Comparisons · checked November 8, 2026

Public data sources compared

Honest comparisons of the ways to get public data: the official sources, commercial services and Apify Actors, ours included. Every price and limit is quoted from its source with the date we checked it, and every page says where the alternatives are the better choice.

Comparisons

Building permit data APIs comparedCity open-data portals, Shovels, ATTOM and Apify Actors for building permit data: coverage, freshness and published prices, checked November 2026.
PACER docket alert options comparedPACER itself, court RSS feeds, CourtListener docket alerts, PacerMonitor and Apify Actors for new federal court filing alerts: coverage, published prices and limits.
Product recall data sources comparedopenFDA, NHTSA, CPSC, USDA FSIS, Health Canada, UK and EU Safety Gate recall data, and Apify Actors that combine them: access, limits and licences.
Grants.gov API vs alternativesThe Grants.gov search2 API, Simpler.Grants.gov API, the Grants.gov XML extract, SAM.gov, USAspending, Instrumentl and Apify Actors for finding grant opportunities.