Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (2024)

Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (1)Financial data providers are a key part of a finance professional’s workflow. For the investment banking analyst who needs tofind historical data and forecasts to builda 3-statement model or for the currency trader looking for real-time quotes, having access to up-to-date and accurate financial data is critical.

As it currently stands,the financial data industry is dominated by 4 large providers:

  1. Bloomberg
  2. S&P Capital IQ
  3. FactSet
  4. Refinitiv Eikon (Subsidiary of London Stock Exchange Group, Formerly Thomson Reuters)

All four attempt to offer a one-stop-shop platform that provides all types of financial data services (with a massive price tag, as you’ll see below).

The goal of this article is to provide a thorough comparison of cost, industry relevance (buy-side vs. sell-side), and apps and features that might push users to favor one data provider over another.

Price Comparison at a Glance

PlatformPricingMarket Share (1)
BloombergThe cost of a Bloomberg Terminal is $27,660/year for one license, and terminals are leased on a two-year basis. The price drops to $24,240 per terminal per year for two or more terminals. See below for academic pricing.33.4%
Capital IQThe cost of Capital IQ is not published publicly, as the pricing model is tier-based and tailored to meet the specific needs of each customer.

The lack of transparency around Capital IQ’s pricing stems from their product offerings being customized solutions for the customer profile and specific use-cases.

6.2%
FactSetThe cost of a FactSet subscription is $12,000 per year for the full product.4.5%
Refinitiv EikonThe cost of Eikon is $22,000 per year, but a stripped-down version can cost as little as $3,600 per year.19.6%

(1) Source: Burton-Taylor International Consulting 2020 Financial Market Data Report

Bloomberg

Bloomberg is the 800-pound gorilla in the financial data world, with financial data revenue of approximately $10+ billion. It controls more than ~33% of the financial data market. Its closest rival is Refinitiv Eikon, with ~20% of the market share.

Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (2)

Source: Bloomberg

Bloomberg Pricing

The cost of a Bloomberg Terminal is $27,660 per year, and terminals are leased on a two-year basis. The price drops to $24,240 per terminal per year for 2 or more terminals.

Academic discounts: For universities lookingto power their finance labs with the famous terminals, Bloomberg offers significant incentives. For example, once schools commit to 3 terminals, theycan get nine additional machines for free,dropping the total per-terminal cost to as little as $3,000 per year.

Bloomberg is best for …

Buy-side, sales and trading, and asset management. While the Bloomberg terminal is used across the financial services world, it is used predominantly by portfolio managers, buy-side analysts, and sell-side finance professionals within the sales and trading, and asset management functions.

You absolutely have to go with Bloomberg if …

You’re in any way involved in the bond market. Bloomberg’s fixed income data is second to none. Its data sets are more comprehensive and are updated more quickly than any of its peers, making it especially useful for credit research analysts, fixed income salesand bond traders, andprofessionals in debt capital markets.

Then there’s Bloomberg’s instant messaging service— one of Bloomberg’s arguably stickiest features. Bloomberg’s IM service allows anyone on the terminal to IM with others on the terminal.Why is this exciting? Because if traders at all the trading desks arepostingquotes on Bloomberg IM and nowhere else, you simply have to be on Bloomberg. It’s basically the same reason you’re on Facebook and not on MySpace.

This is a sticky feature for Bloomberg as it faces competition from the Eikon platform and chat-only startup alternative Symphony. In an effort to kill Symphony, in October of 2017 Bloomberg surprised many observers by decoupling IM from the rest of the terminal license. It now charges $10 per month for IM only (your company has to own at least one terminal to be able to get this service for additional users).

You could probably live without Bloomberg if …

You’re in investment banking. Investment bankers do not use Bloomberg as widely as some of their sell-side peers and buy-side professionals. For example, the M&A team at an investment bank might have a couple of Bloomberg Terminals available, but it’s unlikely that each banker will have their own machine.

Instead, investment bankers are far more likely to have their own dedicated FactSet or Capital IQ subscription. That’s because Capital IQ and FactSet have developed specific capabilities such as a click-through function to audit data in source documents, Excel plugins that increase productivity, and company and transaction screening tools designed specifically with the investment banking workflow in mind (more on this below).

Capital IQ

Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (3)

Source: S&P

Capital IQ was founded in 1998 and was acquired by McGraw Hill’s S&P division for $200 million in 2004.

Unlike Bloomberg or FactSet, Capital IQ is a web-based portal accessible from any machine.

The Capital IQ offering was strengthened further in July 2015 with McGraw Hill’s $2.2 billion purchase of rival SNL. While Capital IQ and its largest rival FactSet provide financial data across all sectors, SNL’s strength has been unparalleled financial and transaction data sets within specific sectors, namelyinsurance, banking, real estate, energy, metals and mining, and media.

While S&P does not disclose Capital IQ and SNL revenue separately fromits other data products within the “Markets and Commodities Intelligence” segment, it’s likely that Capital IQ and SNL represent the vast majority of the segment’s $2.2 billion in subscription revenue.

Capital IQ Pricing

Capital IQ’s pricing is non-public information, as mentioned earlier, because the price is specific to the customer and their specific needs.

