Your data value estimate, in 30 seconds.

What does this data value calculator measure?

AI models learn by studying examples, and the examples they study are called training data. AI labs (the companies that build AI models, such as OpenAI and Anthropic) and data vendors (companies that buy records from businesses, remove personal details and package them into training material for the labs) now pay ordinary companies for the records of how their work gets done. Those records include work chats, emails, help desk tickets, CRM history and internal documents.

Companies are paid through a license, which is a contract that lets the buyer use a copy of the data for agreed purposes while the company keeps owning it. Most data valuation methods put a value on data as an asset on a company's balance sheet. This calculator answers a narrower question: what a buyer might pay to license your records for AI training. It doesn't measure what your whole business is worth, and it doesn't put a value on data sold to advertisers or list brokers.

How is the estimate calculated?

The calculator is our own estimate, based on what data vendors pay for company records. It gives a dollar value to each part of your company that creates records. Each full-time desk employee, meaning someone who works at a computer most of the day, adds $2,400, because desk staff write most of the chats, emails, tickets and documents that buyers want. Each non-desk employee, such as a technician or a driver, adds a tenth of that, $240.

Each year of records adds $12,250, and every company starts from a fixed $16,500. The model then adds an allowance for preparing the data of up to $145,000 and takes about 60% of the total as the likely offer. Legal firms and medical, accounting and finance firms get 30% more, because buyers want their records most. Teams based in Canada, the UK, Australia or the EU get 25% less than teams in the US, and teams elsewhere get 70% less.

The range runs from a cautious low figure to a high figure about four times larger, because a real offer moves a lot once a buyer sees the records. The second figure is refresh pay. A data refresh is a later delivery of newer records after the first sale, which buyers pay for again. The calculator shows possible refresh pay over the next 24 months as 80% of the main range.

Here is a worked example. A US company outside those specialist industries, with 100 desk employees and ten years of records, gets $290K–$1.14M, plus $230K–$910K in possible refresh pay. A US law firm of the same size gets $370K–$1.48M.

What can't the calculator see?

A few questions can only approximate a price, so a real offer can land above or below your range. The calculator can't see how many systems your records span, or whether they connect, such as a ticket that links to the chat where a colleague explained the fix. Buyers also look at whether your records show outcomes, such as whether each deal closed or each ticket was resolved. They pay more for data from an industry that few other sellers can offer, and more again for an exclusive license, which means agreeing not to license the same data to anyone else. The price goes down when large parts of the data have to be excluded, such as HR files or medical information.

The estimator at micro1, the data vendor we typically refer companies to, also asks what share of your records is written in English, because buyers currently favor English-language records. Our guide to what your data is worth explains each of these factors in detail, with examples.

How do I turn this estimate into a real offer?

The estimate is a starting point, not an offer. To get a real number, you apply through micro1, which takes about two minutes and doesn't require sharing any data. If your company is a fit, you have a short intro call and fill in a data manifest, which is a written list of the systems your company uses and how many years of records each one holds. The buyer then sends a priced offer, usually within one to two days, and nothing confidential leaves your company unless you sign a contract.

Before you apply, you may want to check whether your company qualifies, read how your data is anonymized before a buyer sees it, and learn the difference between licensing and selling your data. You can also see every step of the process, from application to payment. micro1 has committed $1 billion over twelve months to buying and licensing company data, so demand is high right now.

Frequently asked questions