World News API vs Mediastack: full comparison for 2026
Quick verdict
World News API (4.0/5) edges ahead of Mediastack (3.8/5) overall. World News API is the better choice for small apps wanting sentiment and geo filters at low cost. 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.
World News API vs Mediastack: head-to-head summary
| Criterion | World News API | Mediastack |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2015 | 2015 |
| HQ | Dresden, Germany | Vienna, Austria (apilayer); owned by Idera |
| Team size | Not publicly disclosed | Part of Idera |
| Rating | 4.0 / 5 | 3.8 / 5 |
| Primary differentiator | Location-radius and sentiment filters from the $39 plan up | Paid plans from $24.99 with commercial use and historical data |
| Pricing model | Daily points plans; per-point overage | Monthly request plans |
| Entry price | $39/mo | $24.99/mo |
| Formats & SDKs | REST API, JSON, OpenAPI-generated SDKs | REST API, JSON |
| Typical uses | News & content apps, Marketing & PR, AI & LLM apps | News & content apps, Marketing & PR |
World News API vs Mediastack: overview
World News API
World News API is run by skycraft GmbH, a Dresden company that has built developer APIs since 2015. It offers article search with location, language and sentiment filters, front-page and top-news endpoints, and an extraction endpoint that pulls clean text from any article URL. Pricing is based on points. The free plan gives 50 points a day and requires a backlink, Reporter costs $39 a month for 500 points a day, and the top self-serve tier is $1,779 a month. Coverage figures and team size are not independently documented.
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: World News API vs Mediastack
| Capability | World News API | Mediastack |
|---|---|---|
| Full article text | ✓ | ✗ |
| Historical archive | ✓ | ✓ |
| NLP enrichment | ✓ | ✗ |
| Story/event clustering | ✗ | ✗ |
| Licensed publisher content | ✗ | ✗ |
| Streaming or webhooks | ✗ | ✗ |
| Free access | ✓ | ✓ |
Formats and SDKs: World News API vs Mediastack
| Format / SDK | World News API | Mediastack |
|---|---|---|
| REST API | ✓ | ✓ |
| Python SDK | N/A | N/A |
| Node.js SDK | N/A | N/A |
| Webhooks | N/A | N/A |
| WebSocket | N/A | N/A |
| MCP server | N/A | N/A |
| S3/bulk delivery | N/A | N/A |
| BigQuery | N/A | N/A |
Pricing comparison: World News API vs Mediastack
| Criterion | World News API | Mediastack |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $39/mo | $24.99/mo |
| Pricing model | Daily points plans; per-point overage | Monthly request plans |
| Access models | Free tier, Monthly plans | Free tier, Monthly plans |
| Price transparency | Public price | Public price |
| Price tier | Budget | Budget |
Who each API suits: World News API vs Mediastack
| Dimension | World News API | Mediastack |
|---|---|---|
| Buyer type | Individuals to enterprise | Individuals to enterprise |
| Typical uses | News & content apps, Marketing & PR, AI & LLM apps | News & content apps, Marketing & PR |
| Example use cases | Local news by radius in a mobile app. Sentiment-filtered news for a content product. | 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 |
World News API vs Mediastack: pros and cons
| World News API | |
|---|---|
| + | Latitude, longitude and radius filters suit local-news features |
| + | The extraction endpoint works on any URL, handy next to other sources |
| + | The entry paid plan costs only $39 a month |
| + | A German company of record helps European procurement |
| - | The free plan requires a backlink and allows one request per second |
| - | Points accounting makes monthly cost harder to predict |
| - | Coverage numbers are not independently documented |
| 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 World News API?
A typical fit: local news by radius in a mobile app.
Location-radius and sentiment filters from the $39 plan up. Paid access starts at $39/mo. Typical uses: News & content apps, Marketing & PR, AI & LLM apps.
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: World News API vs Mediastack
| Your situation | Recommended choice |
|---|---|
| You want to start free before paying | Both |
| Your budget is at the lower end | Mediastack |
| You need full article text in the response | World News API |
| 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: World News API vs Mediastack
| Use case | World News API fit | Mediastack fit | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| News & content apps | Strong | Strong | Both equally |
| Marketing & PR | Strong | Strong | Both equally |
| AI & LLM apps | Strong | Limited | World News API |
Verdict: World News API vs Mediastack
World News API (4.0/5) is the stronger overall choice as a news data source. Location-radius and sentiment filters from the $39 plan up.
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
World News API vs Mediastack FAQ
Is World News API better than Mediastack?
World News API (4.0/5) scores higher overall, but "better" depends on your use case. World News API's strongest advantage: Latitude, longitude and radius filters suit local-news features. Mediastack's strongest advantage: one of the cheapest paid entries among general news APIs, at $24.99 a month.
How do World News API and Mediastack differ in pricing?
World News API: daily points plans; per-point overage, with paid access from $39/mo. Mediastack: monthly request plans, with paid access from $24.99/mo. Both offer some free access for testing.
Which is better for enterprise: World News API or Mediastack?
Neither sells an enterprise contract. Neither carries licensed publisher content, so check copyright terms before republishing anything.
What are the main differences between World News API and Mediastack?
What sets World News API apart: location-radius and sentiment filters from the $39 plan up. What sets Mediastack apart: paid plans from $24.99 with commercial use and historical data. They also differ on entry price ($39/mo vs $24.99/mo) and typical uses (News & content apps, Marketing & PR vs News & content apps, Marketing & PR).
Verify all details directly with each API before making a decision.