Updated October 2026
How much do AI companies pay for data?
Operating companies
What buyers quote an operating company
Published ranges mostly run $100K to $2M. micro1 and Polyshares state $100K-$2M+ per data package, and micro1 over $1M for unique data. Cognor Labs and Ventra state $100K-$2M, and Jottings $100K-$250K for specialized histories up to $1M+ for rare data. monsterdata.ai puts a one-time sale at $50K-$1M, Nyne says its deals are typically $100K or more, and Mercor does not publish a price. These are each company's own figures, not independent audits.1,2,4,5,6,7,8,9
Polyshares lists industry deals on its own track record page. One is a $110,000 license for a global marketing agency, again its own claim, with no size or data volume given.10
| Fact | Value and source |
|---|---|
| License price range | $100K-$2M+ per data package; over $1M for unique data |
| Typical deal | $100K-$2M+ |
| Typical deal | $100K or more |
| Offer range | Not published |
| Cognor Labs payout range | $100K-$2M on the homepage; $200K-$2M on its partners and manufacturing pages |
| Ventra range and timing | $100K-$2M as potential deals, not a guaranteed payout; offers in 3 to 7 days; payment usually net 30 or net 60 |
| Jottings market ranges | $100K-$250K for specialized histories, $250K-$750K for deep multi-year sets, $1M+ for rare data |
| monsterdata.ai ranges | "Published buyer ranges" of $50K-$1M for a one-time sale and $300K-$3M per year for a recurring license |
| Marketing agency license | Lists a $110,000 license for a "global marketing agency" |
Whole archives
What whole-company archives have sold for
The largest operating-company archive on record is Spirit Airlines': about 100M emails, 500M Teams messages and 176,000 employee records, put up for sale in bankruptcy. Google bid $10M against a $7.5M bid from Mercor, and micro1 filed a late $12.5M bid. The court has not ruled on the sale yet.11,12,13
Smaller companies sell for less. Cielo24 sold 13 years of Slack, Jira and email for what was reported as hundreds of thousands of dollars. One shut-down crypto startup got about $25,000 for its code base, with about $15,000 for workspace data pending. SimpleClosure says it has done 150+ data deals for wound-down startups, typically $10K-$100K each.14,15,3
The Information headlined data labeling startups paying HVAC companies $150,000 for data. The article is paywalled and we could not confirm whether that was a data license, labeling work or both, so we do not count it as a price.16
| Fact | Value and source |
|---|---|
| Spirit Airlines internal archive | $10M from Google, against a $7.5M Mercor bid |
| Spirit Airlines archive bid | Filed a late $12.5M bid for Spirit Airlines' internal data |
| Cielo24 archive sale | Cielo24 sold 13 years of Slack, Jira and email for "hundreds of thousands of dollars" |
| A closed crypto startup's data | About $25,000 for its code base, with about $15,000 for workspace data pending |
| Deals closed | 150+ data deals for wound-down startups, typically $10K-$100K each |
| HVAC companies and data labeling startups | The Information headlined data labeling startups "paying HVAC companies $150,000" for data |
The ceiling
What AI labs pay large publishers
The large, published deals are with publishers and platforms, not operating companies. Reddit disclosed $203.0M in aggregate contract value; News Corp's deal with OpenAI was reported at more than $250M over 5 years; HarperCollins offered authors $5,000 per book for 3 years. These show how labs value unique, high-volume text, not what a 50-person firm will be offered.17,18,19
| Fact | Value and source |
|---|---|
| Reddit data licensing | $203.0M aggregate contract value, 2-3 year terms |
| Reddit and Google | About $60M a year (Reuters, citing sources) |
| News Corp and OpenAI | More than $250M over 5 years (WSJ) |
| Axel Springer and OpenAI | About $13M a year |
| Financial Times and OpenAI | $5M-$10M a year |
| Wiley | $23M with an unnamed technology company |
| HarperCollins | $5,000 per book for 3 years, split $2,500 author and $2,500 publisher |
What moves the price
What moves you up the range
No buyer publishes a formula. Our reading of the precedents, which is our estimate and not a buyer quote: more staff and more years of history raise the value, more tools raise it, and records that link across systems (a deal tied to its emails, a ticket tied to its fix) raise it most. micro1 says it looks for well defined workflows that employees execute repeatedly.20
Payment timing differs too. Offers usually come within a few days to two weeks: Ventra says 3-7 days and Polyshares 1-2 weeks after intake. Most buyers pay within 2-8 weeks of signing, from Mercor's 2-4 weeks to Net 30-60 at Polyshares and Ventra and 30-60 days at Your Data Value. Some pay only after they accept the data: micro1 invoices only after written acceptance.21,22,5,23,24
FAQ
Questions, answered with sources
Published ranges for an operating company mostly run $100K to $2M: micro1 and Polyshares state $100K-$2M+ per package, Cognor Labs and Ventra $100K-$2M, and Nyne $100K or more. These are the buyers' own claims. Closed startups' archives typically sell for $10K-$100K through SimpleClosure.1,2,4,5,8,3
Most buyers want 20 to 30 or more staff, and a few state no minimum. micro1 asks for 30+ employees, Nyne for 20+ US W-2 staff and 3+ years, Cognor Labs for more than 20 staff and Goldmined for 20 desk-based staff. Polyshares says any company with real operating history, and Troveo lists no minimum headcount. Below those floors, the published prices do not apply.29,30,31,32,33,34
We do not answer legal questions. Ask the licensing company: their team reviews this with you before anything is signed.
Before you sign
Legal questions go to the licensing company
We do not answer legal questions. Ask the licensing company before you sign: their team reviews these with you.
Questions for this kind of business
- How is the payment taxed?
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?