Data Freshness

Data freshness describes how current or up-to-date data is relative to the real-world state it represents. Fresh data closely mirrors reality; stale data may reflect a state that no longer exists.

Different use cases have different freshness requirements. A live price comparison tool needs prices fresh within minutes. A market trend report can tolerate weekly data. Matching your data source's freshness to your application's needs is a critical design decision.

APIs that serve live data on every request provide maximum freshness. Datasets refreshed on a schedule have lower freshness - the trade-off is lower cost and better performance for bulk analysis where real-time accuracy is not required.