Bloomberg Terminal vs FactSet
A side-by-side comparison of Bloomberg Terminal and FactSet — two options for data & market research. Pricing, features, and honest pros and cons.
Category
Data & Market Research
Data & Market Research
Rating
4.5 / 5
4.4 / 5
Pricing
From $28,320/seat/yr
Enterprise / Custom
Best for
Funds with active capital markets and credit workflows
Deal teams wanting one integrated data workstation
Key features
- Real-time market data across every asset class
- News, research and analyst estimates
- Fixed income and leveraged loan analytics
- M&A and comparable-deal screening (MA, PEER)
- Instant Bloomberg (IB) chat network
- Public and private company data with screening
- M&A, ownership and deal databases
- Excel add-in and model refresh tools
- Portfolio analytics and risk
- AI-powered research assistant (FactSet Mercury)
Pros
- Unrivalled breadth and speed of market data
- IB chat is still where credit and capital markets talk
- Deep debt-market data matters for LBO financing work
- Cheaper than Bloomberg for most research seats
- Excellent Excel integration for banker-style workflows
- Consolidates screening, comps and analytics in one place
Cons
- Very expensive per seat and prices rise almost annually
- Private-company coverage is weak versus PE-specific tools
- Dated interface with a steep learning curve
- Custom pricing is opaque and modules add up
- Private-market depth trails PitchBook/Preqin specialists