What data does a crypto sentiment API return?

Typical responses include per-article or per-post sentiment labels (positive, neutral, negative), aggregated sentiment scores over time, coverage volume, source breakdowns, and derived indicators like the Fear & Greed Index. Perception adds entity-level sentiment, narrative trends with momentum scores, and analyst ratings.

What is the difference between a social sentiment API and a media sentiment API?

Social sentiment APIs (like LunarCrush) measure crowd chatter on X, Reddit, and similar platforms. Media sentiment APIs (like Perception) measure editorial coverage across news outlets, financial press, podcasts, and research. Social moves faster but is noisier and easier to manipulate; media sentiment reflects the narrative layer institutions actually read.

Can AI agents use a sentiment API directly?

With Perception, yes. The same API key works over the Model Context Protocol (MCP), which lets Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, and other MCP-compatible clients call sentiment tools natively without custom integration code.

Sentiment API

Crypto sentiment API

Q: Is there a free crypto sentiment API?

Yes. Perception offers a free tier with a daily request allowance covering sentiment search, trends, the Fear & Greed Index, and narrative momentum. It works over both REST and MCP, so you can call it from code or connect it directly to Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini.

Per-article sentiment from 1,000+ media sources, the Fear & Greed Index, and narrative trends. One key, two protocols: REST for your code, MCP for your AI assistant.

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What the sentiment API returns

The core endpoint is sentiment-scored article search. Every piece of content in the index carries a sentiment label (positive, neutral, or negative) assigned by an AI model at ingestion, plus detected entities with their own per-entity sentiment. Query by keyword, company, outlet, language, region, or date range and get back structured JSON with sentiment breakdowns, top outlets, and per-outlet average tone.

On top of raw search, the API serves aggregated signals: historical sentiment time series by outlet, the Fear & Greed Index, AI-extracted narrative trends with signal strength, narrative momentum scores that tell you whether a theme is accelerating or fading, and side-by-side entity comparisons across volume, sentiment, and sources.

The distinction that matters: this is media sentiment, not social scraping. The index covers news outlets, financial press, crypto publications, podcasts, conference talks, regulatory filings, and GitHub activity. If you need the layer of conversation that institutions read rather than what bots amplify, this is that layer.

Quick start

Generate a key from Settings, then authenticate with a Bearer token:

curl "https://api.perception.to/feed?keyword=bitcoin&sentiment=negative" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer pcp_your_key_here"

Or skip the code entirely. The same key connects Perception to Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini over MCP, where the sentiment tools become native functions your AI assistant calls mid-conversation. One-click installs exist for Claude Desktop, VS Code, and Cursor. See the MCP integration page for setup.

Rate limit headers ship on every response, keys are revocable instantly, and the free tier needs no credit card. Full endpoint reference in the documentation.

How crypto sentiment APIs compare

API	Signal	Free tier	Best for
Perception	Media sentiment, narratives, Fear & Greed, entity intelligence1,000+ curated media sources, per-article AI sentiment	Free tier with daily request allowance	Media-driven sentiment, narrative tracking, AI agent workflows
LunarCrush API	Social sentiment, social volume, engagement metricsX, Reddit, YouTube, TikTok social posts	Paid plans, credits-based	Social-first traders tracking crowd chatter per coin
Santiment API	On-chain metrics, social sentiment, dev activityOn-chain data plus social channels	Limited free tier with lag on some metrics	Quant researchers combining on-chain and social data
The Tie	Institutional sentiment scores and news feedsNews and social, institutional focus	Enterprise contracts only	Institutional desks with enterprise budgets

Deeper comparisons: Perception vs LunarCrush, Perception vs Santiment, Perception vs The Tie.

Common builds

Trading dashboards. Pull daily sentiment and Fear & Greed into your existing panel next to price and funding. Divergence between media tone and price is the signal most builders end up alerting on.

Research notebooks. Query historical sentiment by outlet and date range into pandas, and backtest how coverage tone led or lagged price at previous cycle turns.

Comms monitoring. Track sentiment on your own company and competitors, broken down by outlet, so you know which stories moved tone and which outlets to brief next.

AI agents. Connect over MCP and let your assistant run the whole loop: search coverage, compare entities, check momentum, and draft the brief. No glue code.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a free crypto sentiment API?

Yes. The free tier includes a daily request allowance across sentiment search, trends, Fear & Greed, and narrative momentum. No credit card required to start.

Does one key cover both REST and MCP?

Yes. Keys are issued once, work on both protocols, and share one rate limit pool, so usage is metered consistently no matter how you connect.

Is this social media sentiment?

Primarily media sentiment: news, financial press, podcasts, research, filings. Social platforms are part of the source mix, but the product is built around the editorial layer rather than raw crowd chatter. If you want social-only metrics like engagement counts, LunarCrush is the better fit.

What does it cost after the free tier?

Paid plans raise daily limits and unlock the full tool set, including regulatory search, entity profiles, and scenario analysis. Current plans are on the pricing page.

Get a key and make your first call

Free tier, no credit card. Your first sentiment query is one curl command away.

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