The flexibility of Capital IQ’s pricing model coincides with the wide range of features offered to customers, unlike many of its competitors that provide strict pricing.

For example, factors that can potentially impact the price include the firm type, size of the firm (AUM), number of licenses, regional location, research report access, configuration needs, and more.

In general, Cap IQ is known for being a more affordable option than Bloomberg, however, the pricing can vary substantially based on the features requested.

Therefore, for the most accurate, up-to-date pricing data, we recommend reaching out directly to Capital IQ’s client support team.

Capital IQ is best for…

Investment banking.Bankers do a lot of data scrubbing, spreading comps and company profiles, and Capital IQ is designed specifically to help with this.

Scrubbing data: When a company reports its third-quarter earnings, the GAAP-based numbers like operating profit, net income and earnings per share are often not the numbers anyone actually cares about. Instead, analysts pore through the footnotes and disclosures to arrive at “normalized” “non-GAAP” data like EBITDA and cash EPS. Finding and scrubbing this data is time-consuming work, and mistakes can significantly impact the output of an investment banker’s analysis.

Capital IQ’s fleet of data scrubbers try to do it for you. Coupled with its killer app that allows analysts to click back to audit the source data, this feature largely explains Capital IQ’s enduring popularity in the investment banking world.

Click-through to audit source data: One of its early killer apps was a feature that allows analysts to click-through to audit source data. For example, when a user wants to verify that Capital IQ correctly arrived at Walmart’s EBITDA, he/she can simply click through from the portal to the source documents.

Excel plugin: Capital IQ’s Excel plugin enables analysts to pull data directly into Excel. While not as robust as FactSet’s Excel plugin, which has robust productivity-enhancing tools like custom Excel formatting macros and PowerPoint presentation macros, Capital IQ has made strides in bridging the divide with some custom Excel shortcuts and formatting macros.

You absolutely have to go with Capital IQ if …

You’re on the go and need to access financial data from a variety of computers.While Bloomberg access requires a dedicated terminal and FactSetaccess requires asoftware installation on each machine, your Capital IQ account can be accessed from a web browser anywhere.

You could probably live without Capital IQ if …

Real-time market data isn’t critical for your job. This is where Bloomberg (the king), along with FactSet and Refinitiv Eikon, are better than Capital IQ. The kinds of roles where this really matters are on the buy side, in sales and trading, and in public equities and fixed income.

FactSet

Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (4)

As of 2017, FactSet had 89,000 clients with total revenue of approximately $1.3 billion, making it the fourth largest player in the financial data space after Bloomberg, Refinitiv Eikon, and S&P (Capital IQ + SNL). Per FactSet’s 2017 10K, buy side clients accounted for 84.1% of revenue, while the remainder came from the sell side (i.e. M&A, capital markets and equity research).

FactSet pricing

The cost of a FactSet subscription is $12,000 per year for the full product.

FactSet is best for …

Investment bankers. FactSet is comparable to Capital IQ in terms of scope of data and functionality. Much of Capital IQ’s early strength has been bridged by FactSet, which now boasts its own set of comprehensively scrubbed financial data, estimates and click-through functionality.

You absolutely have to go with FactSet if …

Your life revolves around making pitchbooks. While Capital IQ’s Excel CIQ codes are somewhat easier to work with, FactSet’s 2007 purchase of DealMaven gives FactSet users the ability to increase financial modeling efficiency via helpful formatting and custom macro shortcuts that Capital IQ hasn’t quite caught up to yet.In addition, FactSet’s PowerPoint plugin enables bankers to automate much of the pitchbook presentation process. Another frequently cited FactSet advantage over Capital IQ is the ease of navigation and getting around the user interface.

You should consider something other than FactSet if …

You need equity research. FactSet does not offer robust equity research access. You could, of course, access this through another service, but if you want it all in one place, FactSet isn’t the right choice. Perhaps even moreof a deterrent for some is that FactSet requires a physical installation on each machine, and it is only allowed on two machines per subscription.

Capital IQ vs FactSet: Comparison of features that matter to investment bankers

FeatureAdvantage
Fundamental data, Estimates, Conference call transcriptsS&P (Capital IQ +SNL)
Real-time market dataFactSet
Equity ResearchS&P (Capital IQ +SNL)
User interfaceFactSet
Unique data setsFactSet
Transaction screeningS&P (Capital IQ +SNL)
Excel pluginFactSet
Access data on a browser from any computerS&P (Capital IQ +SNL)
CostFactSet

Refinitiv Eikon

Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (5)

Source: Thomson Reuters

Refinitiv Eikon Cost

While Capital IQ differentiates itself on cost, its focus on fundamental data, and usefulness on the sell side, Eikon is the most direct competitor to the Bloomberg Terminal. The cost of Refinitiv Eikon is $22,000 per year, but a very stripped-down version can cost as little as $3,600 per year.

Refinitiv Eikon is best for …

Those who would otherwise buy Bloomberg but want something cheaper. It has a lot of the same financial data as Bloomberg but is generally considered to be the lesser option in terms of data breadth. To put it bluntly, it’s what you get junior staff if you want to save on costs while the senior folks are using Bloomberg.

