Bloomberg vs FactSet, which should your team buy?

Buy Bloomberg if your team trades, prices securities during the day or needs its messaging network; buy FactSet if it screens companies and builds models in Excel. A 2026 guide reports Bloomberg at about $24,000 to $32,000 a seat a year, usually on a 2-year contract, and FactSet at about $12,000 a year (PageCrawl).

What is the main difference between Bloomberg and FactSet?

Bloomberg is a live market terminal; FactSet is a research and analytics workstation. Bloomberg bundles real-time prices across asset classes, news, analytics, trading tools and its chat network in one licence. FactSet is sold in modules around company data, screening, estimates, portfolio analytics and an Excel add-in that analysts wire into their models.

Comparison sites published in 2026 split the market the same way: Bloomberg for sell-side, trading and fixed income work, FactSet for buy-side fundamental research (CostBench). CostBench sells pricing data on both, so treat its verdict as a summary of common opinion.

Bloomberg vs FactSet side by side

Prices above are reported by third parties, several of which sell competing tools. Check current terms with each vendor.

Is FactSet cheaper than Bloomberg?

At entry level, yes; fully loaded, often not by much. FactSet is reported at about $12,000 a year against $24,000 to $32,000 for a Bloomberg seat (PageCrawl). Vendr's median FactSet contract is $25,160 a year, and it notes that premium feeds such as real-time data, private company data and fixed income analytics are priced separately (Vendr). Compare quotes for the modules you will actually use. Our guides on what a Bloomberg Terminal costs and what FactSet costs break this down.

Is Bloomberg or FactSet better for buy-side work?

FactSet, for most fundamental equity teams. A Wall Street Oasis thread from a small asset manager asking which of the 2 is best for buy-side work captures the question many teams ask (Wall Street Oasis). G2 reviewers rate FactSet higher on usability and support (9.3 against 8.5) and Bloomberg higher on meeting requirements (G2). Bloomberg wins where the job involves bonds, derivatives or reaching counterparties over chat.

What do users say about each?

Bloomberg users praise the breadth and speed of its data and complain about the learning curve and the price. FactSet users praise ease of use, customisation and the Excel add-in, and complain about slow loading and modular upselling (G2). Small firms are a large part of FactSet's user base: small businesses write 45.7% of FactSet Workstation's G2 reviews (G2).

Is Bloomberg or FactSet better for a small fund?

It depends on whether you trade during the day. A 3-person long-only or private markets team that reads filings and builds models gets more from FactSet per dollar. A team that trades fixed income or needs live pricing across asset classes will end up on Bloomberg anyway. At the reported prices, a single Bloomberg seat on a 2-year contract commits about $48,000 to $64,000 (PageCrawl).

Who should pick Bloomberg?

Traders, fixed income teams, macro funds and anyone who needs to message counterparties on Bloomberg chat. Those jobs depend on live data and the network, and no cheaper tool reproduces both.

Who should pick FactSet?

Equity research and portfolio teams that screen many companies, track consensus estimates and run models on a live data link to Excel. Vendr reports that FactSet buyers often win discounts through volume and competitive bids (Vendr), so get a Bloomberg quote even if you expect to choose FactSet.

When should you keep Bloomberg?

Keep the Terminal if it is open all day for pricing, trading or chat, or if clients and brokers expect to reach you there. Reconsider when the seat is mostly used to read news and pull company financials, which FactSet or cheaper tools handle at a lower price.

Where does Tamarly Intelligence fit?

Tamarly Intelligence is Tamarly's research platform on companies, funds, countries and markets, built from official filings and open data. It shows no market prices and has no trading tools or Excel data feed, so it replaces neither Bloomberg nor FactSet for live markets or modelling.

It covers ground both tools treat as secondary: 19,910 company pages built from public filings, 2,888 funds and 15,359 fund managers from SEC filings, and a Risk Atlas that scores 214 of 218 countries every week. Every figure links to the filing or record it came from. It suits analysts who research private companies, funds or countries alongside a terminal. See how to read a 13F filing for the holdings data it uses.

Run a sourced read on any private company free for 7 days

Frequently asked questions

How much more does Bloomberg cost than FactSet?

On reported entry prices, about 2 to 2.7 times as much: $24,000 to $32,000 a seat for Bloomberg against about $12,000 for FactSet (PageCrawl). FactSet add-ons narrow the gap.

Does FactSet have real-time data?

Yes, as a separately priced module. Vendr lists real-time market data among FactSet's premium feeds sold on top of the base subscription (Vendr).

Which is easier to learn, Bloomberg or FactSet?

FactSet, according to G2 reviewers, who rate it higher on usability and ease of setup (G2). Bloomberg's command-driven interface takes longer to learn.

About the author. Melvine Manchau is the founder of Tamarly and author of the Tamarly Newsletter. He previously worked at PwC, Salesforce, BlackRock/eFront and Lazard.

About Tamarly Research. Tamarly Research is part of Tamarly Media, which holds no investment positions. Tamarly is a New York research house that studies how AI is changing regulated institutions.