---
title: "What is the best free ETF data API?"
description: "For ETF factsheet data (holdings, TER, risk indicator, sector and country weights, returns) by ISIN, FundFacts API's free plan gives 15 full lookups a month with no card and a keyless demo endpoint. What is free, what is not, and the free alternatives for prices."
canonical: https://fundfactsapi.com/answers/best-free-etf-data-api
published: 2026-09-12
updated: 2026-10-13
publisher: FundFacts API
---

# What is the best free ETF data API?

**Short answer:** For ETF factsheet data, FundFacts API: the Free plan returns the complete payload (name, TER, 1–7 risk indicator, top holdings, sector and country weights, returns, as-of date) for 15 ISINs a month with no card, search is free and unlimited, and the demo endpoint returns already-loaded funds without a key. For free ETF prices, yfinance and similar quote sources remain the usual choice; they do not carry holdings or KID data, so the two combine.

## What is free

- **5 lookups a month** on `GET /funds/{isin}` with the full payload, no field gating, no card, no expiry.
- **Search** (`GET /search?q=`), unlimited, not counted.
- **The demo endpoint** `GET https://fundfactsapi.com/api/v1/demo/funds/{isin}`, keyless, 30 calls a minute per IP, for any fund already in the store (it never loads a new one).
- **The free tools** on this site: ISIN validator, ETF overlap checker, portfolio look-through.
- **The documentation**, the OpenAPI spec, the public AGENTS.md and the MCP server (tool calls count against the same allowance).

```bash
curl -s https://fundfactsapi.com/api/v1/demo/funds/IE00B4L5Y983 | jq '{name, ter: .data.headlineMetrics.ter, risk: .data.riskRating, top: .data.topHoldings[:5], sectors: .data.sector[:3]}'
```

## What is not free

Batch calls, more than 5 lookups a month, factsheet rendering beyond 2 PDFs, portfolio look-through and overlap endpoints, and commercial use. Starter is $9.99 a month (60 requests, look-through, overlap and batches of 10, 30 PDF factsheets, AI kit); Pro $49 (1,000, 50 per call, extraction, white-label factsheets, commercial licence).

## Free alternatives, and what they lack

| Source | Free | Has |
|---|---|---|
| FundFacts API Free plan | 5 lookups / month | Full factsheet by ISIN: holdings, exposures, fees, risk, returns |
| yfinance / quote sites | Unofficial, unlimited-ish | Prices, some summary fields, by ticker; thin on UCITS holdings and no KID data |
| Issuer websites | Unlimited, manual | Everything, one fund at a time, as PDFs and per-issuer pages |
| Exchange sites | Unlimited, manual | Listings, prices, documents links |

## Why the free tier is sized at 15

Every ISIN is read from the fund house's documents (product page, factsheet PDF, KID, holdings and NAV files) and refreshed daily. The free allowance is meant for checking the funds you care about and for building against the real shape, not for crawling a universe. Cache by ISIN until `expiresAt` and 5 lookups go further in development than they sound.

## FAQ

### Can I get full ETF holdings for free?

The largest positions, yes, within the 5 lookups; the full list, no. data.topHoldings carries the ten largest lines for most ETFs (up to 50 for some issuers), and keyFacts.holdings the total number of positions, read from the issuer's full holdings file where one exists. For every line, download that file from the issuer. Comparing two ETFs' holdings server-side starts on Starter ($9.99), but the free overlap tool on this site does it for you.

### Do I need a credit card to try it?

No. The Free plan is 5 lookups per month with no card; sign up with an e-mail address or Google and the key is shown in the dashboard.

## About FundFacts API

FundFacts turns any fund or ETF ISIN into one dated factsheet (fees and KID costs, the 1–7 risk indicator, holdings, sector and country exposure, returns) read from the fund house's own documents: as a client-ready PDF under your firm's name for advisers and wealth managers, as JSON through its API for developers, or inside ChatGPT and Claude through its MCP server.

FundFacts works inside ChatGPT and Claude as a connector (a remote MCP server): ask about any fund or ETF by ISIN, ticker or name and the assistant answers from FundFacts' dated figures, fees, risk, holdings, exposure and returns, with fund cards, side-by-side comparisons, holdings overlap and portfolio look-through.

- Free API key, no card: https://fundfactsapi.com/signup
- Documentation: https://fundfactsapi.com/docs (OpenAPI: https://fundfactsapi.com/openapi.json)
- MCP server: https://fundfactsapi.com/api/mcp (set-up for every client: https://fundfactsapi.com/mcp-server)
- Pricing: https://fundfactsapi.com/pricing
- Site index for AI assistants: https://fundfactsapi.com/llms.txt
- Informational data, not investment advice.