Honorable mentions

  • PitchBook: Unlike the other financial data providers, PitchBook is focused on private transactions and creating buyers lists.
  • Mergermarket: A database of M&A transactions. While Capital IQ and FactSet maintain large M&A databases and have tools for screening M&A and other transactions, Mergermarket is specifically dedicated to hunting down details for M&A deals. Because it specializes in M&A, it’s not a substitute for FactSet’s or Capital IQ’s broad data sets and features. Rather, it’s a supplement when finding historical transaction data is critical to the job.
  • The rest: A growing number of small startups are trying to disrupt the industry with their own specific features and a lower price tag. For example, Symphony is attempting to peel users away from Bloomberg’s popular instant message service; Estimize wants to give estimates to the masses through crowdsourcing; and Briefing.com and money.net are going after news, charting and real-time data. While their day might come, they have not yet meaningfully threatened the Big Four. When serious finance professionals need financial data, most are still coughing up serious $$$ for one of the big providers.

Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (6)

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Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (8)

MK00

September 8, 2019 11:38 am

As a non-US individual investor, I used Bloomberg for like six years and finally quit as I was fed up with their arrogance. Any complaints and they respond with (Goldman Sacks) having 2000 terminals and they’re like “who are you to talk with one subscription?” This happening not because IRead more »

22

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Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (9)

CJM

April 12, 2020 7:09 pm

Reply toMK00

You can get a lot of banker assistance for the $2k a month you’re saving. The only thing I miss is the messaging. I used to work at a Chicago prop desk and was able to keep up with my former colleagues and still ‘be a name’, which evaporated alongRead more »

1

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Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (10)

Derek Casanares

October 2, 2022 9:48 am

Reply toMK00

Thank you for your response I’m an individual who wants to start looking at tools to use and I was like Bloomberg would be fairly expensive for a newbie like me so I will look at Yahoo Finance and Interactive Brokers.

Reply

Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (11)

Brad Barlow

October 4, 2022 9:36 am

Reply toDerek Casanares

Yes, thank you MK00 for this contribution. Those are great open-source places to begin.

BB

Reply

Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (12)

Kevin Laffey

May 8, 2023 11:27 pm

Reply toDerek Casanares

See my response to MK00 above. Check out Barchart.com. I’m not affiliated. Just a happy user

Reply

Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (13)

Kevin Laffey

May 8, 2023 11:25 pm

Reply toMK00

MK00, check out Barchart.com. Fantastic website and inexpensive annual subscription. They’re the reincarnation of the old Commodity Research Bureau (CRB) which began in 1934. Amazing features. And they recently developed an Excel add-in that’s very powerful and can be enabled for real-time market data. They cover equities and futures inRead more »

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Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (14)

Lindi Barla

August 24, 2018 3:25 am

Interesting overview, just a quick note on FactSet, FactSet does nowadays offer access to its applications through a (not locally installed) weblink and a mobile app. Makes for easier access for some users indeed.

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Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (15)

Haseeb Chowdhry

September 11, 2018 3:11 pm

Reply toLindi Barla

Thanks for letting us know Lindi!

Reply

Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (16)

Harry

December 20, 2019 6:45 am

Bloomberg is the go to for fixed income, without a shadow of doubt. But for Portfolio Managers and buy side analysts, FactSet is the tool. Firstly, $12,000 is the very basic price, which doesn’t actually give you a lot, it’s their entry level price. To get the full range ofRead more »

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Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (17)

Jeff Schmidt

December 25, 2019 2:09 pm

Reply toHarry

Harry:

Thanks for the color.

Best,
Jeff

Reply

Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (18)

Fromowitz

December 5, 2019 5:29 am

As of 2020 you would use : BBG – Fixed Income and OTC; Trading CiQ – as reported historical financials (PE/VC , partly used in M&A) TR – Treasury, News, Datafeeds (core data), Prices Corporate Actions FDS – Research, Analysis, Attribution, Multi Asset PM and Risk, Screening, Backtesting, Excel, AlternativeRead more »

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Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (19)

Jeff Schmidt

December 5, 2019 10:13 am

Reply toFromowitz

Thanks for the color and your thoughts.

Best,
Jeff

Reply

Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (20)

JohnC

July 20, 2020 10:53 am

Excellent comparison – a lot of work went into this study. I am interested in the time (i.e number of days) it takes to post fundamental company data (i.e. balance sheet, income statement, sources of capital, etc.) following the release of the data by the company. Does anyone have comparativeRead more »

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Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (21)

Kevin Laffey

May 8, 2023 11:31 pm

Reply toJohnC

Good Q

Reply

Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (22)

Sanjay

June 6, 2019 7:36 am

Hey, I new to the Industry, and without hands on any of these it would be difficult to break into the Industry. How can a newbie learn any 1 of them to get a break or can get even an internship somehow.

