Best business data providers, by type of data
Best business data providers grouped by data type, with who buys each kind, how it is priced and which rules apply.
Updated
Why a list of providers starts with the type of data
There is no single best provider of business data, because the companies that sell company contacts, card transactions, satellite images or patient claims have almost nothing in common except that they sell information. The useful question is narrower: what decision is the data for, and which kind of data answers it? Once that is settled, the field shrinks to a handful of specialists, and the comparison becomes about coverage, freshness, licence terms and price.
Each page in this section covers one kind of data: what it is, who pays for it, the pricing models it is sold on, where it comes from, the compliance questions that come with it, and examples of the categories of company that supply it. Prices appear only where a public source states them, and every page lists its sources with the date they were checked.
What DataBroker is, and what it isn't
The thirteen types at a glance
| Data type | Typical buyer | Usual pricing model | First rule to check |
|---|---|---|---|
| B2B contact data | Sales and marketing teams | Per-seat subscription or credits per record | CAN-SPAM, state privacy laws |
| Firmographic data | Sales ops, risk and analytics teams | Annual licence or per-record enrichment | Contract and licence terms |
| Intent data | B2B marketers | Annual subscription, often bundled | How the underlying signals were consented |
| Alternative data | Hedge funds and asset managers | Annual licence per dataset | Securities law on material non-public information |
| Financial data | Banks, funds, fintechs | Terminal seats, feeds and API tiers | Exchange licensing and redistribution terms |
| Location data | Advertisers, analysts, planners | Licence by geography and volume | FTC actions on sensitive locations |
| Foot traffic data | Retailers, landlords, investors | Subscription by venue count | How the device panel was consented |
| Clickstream data | Analysts and marketers | Panel licence or subscription | Consent for browsing panels |
| Consumer data | Marketers and lenders | Cost per thousand records, or licence | State data broker registries, FCRA |
| Healthcare data | Pharma, payers, researchers | Custom licence per study or feed | HIPAA de-identification |
| Real estate data | Investors, lenders, proptech | API tiers or per-record bulk files | County record terms, FCRA for tenant use |
| ESG data | Asset managers and lenders | Annual subscription | Disclosure rules the buyer reports under |
| AI training data | AI labs and model builders | One-off licence or per-unit pricing | Copyright and the rights to the content |
How to compare providers of one type
- Ask for a sample that matches your use, not the provider's best showcase: your territory, your industry, your date range.
- Measure coverage and accuracy against records you already know are right. A match rate on your own customer list says more than any headline count.
- Read the licence before the price sheet. Who may use the data, for how long, whether it can be combined with other sources, and what happens to it when the contract ends.
- Ask where the data comes from and how consent or rights were obtained. Vague answers here are the most common warning sign in this market.
- Compare pricing on the same unit. A low per-seat price with tight credit limits can cost more than a higher flat licence.
If you are brokering rather than buying
The same pages work from the other side of the table. Most of the data types here started as a by-product of some other business: a payments company's transactions, an app's location pings, a property manager's leasing records. Brokers find companies sitting on that kind of data, check that they have the right to license it, and introduce them to the buyers listed on each page. The course walks through that process step by step, and the tools in the app help you estimate a range and track each deal.
Questions people ask
Which business data provider is the best?
It depends on the data type and the use. A provider that is strong on US company contacts may have little international coverage or none of the transaction data an investor needs. Pick the type first, then test two or three specialists on a sample of your own records.
Does DataBroker sell any of this data?
No. DataBroker is a course and tools for people who broker data deals between companies. These pages describe the market so buyers know what to check and brokers know where supply and demand are.
How is business data usually priced?
Most is sold as an annual licence or subscription, by seats, records, API calls or geography. Contact data is often sold in credits per record. Specialist datasets for investors or AI labs are usually priced per deal, after a sample and negotiation.
Is it legal to buy business data?
Generally yes, but the rules depend on what the data contains. Data about named people can fall under state privacy and data broker laws, health data under HIPAA, and credit-related uses under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Check with a lawyer for anything involving personal data.
Related
- What is a data broker?What a data broker is, the different kinds, where their data comes from, and which laws they answer to in the United States.
- How to become a data brokerHow to become a data broker who brings company datasets to buyers: the skills, the legal checks, the documents and the order you do them in.
- Data broker guidesData broker guides for people who arrange dataset deals: how each stage works, what can go wrong, and what to check before you sign.
- Selling leads: how lead brokering works, vertical by verticalSelling leads well means knowing what each buyer pays for, how consent was captured, and which rules apply in their industry.
Become a data broker
The DataBroker course and tools: find companies with data to sell, price it, license it and close the deal.