Use your own free API key
FreeCharting doesn't sell market data. You connect it to a data provider with an API key of your own, free or paid, and your browser fetches the prices directly. This page shows you where to get a key and how to add it.
Just want crypto? You don't need a key at all. Open a Bitcoin chart. Binance, Coinbase, OKX and Kraken work out of the box, and most of them update live.
How it works
An API key is a password-like code a data provider gives you so it can recognise your requests and apply your plan's limits. With a “bring your own key” setup:
- You sign up with a provider (for free) and copy your key.
- You paste it into FreeCharting. It's saved in your browser's local storage on this device.
- When you open a chart, your browser asks the provider directly for price history, using your key. FreeCharting's server only delivers the web page. It never sees your key or your data.
- Because the requests come from you, the provider's free-tier limits apply to you alone. You don't share a quota with thousands of other users.
Quick start
- Choose a provider below. If you're not sure, go with Twelve Data. It covers stocks, forex and crypto on every timeframe.
- Create a free account and copy your API key (each section below shows you where).
- Open the chart and click API keys in the top-right of the toolbar.
- Paste the key next to the provider's name and click Save keys.
- Pick the provider in the toolbar's provider menu, type a symbol, and you're charting.
Which provider should I use?
| If you want… | Use |
|---|---|
| Crypto with live, tick-by-tick updates and no sign-up | Binance, Coinbase or OKX |
| Stocks, ETFs, forex and crypto, intraday to monthly | Twelve Data |
| Deep intraday US stock history (paged 5,000 bars at a time) | Massive |
| A quick daily or weekly look at a US stock or currency pair | Alpha Vantage |
| Long-term daily, weekly and monthly US stock charts | Financial Modeling Prep |
| Years of intraday US stock history, free, with generous limits | Alpaca |
| Stocks on exchanges outside the US | Marketstack or Twelve Data |
| You already pay for a data plan or have a brokerage account | Finnhub, Tradier, or the paid plan of any provider here |
You can save keys for several providers and switch between them at any time.
Binance No key needed
The world's largest crypto exchange publishes its market data for free. FreeCharting uses Binance's public market-data endpoints, so there's nothing to sign up for.
- Markets
- Crypto pairs
- Timeframes
- 1m to 1M, live
- History
- Full, loads as you scroll
Symbol format
Base and quote joined together, with no slash: BTCUSDT, ETHUSDT, SOLUSDT, ETHBTC. Start typing in the symbol box to search every pair.
Coinbase No key needed
Coinbase's public exchange data, with live updates built from every trade. A good choice if Binance isn't available where you are.
- Markets
- Crypto (USD, EUR, GBP)
- Timeframes
- 1m, 5m, 15m, 1H, D
- History
- Full, loads as you scroll
Symbol format: base and quote with a dash: BTC-USD, ETH-EUR, SOL-USD.
OKX No key needed
One of the largest crypto exchanges, with every timeframe and live updates. OKX isn't available in every country, including the US.
- Markets
- Crypto
- Timeframes
- 1m to 1M, live
- History
- Full, loads as you scroll
Symbol format: base and quote with a dash: BTC-USDT, ETH-USDC.
Kraken No key needed
Kraken's public data covers many fiat pairs (USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, AUD and more). Its free endpoint only returns the most recent 720 bars per timeframe, and charts don't stream live.
- Markets
- Crypto, many fiat pairs
- Timeframes
- 1m to W
- History
- Latest 720 bars
Symbol format: no separator, and Bitcoin is XBT: XBTUSD, ETHEUR, SOLUSD.
Twelve Data Recommended
A broad, developer-friendly API covering global stocks, ETFs, indices, forex and crypto. It has the best all-round free plan for charting.
- Free plan
- 800 requests/day, 8/min
- Markets
- Stocks, ETFs, forex, crypto
- Timeframes
- 1m to 1M
Get your key
- Go to twelvedata.com/register and create a free account. You can use email, Google or GitHub.
- Confirm your email if asked. The free Basic plan is active straight away, and no card is needed.
- Open Account → API Keys and copy the key shown there.
- In FreeCharting, click API keys, paste it into the Twelve Data field, and save.
Symbol format
US stocks by ticker: AAPL, MSFT, SPY. Forex and crypto with a slash: EUR/USD, BTC/USD. For other exchanges, pick the listing from search results. It's saved as SYMBOL:EXCHANGE, for example VOD:LSE.
Try before you sign up: without a key, FreeCharting uses Twelve Data's public demo key. It only works for AAPL, EUR/USD and BTC/USD.
Alpha Vantage
One of the longest-running free stock APIs, and the fastest key to get: no account or password, just a short form. Best for daily, weekly and monthly charts.
