Evaluate Alpha Vantage News API as alternative to NewsAPI

[furic]

Feature Request

Evaluate Alpha Vantage News Sentiment API as a potential replacement for NewsAPI, since it provides native ticker-based article filtering.

Alpha Vantage News Sentiment API

• Docs: https://www.alphavantage.co/documentation/#news-sentiment
• Endpoint: GET https://www.alphavantage.co/query?function=NEWS_SENTIMENT&tickers=AAPL&apikey=...
• Key advantage: The tickers parameter filters articles server-side by ticker symbol. Each article includes a ticker_sentiment array with relevance scores — no keyword matching or AI filtering needed.
• Crypto/forex support: Uses prefixed format (CRYPTO:BTC, FOREX:USD)

Why not implemented now

• Free tier: 25 requests/day — too tight for our ~15-20 tickers
• The tickers param uses AND logic (all specified tickers must appear), not OR — so we can't batch multiple tickers in one call
• Options: (a) 1 call per ticker = 15-20 calls/day, burns most of the quota, or (b) 1 unfiltered call + local matching via ticker_sentiment, but may miss niche ETFs
• Current setup works well: NewsAPI (100 req/day) + Gemini relevance filter (1 extra call out of 250/day) with three-layer filtering covers our needs at much higher quota
• Premium plan ($49.99/month for 75 req/min) would solve the quota issue but conflicts with the zero-cost philosophy

When to revisit

• If NewsAPI degrades or changes free tier limits
• If Alpha Vantage increases free tier quota
• If we reduce the number of tickers significantly
• If we're willing to pay for a premium tier