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Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (23)

Jeff Schmidt

June 6, 2019 2:59 pm

Reply toSanjay

Sanjay: Are you currently in university? Many schools have Bloomberg terminals you can use. Outside of that, you really won’t be able to practice using these data sources until you are on the job. I wouldn’t let that get you down as I doubt anyone will hire you based onRead more »

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Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (24)

Kevin Laffey

May 8, 2023 11:43 pm

Reply toSanjay

Sanjay, Bloomberg offers a certification course which is inexpensive and even free or close for bona fide students. It’s called Bloomberg Market Concepts and it’s designed to pre-qualify newcomers (or old comers!) on BBG terminal functionality and features. Just google ‘Bloomberg Market Concepts’ and you’ll likely see a link forRead more »

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Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (25)

Maxim Platonov

December 16, 2021 12:11 pm

I am wondering where you get this prices from… I just received a proposal from BBG and it does not match your numbers :-/

3

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Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (26)

Jeff Schmidt

December 16, 2021 2:28 pm

Reply toMaxim Platonov

Maxim:

Feel free to let us know details and we can update the article!

Best,
Jeff

2

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Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (27)

Maxim Platonov

December 17, 2021 4:11 am

Reply toJeff Schmidt

Hi Jeff, Sure, here you go. There are two options available: 1) Single Location (Multi-User/Shared Access)* One or more users can access the subscription on a single PC. Each PC requires its own subscription and remote access is not available; 2) Bloomberg Anywhere (Individual Access)* Only one user can accessRead more »

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Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (28)

Jeff Schmidt

December 18, 2021 1:16 pm

Reply toMaxim Platonov

Maxim:

Thanks!

Best,
Jeff

Reply

Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (29)

Khandu Gandu Sathe

June 3, 2018 1:25 am

good topic. i work on bloomberg

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Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (30)

Janson

September 1, 2021 3:12 pm

Bloomberg PricingThe cost of a Bloomberg Terminal is $24,000 per year, and terminals are leased on a two-year basis. The price drops to $20,000 per terminal per year for 2 or more terminals. Academic discounts:For universities lookingto power their finance labs with the famous terminals, Bloomberg offers significant incentives. ForRead more »

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Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (31)

Jeff Schmidt

September 1, 2021 7:15 pm

Reply toJanson

Janson:

I don’t have current pricing but I would suspect it is generally close.

Best,
Jeff

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Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (32)

Elizabeth O

June 9, 2021 2:23 pm

FactSet offers a nice package for Law Firms and the Legal Professionals.

2

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Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (33)

Albert

August 15, 2019 2:24 am

Hi. How up to date is your pricing? The reason I’m asking is because I can’t seem to find the USD 3,600 a year Thomson Reuters Eikon offering. Lowest I hear is around 6000 a year

2

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Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (34)

Jeff Schmidt

August 15, 2019 10:30 am

Reply toAlbert

Albert:

I don’t currently have pricing but I’m open to someone else chiming in.

Best,
Jeff

1

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Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (35)

Alexander Hyll

September 6, 2019 8:38 am

Reply toAlbert

The pricing of Eikon is highly dependent on what type of data you are looking for. You will not get something that is professionally usable for $3600, but you can get your hands on a subscription for prices in that range. However, if you want to have data coverage overRead more »

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Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (36)

P Hamidi

September 16, 2019 2:12 am

Reply toAlexander Hyll

Eikon (Refinitiv) has significantly improved its offering over the past two years. That said, they’re still lagging far behind when it comes to high level support involving advanced functionalities and platform capabilities. Many times, I found myself providing tech support to Eikon support reps when I inquired about features suchRead more »

Reply

Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (37)

P Pat

March 12, 2021 11:31 pm

Reply toAlexander Hyll

Can you elaborate on what you get for $1500/month or the bare bones? Does getting bond pricing make Eikon pretty much as costly as Bloomberg?

Reply

Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (38)

Kevin Laffey

May 9, 2023 12:30 am

Reply toP Pat

See Metastock’s Xenith offering. That’s the one

Reply

Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (39)

Pej Hamidi

September 16, 2019 2:20 am

Reply toAlbert

If you want Eikon and want to save thousands of dollars per month, it’s easy. Go to http://www.equis.com and get a subscription to Xenith, which is Eikon under a different name. Equis was spun out from Thomson Reuters many years ago. The carve out included Metastock and Equis focuses primarilyRead more »

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Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (40)

Kevin Laffey

May 9, 2023 12:33 am

Reply toPej Hamidi

Exactly. Xenith is the ticket for everyone not using soft dollars to pay for the big subs.

Reply

Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (41)

Elbert Pattijn

September 16, 2019 9:20 pm

Reply toAlbert

Yeah they are offering now around USD 500 per month

Reply

Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (42)

Kevin Laffey

May 9, 2023 12:28 am

Reply toAlbert

So Refinitiv also owns Metastock and through them they offer Xenith, which is the ‘stripped down’ but still very capable depending on your needs version of Eikon. I think it’s now only around $2k/yr excluding real time data fees of course. If you’re not a fund paying for Eikon orRead more »

Reply

Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (43)

john

July 11, 2019 6:58 am

Great article. I think Dealogic must be mentioned as it’s the largest M&A, ECM, DCM database in the market, plus their parent company (ION) just acquired Acuris (owner of Mergermarket, Debtwire, etc). Any idea of the Alternative Investments Data Market size? Trying to estimate a size for the market, playersRead more »

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Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (44)

Jeff Schmidt

July 11, 2019 11:32 am

Reply tojohn

John:

Unfortunately, we do not have any data for that determination.

