Dev.to
6/24/2026

The SEC has a free financial data API that nobody talks about
Short summary
The SEC's free data.sec.gov API exposes quarterly and annual financial data for all US public companies since 2009 — the same underlying data Bloomberg charges $24k/year for. Access via clean JSON endpoints using company CIK identifiers, with detailed guidance on handling GAAP concept name variations, Q4 synthesis for missing quarters, and calculating free cash flow from operating metrics. Include a User-Agent header with contact email, cache aggressively to respect 10 req/sec limits, and use alias mapping for GAAP naming inconsistencies across companies.
- •SEC's data.sec.gov API is free, well-documented, and contains 15+ years of financial data for all US public companies
- •Implement concept aliasing to handle GAAP naming variations across companies, plus Q4 synthesis and FCF calculation
- •Respect 10 req/sec rate limits and include a User-Agent header with contact email to avoid 403 errors
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