Source: [canonical HTML](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives)

Compare · Updated 13 November 2026

# GDELT Project alternatives, compared

Three of these return coded events: the GDELT Project, GDELT Cloud and ACLED. Two return searchable news articles: Event Registry and NewsCatcher. Each is compared on what a record is, coverage, access, licence and price, and every fact links to the page it came from.

## At a glance

|  | The GDELT Project | GDELT Cloud | ACLED | Event Registry (NewsAPI.ai) | NewsCatcher |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| What it is | An open project publishing free event, knowledge-graph and news-search data[\[1\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-1) | Codes the GDELT Project article stream into Events, Stories and Entities, served by an API and an MCP server[\[2\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-2)[\[3\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-3) | A US non-profit collecting data on political violence and protest[\[4\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-4) | A news-intelligence API from Event Registry d.o.o. of Ljubljana[\[5\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-5) | News and web-search APIs from NewsCatcher, Inc.[\[6\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-6)[\[7\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-7) |
| A record is | A CAMEO-coded event, a per-article knowledge-graph row, or an article in search results[\[8\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-8)[\[9\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-9)[\[10\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-10) | A coded Event (CAMEO+ or conflict), a Story that clusters the reporting, or an Entity[\[3\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-3) | A coded event with its type, actors, location, fatalities and sources[\[11\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-11) | A news article with entities, topics and sentiment; articles are grouped into multilingual event clusters[\[12\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-12)[\[13\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-13) | A news article, optionally clustered and enriched with entities and sentiment[\[14\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-14) |
| Coverage | Events from 1979 (version 1.0) and February 2015 (version 2.0); 65 languages machine-translated[\[15\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-15)[\[16\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-16)[\[8\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-8) | Worldwide, continuous from 1 March 2026; 175 countries and territories on 11 November 2026[\[17\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-17) | Every country and territory; start years range from 1997 for most of Africa to 2021 for Canada and Oceania[\[18\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-18)[\[11\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-11) | 150,000+ publishers in 50+ languages; archive from 2014[\[12\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-12)[\[19\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-19) | 140,000+ sources in 100+ countries; history from 2019 on Enterprise[\[6\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-6)[\[20\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-20) |
| Updates | Every 15 minutes[\[16\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-16) | Hourly[\[3\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-3) | Coded in real time, published weekly[\[21\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-21) | Minutes after publication[\[12\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-12) | Most content within 10 minutes[\[6\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-6) |
| Access | No key or account: files, BigQuery and keyless APIs; the DOC API is rate-limited[\[1\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-1)[\[22\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-22) | Account and API key; public documentation; MCP server[\[23\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-23)[\[24\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-24) | A myACLED account; API by OAuth token; access level set by your organisation's email domain[\[25\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-25)[\[26\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-26) | Account and API key; public documentation; official MCP server[\[27\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-27)[\[28\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-28) | Self-serve account and key for the News API; older v3 products through sales[\[29\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-29) |
| Licence | Unlimited use, including commercial, with a citation and a link to the GDELT Project[\[30\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-30) | Free: personal evaluation; Academic & Research: publish with credit; Builder, Watch, Analyst, Intelligence: internal use and prototypes; Enterprise: display and reuse by agreement[\[31\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-31) | Non-commercial by default; commercial entities need a corporate licence; attribution required[\[32\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-32)[\[33\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-33) | Paid plans allow commercial use; the data may not be redistributed or resold as such[\[5\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-5) | Commercial data rights on Free and pay-as-you-go; redistribution and resale on Enterprise[\[20\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-20)[\[7\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-7) |
| Price model | Free; BigQuery bills queries beyond 1 TiB a month[\[34\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-34) | Free account with a one-time 200-call API starter credit; monthly plans from $59 (Builder), metered in Query Units[\[35\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-35) | Licences priced on request[\[26\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-26) | Free plan with 2,000 searches; monthly token plans, the 5K plan at $90[\[19\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-19) | 10,000 free credits every 30 days; pay as you go from $25; Enterprise custom[\[20\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-20) |

## The GDELT Project

The GDELT Project publishes CAMEO-coded Events and a Global Knowledge Graph as files every 15 minutes, mirrors them in Google BigQuery, and offers keyless search APIs over recent news[\[16\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-16)[\[1\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-1). Version 1.0 Events reach back to 1979[\[15\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-15). The data is free for any use, including commercial, provided the use cites the GDELT Project and links to its website[\[30\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-30). The DOC and Context APIs are rate-limited, and heavy users are pointed to the downloadable datasets[\[22\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-22).

