Market Data Terminal Comparison
Bloomberg vs Refinitiv (LSEG Workspace) vs FactSet vs S&P Capital IQ vs SIX (Telekurs) — unbiased, side by side. Compare price, asset coverage and strengths, then get a recommendation for your role and budget.
Side-by-side comparison (2026)
List prices are approximate single-seat annual costs and vary by tier, region and contract. Terminals are sold to institutions, not retail.
| Bloomberg Terminal | LSEG Workspace (Refinitiv / Eikon) | FactSet | S&P Capital IQ Pro | SIX (Telekurs) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Approx. price / seat / yr | ~$31k–33k | ~$12k–22k | ~$12k+ | ~$13k+ | Data feed (custom) |
| Type | Trading terminal | Trading terminal | Analytics platform | Research platform | Reference & pricing data |
| Best at | Fixed income, FX, real-time, IB chat & liquidity, breadth | FX, commodities, Reuters news, economic data, Datastream | Portfolio analytics, quant, data feeds, equity research | Company financials, private-company & deal data, Excel plug-in | Instrument reference, valuations, corporate actions, regulatory/tax data |
| News | Bloomberg News (top-tier) | Reuters (top-tier) | Aggregated | Aggregated | Limited |
| Excel / API | BQL / =BDP, API | Workspace add-in, API | Strong API & feeds | Excel plug-in, API | Feed-first (no desktop) |
| Messaging / network | Instant Bloomberg (IB) — industry standard | Messenger | — | — | — |
| Typical user | Sell-side traders, PMs, large buy-side | Research, economists, corporates, buy-side | Buy-side analysts, IB, quants | IB, PE, corp dev, credit | Ops, data management, custodians |
Refinitiv was acquired by LSEG; Eikon → LSEG Workspace. Telekurs became SIX Financial Information. Bloomberg remains the market-share leader; the others compete largely on price and depth in their niche.
What each one is really for
Bloomberg
The default on trading floors. Unmatched breadth, fixed-income depth and the IB chat network everyone is on. You pay a premium for the ecosystem.
LSEG Workspace (Refinitiv)
The main Bloomberg alternative — cheaper, with elite FX/commodities, Reuters news and Datastream history for research and economics.
FactSet
Buy-side favourite for portfolio analytics, attribution, quant workflows and clean data feeds that plug into models.
S&P Capital IQ
Deep company financials, private-company and deal data, and a powerful Excel plug-in — the IB/PE diligence workhorse.
SIX (Telekurs)
Not a screen — a reference & pricing data engine for the back office: valuations, corporate actions, tax and regulatory data via feeds.
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