- Free plan
- 25 requests/day
- Markets
- US stocks & ETFs, forex
- Timeframes
- D, W, M
Get your key
- Go to alphavantage.co/support/#api-key.
- Choose what describes you (for example “Investor” or “Student”), enter an organisation (your name is fine) and your email.
- Click GET FREE API KEY. Your key appears on the page right away, so copy it.
- In FreeCharting, click API keys, paste it into the Alpha Vantage field, and save.
Good to know
- Intraday charts (1m to 4H) are a premium Alpha Vantage feature, so free keys get daily, weekly and monthly charts.
- Daily stock charts show the most recent 100 days on the free plan. Weekly and monthly charts, and daily forex, include the full history.
- Forex pairs are written with a slash:
EUR/USD,USD/JPY. - 25 requests a day goes fast. Every symbol or timeframe change costs one. FreeCharting caches answers for 10 minutes, so switching back is free.
Massive (formerly Polygon.io)
Polygon.io renamed itself Massive in 2025. If you already have a Polygon key, it still works. Massive has very clean US market data and returns up to 5,000 bars per request.
- Free plan
- 5 requests/min
- History
- 2 years, end-of-day
- Timeframes
- 1m to 1M
Get your key
- Go to massive.com and sign up. The Stocks Basic plan is $0/month.
- Once you're in the dashboard, open API Keys. A default key is already created for you.
- Copy the key.
- In FreeCharting, click API keys, paste it into the Massive (Polygon.io) field, and save.
Symbol format
Stocks by ticker: AAPL. Crypto uses an X: prefix: X:BTCUSD. Forex uses C:: C:EURUSD. Crypto and forex may need their own free plans on Massive.
The free plan serves end-of-day data, so today's bars show up after the market closes. Scrolling left pages back through up to two years of history.
Financial Modeling Prep
Known for fundamentals, FMP also offers years of daily price history on its free plan. That makes it a good fit for long-term daily, weekly and monthly charts.
- Free plan
- 250 requests/day
- Markets
- US stocks & ETFs
- Timeframes
- D, W, M
Get your key
- Go to financialmodelingprep.com and create a free account.
- Verify your email, then open your dashboard.
- Copy the API key shown at the top of the dashboard.
- In FreeCharting, click API keys, paste it into the Financial Modeling Prep field, and save.
Good to know
- The free plan covers major US tickers such as
AAPL,MSFTandSPY. Less common symbols may need a paid plan. - FreeCharting builds weekly and monthly bars from FMP's daily data, so each chart costs just one request.
Paid & freemium providers
These providers either have a free plan with clear upgrades, or need a paid plan or brokerage account to chart. If you already pay for one of them, paste your key and your plan's limits apply. Paid plans of the providers above (Twelve Data, Massive and others) work the same way.
Alpaca Free plan Paid for real-time
A broker-grade market-data API with years of US stock history on every timeframe. The free plan is generous: 200 requests a minute. Recent bars are delayed 15 minutes unless you're on the paid Algo Trader Plus plan ($99/month).
- Free plan
- 200 requests/min, 15-min delay
- Markets
- US stocks & ETFs, crypto
- Timeframes
- 1m to 1M
Get your keys
- Sign up at app.alpaca.markets/signup. You don't need to fund a brokerage account to use market data.
- In the dashboard, find API Keys on the home page and click Generate New Keys.
- Copy both the API Key ID and the Secret Key. The secret is only shown once.
- In FreeCharting, click API keys, paste both into the Alpaca fields, and save.
Symbol format: US tickers like AAPL and SPY. Crypto with a slash: BTC/USD.
Marketstack Free plan Paid for intraday
End-of-day prices for tens of thousands of tickers on exchanges worldwide. The free plan is small (100 requests a month), so it suits occasional checks. Paid plans start at $9.99/month and add intraday bars and up to 10 years of history.
- Free plan
- 100 requests/month, 1 year
- Markets
- Global stocks & ETFs
- Timeframes
- D, W, M (intraday paid)
Get your key
- Sign up for the free plan at marketstack.com/signup/free.
- Your API Access Key is shown at the top of the dashboard.
- In FreeCharting, click API keys, paste it into the Marketstack field, and save.
Symbol format: US tickers like AAPL. Other exchanges use a suffix, for example VOD.XLON for London.
Finnhub Paid plan
Finnhub covers stocks on global exchanges plus forex and crypto. Its free plan includes symbol search but not historical price candles, so charting needs one of Finnhub's paid market-data plans.
