Market Data API vs Enterprise vs Exchange Link: Which lane fits your stack?

Choosing your crypto data pipeline is like picking a lane on a highway. In the wrong lane, you’re stuck in traffic, missing exits, and watching rivals fly past. In the right lane, you glide with speed and confidence. At CoinAPI, we offer three lanes: Market Data API, Exchange Link, and the Enterprise Plan, each designed for different use cases. Here’s how to decide which one gets you to your destination fastest.

Market Data API

For most developers and teams, the Market Data API is the natural entry point. It takes the chaos of hundreds of exchanges and gives you one consistent, normalized interface.

• Coverage: 380+ exchanges, thousands of assets
• Data: trades, quotes, order books, OHLCV, exchange rates, metrics (funding rates, mark prices, liquidation stats, open interest, volumes)
• Protocols: REST for historical snapshots, WebSocket & FIX for real-time streams, S3 for flat files
• Performance: shared global low-latency infra with automatic GeoDNS routing
• Pricing: A metered plan is available for pay-as-you-go flexibility, starting at just $0.01 per request. For higher-volume needs, published tiers start at $79 / $249 / $599 per month, depending on limits.

Use it when:

• You need a broad view for analytics, dashboards, or backtests.
• You’re integrating crypto into a product where coverage matters more than nanoseconds.
• You want predictable reliability with minimal engineering overhead.
• You need ready-made trading metrics like funding rates, mark prices, or open interest to test strategies or monitor market risk without building your own pipelines

Uniqueness: What sets CoinAPI’s Market Data API apart is that it unifies both raw market feeds (trades, books, OHLCV) and derived analytics (funding rates, mark prices, liquidations) into a single normalized schema across 380+ exchanges. Combined with multi-protocol access (REST, WebSocket, FIX, S3) and flexible authentication (API key, JWT, FIX sessions, AWS signatures), it’s designed to scale from quick backtests to institutional-grade infrastructure without re-architecting your stack

Exchange Link

Sometimes, breadth isn’t enough. If your business relies heavily on a single exchange, or if you need private account data (balances, orders, fills) alongside market feeds, the Exchange Link is built for you.

• Scope: Single exchange connectivity, raw data + private streams
• Trading: Execution-ready: can be paired with EMS Trading API to run algos directly on the venue
• Infrastructure: Dedicated, multi-location deployment; can connect over public internet, private interconnect, or VPC peering
• SLAs: Tailored uptime and latency guarantees
• Pricing: Always enterprise-only and custom-quoted, based on connections, deployment type, connectivity, and SLA/support scope.

Enterprise-grade features available with Exchange Link:

• Dedicated FIX endpoints for ultra-low-latency strategies
• Private networking (VPC peering, Direct Connect, cross-connect) for secure and high-speed connectivity
• Redundant failover deployments to minimize downtime

(Note: These features are also available in the Enterprise Market Data API.)

Use it when:

• You’re an HFT desk that can’t afford shared-infra latency.
• You’re a crypto bank treasury that needs SLA-backed balances and fills.
• You want CoinAPI to manage exchange quirks (rate limits, retries, disconnections) so your team can focus on trading logic.

Uniqueness: Exchange Link stands apart because it provides exclusive, direct data sourcing from a chosen exchange. Unlike shared APIs, your integration runs on dedicated infrastructure with a feed isolated from CoinAPI’s global pipelines, guaranteeing independence and exclusivity. Competitors can’t access it. Integrations are delivered in 3–5 days, with turnkey hosting and maintenance handled by CoinAPI. Clients choose their preferred protocol (REST, WebSocket, FIX, S3) and can scale or shut down at any time. In short, Exchange Link gives you a bespoke data lane - private, fast, and entirely yours.

Exclusive Data, Delivered in 5 Days

One of our enterprise clients, a fintech trading firm building proprietary infrastructure, approached us with a request that went beyond standard exchange integrations. They needed access to a private, exclusive data source that would only be available to them. Unlike our standard Market Data API, this wasn’t a shared integration: it had to be built, hosted, and maintained solely for their use case.

• Proposal & trial: We scoped an integration model that included a dedicated build, hosting, and a defined trial period.
• Outcome: The integration was delivered on time, with predictable maintenance terms and the flexibility to scale or adjust as needed.
• Expansion: Impressed with the results, the client later requested another exclusive integration with a niche liquidity venue. We completed it in under a week under the same flexible model.

Why this mattered to them:

• Exclusive access: competitors had no access to this private feed.
• Choice of protocols: REST, WebSocket, or FIX, depending on workflow.
• Fast delivery: integration turned around in 3–5 days.
• Business impact: exclusive access to a niche liquidity venue gave them a strategic edge, enabling faster testing of new strategies and early access to liquidity that competitors couldn’t reach.

For this client, Exchange Link became a dedicated data lane, giving them control over what to integrate, how to consume it, and when to scale.

