastack
| Criterion | Webz.io | Mediastack |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | Pay-as-you-go | $24.99/mo |
| Pricing model | Usage-based credits; pay-as-you-go or subscription | Monthly request plans |
| Access models | Free tier, Pay-as-you-go, Enterprise contract | Free tier, Monthly plans |
| Price transparency | Public price | Public price |
| Price tier | Budget | Budget |
Who each API suits: Webz.io vs Mediastack
| Dimension | Webz.io | Mediastack |
|---|---|---|
| Buyer type | Individuals to enterprise | Individuals to enterprise |
| Typical uses | Risk & compliance, Media monitoring, AI & LLM apps | News & content apps, Marketing & PR |
| Example use cases | Training or evaluation datasets that need years of news history. Threat intelligence that mixes news with forums and dark-web sources. | A news ticker or category feed for a small website. A learning project that needs commercial rights cheaply. |
| How you get access | Free tier | Free tier |
Webz.io vs Mediastack: pros and cons
| Webz.io | |
|---|---|
| + | The 2008 archive is the longest history among the web-crawled commercial APIs reviewed here |
| + | Each article carries trust flags for satire, bias and fake news, which helps filtering |
| + | The same account can pull forums, reviews and blogs if a project grows past news |
| + | A $5 monthly credit lets you test real queries without a card |
| - | Default rate limit is one request per second per token |
| - | Vendr reports a median annual spend of about $237,500 across Webz.io products, so serious contracts are expensive |
| - | The field-based query syntax takes longer to learn than plain keyword search |
| Mediastack | |
|---|---|
| + | One of the cheapest paid entries among general news APIs, at $24.99 a month |
| + | Same conventions as other apilayer APIs, which helps if you already use one |
| + | Historical news included on paid plans |
| + | Short docs with copy-paste examples |
| - | Only 7,500 sources and 13 languages |
| - | The free plan is 100 requests a month, which runs out in a day of testing |
| - | Descriptions only, with no full text, sentiment or entities |
Who should choose Webz.io?
A typical fit: training or evaluation datasets that need years of news history.
Largest claimed source count on this list and history going back to 2008. Paid access starts at Pay-as-you-go. Typical uses: Risk & compliance, Media monitoring, AI & LLM apps, Research & academia.
Who should choose Mediastack?
A typical fit: a news ticker or category feed for a small website.
Paid plans from $24.99 with commercial use and historical data. Paid access starts at $24.99/mo. Typical uses: News & content apps, Marketing & PR.
Decision matrix: Webz.io vs Mediastack
| Your situation | Recommended choice |
|---|---|
| You want to start free before paying | Both |
| Your budget is at the lower end | Webz.io |
| You need full article text in the response | Webz.io |
| You need years of historical news | Both |
| You need licensed premium or wire content | Neither; look at Factiva, AP or LexisNexis |
| You are wiring news into an LLM agent | Both work through plain REST calls |
Use case fit: Webz.io vs Mediastack
| Use case | Webz.io fit | Mediastack fit | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Risk & compliance | Strong | Limited | Webz.io |
| Media monitoring | Strong | Limited | Webz.io |
| AI & LLM apps | Strong | Limited | Webz.io |
| Research & academia | Strong | Limited | Webz.io |
| News & content apps | Limited | Strong | Mediastack |
| Marketing & PR | Limited | Strong | Mediastack |
Verdict: Webz.io vs Mediastack
Webz.io (4.4/5) is the stronger overall choice as a news data source. Largest claimed source count on this list and history going back to 2008.
Mediastack (3.8/5) is worth a look if you need a learning project that needs commercial rights cheaply. If your situation matches that, Mediastack is a competitive option.
Related comparisons
Webz.io vs Mediastack FAQ
Is Webz.io better than Mediastack?
Webz.io (4.4/5) scores higher overall, but "better" depends on your use case. Webz.io's strongest advantage: the 2008 archive is the longest history among the web-crawled commercial APIs reviewed here. Mediastack's strongest advantage: one of the cheapest paid entries among general news APIs, at $24.99 a month.
How do Webz.io and Mediastack differ in pricing?
Webz.io: usage-based credits; pay-as-you-go or subscription, with paid access from Pay-as-you-go. Mediastack: monthly request plans, with paid access from $24.99/mo. Both offer some free access for testing.
Which is better for enterprise: Webz.io or Mediastack?
Webz.io sells enterprise contracts with negotiated volume and SLA terms. Neither carries licensed publisher content, so check copyright terms before republishing anything.
What are the main differences between Webz.io and Mediastack?
What sets Webz.io apart: largest claimed source count on this list and history going back to 2008. What sets Mediastack apart: paid plans from $24.99 with commercial use and historical data. They also differ on entry price (Pay-as-you-go vs $24.99/mo) and typical uses (Risk & compliance, Media monitoring vs News & content apps, Marketing & PR).
Verify all details directly with each API before making a decision.