★ BEST INVESTING TOOLS COMPARISON ★
VOL. XCIV, NO. 247
Monday, June 15, 2026
Tool Comparison · Monday, June 15, 2026
Open Payments (CMS) vs QuickFS
Trying to decide between Open Payments (CMS) and QuickFS? Here's how they compare on pricing, features, and platforms — and which one fits the way you invest.
Open Payments (CMS)
Best for regulatory filings monitoring and official sources
U.S. federal open‑data program (Affordable Care Act ‘Sunshine Act’) that publishes financial relationships between drug/device manufacturers (and GPOs) and healthcare providers (physicians, NPPs since PY2021, and teaching hospitals). Program Year 2024 data was published in June 2025 with 16.16 million records totaling $13.18 billion. CMS publishes the prior program year’s full datasets on or before June 30 each year and issues a refresh after calendar-year-end review. Data are accessible via the web search tool, bulk downloads, and a REST Open Data API (filter, query, aggregate).
QuickFS
Best for financials and sheets / excel add-ins
Global fundamentals platform focused on long‑history financial statements and ratios. Free tier historically gave on‑site annual data (10y), while Premium and API unlocked 20‑year histories, quarterly/TTM, bulk CSV/Excel exports, and programmatic access. The official web app is currently JavaScript-rendered in crawlable output, and recent user reports claim a February 2026 shutdown notice; because no official crawlable shutdown page was found, keep this entry with caution rather than treating pricing/availability as fully verified. Strong for modeling, valuation and screening in Excel or via REST when available; does not offer broker sync, risk, or options analytics.
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The verdict
The bottom line: Open Payments (CMS) and QuickFS cover a lot of the same ground — 3 shared categories, data APIs, APIs & SDKs, and data visualizations — so for the basics you won't go far wrong with either. The real difference is focus: only Open Payments (CMS) gives you regulatory filings monitoring and official sources, and only QuickFS gives you financials and sheets / excel add-ins.
Key differences at a glance
Free plan
Both
Both have one
Desktop app
QuickFS
QuickFS only
Choose
Open Payments (CMS) if…
- You care about regulatory filings monitoring and official sources — things QuickFS doesn't offer
Choose
QuickFS if…
- You care about financials and sheets / excel add-ins — things Open Payments (CMS) doesn't offer
Consider alternatives if…
- You'd rather have one tool that does it all.
- Neither price feels right for what you'd get.
Comparison snapshot
Standout features
What Open Payments (CMS) does best
- Three core datasets each year: General Payments, Research Payments, and Ownership/Investment Interests.
- Web search/explorer with filtering and charts; program year downloads available from the portal.
- Open Data API (ODA) for programmatic access with filtering, querying, and aggregation (SoQL‑style).
- Publication cadence: initial annual publication on/around June 30 for the prior year, plus refresh publication after the calendar-year-end review/re-attestation cycle.
- Pre‑publication workflow: 45‑day recipient review & dispute (Apr 1–May 15) + 15‑day correction window (May 16–May 30).
What QuickFS does best
- 20‑year history for 200+ standardized metrics and statements across 40,000+ international stocks.
- Excel add‑in with =QFS("ticker","metric","period") to pull data directly into models (Mac/Windows/Excel Online); Microsoft AppSource still lists the add-in and states a QuickFS account is required.
- Public REST API for fundamentals, market data, and company metadata; batch requests supported.
- One‑click Excel/CSV exports and bulk database downloads (full‑universe CSV files).
- Ticker format with country suffix (e.g., AAPL:US) and global coverage across U.S., Canada, Europe, Australia, and more.
Data & access details
| Attribute | Open Payments (CMS) | QuickFS |
|---|---|---|
Asset types | Other | Stocks |
Experience | BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced | BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced |
Regions | North America | North AmericaEuropeAPAC |
Data freshness | End of Day | End of Day |
API access | REST | REST |
Export formats | CSVJSON | CSVExcelJSON |
Seen enough? The fastest way to decide is to open both and poke around for five minutes.
Pricing breakdown
Tool
Open Payments (CMS)
—
Starting price
Plans & pricing
Tool
QuickFS
$29/mo
Starting price
Plans & pricing
Coverage overlap
What you only get with Open Payments (CMS).
Community category leaders
Vote sentiment comparison
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Still deciding? Get hands-on with both — most plans offer a free tier or trial.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the difference between Open Payments (CMS) and QuickFS?
Open Payments (CMS) leans toward data APIs, APIs & SDKs, and data visualizations, while QuickFS puts more weight on financials, data visualizations, and data APIs. They overlap in 3 categories, so for most people it comes down to workflow preference and price.
How much do Open Payments (CMS) and QuickFS cost?
Good news — both Open Payments (CMS) and QuickFS have free plans, so you can run them side by side and only pay if you hit a wall.
Do Open Payments (CMS) and QuickFS have APIs?
Yes — both offer API access, so developers and quants can pull data programmatically or wire up their own integrations.
Should I choose Open Payments (CMS) or QuickFS?
It depends on what you're after. Pick Open Payments (CMS) if regulatory filings monitoring and official sources matter to you; go with QuickFS if you'd rather have financials and sheets / excel add-ins. And if you only need the basics both share, let price decide.
What asset classes do Open Payments (CMS) and QuickFS cover?
Both cover the common asset types. Open Payments (CMS) also handles other. QuickFS adds stocks on top.
Can I export data from Open Payments (CMS) and QuickFS?
Yes, both export to spreadsheets (CSV and JSON) — handy if you like running your own numbers.
Other tools you might like
These profiles share overlapping coverage with both sides of this matchup.
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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.