Alpaca API vs Interactive Brokers API

Side-by-side facts with sources, last checked 2026-10-16.

Both support live and paper trading. Pricing details here come partly from third-party comparison sources and are marked as such.

Field	Alpaca Trading API	Interactive Brokers API
Category	Broker APIs	Broker APIs
Assets	US stocks, ETFs, options, crypto	global stocks, options, futures, forex
Live vs paper	live and paper	live and paper
Order approval / safety	n/a	unknown
Pricing / free tier	free IEX feed; $99/mo SIP+OPRA	IBKR Pro required for Web API; per-exchange data subscriptions
Rate limits	200 req/min (free); up to 10,000 req/min Algo Trader Plus	TWS: market-data lines/2 req/sec (50 by default); historical pacing 60 per 10 min
Official / community	official	official
Last checked	2026-10-16	2026-10-16
Source	aifinhub.io third-party	aifinhub.io third-party

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