Top Free Sources for Investment Data

Investment data can be very expensive, with Bloomberg Terminals and FactSet data costing thousands of dollars per month for a single seat, so it’s helpful to have a go-to list of top free sources for investment data handy.

Investment data can be very expensive, with professional platforms like Bloomberg Terminals, FactSet, and S&P Capital IQ often costing thousands of dollars per month for a single user license. These tools are invaluable for real-time data access, deep analytics, and integration with modeling workflows—but they come at a steep price. That’s why it’s incredibly helpful to maintain a go-to list of reliable, free investment data sources that can complement or even substitute for premium platforms in certain contexts.

Fortunately, there are many high-quality sources of free investment data available online. These cover a wide range of categories, including historical index prices, factor returns, macroeconomic indicators, S&P 500 constituents and earnings, global equity market performance and fundamental valuation metrics. Free data can be particularly useful for quick checks, sanity testing, educational purposes and long-term research where the cost of premium access would be hard to justify.

While we rely on a suite of professional-grade tools for the bulk of our in-house analytics, modeling, and portfolio construction, we frequently use the free sources listed below to validate data, maintain consistency across systems and improve in our research workflows. These resources are especially useful for exploratory analysis, historical context and keeping a pulse on markets without incurring additional costs.

Investment Data Source #1: Professors Gene Fama and Ken French (Dartmouth College)

Website: https://mba.tuck.dartmouth.edu/pages/faculty/ken.french/data_library.html

Who: Eugene F. Fama (University of Chicago) and Kenneth R. French (Dartmouth College). Pioneers in asset pricing, known for the Fama-French factor models.

Available data:

• • Fama-French factor returns (3-factor, 5-factor models)

  • Momentum factor (Carhart)

  • Size and book-to-market sorted portfolios

  • Industry portfolios

  • International factor returns

  • Risk-free rate (T-bill) data

  • Monthly and daily datasets

Why use this data? Fama-French data is the gold standard for factor investing. The duo were among the first to expand beyond the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and their data sets reach as far back as the 1920’s.

Investment Data Source #2: Professor Robert J. Shiller (Yale University)

Website: http://www.econ.yale.edu/~shiller/

Who: Robert J. Shiller, Nobel laureate and Yale professor, known for behavioral finance and the Case-Shiller Home Price Index.

Available data:

• • Historical stock market data (U.S. equities, S&P 500)

  • Cyclically Adjusted PE Ratio (CAPE/Shiller P/E)

  • Interest rates, dividends, earnings, inflation

  • U.S. real estate prices (Case-Shiller Index)

Why use this data? We like Professor Shiller’s data for its long-term historical perspective on U.S. equity markets, including valuation metrics like CAPE (cyclically adjusted P/E), which help contextualize current market conditions over more than a century of data.

Investment Data Source #3: Cliff Asness & AQR

Website: https://www.aqr.com/Insights/Datasets

Who: Cliff Asness is a co-founder of AQR Capital Management, a quant hedge fund known for factor-based investing.

Available data:

• • Value and momentum factor returns

  • Style premia across asset classes

  • Betting Against Beta, Quality Minus Junk

  • Global equity market factor data

  • Data often tied to published academic papers

Why use this data? AQR data reflects a robust, research-driven factor returns and portfolio strategies—such as value, momentum, and quality—grounded in academic theory and employed in real-money portfolios across global markets.

Investment Data Source #4: Professor Aswath Damodaran (NYU – Stern)

Website: https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/

Who: Aswath Damodaran, NYU finance professor and valuation expert, widely used by students and professionals alike.

Available data:

• • Company-level valuation metrics

  • Industry average multiples (P/E, EV/EBITDA, etc.)

  • Equity risk premiums and country risk data

  • Cost of capital estimates

  • Downloadable Excel files and models

Why use this data? Professor Damodaran’s data covers valuation metrics, country risk premiums and cost of capital estimates that are regularly updated to support corporate finance, valuation and investment analysis.

Investment Data Source #5: Yahoo Finance

Website: https://finance.yahoo.com/

Who: Yahoo’s financial news and data platform, widely used by investors and analysts.

Available data:

• • Historical stock prices and volume

  • Dividend and split history

  • Financial statements (income, balance sheet, cash flow)

  • Stock fundamentals (P/E, beta, EPS, etc.)

  • News, analyst ratings, and earnings calendars

  • Data accessible via yfinance Python library or web scraping

Why use this data? Yahoo Finance data offers quick and free access to stock prices, historical charts, key financials and basic valuation metrics—making it a convenient tool for everyday market checks, lightweight analysis, and retail-friendly research. For those that wish to use code, the data is accessible via an API to Python.

Investment Data Source #6: Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED)

Website: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/

Who: Maintained by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; a go-to source for economic time series.

Available data:

• • Macroeconomic indicators: GDP, CPI, unemployment, interest rates

  • Treasury yields, Federal Funds Rate

  • Money supply (M1, M2), inflation expectations

  • International data and central bank series

  • Over 800,000 time series, API available

Why use this data? FRED is a treasure trove of reliable, up-to-date macroeconomic indicators—like interest rates, inflation, GDP, and employment—sourced from trusted institutions, making it essential for analyzing economic trends, market context and policy impacts on investments.

Maximizing Value with Free Data

While premium data platforms remain essential tools for investment professionals, the wealth of free, high-quality data sources available today makes it easier than ever to conduct rigorous research, validate models, and stay informed—without incurring significant costs.

Whether you’re analyzing long-term equity trends, exploring factor performance, calculating valuation metrics, or tracking macroeconomic developments, the resources above offer reliable, accessible data for a wide range of investment needs.

By combining both paid and free data sources, we enhance the depth, consistency, and agility of our investment research and decision-making process.