Endpoints, parameters, limits and errors for each GDELT Project API are in the [GDELT Project API guide](https://gdeltcloud.com/gdelt-api).

## GDELT Cloud

GDELT Cloud reads the GDELT Project article stream every hour and codes its own Events, clusters the reporting into Stories and resolves people, organizations and places to Entities[\[3\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-3). Its conflict Events follow the event types of ACLED's published codebook without using ACLED's data[\[36\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-36). Continuous coding starts on 1 March 2026; backfill of earlier periods is planned. The REST API and the MCP server serve the same records[\[24\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-24).

See the [global events database](https://gdeltcloud.com/data/global-events-database) and the [conflict data API](https://gdeltcloud.com/data/conflict-data-api) for real responses.

## ACLED

ACLED (Armed Conflict Location & Event Data) is a non-profit that codes political violence and demonstrations into events with a disorder type, event type, sub-event type, actors, location and reported fatalities[\[4\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-4)[\[11\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-11). Data is coded in real time and released weekly, with expedited releases on higher access levels[\[21\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-21). API access needs a myACLED account and an OAuth token; the access level follows the organisation's email domain[\[25\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-25)[\[26\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-26). The default licence is non-commercial, and published use must credit ACLED as its attribution policy describes[\[32\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-32)[\[33\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-33).

## Event Registry (NewsAPI.ai)

Event Registry's NewsAPI.ai returns news articles enriched with recognized entities, topics and sentiment, and groups articles about the same happening into multilingual event clusters[\[12\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-12)[\[13\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-13). It lists 150,000+ publishers in 50+ languages with an archive from 2014[\[12\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-12). Plans are monthly token allowances, starting with a free plan of 2,000 searches[\[19\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-19). An official MCP server is available[\[28\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-28).

## NewsCatcher

NewsCatcher's News API returns articles with their title, authors, date, link, language, country and content, with optional clustering and enrichment[\[14\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-14). It lists 140,000+ sources in 100+ countries[\[6\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-6). Pricing is by credit: 10,000 free credits every 30 days, pay-as-you-go top-ups from $25, and custom Enterprise terms, which add history back to 2019 and the right to redistribute[\[20\]](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare/gdelt-alternatives#source-20).

## Which fits

| You need | Look at |
| --- | --- |
| Free, raw event and knowledge-graph files with long history | The GDELT Project |
| Coded Events, Stories and Entities through one API and an MCP server | GDELT Cloud |
| Political violence and protest data with long regional histories | ACLED |
| Searching and monitoring news articles in many languages | Event Registry, NewsCatcher |

A head-to-head of GDELT Project event rows against GDELT Cloud Events for the same articles is on [Situations vs GDELT Project](https://gdeltcloud.com/cleaner-structured-events). Prices and terms change: if one here is out of date, tell us at [hello@gdeltcloud.com](mailto:hello@gdeltcloud.com).

## Next

[GDELT Project API guide →](https://gdeltcloud.com/gdelt-api)[Global events database →](https://gdeltcloud.com/data/global-events-database)[Conflict data API →](https://gdeltcloud.com/data/conflict-data-api)[All comparisons →](https://gdeltcloud.com/compare)

