VOL. XCIV, NO. 247

★ FINANCIAL TOOLS & SERVICES DIRECTORY ★

PRICE: 5 CENTS

Sunday, October 5, 2025

View CB InsightsView FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data)Back to Home

Head-to-head

CB Insights vs FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data) comparison

Compare pricing, supported platforms, categories, and standout capabilities to decide which tool fits your workflow.

Quick takeaways

CB Insights adds Screeners, Acquisitions, Newsletters, and AI coverage that FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data) skips.

FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data) includes Calendar, Inflation Rates, Unemployment Rates, GDP, Interest Rates, PMI / ISM, Housing & Construction, Retail Sales, Consumer Sentiment, Yield Curves, Real Yields, and APIs & SDKs categories that CB Insights omits.

CB Insights highlights: Global company intelligence platform covering private and public companies, investors, deals, and M&A activity., APIs and enterprise data feeds providing structured access to company, funding, and investor datasets., and Microsoft Excel add-in to pull in CB Insights company data, Mosaic Scores, and taxonomies directly into spreadsheets..

FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data) is known for: Access to over 840,000 time series from more than 100 official and third-party sources, all browsable and downloadable online., Official REST API covering both FRED and ALFRED, with endpoints for categories, releases, series, and sources., and Flexible output formats including JSON, XML, Excel, and CSV for easy integration..

FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data) keeps a free entry point that CB Insights lacks.

CB Insights logo

CB Insights

cbinsights.com

An enterprise-grade market intelligence platform covering both private and public companies. CB Insights combines company profiles, deal tracking, and predictive scoring with AI-powered search and visual analytics. APIs and enterprise integrations (Salesforce, Excel, Snowflake, Microsoft 365 Copilot) are available on paid plans. A 10-day free trial is offered for new users.

Platforms

Web
Mobile
API

Pricing

Subscription

Quick highlights

  • Global company intelligence platform covering private and public companies, investors, deals, and M&A activity.
  • APIs and enterprise data feeds providing structured access to company, funding, and investor datasets.
  • Microsoft Excel add-in to pull in CB Insights company data, Mosaic Scores, and taxonomies directly into spreadsheets.
  • Salesforce integration to embed company and investor insights into CRM workflows.
  • Microsoft 365 Copilot Graph Connector to surface CB Insights data directly inside Copilot experiences.

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FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data) logo

FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data)

fred.stlouisfed.org

One of the most trusted sources of macroeconomic and market data worldwide. FRED offers free access to charts, releases, Excel add-ins, and a public API. An API key (free) is required, with standard rate limits. ALFRED, the companion service, provides vintage datasets so you can see what was known at any point in time.

Platforms

Web
Mobile
API

Pricing

Free

Quick highlights

  • Access to over 840,000 time series from more than 100 official and third-party sources, all browsable and downloadable online.
  • Official REST API covering both FRED and ALFRED, with endpoints for categories, releases, series, and sources.
  • Flexible output formats including JSON, XML, Excel, and CSV for easy integration.
  • ALFRED (the archival database) provides point-in-time vintages, letting you track historical revisions exactly as they were published.
  • Maps API delivers regional datasets with GeoJSON shapefiles for states, counties, MSAs, and more.

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Overlap

Shared focus areas

3 overlaps

Mutual strengths include Data APIs, Sheets / Excel Add-ins, and Data Visualizations.

Where they differ

CB Insights

Distinct strengths include:

Screeners
Acquisitions
Newsletters
AI
  • Global company intelligence platform covering private and public companies, investors, deals, and M&A activity.
  • APIs and enterprise data feeds providing structured access to company, funding, and investor datasets.
  • Microsoft Excel add-in to pull in CB Insights company data, Mosaic Scores, and taxonomies directly into spreadsheets.
  • Salesforce integration to embed company and investor insights into CRM workflows.

FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data)

Distinct strengths include:

Calendar
Inflation Rates
Unemployment Rates
GDP
Interest Rates
PMI / ISM
Housing & Construction
Retail Sales
  • Access to over 840,000 time series from more than 100 official and third-party sources, all browsable and downloadable online.
  • Official REST API covering both FRED and ALFRED, with endpoints for categories, releases, series, and sources.
  • Flexible output formats including JSON, XML, Excel, and CSV for easy integration.
  • ALFRED (the archival database) provides point-in-time vintages, letting you track historical revisions exactly as they were published.