- Plan
- Paid for candles
- Markets
- Global stocks, forex, crypto
- Timeframes
- 1m to 1H, D, W, M
Get your key
- Create an account at finnhub.io/register and choose a plan that includes stock candles on the pricing page.
- Copy your API key from the dashboard.
- In FreeCharting, click API keys, paste it into the Finnhub field, and save.
Symbol format: stocks like AAPL. Forex with the broker prefix: OANDA:EUR_USD. Crypto with the exchange prefix: BINANCE:BTCUSDT. With a key saved, symbol search finds the right format for you.
Tradier Brokerage account
Tradier is a US brokerage whose customers get market data through its API. If you don't have an account, a free developer sandbox gives you delayed data for testing.
- Plan
- Brokerage, or free sandbox
- Markets
- US stocks & ETFs
- Timeframes
- 1m, 5m, 15m, D, W, M
Get your token
- Log in to your Tradier Brokerage account, or create a free developer account at developer.tradier.com.
- Open API Access in your account settings and copy your access token (or the sandbox token).
- In FreeCharting, click API keys, paste it into the Tradier field, and save. FreeCharting works out whether it's a live or sandbox token.
Symbol format: US tickers like AAPL and SPY. Intraday history covers roughly the last few weeks.
Free-tier limits at a glance
| Provider | Requests | What one chart costs |
|---|---|---|
| Binance | Generous public limits | 1 request, plus 1 per older page |
| Twelve Data | 8/minute, 800/day | 1 request (2,000 bars), plus 1 per older page |
| Alpha Vantage | 25/day | 1 request |
| Massive | 5/minute | 1 request (5,000 bars), plus 1 per older page |
| FMP | 250/day | 1 request |
| Coinbase, OKX, Kraken | Generous public limits | 1 request, plus 1 per older page (not Kraken) |
| Alpaca (free) | 200/minute | 1 request (up to 10,000 bars), plus 1 per older page |
| Marketstack (free) | 100/month | 1 request |
These numbers are from each provider's pricing page at the time of writing and can change. Upgrading to a paid plan with a provider raises your limits in FreeCharting automatically. Nothing else changes.
Is my API key safe?
- It never reaches our server. Keys live in your browser's
localStorage. They're only sent in requests to the provider they belong to. - Locked-down connections. The site sends a Content-Security-Policy header that only lets the page talk to the listed providers' API domains. Even a bug couldn't send your key anywhere else.
- No accounts, no tracking. FreeCharting has no login, no analytics and no ads.
Keep in mind: anyone with access to your browser profile can read keys saved in it. Use free keys here, don't reuse a key tied to a paid plan on a shared computer, and click Remove all keys in the API keys window when you're done on a public machine. If a key ever leaks, regenerate it in the provider's dashboard.
FAQ & troubleshooting
Is FreeCharting really free?
Yes. The site is a set of static pages with no servers to pay for per user. The data comes from providers' free plans under your own account, so there's nothing for us to charge for.
Why do I need my own key? Why not one shared key?
A shared key would hit its free limit within minutes and break for everyone. Most providers' terms also don't allow re-distributing their data. With your own key you get the full free quota to yourself, and the data is licensed to you.
It says “rate limit reached”. What now?
Free plans cap how many requests you can make per minute or per day. Wait a minute (Twelve Data, Massive) or until tomorrow (Alpha Vantage, FMP), or switch to another provider. FreeCharting caches recent responses, so flipping between charts you've already opened doesn't cost extra.
Can I use a paid plan I already have?
Yes. Paste the key from your paid account and FreeCharting uses it the same way. You get your plan's higher limits, real-time data and extra history automatically. Finnhub and Tradier need a paid plan or brokerage account to chart at all.
“Symbol not found” or no data
Each provider spells symbols a little differently. Check the Symbol format notes above. For example, Bitcoin is BTCUSDT on Binance, BTC-USD on Coinbase, XBTUSD on Kraken, BTC/USD on Twelve Data and X:BTCUSD on Massive.
My key is rejected
Make sure you pasted the whole key with no spaces, and saved it under the right provider. New keys can take a minute to activate. You can also generate a fresh key in the provider's dashboard.
Is the data real-time?
Binance, Coinbase and OKX charts stream live. The stock providers' free plans are delayed or end-of-day depending on the provider; paid plans are often real-time. Click the reload button in the toolbar to fetch the latest bars.
Some timeframe buttons are greyed out
That provider doesn't offer that timeframe on its free plan. For example, Alpha Vantage and FMP only offer daily, weekly and monthly bars on their free plans. Hover over a button to see why.
Does it work on my phone?
Yes. Charts support touch: drag to scroll and pinch to zoom. Keys are saved per browser, so you'll need to add them again on each device.