Best,
Jeff

1

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Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (45)

George Stellar

May 23, 2022 12:54 pm

Certainly these 4 are great global solutions. There are more that are geo-focus such as Teaser Platform which concentrates on MENA region specifically.

http://www.teaser.co

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Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (46)

Brad Barlow

May 23, 2022 3:13 pm

Reply toGeorge Stellar

Hi, George,

Thanks for this additional information!

BB

Reply

Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (47)

Enkipa

October 12, 2021 10:50 am

Anyone know which might be best simply for market prices? I need futures, options on futures and fixed income prices (or yields, or both) for popular issues (mainly govt, some benchmark commercial).

1

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Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (48)

Jason

March 26, 2023 10:54 pm

Reply toEnkipa

S&P Cap IQ should be the cheapest of the 4 for that, but you should also check out some retail trading platforms. They may have good pricing. If you want real-time data you will still have to pay monthly fees with the exchanges or providers for this.

Reply

Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (49)

Brad Barlow

March 27, 2023 2:53 pm

Reply toJason

Hi, Jason, thanks for these additional inputs!

BB

Reply

Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (50)

Kevin Laffey

May 8, 2023 11:51 pm

Reply toEnkipa

Sounds like you’re keen on maybe doing some Treasury bond basis and/or relative value / yield curve trading there. CQG integrated client is typically the go-to platform for that. Cheers

Reply

Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (51)

IBanker

September 8, 2020 7:01 am

Good comparison. Any idea on Evaluatepharma, Globaldata and any other sector-based datasources? I guess these are sector-specific, but would be interesting to know their pricing.

1

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Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (52)

Jack

August 23, 2020 2:47 pm

Hi, I’m interested in purchasing an annual subscription that provides equity research access (GS, JPM, etc.). I’ve read through the above, but can’t determine which one would be best for my needs there. Can anyone chime in? Thanks!

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Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (53)

IBanker

September 10, 2020 2:08 pm

Reply toJack

Banks typically prefer ThomsonOne / Eikon for this. Although GS and few other bulge brackets would count as “premium reports” and would fall outside the subscription, you’ll get most branded in Eikon (JPM, Jefferies, UBS, Cowen etc.).

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Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (54)

Jason

March 26, 2023 11:18 pm

Reply toIBanker

@ibanker, depends if user is a client of those banks and is able to access real-time research. If nor, then embargoed (delayed) research can be purchased through Refinitiv or FactSet.

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Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (55)

Brad Barlow

March 27, 2023 2:52 pm

Reply toJason

Hi, Jason, thanks for these additional inputs!

BB

Reply

Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (56)

Kevin Laffey

May 9, 2023 12:07 am

Reply toJason

Correct. Solution: broker with a prime and set up your own executing broker relationships as needed to pay for the research (and the Bloomberg!) with soft dollars (commissions paid above and beyond what the exciting broker charges to perform the transaction). The broker banks your soft dollars and you tellRead more »

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Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (57)

Leigh Eichel

September 6, 2019 4:40 pm

Excellent Article. Alpha Vee’s terminal is also a notable one to mention for Equity buy side work

1

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Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (58)

KUMAR RAJ

June 14, 2018 4:15 pm

Good topic about the Market data providers, am feeling proud to worked with S&P Global(Capital IQ)…

1

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Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (59)

Tamim Abdullah

June 18, 2020 8:59 am

Reply toKUMAR RAJ

i would contact with you

Reply

Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (60)

crypt

February 5, 2022 2:49 am

what would be a feature that should be in capital IQ pro which is lacking big time any guess?

Reply

Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (61)

Brad Barlow

February 7, 2022 3:36 pm

Reply tocrypt

CapIQ is not as good for real-time market data, but excellent for financial data.

1

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Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (62)

Steve Gray Booyens

August 26, 2021 12:51 pm

recommendations for JSE equity market?

Reply

Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (63)

Kevin Laffey

May 9, 2023 12:39 am

Reply toSteve Gray Booyens

Depends on how deep you need to be

Reply

Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (64)

Christoph Mues

September 28, 2020 9:33 am

In 95% of the cases I am only looking for valuation comps of previous transactions, listed comparables, sector comps etc for my specific client. I don’t need share prices, analyst research, data feed, news, etc. What would you guys recommend of the above, and would maybe mergermarket or Zephyr fromRead more »

Reply

Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (65)

Lohan

September 10, 2020 8:29 am

Is there any comparison between Capital IQ, FactSet and EquityRT. I assume that all of them are good for equity research, but was wondering if all bases (Sell side, Buy side & asset management) are covered, which would be the most effective platform? I know all of them have aRead more »

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Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (66)

Yadhna Singh

September 11, 2020 1:39 pm

Reply toLohan

Hey, I was deciding to get Factset but after trying out EquityRT I decided to give it a shot. Been using EquityRT for a while now. It’s a new platform on the market. Very easy to use and has an impressive Equities coverage. Also way way cheaper. Will 100% recommendRead more »

4

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Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (67)

Ash

March 5, 2019 8:19 pm

How does Marketmap by FIS Global compare against the other data terminals?

