Edgrapi vs SEC & government data APIs
Edgrapi is a US government data API that unifies five official sources — SEC EDGAR, SAM.gov, USAspending, Grants.gov and Congress — behind one key, one JSON schema, and one MCP server your agent calls. Here's how that stacks up against wiring each source yourself, and against the other SEC APIs.
The agent-native difference
This is the part no official API matches, and no aggregator matches at this breadth: every Edgrapi
endpoint is also an MCP tool, so an AI agent connects once and calls all 19 across five sources
with open tools/list discovery and no wrapper code. Some single-source APIs now ship their
own MCP server, but each covers one dataset; the official government APIs ship none, so you'd write and
host one per source yourself.
| Edgrapi | Official gov APIs | Data aggregators | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hosted MCP server | Yes — 19 tools | None | Rare / partial |
| One key, every source | Yes | A key per agency | Varies |
| Agent connects with no code | Point and go | Build a wrapper each | Build a wrapper |
Open discovery (tools/list) | Yes | n/a | n/a |
One key vs five official APIs
Every source below is public data. The gap is access and format: some official APIs gate you behind registration or rate tiers, some have no JSON API at all, and each returns a different shape. Edgrapi normalizes all five into one schema on one key.
| Source | Going direct | Through Edgrapi |
|---|---|---|
| SAM.gov contracts | Personal key capped ~10 req/day; 1,000/day needs entity registration (1–4 weeks); keys rotate every 90 days | One key, normalized JSON, get_opportunities |
| USAspending awards | Free & keyless, but a POST-body query language and cursor paging to learn | Plain GET, flat JSON, get_awards |
| Grants.gov grants | Free & keyless, but a POST Search2 API with its own shape; you map CFDA yourself | GET with CFDA included, get_grants |
| Congress trades | Published as scanned PDFs on the House Clerk site — no official JSON API | Parsed to JSON, get_congress |
| SEC EDGAR | Free & keyless, but XBRL tags vary by filer, indexed by CIK not ticker | Normalized statements + ratios, 15 SEC tools (insider, 13F, activist, filings) |
Edgrapi vs building the integrations yourself
The honest DIY comparison. None of this is impossible; it's just five separate integrations, five auth models, and five failure modes to keep alive.
| What you'd build | Doing it yourself | With Edgrapi |
|---|---|---|
| SAM.gov access | Register an entity, rotate the key every 90 days | One key, held for you |
| USAspending queries | Learn the POST query DSL, handle cursors | GET with flat params |
| Grants.gov | POST Search2, map its fields and CFDA | One GET, fields included |
| Congress trades | Scrape and parse House disclosure PDFs | A parsed JSON feed |
| SEC fundamentals | Parse XBRL, resolve CIKs, compute ratios | Normalized + ratios |
| Keys & billing | 5 integrations, 5 failure modes | 1 key, 1 schema, 1 bill |
| AI agents | Write a tool wrapper per source | 19 MCP tools, ready |
SEC data API comparisons
Just here for the SEC piece? These head-to-heads go deep on the financial-data side.
| Edgrapi | Financial Modeling Prep | |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | 100 credits / month, no card | Limited free key |
| Full statements | On every plan, incl. free | Paid tiers (from ~$22/mo) |
| Source | Public SEC EDGAR (authoritative) | Aggregated feeds |
| Focus | Clean US fundamentals + gov data | Broad platform (prices, estimates, global) |
- Edgrapi vs WhaleWisdom — broad SEC data API vs a deep 13F research platform & backtester
- Edgrapi vs sec-api.io — clean fundamentals vs full-text search & exotic forms
- Edgrapi vs Financial Modeling Prep — SEC-direct with a real free tier vs aggregated feeds
- Edgrapi vs edgartools — hosted REST + MCP vs a self-run Python library
- Edgrapi vs raw SEC EDGAR — normalized JSON & ratios vs the free raw source
Per-source landing pages
Want the detail on one government source? Each has its own guide: SAM.gov API, USAspending API, Grants.gov API, and the Congress endpoint.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a free SEC data API?
Yes. The SEC's own data.sec.gov endpoints are free and keyless. Edgrapi runs on that same public data but adds normalization, computed ratios and a free tier (100 credits a month, no card) — plus SAM.gov, USAspending, Grants.gov and Congress on the same key.
Do I need my own SAM.gov API key?
No. Edgrapi holds the SAM.gov key and system-account burden. You call /v1/opportunities
with one Edgrapi key — no 10-request-a-day personal-key wall and no 90-day rotation on your side.
What's the best government data API for AI agents?
Edgrapi is built for agents: every endpoint is also an MCP tool, so one connection gives an agent
SEC, SAM.gov, USAspending, Grants.gov and Congress with open tools/list discovery. The
official government APIs ship no MCP server.
Which data sources does Edgrapi cover?
Five official US sources: SEC EDGAR (filings, insider, 13F, activist, financials), SAM.gov contract opportunities, USAspending awards, Grants.gov grants, and US House Congress stock trades — all normalized to one JSON schema on one key.
Is Edgrapi an alternative to api.data.gov or data.gov?
For these sources, yes. api.data.gov is a raw gateway with no normalization or unified schema. Edgrapi returns clean, consistent JSON across sources and adds an MCP server, a free tier and support.