VOL. XCIV, NO. 247

★ FINANCIAL TOOLS & SERVICES DIRECTORY ★

PRICE: 5 CENTS

Sunday, October 19, 2025

View USAspending View Visible Alpha Home My Collections

Head-to-head

USAspending vs Visible Alpha comparison

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

Quick takeaways

USAspending adds Videos, and Other coverage that Visible Alpha skips.

Visible Alpha includes Financials, Analyst Forecasts, Analyst Price Targets, Analyst Recommendations, Stock Comparison, Sheets / Excel Add-ins, Blogs, and Playbooks & Case Studies categories that USAspending omits.

USAspending 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., and Public REST API that powers the website (GET & POST endpoints; JSON responses); tutorial and contracts for commonly used endpoints..

Visible Alpha is known for: Deep, line‑item consensus built from full working sell‑side models; 7,000+ companies, 250+ contributing brokers, 1M+ consensus line items; 170+ industries covered., VA Actuals: stitched historical fundamentals not always disclosed in filings, integrated with forward estimates for seamless time series., and Excel Add‑in with real‑time updating of figures, pre‑built templates, and one‑click tear‑sheets/export from the web app..

USAspending has a free tier, while Visible Alpha requires a paid plan.

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).

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Visible Alpha

visiblealpha.com

Granular, line‑item consensus from full sell‑side models (7,000+ companies; 250+ contributing brokers) with VA Actuals historicals, Excel add‑in, and enterprise delivery via API/Data Feed/Snowflake. Now part of S&P Global Market Intelligence and available as an add‑on within S&P Capital IQ Pro. Includes modules like Target Price & Ratings and a Line Item Monitor for alerts and revision analysis.

Platforms

Web

Desktop

API

Pricing

Subscription

Quick highlights

Deep, line‑item consensus built from full working sell‑side models; 7,000+ companies, 250+ contributing brokers, 1M+ consensus line items; 170+ industries covered.
VA Actuals: stitched historical fundamentals not always disclosed in filings, integrated with forward estimates for seamless time series.
Excel Add‑in with real‑time updating of figures, pre‑built templates, and one‑click tear‑sheets/export from the web app.
Target Price & Ratings: consensus rating distributions, target prices and valuation context with an ‘Open Entitlements’ contributor‑visibility framework.
Company & Line Item Monitor: alerting on threshold changes, dispersion, trend and revision analysis at the metric level.

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Overlap

Shared focus areas

3 overlaps

Mutual strengths include Data APIs, APIs & SDKs, and Data Visualizations.

Where they differ

USAspending

Distinct strengths include:

Videos

Other

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.

Visible Alpha

Distinct strengths include:

Financials

Analyst Forecasts

Analyst Price Targets

Analyst Recommendations

Stock Comparison

Sheets / Excel Add-ins

Blogs

Playbooks & Case Studies

Deep, line‑item consensus built from full working sell‑side models; 7,000+ companies, 250+ contributing brokers, 1M+ consensus line items; 170+ industries covered.
VA Actuals: stitched historical fundamentals not always disclosed in filings, integrated with forward estimates for seamless time series.
Excel Add‑in with real‑time updating of figures, pre‑built templates, and one‑click tear‑sheets/export from the web app.
Target Price & Ratings: consensus rating distributions, target prices and valuation context with an ‘Open Entitlements’ contributor‑visibility framework.

Feature-by-feature breakdown

Attribute	USAspending	Visible Alpha
Categories Which research workflows each platform targets	Shared: Data APIs, APIs & SDKs, Data Visualizations Unique: Videos, Other	Shared: Data APIs, APIs & SDKs, Data Visualizations Unique: Financials, Analyst Forecasts, Analyst Price Targets, Analyst Recommendations, Stock Comparison, Sheets / Excel Add-ins, Blogs, Playbooks & Case Studies
Asset types Supported asset classes and universes	Other	Stocks
Experience levels Who each product is built for	Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced	Intermediate, Advanced
Platforms Where you can access the product	Web, API	Web, Desktop, API
Pricing High-level pricing models	Free	Subscription
Key features Core capabilities called out by each vendor	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).	Unique Deep, line‑item consensus built from full working sell‑side models; 7,000+ companies, 250+ contributing brokers, 1M+ consensus line items; 170+ industries covered. VA Actuals: stitched historical fundamentals not always disclosed in filings, integrated with forward estimates for seamless time series. Excel Add‑in with real‑time updating of figures, pre‑built templates, and one‑click tear‑sheets/export from the web app. Target Price & Ratings: consensus rating distributions, target prices and valuation context with an ‘Open Entitlements’ contributor‑visibility framework. Company & Line Item Monitor: alerting on threshold changes, dispersion, trend and revision analysis at the metric level. Enterprise data delivery: REST API for ad‑hoc queries, file‑based data feeds (S3/SFTP), and Snowflake data shares; feeds/cloud updated throughout the day.
Tested Verified by hands-on testing inside Find My Moat	Not yet	Not yet
Editor pick Featured inside curated shortlists	Standard listing	Standard listing

Frequently Asked Questions

Which workflows do USAspending and Visible Alpha both support?

Both platforms cover Data APIs, APIs & SDKs, 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?

USAspending offers a free entry point, while Visible Alpha requires a paid subscription. Review the pricing table to see how the paid tiers compare.

How can you access USAspending and Visible Alpha?

Both USAspending and Visible Alpha prioritize web or desktop access. Investors wanting a mobile-first workflow may need to rely on responsive web views.

What unique strengths set the two platforms apart?

USAspending differentiates itself with 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., whereas Visible Alpha stands out for Deep, line‑item consensus built from full working sell‑side models; 7,000+ companies, 250+ contributing brokers, 1M+ consensus line items; 170+ industries covered., VA Actuals: stitched historical fundamentals not always disclosed in filings, integrated with forward estimates for seamless time series., and Excel Add‑in with real‑time updating of figures, pre‑built templates, and one‑click tear‑sheets/export from the web app..

Keep exploring

Stay on top of related tools

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