FRED (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis)
- Free allowance
- Free API key: no request count per day or month is stated; up to 120 requests per minute before HTTP 429; v1 series observations return up to 100,000 rows per call, and v2 release observations return up to 500,000 observations per call for all series on a release, with a cursor for the rest
- Verdict
- ★ qualifiesusable as stated; the read path was probed
- Cost
- free tier
- Identity
- emailno card, no phone
- Binding limit
- request-rate120 requests per minute, then HTTP 429 and possibly a temporary block
- Evidence
- documented22 sources; a first-party page was read and the sentence quoted
- Freshness
- stale on 2026-12-04checked 2026-11-03 (live); stale on 2026-12-04
| Free tier | Free API key: no request count per day or month is stated; up to 120 requests per minute before HTTP 429; v1 series observations return up to 100,000 rows per call, and v2 release observations return up to 500,000 observations per call for all series on a release, with a cursor for the rest unit requests; metered on request-count; The API is offered free; no paid plan is named. Not complying with the 120 per minute throttle can bring a temporary block. The terms reserve the right to set a bandwidth or transaction ceiling at any time. A single series also downloads as CSV with no key from fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/fredgraph.csv?id=SERIES (GDP answered HTTP 200, 6419 bytes). |
|---|---|
| Price | none stated |
| Limits |
Bulk path: API v2 fred/v2/release/observations returns every series on a release with its entire history, 500,000 observations a call with next_cursor paging; one series is also a keyless CSV at fredgraph.csv. |
| Binding | request-rate No daily or monthly count is published, so the 120 per minute throttle is the only stated ceiling; v2 release pulls of 500,000 observations a call keep it far away. |
| Identity | email Every API request needs a key, and a key is requested from a fredaccount.stlouisfed.org account. The account asks only for a valid email address and a password, and is active as soon as the form is submitted; no card, no phone. The keyless fredgraph.csv download and the website need no account. |
| Egress | not metered in bytes; the 120 requests per minute bound what a key can pull |
| Per-object cap | 100,000 observations per v1 series/observations call; 500,000 observations per v2 release/observations call |
| Interface | rest v1: GET https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred/... with api_key (a 32-character lower-case key) as a query parameter, JSON or XML. v2: GET https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred/v2/release/observations with the key in an Authorization: Bearer header and next_cursor paging. A call with no key answered HTTP 400. endpoint: https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred |
| Tooling | curl or any HTTP client; fredgraph.csv serves one series as CSV with no key |
| Composes with | Whole economic releases in one paged v2 pull at no cost; it pairs with a market source such as Tiingo or CoinGecko when macro series sit beside prices. |
| Reliability | Past 120 requests a minute the API answers HTTP 429, and ignoring the throttle can bring a temporary block; an error answer is an HTTP status with an XML or JSON body that carries the error. |
| Notes | Free with an email-only key, no stated daily or monthly count, and a documented bulk path (v2 release observations). The series notes name them. |
| Evidence note | documented The rate, the row caps and the account fields are documented on the FRED API and help pages. Probes measured that a keyless API call answers HTTP 400 and that fredgraph.csv serves GDP as CSV with no key. The 429 message text, any reset moment and the length of a temporary block need a key to measure (unverified: behind a sign-up). |
| Parsed numbers |
|
Evidence 22
| date | source | what it proved |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-31 | fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/errors.html | up to 120 requests per minute are allowed before HTTP 429, and ignoring the throttle can bring a temporary block |
| 2026-10-31 | fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/api_key.html | every request needs an API key |
| 2026-10-31 | fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/terms_of_use.html | API use needs a registered key |
| 2026-10-31 | fred.stlouisfed.org/legal/ | the FRED API is offered free |
| 2026-10-31 | fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/api_key.html | the v1 key is a 32-character lower-case string passed as api_key |
| 2026-10-31 | fredhelp.stlouisfed.org/fred/account/fred-account-features/r | the account asks only for an email address and a password |
| 2026-10-31 | fredhelp.stlouisfed.org/fred/account/fred-account-features/r | the account is active as soon as the form is submitted |
| 2026-10-31 | fredaccount.stlouisfed.org/login/secure/ | the website shows data with no account |
| 2026-10-31 | fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/v2/index.html | API v2 retrieves all series on a release in bulk with the entire history |
| 2026-10-31 | fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/v2/release_observations.ht | the v2 endpoint returns the observations of every series on a release |
| 2026-10-31 | fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/v2/release_observations.ht | a v2 call returns up to 500,000 observations |
| 2026-10-31 | fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/v2/api_key.html | v2 takes the key in a request header |
| 2026-10-31 | fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/series_observations.html | a v1 series/observations call returns up to 100,000 rows |
| 2026-10-31 | fred.stlouisfed.org/legal/ | not published |
| 2026-10-31 | probe: https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred/series/observations?series_id=GDP&file_type=json | an API call with no key answered HTTP 400 |
| 2026-10-31 | probe: https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred/series/observations?series_id=GDP&file_type=json | the API refuses a call that carries no api_key |
| 2026-10-31 | probe: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/fredgraph.csv?id=GDP | fredgraph.csv answered HTTP 200 with no key |
| 2026-10-31 | probe: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/fredgraph.csv?id=GDP | the keyless CSV carries the GDP series with its dates |
| 2026-11-02 | fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/errors.html | 429 past 120 requests a minute, with a possible temporary block |
| 2026-11-02 | fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/errors.html | part of the text of Reliability, above |
| 2026-11-02 | fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/errors.html | the 120 per minute throttle is documented |
| 2026-11-02 | fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/errors.html | the 120 per minute throttle is unchanged |
More fields 2
| bulk path | API v2 fred/v2/release/observations: all series on a release with full history, 500,000 observations per call, cursor paging |
|---|---|
| keyless path | fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/fredgraph.csv?id=SERIES returns one series as CSV with no key |
Unknown values 1
- retention stated: the field does not apply to this kind of offer