Feature-by-feature breakdown

AttributeCB InsightsFRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data)
Categories

Which research workflows each platform targets

Shared: Data APIs, Sheets / Excel Add-ins, Data Visualizations

Unique: Screeners, Acquisitions, Newsletters, AI

Shared: Data APIs, Sheets / Excel Add-ins, Data Visualizations

Unique: Calendar, Inflation Rates, Unemployment Rates, GDP, Interest Rates, PMI / ISM, Housing & Construction, Retail Sales, Consumer Sentiment, Yield Curves, Real Yields, APIs & SDKs

Asset types

Supported asset classes and universes

Stocks, Other

Bonds, Commodities, Currencies, Stocks, Other

Experience levels

Who each product is built for

Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced

Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced

Platforms

Where you can access the product

Web, Mobile, API

Web, Mobile, API

Pricing

High-level pricing models

Subscription

Free

Key features

Core capabilities called out by each vendor

Unique

  • Global company intelligence platform covering private and public companies, investors, deals, and M&A activity.
  • APIs and enterprise data feeds providing structured access to company, funding, and investor datasets.
  • Microsoft Excel add-in to pull in CB Insights company data, Mosaic Scores, and taxonomies directly into spreadsheets.
  • Salesforce integration to embed company and investor insights into CRM workflows.
  • Microsoft 365 Copilot Graph Connector to surface CB Insights data directly inside Copilot experiences.
  • Snowflake data delivery with feeds optimized for AI and analytics use cases.

Unique

  • Access to over 840,000 time series from more than 100 official and third-party sources, all browsable and downloadable online.
  • Official REST API covering both FRED and ALFRED, with endpoints for categories, releases, series, and sources.
  • Flexible output formats including JSON, XML, Excel, and CSV for easy integration.
  • ALFRED (the archival database) provides point-in-time vintages, letting you track historical revisions exactly as they were published.
  • Maps API delivers regional datasets with GeoJSON shapefiles for states, counties, MSAs, and more.
  • Free Excel add-in enables direct downloads, refreshes, frequency conversions, and growth-rate calculations.
Tested

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Editor pick

Featured inside curated shortlists

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Frequently Asked Questions

Which workflows do CB Insights and FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data) both support?

Both platforms cover Data APIs, Sheets / Excel Add-ins, and Data Visualizations workflows, so you can research those use cases in either tool before digging into the feature differences below.

Which tool offers a free plan?

FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data) offers a free entry point, while CB Insights requires a paid subscription. Review the pricing table to see how the paid tiers compare.

How can you access CB Insights and FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data)?

Both CB Insights and FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data) support web and mobile access, making it easy to keep tabs on research away from the desk.

What unique strengths set the two platforms apart?

CB Insights differentiates itself with Global company intelligence platform covering private and public companies, investors, deals, and M&A activity., APIs and enterprise data feeds providing structured access to company, funding, and investor datasets., and Microsoft Excel add-in to pull in CB Insights company data, Mosaic Scores, and taxonomies directly into spreadsheets., whereas FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data) stands out for Access to over 840,000 time series from more than 100 official and third-party sources, all browsable and downloadable online., Official REST API covering both FRED and ALFRED, with endpoints for categories, releases, series, and sources., and Flexible output formats including JSON, XML, Excel, and CSV for easy integration..

Keep exploring

Stay on top of related tools

Browse the categories and profiles that overlap most with this comparison to round out your shortlist.

Curation & Accuracy

This directory blends AI‑assisted discovery with human curation. Entries are reviewed, edited, and organized with the goal of expanding coverage and sharpening quality over time. Your feedback helps steer improvements (because no single human can capture everything all at once).

Details change. Pricing, features, and availability may be incomplete or out of date. Treat listings as a starting point and verify on the provider’s site before making decisions. If you spot an error or a gap, send a quick note and I’ll adjust.