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openbb-finance/openbb

Analysis updated 2026-06-20

67,105PythonAudience · dataComplexity · 3/5LicenseSetup · moderate

TLDR

A Python library that connects to dozens of financial data providers, stocks, crypto, options, economics, and gives you all of them through one consistent API and normalized data format.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((openbb))
    What it does
      Unified data access
      Normalize provider data
      REST API exposure
    Data Types
      Stock prices
      Cryptocurrency
      Options data
      Economic indicators
    Tech Stack
      Python
      pandas DataFrames
      REST API
    Use Cases
      Quant research workflows
      Trading applications
      AI agent data feeds
    Audience
      Quant analysts
      Data engineers
      Researchers
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filefunction / class

What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Fetch normalized historical stock prices from multiple providers with one Python call and analyze them as a pandas DataFrame.

USE CASE 2

Build a quantitative research workflow that pulls equity, crypto, and macroeconomic data from a single unified interface.

USE CASE 3

Expose financial market data as a REST API so AI agents or other applications can consume it via Model Context Protocol.

USE CASE 4

Replace ad-hoc provider integration code by letting OpenBB handle authentication and data normalization across sources.

What is it built with?

PythonpandasREST API

How does it compare?

openbb-finance/openbblabmlai/annotated_deep_learning_paper_implementationsfoundationagents/metagpt
Stars67,10566,53967,736
LanguagePythonPythonPython
Setup difficultymoderateeasymoderate
Complexity3/52/54/5
Audiencedataresearcherdeveloper

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · moderate Time to first run · 30min

Requires Python 3.9, 3.12 and configuration of at least one data provider, which may require API credentials.

AGPLv3, you can use and modify it freely, but if you distribute it or run it as a network service you must release your source code under the same license.

In plain English

OpenBB is an open-source financial data platform that acts as a unified access layer for financial market data. The problem it solves is fragmentation: financial analysts, quantitative researchers, and developers working with market data typically need to connect to many different data providers, stock price feeds, economic data, cryptocurrency exchanges, options data, fixed income data, each with their own API format, authentication scheme, and data structure. OpenBB provides a single Python interface that normalizes all of this into a consistent format. The way it works is through an Open Data Platform architecture: you install the Python package, connect it to your preferred data providers (both free public sources and licensed commercial ones), and then query all of them through a consistent API. For example, fetching historical stock prices for Apple looks the same whether the data comes from one provider or another. The results can be returned as pandas DataFrames, making them immediately usable in analysis workflows. The platform can also expose all of this data as a REST API, enabling other applications, including AI agents via Model Context Protocol servers, to consume it. Beyond the Python library, OpenBB offers a commercial web workspace (OpenBB Workspace) that provides a graphical dashboard interface and supports AI agents for research tasks. You would use OpenBB if you are a quantitative analyst or data engineer building a financial research workflow, a developer building a trading application that needs clean normalized market data, or a researcher wanting to explore financial data across equities, derivatives, crypto, fixed income, and macroeconomics from a single tool. The library requires Python 3.9 to 3.12 and is installed via pip. It is licensed under AGPLv3.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
Using OpenBB, write Python code to fetch historical daily closing prices for AAPL from 2020 to 2024 and plot a line chart.
Prompt 2
Show me how to connect OpenBB to a free data provider and pull the last 30 days of BTC/USD prices as a pandas DataFrame.
Prompt 3
Write a Python script using OpenBB that fetches GDP, CPI, and unemployment rate data and saves them to a CSV file.
Prompt 4
How do I expose my OpenBB data queries as a REST API endpoint so an AI agent can call them?

Frequently asked questions

What is openbb?

A Python library that connects to dozens of financial data providers, stocks, crypto, options, economics, and gives you all of them through one consistent API and normalized data format.

What language is openbb written in?

Mainly Python. The stack also includes Python, pandas, REST API.

What license does openbb use?

AGPLv3, you can use and modify it freely, but if you distribute it or run it as a network service you must release your source code under the same license.

How hard is openbb to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated moderate, with roughly 30min to a first successful run.

Who is openbb for?

Mainly data.

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