VOL. XCIV, NO. 247

★ FINANCIAL TOOLS & SERVICES DIRECTORY ★

PRICE: 5 CENTS

Saturday, September 27, 2025

Investors comparing Listen Notes and USAspending will find that Both Listen Notes and USAspending concentrate on Data APIs, APIs & SDKs, and Other workflows, making them natural alternatives for similar investment research jobs. Listen Notes leans into Alerts, and Education, which can be decisive for teams that need depth over breadth. USAspending stands out with Data Visualizations, and Videos that the competition lacks. Use the feature-by-feature table to inspect unique capabilities and confirm which roadmap best maps to your process.

Head-to-head

Listen Notes vs USAspending

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

Quick takeaways

  • Listen Notes adds Alerts, and Education coverage that USAspending skips.
  • USAspending includes Data Visualizations, and Videos categories that Listen Notes omits.
  • Listen Notes highlights: Podcast API v2: search, directory, insights; official client libraries; OpenAPI spec & mock server for keyless testing., Pricing tiers with concrete quotas: FREE (300 req/mo), PRO (base fee with 5k req/mo included + tiered overages), ENTERPRISE (annual contract, larger quotas, relaxed caching/no-logo)., and Plan-based search result caps & rate limits: FREE up to 30 results/query (2 req/s, 20 req/min); PRO up to 300 results/query (medium rate limit); ENTERPRISE up to 10,000 results/query (high rate limit)..
  • USAspending is known for: Advanced Search & profiles across awards, recipients, agencies, federal accounts; filters include date, place of performance, NAICS/PSC, Assistance Listing (formerly CFDA), DEFC for COVID/infrastructure., Spending Explorer and Agency/Federal Account profiles for top‑down views of obligations/outlays and drill‑downs by budget hierarchy., and Public REST API that powers the website (GET & POST endpoints; JSON responses); tutorial and contracts for commonly used endpoints..
  • Listen Notes ships a mobile app. USAspending is web/desktop only.
Listen Notes logo

Listen Notes

listennotes.com

Podcast search engine plus developer Podcast API (search/directory/insights) and purchasable datasets. Free plan allows light testing; PRO is a metered subscription with tiered overages and specific search‑result/rate‑limit allowances; Enterprise relaxes caching/logo rules and increases quotas & SLAs. Listen Alerts monitors 3.6M+ podcasts for keyword mentions with email/RSS and Zapier/IFTTT hooks. Datasets can be exported as CSV/SQLite for analytics, PR/sales, and finance alt‑data use cases. API base URL is https://listen-api.listennotes.com/api/v2 with API‑key auth.

Platforms

Web
API
Mobile

Pricing

Free
Subscription
One-time

Quick highlights

  • Podcast API v2: search, directory, insights; official client libraries; OpenAPI spec & mock server for keyless testing.
  • Pricing tiers with concrete quotas: FREE (300 req/mo), PRO (base fee with 5k req/mo included + tiered overages), ENTERPRISE (annual contract, larger quotas, relaxed caching/no-logo).
  • Plan-based search result caps & rate limits: FREE up to 30 results/query (2 req/s, 20 req/min); PRO up to 300 results/query (medium rate limit); ENTERPRISE up to 10,000 results/query (high rate limit).
  • Advanced fields & endpoints on higher tiers: transcripts, batch fetch, RSS/large image, email, latest_episode_id, Listen Score & Global Rank.
  • Listen Alerts: 24/7 monitoring of new episodes mentioning keywords; daily email digests, per‑alert RSS feeds; connects via Zapier/IFTTT and RSS to Slack/Trello/Airtable etc.
USAspending logo

USAspending

usaspending.gov

Official U.S. federal spending open‑data portal mandated by the DATA Act and operated by Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service. The public REST API powers the site (GET/POST endpoints, JSON responses). Data refreshes daily after a nightly pipeline; underlying source systems update on different cadences (e.g., monthly for Files A/B/C via the DATA Act Broker; next‑day for FPDS contracts; FABS within 2 weeks; FSRS subawards by month‑end; GTAS monthly). Bulk downloads and archives are available for awards back to FY2008.

Platforms

Web
API

Pricing

Free

Quick highlights

  • Advanced Search & profiles across awards, recipients, agencies, federal accounts; filters include date, place of performance, NAICS/PSC, Assistance Listing (formerly CFDA), DEFC for COVID/infrastructure.
  • Spending Explorer and Agency/Federal Account profiles for top‑down views of obligations/outlays and drill‑downs by budget hierarchy.
  • Public REST API that powers the website (GET & POST endpoints; JSON responses); tutorial and contracts for commonly used endpoints.
  • Bulk data: Award Data Archive (pre‑generated, by agency/fiscal year), Custom Award Data, Custom Account Data, and full Database Download.
  • Award coverage: contracts, contract IDVs, grants, direct payments, loans, insurance, other financial assistance; prime awards and subawards (FSRS).

Shared focus areas

Both platforms align on these research themes, so you can stay within one workflow when your use case involves them.

