Data Marketplace Guide

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What is a data marketplace?

A place where organizations list datasets and other organizations find, test and license them.

Last checked 11 November 2026

On this page
  1. The three kinds
  2. How a deal works
  3. Who uses them
  4. Questions

The three kinds

  • Cloud platform marketplaces. AWS Data Exchange, Snowflake Marketplace and Databricks Marketplace sit inside a cloud or data platform. Data lands in the buyer's existing account.
  • Independent directories. Datarade is an example. It lists providers from many sources so buyers can compare them. See the comparison.
  • Exchange technology. Vendors such as Dawex sell the software an organization uses to run its own data exchange.

How a deal works

  1. A provider lists a dataset with a description and usually a sample.
  2. A buyer searches, compares and tests the sample.
  3. Terms are accepted online, or negotiated when the dataset is sensitive or custom.
  4. Data is delivered through files, a table share or an API, depending on the marketplace.
Free and paid listings both exist. Databricks, for example, separates instantly available free listings from request-for-access listings that involve a commercial deal.

Who uses them

Analysts and data scientists buying market, location or financial data. Teams training machine learning models. Companies with their own datasets who want to reach buyers. A company selling its own records has extra checks to make first, covered in the sell guide.

Questions

Is a data marketplace the same as a data broker?

No. A marketplace is a venue where many providers list data and buyers choose. A broker collects or packages data and sells it directly, often from its own sources.

Do I need a cloud account to use one?

For marketplaces inside AWS, Snowflake or Databricks, a platform account is the normal route. Independent directories such as Datarade let you browse without one.