Compare
TW Market Data vs FinMind vs TEJ vs FinLab: how to choose a Taiwan stock data API
Taiwan stock data APIs come in three common flavors, matching different budgets and levels of granularity: the FinMind API for free community access, TEJ for institutional point-in-time data, and TW Market Data for official value-by-value reconciliation at a self-serve price. This is an honest comparison to help you pick the right tool for your scenario.
Three products, one line each
- FinMind — large free tier, strong community ecosystem, deep chip-flow data. Good for getting started, personal research, and quick prototypes.
- TEJ (Taiwan Economic Journal) — institutional-grade, extremely clean data, complete point-in-time, includes delisted stocks. Taiwan's "Bloomberg/Compustat", but expensive with a high barrier for individual developers.
- FinLab is a quantitative research and backtesting platform. Data is read through its Python package rather than a REST API, and its FAQ states that free accounts reach the end of 2021 while a VIP subscription reaches the latest trading day.
- TW Market Data — first-party official value-by-value traceability, knowledge_date on every record (PIT), honest data_gaps, no-key instant trial, affordable. Positioned between FinMind's accessibility and TEJ's rigor.
Comparison table
| Aspect | FinMind | TEJ | FinLab | TW Market Data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| How you access it | REST API | See their site | Python package (finlab) with api_token | REST API + MCP |
| First-party official source | Partial | ✓ | Not stated in public docs | ✓ (TWSE/TPEx/MOPS/TAIFEX) |
| Coverage and start year | See their published documentation | See their published documentation | See their database directory | Listed from 2004 (1,687 names), OTC from 1994; monthly revenue from 2010-01 |
| Value-by-value reconciliation against official sources | — | — | Not stated in public docs | ✓ (reconciliation mechanism, traceable) |
| Point-in-time / knowledge_date | Approximated from publish date | ✓ (complete) | Not stated in public docs | ✓ (knowledge_date on every record) |
| Includes delisted stocks | Partial | ✓ | Not stated in public docs | ✓ (311 tickers of price history, back to 2004) |
| Honest data_gaps disclosure | — | — | Not stated in public docs | ✓ (no guessed backfill) |
| Free / no-key trial | ✓ (free tier) | ✗ | Free account: data to end of 2021 (their FAQ) | ✓ (5 tickers, no key) |
| Request quota and rate | See their published plans | See their published plans | Not stated in public docs | Free 60 RPM / 1,500 requests per month; paid tiers up to 12,000 RPM / 3,000,000 per month |
| AI-agent integration (llms.txt/openapi) | ✓ (llms.txt + skill) | — | Not stated in public docs | ✓ (llms.txt/llms-full/openapi) |
| MCP connector (use it inside a chat) | See their published documentation | — | Not stated in public docs | Yes — authorize the connector in Claude.ai or ChatGPT |
| Indie-developer-friendly pricing | ✓ | ✗ (expensive) | VIP subscription unlocks data to the latest trading day | ✓ |
| Institutional / chip-flow depth | ✓ (strong) | ✓ | See their database directory | ✓ (per-day, per-ticker) |
The table marks each provider's public positioning only; refer to each provider's own site for actual fields and plans. The TW Market Data column lists shipped capabilities only, with coverage transparently marked per dataset.
Competitor cells describe what each vendor publishes in its own documentation, read on the date shown in the sources below. “Not stated in public docs” is a statement about the documentation, not about the product — a vendor may well do the thing without documenting it.
Sources
Each factual cell about another vendor links the vendor's own page and the date we read it.
- FinMind — 600 requests/hour with a token, 300/hour without. FinMind documentation (read 2026-08-17)
- FinMind — A REST API at api.finmindtrade.com/api/v4/. FinMind documentation (read 2026-08-17)
- FinLab — Data is read through the finlab Python package with an api_token; the documentation describes no REST API. FinLab documentation (read 2026-08-17)
- FinLab — Non-VIP accounts are given data up to the end of 2021; VIP subscribers reach the latest trading day. FinLab documentation (read 2026-08-17)
- FinLab — A VIP subscription is what unlocks data through to the latest trading day. FinLab documentation (read 2026-08-17)
- TEJ — Prices are not published; the site directs enquiries to its contact and consultation pages. TEJ website (read 2026-08-17)
How to choose by scenario
- Getting started / personal research / free exploration → FinMind.
- Institutional-grade, ample budget, want the most complete PIT and delisted stocks → TEJ.
- Want official traceability + point-in-time, but TEJ is too expensive / unfriendly to individuals, and you also want to feed an AI agent → TW Market Data (try 2330 with no key before deciding).
Why "traceability" matters especially for backtesting
Quantitative backtesting fears look-ahead bias and survivorship bias most. The former needs point-in-time — knowing what had been published "at the time"; the latter needs data that includes delisted stocks. TW Market Data carries knowledge_date on every record to support as-of replay, and retains price history for 311 stocks that have stopped trading, covering both biases; gaps are shown explicitly via data_gaps rather than implicitly backfilled.
FAQ
- What Taiwan stock data APIs are there besides FinMind?
- Common choices include TEJ (institutional-grade PIT), TW Market Data (official reconciliation + PIT + affordable + AI-agent), Fugle/Shioaji (broker real-time + order placement), and TWSE/TPEx OpenAPI (official, free).
- Which Taiwan stock API is best for point-in-time backtesting?
- TEJ offers the most complete institutional-grade PIT; for affordable PIT that is friendly to individuals and AI agents, TW Market Data carries knowledge_date on every record, includes delisted stocks, and is honest about data_gaps.
- How does TW Market Data differ from FinMind?
- FinMind is free with a strong community ecosystem; TW Market Data emphasizes official value-by-value traceability, a point-in-time contract, and honest data_gaps disclosure, and gives AI agents llms.txt/openapi discovery entry points. The two can be used together.
- Is there a FinMind alternative for Taiwan stock data?
- FinMind is a capable free option and for many projects it is the right one — this is not a case where the paid product is simply better. Staying on the FinMind API makes sense if a generous free tier and community examples matter most to you. An alternative is worth considering when you need value-by-value traceability against the official source, a point-in-time contract for backtests, or explicit data_gaps disclosure rather than silently filled values. For current limits and dataset coverage, check each provider's own published documentation rather than any third-party comparison — this one included.
- Where do I find FinMind's official documentation?
- FinMind publishes and maintains its own documentation, and that is the authoritative place for its current endpoints, quotas and dataset list. We deliberately do not restate their numbers here: a competitor's summary of another product goes stale and the reader cannot verify it. If you landed here while comparing, the table above states what TW Market Data does — read it alongside their documentation rather than instead of it.