Reply

Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (68)

Jeff Schmidt

March 7, 2019 5:45 pm

Reply toAsh

Ash:

We are not sure as no one at WSP has worked with that platform.

Best,
Jeff

Reply

Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (69)

Jason

March 26, 2023 11:15 pm

Reply toAsh

Marketmap (from SunGuard acquisition) is dated, clunky and frustrating to use). They don’t have nearly as many options, but idntou just care about pricing data it’s okay.

Reply

Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (70)

Brad Barlow

March 27, 2023 2:53 pm

Reply toJason

Hi, Jason, thanks for these additional inputs!

BB

Reply

Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (71)

Syed Babar Ali

November 27, 2018 8:13 am

Also, Metisglobal has not been compared. And I wonder why it is quite popular in Pakistan – definitely after bloomberg.

Reply

Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (72)

Haseeb Chowdhry

November 27, 2018 10:13 am

Reply toSyed Babar Ali

Syed,

Appreciate you sharing your knowledge – thanks!

Best,
Haseeb Chowdhry

Reply

Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (73)

Syed Babar Ali

November 25, 2018 10:29 pm

Please compare them from the perspective of sell-side equity research professionals.

Reply

Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (74)

Haseeb Chowdhry

November 26, 2018 12:10 pm

Reply toSyed Babar Ali

Syed,

Thanks for your suggestions! I would say broadly, each system has its relative strong/weak points. Is there any specific question you have in mind? Thanks!

Reply

Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (75)

Syed Babar Ali

November 26, 2018 1:27 pm

Reply toHaseeb Chowdhry

I am a researcher who is currently working on a project related to sell-side equity research. I really think it would be good for me to write a comparative note on these information services. Also, I am based in Pakistan, so some of those might not be relevant.

Reply

Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (76)

Haseeb Chowdhry

November 26, 2018 2:37 pm

Reply toSyed Babar Ali

Syed, Yes – beyond this post, our experiences are more individualized. I would say Bloomberg is superior for market-related data. In terms of analytics/financial information, you can get a ton of information from every provider, but then there are specific metrics that are calculated that are sometimes difficult to interpret.Read more »

1

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Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (77)

Sreeja

June 8, 2018 2:15 am

Good comparison in terms of pricing info & product offerings. I worked with S&P Capital IQ.

Reply

Bloomberg vs. Capital IQ vs. Factset vs. Refinitiv (2024)

FAQs

Is Refinitiv similar to Bloomberg? ›

The two have quite similar features, too — like Bloomberg, Refinitiv Eikon delivers proprietary news and analysis (Thomson Reuters) as well as access to collaboration tools that connect users to a network of 30K+ firms in 180+ countries around the world.

Why is FactSet better than Bloomberg? ›

FactSet is half the price of Bloomberg and offers a simpler user interface. It also offers certain formatting and macro shortcuts. FactSet offers similar features to CapitalIQ when comes to sifting through data. FactSet makes it possible to go directly to the most important line items of each financial statement.

Are FactSet and Bloomberg competitors? ›

FactSet competitors include S&P Global, Thomson Reuters, Bloomberg and Data Axle.

Is Capital IQ similar to Bloomberg? ›

Capital IQ Pricing

In general, Cap IQ is known for being a more affordable option than Bloomberg, however, the pricing can vary substantially based on the features requested. Therefore, for the most accurate, up-to-date pricing data, we recommend reaching out directly to Capital IQ's client support team.

Why do people still use Bloomberg? ›

The Bloomberg Terminal revolutionized an industry by bringing transparency to financial markets. More than four decades on, it remains at the cutting edge of innovation and information delivery — with fast access to news, data, unique insight and trading tools helping leading decision makers turn knowledge into action.

Who is the competitor of Refinitiv? ›

Refinitiv's competitors and similar companies include FactSet, Bloomberg, S&P Global, Moody's, Dun & Bradstreet, ICAP, IHS Markit and PitchBook Data. Refinitiv (formerly the Financial and Risk business of Thomson Reuters) is a provider of financial markets data and infrastructure.

Who is the competitor of FactSet? ›

FactSet's competitors and similar companies include Bloomberg, S&P Global, Morningstar, MSCI, SimCorp, BlackRock, Refinitiv and ITRex. FactSet Research Systems is a company specializing in financial data and software solutions. Bloomberg is a financial software, data, and media company.

What makes FactSet different from its competitors? ›

FactSet provides its services for a lower price than some of its competitors because the company uses multiple sources to provide its data, which creates pricing competition between suppliers.

What is the competitive advantage of FactSet? ›

Advantage: Competitive Pricing Strategy and High ROIC

FactSet is able to provide quality services at a lower price because it does not depend on a single resource for the data, which allows FactSet to keep its operational costs lower by creating competition between its suppliers.

Who is the main competitor of Bloomberg? ›

Thomson Reuters is a company that provides business information services. Morningstar is a provider of independent investment research. Refinitiv (formerly the Financial and Risk business of Thomson Reuters) is a provider of financial markets data and infrastructure.

Do people still use Bloomberg? ›

While the Bloomberg Terminal remains the dominant technology platform in the financial world for market data, analysis, and breaking headlines, several other competitors exist.