Where they differ

Listen Notes

Distinct strengths include:

  • Podcast API v2: search, directory, insights; official client libraries; OpenAPI spec & mock server for keyless testing.
  • Pricing tiers with concrete quotas: FREE (300 req/mo), PRO (base fee with 5k req/mo included + tiered overages), ENTERPRISE (annual contract, larger quotas, relaxed caching/no-logo).
  • Plan-based search result caps & rate limits: FREE up to 30 results/query (2 req/s, 20 req/min); PRO up to 300 results/query (medium rate limit); ENTERPRISE up to 10,000 results/query (high rate limit).
  • Advanced fields & endpoints on higher tiers: transcripts, batch fetch, RSS/large image, email, latest_episode_id, Listen Score & Global Rank.

USAspending

Distinct strengths include:

  • Advanced Search & profiles across awards, recipients, agencies, federal accounts; filters include date, place of performance, NAICS/PSC, Assistance Listing (formerly CFDA), DEFC for COVID/infrastructure.
  • Spending Explorer and Agency/Federal Account profiles for top‑down views of obligations/outlays and drill‑downs by budget hierarchy.
  • Public REST API that powers the website (GET & POST endpoints; JSON responses); tutorial and contracts for commonly used endpoints.
  • Bulk data: Award Data Archive (pre‑generated, by agency/fiscal year), Custom Award Data, Custom Account Data, and full Database Download.

Feature-by-feature breakdown

AttributeListen NotesUSAspending
Categories

Which research workflows each platform targets

Shared: Data APIs, APIs & SDKs, Other

Unique: Alerts, Education

Shared: Data APIs, APIs & SDKs, Other

Unique: Data Visualizations, Videos

Asset types

Supported asset classes and universes

Other

Other

Experience levels

Who each product is built for

Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced

Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced

Platforms

Where you can access the product

Web, API, Mobile

Web, API

Pricing

High-level pricing models

Free, Subscription, One-time

Free

Key features

Core capabilities called out by each vendor

Unique

  • Podcast API v2: search, directory, insights; official client libraries; OpenAPI spec & mock server for keyless testing.
  • Pricing tiers with concrete quotas: FREE (300 req/mo), PRO (base fee with 5k req/mo included + tiered overages), ENTERPRISE (annual contract, larger quotas, relaxed caching/no-logo).
  • Plan-based search result caps & rate limits: FREE up to 30 results/query (2 req/s, 20 req/min); PRO up to 300 results/query (medium rate limit); ENTERPRISE up to 10,000 results/query (high rate limit).
  • Advanced fields & endpoints on higher tiers: transcripts, batch fetch, RSS/large image, email, latest_episode_id, Listen Score & Global Rank.
  • Listen Alerts: 24/7 monitoring of new episodes mentioning keywords; daily email digests, per‑alert RSS feeds; connects via Zapier/IFTTT and RSS to Slack/Trello/Airtable etc.
  • Podcast Datasets: batch export by keyword/category/playlist/iTunes IDs or full‑database Enterprise export; delivered as CSV or SQLite.

Unique

  • Advanced Search & profiles across awards, recipients, agencies, federal accounts; filters include date, place of performance, NAICS/PSC, Assistance Listing (formerly CFDA), DEFC for COVID/infrastructure.
  • Spending Explorer and Agency/Federal Account profiles for top‑down views of obligations/outlays and drill‑downs by budget hierarchy.
  • Public REST API that powers the website (GET & POST endpoints; JSON responses); tutorial and contracts for commonly used endpoints.
  • Bulk data: Award Data Archive (pre‑generated, by agency/fiscal year), Custom Award Data, Custom Account Data, and full Database Download.
  • Award coverage: contracts, contract IDVs, grants, direct payments, loans, insurance, other financial assistance; prime awards and subawards (FSRS).
  • Entity identifiers: UEI (replaced DUNS on Apr 4, 2022) used for recipients as the governmentwide identifier (via SAM.gov).
Tested

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Featured inside curated shortlists

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Frequently Asked Questions

Which workflows do Listen Notes and USAspending both support?

Both platforms cover Data APIs, APIs & SDKs, and Other workflows, so you can research those use cases in either tool before digging into the feature differences below.

Do Listen Notes and USAspending require subscriptions?

Both Listen Notes and USAspending keep freemium access with optional paid upgrades, so you can trial each platform before committing.

Which tool has mobile access?

Listen Notes ships a dedicated mobile experience, while USAspending focuses on web or desktop access.

What unique strengths set the two platforms apart?

Listen Notes differentiates itself with Podcast API v2: search, directory, insights; official client libraries; OpenAPI spec & mock server for keyless testing., Pricing tiers with concrete quotas: FREE (300 req/mo), PRO (base fee with 5k req/mo included + tiered overages), ENTERPRISE (annual contract, larger quotas, relaxed caching/no-logo)., and Plan-based search result caps & rate limits: FREE up to 30 results/query (2 req/s, 20 req/min); PRO up to 300 results/query (medium rate limit); ENTERPRISE up to 10,000 results/query (high rate limit)., whereas USAspending stands out for Advanced Search & profiles across awards, recipients, agencies, federal accounts; filters include date, place of performance, NAICS/PSC, Assistance Listing (formerly CFDA), DEFC for COVID/infrastructure., Spending Explorer and Agency/Federal Account profiles for top‑down views of obligations/outlays and drill‑downs by budget hierarchy., and Public REST API that powers the website (GET & POST endpoints; JSON responses); tutorial and contracts for commonly used endpoints..

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.