FRED Economic Data vs Economic Research Tracker
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
FRED Economic Data
Access a vast collection of economic data from numerous sources on the go. Visualize trends with custom graphs and easily share insights. Stay updated with the latest economic news and research.
- Access 149,000+ economic data series
- Browse data by category, source, or popularity
- Create custom data graphs
- Store favorite data series
- Share data series and graphs
- Receive economic news and updates
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Take the economy with you wherever you go. The FRED app gets you the economic data you need— anytime, anywhere. Enjoy full access to nearly 149,000 economic data series from 59 regional, national and international sources. The graphs and supporting data are housed on the St. Louis Fed’s signature database—FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Database). The FRED app is perfect for students, financial market professionals, academics and anyone else interested in economic data. What you can do with this app: •browse for data by category, release, source and popularity or search by keywords or series ID; •view and create custom graphs; •store your favorite data series for quick and easy access; •share your favorite data series or graphs via e-mail or post them directly to your Twitter or Facebook account; •and receive the latest news on new data series , updates, and St. Louis Fed economic research. The app is free to download. If you encounter problems or have suggestions for improving our app, please contact us at webmaster@research.stlouisfed.org.
Economic Research Tracker
Access economic insights and analysis from New York Fed economists. Customize your feed by research topics or specific economists, and follow your favorite bloggers for in-depth perspectives on macroeconomics, monetary policy, and more.
- Economic insights and analysis
- Customizable content by research topics
- Filter by New York Fed economists
- Follow favorite bloggers
- Search for economists and bloggers
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The Economic Research Tracker brings you insights and analysis from the New York Fed written by economists working at the intersection of research and policy. You can customize content by various research topics, including Macroeconomics, Monetary Policy, Labor Economics and Household Finance, and by New York Fed economists. You can also search for and follow your favorite Liberty Street Economics bloggers.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Economic Research Tracker at 4.6 against FRED Economic Data's 3.4. Economic Research Tracker also leads on review sentiment (67% vs 37%). FRED Economic Data's advantage is ratings volume (87 vs 17). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Economic Research Tracker holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 3.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: FRED Economic Data has 87 ratings behind it against 17, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 37% of FRED Economic Data's written reviews are positive against 67% of Economic Research Tracker's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on September 19, 2026 and September 17, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | FRED Economic Data | Economic Research Tracker |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.4 (87 ratings) | 4.6 (17 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 37.1% of reviews | 66.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 87 — better | 17 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 4 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 — better | 15.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 26 MB | 47 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis | Federal Reserve Bank of New York |
Customer experience
FRED Economic Data
Economic Research Tracker
Bugs and requests
FRED Economic Data
Reported bugs
78 issues- App is non-functional
- Graph images are cropped
- Graph images are cropped, only top half visible
- Saving photo only saves top half of graph
- Cannot login with Apple account
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- Cannot remove favorites
- Charts are miniscule and unreadable
- Expanding graph axes go off page
- Graphs are off the screen
- Cannot be viewed properly
- Issues with logging in
- Issues with saving data or comparisons
- Chart is cut off at the bottom
- Doesn’t let you scroll through the graph
- Only see half the charts
- Cannot change settings or parameters in horizontal view
- Select years automatically gives projections instead of actual
- Expanded horizontal view bugged out, did not show half of data
- X axis often isn’t visible
- Bad Request: Account Verification Failed
- Full screen view of saved graphs often glitches and does not show full screen
- Cannot view saved dashboards
- Poor search functionality
- Search bar doesn’t narrow down list
- Doesn’t update
- Doesn’t work
- Search is a disaster
- App runs like it's 2005
- App is buggy
- App is buggy again
- Buggy search
- Charts on iPhone in portrait mode is idiotic
- When rotating phone, chart goes from five-year to max chart
- iPhone keyboard screen covers login page
- Thumbnail charts too small to read
- Cannot be used in landscape mode
- Formatted in a huge image that puts axes off the page
- Still inappropriately formatted in landscape
- Text is almost microscopic in landscape
- Stays in portrait mode on iPad
- iPad Pro charts are clipped
- Cannot zoom on graphs
- Graph scale incorrect to the point of obfuscation
- Cannot share blog posts
- Won’t display in landscape
- No value add over the website
- Crashes when attempting to add new series to a graph
- App crashes sometimes when comparing two graphs
- Navigation path to current page is unknown
- App is very buggy
- App crashed when attempting to add a graph
- New version needs months of testing
- Older version was more stable and reliable
- Can’t navigate because of screen layout
- App is broken
- Cannot launch app on iOS
- Issa broken
- Unusable as of this date
- Won’t launch on iOS 11
- App is broken, but can get past splash screen with workaround
- App is currently totally broken and unusable
- Death upon arrival
- Cannot pass the “New Features” page
- “Get Started” button aligned with home touch button
- App cant load
- Cannot get past the “New Features” screen
- “Get Started” link is outside the usable space
- App freezes
- Fails to load on current iOS and iPhone 8
- Can’t make it past preferences screen
- Screen has a “get started” window over the app that doesn’t allow interaction
- App was useful prior to iPhone X, now broken and useless
- Cannot get past the new features page
- Wouldn’t even start
- App takes forever to load
- App showed splash screen and exited
- Crashed a few times
- App gets crash sometimes
Requested features
12 requests- Include widgets for favorites
- Include all web version edit graph features
- Allow saving and sharing in multiple formats (PDF, Excel)
- View saved dashboards
- Use graphing editor tool
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- Add help section with common definitions
- Allow indexing two datasets for comparison
- Add a button for zero-based Y-axis
- Add URL for series on info page
- Ability to add different series to the same graph
- View data in list form as % change
- More detail in descriptions for each data set
Economic Research Tracker
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
FRED Economic Data
No in-app purchases
Economic Research Tracker
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is FRED Economic Data free?
Is Economic Research Tracker free?
Which has better reviews, FRED Economic Data or Economic Research Tracker?
Do FRED Economic Data or Economic Research Tracker have ads?
Which is updated more often, FRED Economic Data or Economic Research Tracker?
Other comparisons