What is the replacement of Bloomberg? ›

Compare the Best Bloomberg Terminal Alternatives
CompanyPriceFree Trial
Symphony Best for Live ChatPricing available upon requestYes
YCharts Best for Data VisualizationPricing available upon requestYes, seven-day
AlphaSense Best for Market ResearchPricing available upon requestYes
3 more rows

What is the new name for Capital IQ? ›

The company was first bought by McGraw-Hill Financial in 2004 when it was called Capital IQ. McGraw-Hill has since been rebranded as S&P Global and Capital IQ is now known as S&P Capital IQ.

How reliable is Capital IQ? ›

Cap IQ maintains a reliable and continuously updated store of M&A transactions that one can reference for the purpose of analyzing deal activity in a particular industry subsector.

Who bought Capital IQ? ›

NEW YORK, Jan. 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI), provider of credit ratings, benchmarks and analytics, has announced the acquisition of ChartIQ, a premier charting provider for the financial services industry.

What coding language does Bloomberg prefer? ›

Our Python developers have a hand in almost everything we do as a company, from financial analysis to data science.

What is so great about Bloomberg? ›

In addition to monitoring news and markets, Bloomberg can also be used to analyze individual securities. In fact, the analytics available in Bloomberg are quite robust, and they cover a number of major asset classes including equities, fixed income, currencies, commodities, mutual funds and ETFs.

Is Bloomberg no longer free? ›

For unlimited streaming on our digital platforms, a Digital or All Access subscription is needed. Video on demand clips, archived programming and podcasts are accessible to all users without a subscription. Please click here for more information on Bloomberg TV+.

What did Refinitiv used to be called? ›

History. Refinitiv's predecessors include Thomson Financial. Thomson Reuters sold a 55% majority stake in its Financial & Risk (F&R) unit to private equity firm Blackstone Group LP on October 1, 2018, in a deal which valued the total F&R business at about $20 billion. This business was formed into Refinitiv.

Is Refinitiv credible? ›

A trusted source of data and insights for journalists across the world. Refinitiv has comprehensive and trusted data covering investment banking, funds, bonds, earnings, macroeconomic indicators, FX, commodities and more.

Is Refinitiv data accurate? ›

Refinitiv economics point in time offers the highest data quality and brings greater precision to your analysis. With a value accuracy rate of 99.85%, it regularly exceeds our rigorous targets for both headline and component economic series.

Why do you choose FactSet? ›

Why Work at FactSet. FactSet creates data and software solutions for tens of thousands of investment professionals around the world, providing instant access to financial data and analytics that investors use to make crucial investment decisions.

How good is FactSet? ›

FactSet Reviews FAQs

Is FactSet a good company to work for? FactSet has an overall rating of 4.1 out of 5, based on over 3,803 reviews left anonymously by employees. 87% of employees would recommend working at FactSet to a friend and 82% have a positive outlook for the business.

What are the ratings of FactSet? ›

01Ratings
RatingActionDate
BBBAffirmed28-Apr-2023

Do investment bankers use FactSet? ›

Additionally, it is useful for investment bankers who need to create pitchbooks and conduct financial modeling, as this platform offers real-time market data, unique data sets, and Excel plugins. Financial professionals also prefer Factset because it is customizable and offers financial product subscriptions.

What technology is used in FactSet? ›

FactSet applies multiple AI technologies, including large language models to provide unique predictive insights for financial professionals in a variety of roles. These insights include predictions for companies that may be vulnerable to shareholder activism, or candidates for issuing secondary equity or new debt.

What companies use FactSet? ›

Companies Currently Using FactSet
Company NameWebsitePhone
Wells Fargowellsfargo.com(866) 878-5865
Citiciti.com(800) 285-3000
Fidelity Investmentsfidelity.com(617) 563-9840
American Century Investmentsamericancentury.com(816) 531-5575
2 more rows

What is the main product of FactSet? ›

FactSet creates flexible, open data and software solutions for over 180,000 investment professionals worldwide, providing instant access to financial data and analytics that investors use to make crucial decisions.

Who is FactSet owned by? ›

FactSet is a financial data and software company, providing integrated and software. The company was founded by Howard Willie and Charles Snyder in September 1978. F. Philip Snow is the CEO of the company, located in Norwalk, Connecticut.

What are the 4 competitive advantages? ›

The four primary methods of gaining a competitive advantage are cost leadership, differentiation, defensive strategies and strategic alliances.

What is the alternative to Reuters and Bloomberg? ›

Top 10 Alternatives to Bloomberg Terminal
  • Refinitiv Eikon.
  • AlphaSense.
  • S&P Capital IQ Pro.
  • YCharts.
  • PitchBook.
  • Sentieo by AlphaSense.
  • S&P Capital IQ Platform.
  • FactSet Research Management.

Who reads Bloomberg? ›

Bloomberg News is read by more than 325,000 Terminal subscribers, who are among the most influential people in business and finance in the world.

Who are the top Bloomberg clients? ›

For instance, Bank of America, Citi group, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan and Hedge funds/mutual funds/asset management/brokers firms like bridge water, WisdomTree, Black Rock etc… Also some universities like Harvard and UCLA. Bloomberg has a very diversified client list for its terminal services.

