A Fair Sharadar Alternative for Point-in-Time Fundamentals

If you searched "Sharadar alternative," you are probably a quant who already respects Sharadar and is checking whether something cheaper, simpler, or more transparent fits your workflow. Good instinct. Let's be honest up front: Sharadar is the strongest credible incumbent in affordable point-in-time (PIT) US fundamentals, and for many backtesters it is the right buy. This page will not trash it. Our goal is to help you pick correctly — which sometimes means sending you to them.

We build Tradevo Data: point-in-time US equity fundamentals sourced from SEC EDGAR (public domain), delivered as one JSON endpoint — a free key at 250 requests/day, $29/mo for bulk and volume. Below is a fair, receipts-first comparison.

What each product actually is

Sharadar Core US Fundamentals (SF1) is a mature, broad dataset distributed through Nasdaq Data Link (and resellers like QuantRocket). It covers 16,000+ US companies including delisted names (no survivorship bias), with fundamentals history from Dec 1997 (per data.nasdaq.com/databases/SF1, checked Aug 2026), ~150 indicators and ratios, and both as-reported and most-recent-restated dimensions (ARQ / ARY / ART / MRQ / MRY / MRT), quarterly and annual, keyed by a datekey that marks when each figure became available.

Tradevo Data is a deliberately narrow, honest budget tier. We cover 5,189 US companies, 312,751 point-in-time rows, 7 core concepts (Revenue, NetIncome, Assets, StockholdersEquity, OperatingCashFlow, EPSDiluted, DilutedShares), up to 12 fiscal years, annual only (10-K and 10-K/A). No quarterly yet. Bulk CSV download + universe snapshot included (Parquet format not yet). US only. Every figure comes straight from EDGAR.

We are not claiming to be "the only cheap PIT provider" — Sharadar and Tiingo exist and are credible. We are the honest, minimal, instantly self-serve option for people who want exactly this slice.

Side-by-side

See the lookahead leak on real filings — 40 companies, 3,280 rows, CC0, no signup. Three minutes in a notebook, before you decide anything.

Sharadar figures per Nasdaq Data Link and reseller documentation. Verify current specifics yourself — see links below.

Our honest edges

1. The point-in-time join is done for you, server-side. With Sharadar you get PIT correctness by choosing an as-reported dimension and filtering datekey <= your_date yourself — powerful, but it is your join to write and your look-ahead bug to avoid. Tradevo Data does it on the server: you call /v1/fundamentals?ticker=AAPL&as_of=2019-03-01, and we return only rows where first_filed <= as_of (same-day inclusive). One request, no assembly.

2. Instant, self-serve, free to start. A free key arrives by email in a minute with no card; the $29/mo plan is issued immediately after Stripe checkout — no license-tier selection, no annual commitment, cancel anytime. 5,000 requests/day and 2,500 distinct tickers/day (use /v1/snapshot or /v1/download for cross-sections). Docs at /docs.

3. No professional / money-management license gate. Sharadar (via Nasdaq Data Link) separates non-professional from professional licensing, which matters if you manage money or operate as a business. Tradevo Data has one plan and no professional/non-professional tiering; the license covers your own internal and commercial analysis and prohibits bulk redistribution or resale of the dataset (terms). The source filings are public domain and the free sample is CC0.

4. Radical transparency, verifiable before you pay. Every row carries first_filed (when the value became public), original_value (first-reported, PIT-safe), latest_value (current revision), a restated flag (>0.5% same-tag revision, amendments included), and a per-row qa_status — issues are flagged, never silently dropped. We label 18,723 restatements. On a 40-company sample of reliable-filing rows we measured mean filing lookahead of 43.4 days (max 61) — a sample figure; across the full universe the reliable-row mean is 66 days (median 60, p90 90; reliable rows are capped at 120 days by our QA rule, so we quote the percentile, not the maximum), because large caps file fastest. The full methodology and 3,280 sample rows are public on GitHub, no signup.

When Sharadar is the better choice

This section is non-negotiable for us, because getting you the right tool is the whole point. Buy Sharadar if:

• You need quarterly data. We are annual-only today. Quarterly is on our roadmap, but if you need 10-Q cadence now, Sharadar has it and we don't.
• You need delisted companies / survivorship-bias-free history. Sharadar's delisted coverage is a genuine strength for realistic long-horizon backtests. Our 5,189 names are active-company focused.
• You need pre-2013 depth. Our 12 fiscal years reach back roughly a decade; Sharadar's fundamentals reach back to Dec 1997 (per data.nasdaq.com/databases/SF1, checked Aug 2026). For multi-cycle studies spanning the dot-com era or 2008, that depth matters.
• You need breadth of fields or ratios. We ship 7 core concepts. Sharadar's ~150 indicators and precomputed ratios will save you a lot of derivation work.
• You need trailing-twelve-month or multiple as-reported dimensions out of the box.

If any of those describe you, go get Sharadar — check their current pricing and licensing directly. You'll be happier, and we'd rather you trust us next time than oversell you today.

When Tradevo Data fits better

Pick us if you want annual PIT fundamentals for large/active US names, delivered as one instant JSON call with the as_of logic already handled, free at 250 requests/day, with every restatement labeled and a CC0 sample you can audit before paying anything. That is a real and common need — factor prototyping, teaching, indie backtests, sanity-checking a vendor, or bolting clean fundamentals onto an existing pipeline without an annual contract.

Try it without paying

Audit the data first. The free sample — 40 large caps, 3,280 point-in-time rows, full methodology, no signup — is on GitHub. Diff it against your existing source before you trust a single row.

When you're ready for the full 5,189-company endpoint, the free API key arrives by email in a minute (250 requests/day, no card); the $29/mo plan adds bulk download, the universe snapshot and 5,000 requests/day — cancel anytime. Read the full methodology and positioning if you want the deeper story on how we build PIT from EDGAR.

Not investment advice. Competitor pricing, coverage, and licensing change — verify Sharadar's current terms on their own pages before deciding. Figures for both products stated as of July 2026.