Updated November 2026
Pewter vs Ooak Data: which should you talk to about your company's data?
Pewter says it is a go-between, working with an unnamed licensing firm that licenses the data and pays you, with no fee to the owner. Ooak Data says it does the work itself, with its own engine for stripping out names, and that finished deals range from $20K to several hundred thousand dollars. Pewter says a few hours of your time, Ooak says about one, and both take closed companies.1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8
Side by side
Pewter and Ooak Data, row by row
| Topic | Pewter | Ooak Data |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A go-between; an unnamed licensing firm licenses the data and pays you1 | A direct buyer that does its own extraction and name-stripping9,3 |
| Who qualifies | US firms with 20+ full-time staff now or at peak, 3+ years of records, mainly English7 | Operating, winding-down and closed companies, with no stated floor; under 20 people gets no estimate8,10 |
| Stated price | $350,000 to $650,000 in its partner's three examples11 | $20K to several hundred thousand in finished deals; headline "up to $1M"4 |
| Fees you pay | None at any stage, Pewter says; the partner pays Pewter at close2,1 | Not stated12 |
| Your time | A few hours5 | About one hour6 |
| Keeping your data | Nothing leaves your systems if no offer is made or you decline; what happens after a deal is not stated2 | Raw archive deleted within 30 days of delivery, confirmed in writing; stripped copy kept for the license term13 |
| Names and personal details | Names, contact details, account numbers and credentials removed; you review a sample14,15 | The same stand-in names across all your systems; faces, logos and signatures blacked out; you review a sample3 |
| Who you are dealing with | Buzzlead.io LLC, Florida, doing business as Pewter Labs; three managing partners listed16 | Ooak Data, Inc., Delaware, and a Paris company; Y Combinator batch, team of 517,18 |
The real gap
Someone who finds the deal, or someone who does it
With Pewter, the company that pays you is its licensing partner, which it does not name on its site, though it says you learn who it is before you sign anything. Pewter handles the valuation, the written offer, negotiation of price and scope, and coordination with your IT person. That can save you a lot of calls, but ask who the partner is before you go far, because that is the company you will rely on to pay, and since Pewter's fee comes from that partner, ask whose side it is on in the negotiation.1,14
Ooak Data is the opposite, with named founders and a contract that says your company owns its records and licenses them for training only. You pick systems and date ranges, and what you leave out is written into the agreement. It is also very young and very small, with a team of 5, and it says it has contracts with three labs it does not name.18,9,19
Reading the numbers
Two sets of figures that need a second look
Pewter's examples are a 60-person accounting firm at $350,000, a 70-person engineering firm at $450,000 and a 100-person freight broker at $650,000, all as reported by its licensing partner. Its site was registered on October 10, 2026, so none of that has a long record behind it.11,20
Ooak's headline says up to $1M, while the same page says deals to date run from $20K to several hundred thousand dollars. Its estimator stops at $500,000 for most companies, $1,000,000 for one of 500+ people that is still running, and $200,000 for a closed company. In our view the finished-deal line is the one to plan around.4,10
For a closed company, Ooak asks up front for the document showing that a director, liquidator or administrator can sign. Pewter covers firms that are downsizing, winding down or closed if they had 20+ staff at their peak. For a US firm that fits Pewter, it costs nothing to ask both.21,7,2
FAQ
Questions, answered with sources
No. It says it works with an unnamed licensing firm, which licenses the data and pays the business, and that firm pays Pewter's fee at close.1
Every business is different, so this one is best talked through with the buyer you're working with. Their team goes over it with you before anything is signed.
Before you sign
Questions to talk through with your buyer
Every business is different, so these are best talked through with the buyer you're working with. Their team goes over them with you before anything is signed.
Questions for this kind of business
- For a closed company, who has authority to sign, and who receives the money?
- What are the trustee's, assignee's, receiver's or board's duties, and who receives the proceeds?
Questions for any buyer
- Is the license exclusive, and for how long?
- Can you sublicense the data, and to whom?
- Which AI labs will receive it, and will you tell us?
- How long do you keep it, and how is it deleted?
- What is your liability cap, and who indemnifies whom?
- Will the contract ban re-identification of people in the data?
- Who removes personal data, by what method, and do we approve it first?