Enterprise Plan

For institutions, “best effort” isn’t enough. Enterprise is not just a plan - it’s a contractual commitment. It bundles CoinAPI products under dedicated infrastructure, private networking, and premium support.

• Flexibility: Mix Market Data API, Flat Files, Exchange Link, and EMS Trading API under one umbrella
• Customization: Tailored limits, concurrency scaling, and multi-key management
• Support: Dedicated account manager, premium onboarding, and 24/7 SLA coverage
• Security & Compliance: JWT + API key auth, VPC peering, private interconnect options - plus institutional readiness with SOC2/ISO-aligned practices, audit-ready SLA metrics, and compliance-grade infrastructure. Unlike most providers, SLA latency is independently measurable: clients can verify performance themselves with timestamped logs, ensuring transparency and trust.
• Advanced Features:
  • Tick-by-tick order book data in flat files for research and backtesting
  • Custom API features & roadmap assurance - we adapt our services to institutional needs
• Pricing: Custom-quoted. Once you’re in Enterprise, it’s tailored to your infra and SLA requirements.
• Billing Flexibility: Contracts can be billed monthly or annually, with discounts for upfront annual commitments.

Uniqueness: Enterprise stands apart because it combines dedicated infrastructure with auditable SLAs and collaborative customization. Unlike shared APIs, clients get private FIX endpoints, latency guarantees they can independently verify, and direct engineering support for integration and enhancements. With tick-by-tick coverage, 24/7 premium support, and roadmap assurance, Enterprise isn’t just an API plan - it’s a strategic partnership for institutions that can’t afford downtime or data gaps.

Migration Effort: How Many Code Changes?

Moving from Market Data API to Enterprise usually means zero or near-zero code changes:

• Keep using REST/WebSocket endpoints, just rotate in your new Enterprise API key.
• Endpoints and schemas remain consistent; Enterprise mainly lifts quotas, adds SLAs, and unlocks dedicated infra.

Code only changes if you adopt:

• WebSocket DS (ultra-low-latency) → different endpoints, same schemas.
• FIX API → requires session/cert handling, optional.
• Private endpoints (Direct Connect, VPC peering) → network config changes, not app logic.
• Enhanced security (mTLS, JWT, IP allowlisting) → token/cert handling in your client.
• Flat Files or tick-level order books → add parsing logic in parallel to API calls.

In short, most Enterprise upgrades = key rotation only.

SLA & Guarantees: What You Get

• Market Data API (standard plans)
  • 99.9% uptime SLA
  • Redundant global infra, fast failover
• Enterprise Plan
  • Contract-backed, custom SLAs: uptime %, max response times, support escalation, and resolution timelines
  • Guaranteed 2-hour response times for urgent issues with 24/7 coverage (Urgent = 2h response, High = 8h, Normal = 24h, Low < 46h)
  • Dedicated infra, premium support, and audit-ready SLA monitoring
• Exchange Link
  • Private instance with bespoke SLAs, including uptime + latency commitments
  • Multi-location redundancy
  • Premium support + dedicated Slack channel
  • Optional private interconnect (Direct Connect, VPC, cross-connect) for performance guarantees

Side‑by‑side: choose by requirements

Quick FAQ

Q: How does pricing compare between Exchange Link and Enterprise?

Both are custom-quoted. Exchange Link pricing depends on connections, deployment, connectivity, and SLA needs. Enterprise pricing depends on which APIs you scale (Market Data, Exchange Rates, Indexes, EMS), quotas, and SLA/security requirements.

Context: Market Data API tiers start at $79/month; EMS Pro is $999/month. Above that, both Exchange Link and Enterprise are quote-only.

Q: If I move from Market Data API to Enterprise, how much code changes?

Usually, none: just rotate your API key. Endpoints and schemas stay the same. Code only changes if you adopt options like WebSocket DS, FIX sessions, private endpoints, enhanced security, or Flat Files.

Q: What are the SLA differences?

• Market Data API = 99.9% uptime SLA
• Enterprise = contract-backed SLA with uptime %, latency, and 2-hour urgent response guarantee
• Exchange Link = bespoke uptime + latency SLA with private instance, redundancy, and premium support

Q: Which one should I choose?

• Market Data API = breadth and normalization
• Exchange Link = direct, private, low-latency single-venue trading
• Enterprise = mission-critical operations with tailored SLAs and compliance needs

Bottom Line

Choose Market Data API when you need breadth and normalization at transparent pricing.

Choose Exchange Link when you need direct, private, low-latency access to one exchange with managed reliability.

Choose Enterprise Plan when you need guarantees, compliance, and institutional-grade support across multiple CoinAPI products.

In an ocean of information, the winners are the ones who choose the right data pipe for their edge. Check out the Market Data API docs to get started today - or talk to us about Exchange Link and the Enterprise Plan if your team needs dedicated connectivity, custom SLAs, and guaranteed performance.