How reliable is Bloomberg data? ›

Both Bloomberg L.P. and Reuters are now seen by many as the fastest and most credible digital information sources in the financial industry, providing data and financial news to hundreds of thousands of investors and traders globally.

How to get Bloomberg for free? ›

You can sign up for our free newsletters at www.bloomberg.com/newsletters. Get a daily briefing on the biggest stories of the day, hear from your favorite Bloomberg columnists or get insights and analysis from our Markets and Technology reporters. For live video, you have 30 mins of free access every 24 hours.

How do I compare companies on Bloomberg? ›

To compare a security's returns to its benchmark index, major competitors and industry groups, when available, type the company's symbol, then country code, next the EQUITY key, then type COMP, and press the GO key.

How much is Capital IQ? ›

Although S&P Capital IQ has not outright placed its cost, industry averages place its subscription at around $30,000.

Does Bloomberg have a hedge fund? ›

Our Hedge Fund Solution Suite lays out a framework of practical solutions that can help you make smarter, more informed financial technology decisions.

Can anyone use Capital IQ? ›

Capital IQ is available to students, faculty, researchers, and staff for non-commercial academic research.

How many companies are on Capital IQ? ›

Company Information

Company Intelligence provides comprehensive information on over 60,000 public companies, 685,000 private companies, 10,600 private capital firms, 312,000 transactions and 985,000 professionals worldwide.

How many companies are in Capital IQ? ›

The S&P Capital IQ Pro platform provides an unrivaled breadth and depth of data and research. As well as exclusive sector and quantamental research, we provide real-time and Aftermarket Research reports from more than 1,800 brokerage, independent, and market research providers.

Does Capital IQ have analyst reports? ›

Using Capital IQ, you can search for analysts' research reports on public companies, mutual funds and industries. From your dashboard, or any other screen on Capital IQ, place your cursor over the tab titled Research, on the horizontal row of tabs near the top of the page.

What is S&P Capital IQ ranked? ›

S&P Capital IQ Ranks 2nd in Overall Culture Score

13 Employees rate S&P Capital IQ's Overall Culture a 76/100, which ranks it 2nd against its competitors, below YCharts. Overall Culture scores are aggregated from all of the questions employees at a company answer on Comparably.

How far back does Capital IQ data go? ›

Capital IQ website includes financial data for the last ten years. If you need to go back further, consider requesting to use the Capital IQ Excel add-in or a different database.

Is Capital IQ owned by S&P? ›

S&P Global Market Intelligence, formerly S&P Capital IQ and SNL Financial, is a division of S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI).

How does Capital IQ get its data? ›

Research estimates (from sell-side equity research) Qualitative data (transcripts and other items) Global market data (international markets) News and events (press releases, analyst calls, etc.)

Is Factset free? ›

And if you'd like to stay on our Free plan forever, that's cool with us too. A range of price plans means that you can scale your access as and when you need. Getting started with Factset will set you back $12,000 per year, but this price goes up further with additional features and more advanced analytical tools.

What is the comparable company of Bloomberg? ›

Bloomberg competitors include S&P Global, GoldenSource, CNNMoney and CNBC.

Who are competitors of Bloomberg Media? ›

Bloomberg's competitors and similar companies include Dow Jones, S&P Global, Thomson Reuters, Morningstar and Refinitiv. Bloomberg is a financial software, data, and media company. Dow Jones is a company that delivers news, tools, and financial insight to consumers and organizations.

What is a similar website to Bloomberg? ›

Top Bloomberg Alternatives
  • Charles River.
  • TD Ameritrade.
  • FlexTrade.
  • SS&C Advent.

What is the market share of FactSet? ›

FactSet has market share of 3.29% in other-fin-tech market. FactSet competes with 104 competitor tools in other-fin-tech category. The top alternatives for FactSet other-fin-tech tool are Simple with 35.86%, Mirror with 32.43%, Equifax with 4.73% market share.

How do I compare competitors in Bloomberg? ›

To compare a security's returns to its benchmark index, major competitors and industry groups, when available, type the company's symbol, then country code, next the EQUITY key, then type COMP, and press the GO key.

Why is the Bloomberg terminal so good? ›

One of Bloomberg's best features is its derivatives capabilities. Not only can clients find real-time values for securities, such as exchange traded options, and futures contracts, such as the active contract for WTI, but Bloomberg also allows users to value hard-to-price derivatives.

Is Bloomberg owned by Amazon? ›

Bloomberg L.P. has remained a private company since its founding; the majority of which is owned by billionaire Michael Bloomberg.

How to open Bloomberg without paying? ›

You can sign up for our free newsletters at www.bloomberg.com/newsletters. Get a daily briefing on the biggest stories of the day, hear from your favorite Bloomberg columnists or get insights and analysis from our Markets and Technology reporters. For live video, you have 30 mins of free access every 24 hours.

What is the difference between AlphaSense and Bloomberg? ›

While Bloomberg requires users to manually apply the synonym finder, AlphaSense's Smart Synonym functionality turns on automatically, and it assesses the entire phrase as well as each individual word. Bloomberg synonym recognition is only able to assess the phrase, which leads to missing key results.

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