## Sources

1. [1] The GDELT Project, [Data](https://www.gdeltproject.org/data.html)checked 13 November 2026
2. [2] GDELT Cloud, [About](https://gdeltcloud.com/about)checked 13 November 2026
3. [3] GDELT Cloud, [Methodology](https://gdeltcloud.com/methodology)checked 13 November 2026
4. [4] ACLED, [About ACLED](https://acleddata.com/about-acled)checked 13 November 2026
5. [5] Event Registry, [Terms of service](https://newsapi.ai/terms)checked 13 November 2026
6. [6] NewsCatcher, [NewsCatcher](https://www.newscatcherapi.com/)checked 13 November 2026
7. [7] NewsCatcher, [Terms and conditions](https://www.newscatcherapi.com/company/legal/terms-and-conditions)checked 13 November 2026
8. [8] The GDELT Project, [GDELT Event Codebook V2.0 (PDF)](https://data.gdeltproject.org/documentation/GDELT-Event_Codebook-V2.0.pdf)checked 13 November 2026
9. [9] The GDELT Project, [GDELT Global Knowledge Graph Codebook V2.1 (PDF)](https://data.gdeltproject.org/documentation/GDELT-Global_Knowledge_Graph_Codebook-V2.1.pdf)checked 13 November 2026
10. [10] The GDELT Project, [GDELT DOC 2.0 API Debuts!](https://blog.gdeltproject.org/gdelt-doc-2-0-api-debuts/)checked 13 November 2026
11. [11] ACLED, [ACLED Codebook](https://acleddata.com/methodology/acled-codebook)checked 13 November 2026
12. [12] Event Registry, [NewsAPI.ai](https://www.newsapi.ai/)checked 13 November 2026
13. [13] Event Registry, [Documentation: search events](https://www.newsapi.ai/documentation?tab=searchEvents)checked 13 November 2026
14. [14] NewsCatcher, [News API reference: search articles](https://www.newscatcherapi.com/docs/news-api/api-reference/search/search-articles-post)checked 13 November 2026
15. [15] The GDELT Project, [GDELT 1.0 event files](http://data.gdeltproject.org/events/index.html)checked 13 November 2026
16. [16] The GDELT Project, [GDELT 2.0: Our Global World in Realtime](https://blog.gdeltproject.org/gdelt-2-0-our-global-world-in-realtime/)checked 13 November 2026
17. [17] GDELT Cloud, [API responses captured for these pages](https://docs.gdeltcloud.com/api-reference)Our requestchecked 13 November 2026
18. [18] ACLED, [Country and time period coverage](https://acleddata.com/methodology/countrytime-period-coverage)checked 13 November 2026
19. [19] Event Registry, [Plans](https://newsapi.ai/plans)checked 13 November 2026
20. [20] NewsCatcher, [Pricing](https://www.newscatcherapi.com/pricing)checked 13 November 2026
21. [21] ACLED, [When are ACLED data updated?](https://acleddata.com/use-access/when-are-acled-data-updated)checked 13 November 2026
22. [22] The GDELT Project, [Ukraine, API Rate Limiting & Web NGrams 3.0](https://blog.gdeltproject.org/ukraine-api-rate-limiting-web-ngrams-3-0/)checked 13 November 2026
23. [23] GDELT Cloud docs, [API keys](https://docs.gdeltcloud.com/api-keys)checked 13 November 2026
24. [24] GDELT Cloud docs, [MCP server](https://docs.gdeltcloud.com/mcp/overview)checked 13 November 2026
25. [25] ACLED, [API documentation: getting started](https://acleddata.com/api-documentation/getting-started)checked 13 November 2026
26. [26] ACLED, [myACLED FAQs](https://acleddata.com/myacled-faqs)checked 13 November 2026
27. [27] Event Registry, [Documentation: introduction](https://www.newsapi.ai/documentation?tab=introduction)checked 13 November 2026
28. [28] GitHub, Event Registry, [newsapi-mcp](https://github.com/EventRegistry/newsapi-mcp)checked 13 November 2026
29. [29] NewsCatcher, [Quickstart](https://www.newscatcherapi.com/docs/get-started/quickstart)checked 13 November 2026
30. [30] The GDELT Project, [Terms of use](https://www.gdeltproject.org/about.html#termsofuse)checked 13 November 2026
31. [31] GDELT Cloud, [Terms of Service: display rights by plan](https://gdeltcloud.com/terms#display-rights-by-plan)checked 13 November 2026
32. [32] ACLED, [End User License Agreement](https://acleddata.com/eula)checked 13 November 2026
33. [33] ACLED, [Attribution policy](https://acleddata.com/attributionpolicy)checked 13 November 2026
34. [34] Google Cloud, [BigQuery pricing](https://cloud.google.com/bigquery/pricing)checked 13 November 2026
35. [35] GDELT Cloud, [Pricing](https://gdeltcloud.com/pricing)checked 13 November 2026
36. [36] GDELT Cloud docs, [Conflict data](https://docs.gdeltcloud.com/features/conflict-data)checked 13 November 2026