What Sefaria does

Sefaria is a Brooklyn-based nonprofit founded in 2013 by Brett Lockspeiser and Joshua Foer that operates a free, open-source digital library of Jewish texts spanning 3,000 years, from Tanakh and Mishnah through Talmud, Midrash, Halakhah, Kabbalah, Liturgy, Jewish Thought, Chasidut, Musar, Responsa, and Second Temple literature. The platform serves Jewish learners, educators, rabbis, and scholars at all levels, providing source texts alongside translations in 15+ languages, with multi-language toggle, cross-text linking, interactive Visualizations, learning schedules such as Daf Yomi and the weekly Torah portion, and a developer API including a Model Context Protocol (MCP) interface for AI applications. Supporting products include Voices (a community-generated sheets and blogs platform), iOS and Android mobile apps, a Torah Tab browser extension, Teach with Sefaria educator tools, and named commentary collections such as the William Davidson Talmud (2017) and the Nash-Bravmann Collection of Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz's works (March 2024).

Sefaria's technology stack centers on a cloud-based, open-source library platform with a structured knowledge graph linking texts, translations, commentaries, and topics, exposing data through a public developer API and MCP endpoints. Sefaria has begun deploying AI-assisted translation pipelines; its first production deployment produced the complete English Kli Yakar Torah commentary in February 2026 with human editorial review.

The organization is funded through tax-deductible charitable contributions from individuals, foundations, and major philanthropic partners — most notably the Jim Joseph Foundation (cumulative grants of approximately $5.75M between 2013 and 2022), William Davidson (2017), and Jack Nash and Ludwig Bravmann (2024). All access to the core library is free, with no paid tiers or subscriptions; revenue mechanics are entirely donation-driven. Go-to-market is community-led and product-led, relying on educators, rabbis, and Jewish institutions for organic distribution, supplemented by content marketing (Voices blog), a newsletter, and organic social media presence on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and X.

Name

Sefaria

Legal name

Sefaria

Website

https://sefaria.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Sefaria is a Brooklyn-based nonprofit operating a free, open-source digital library of 3,000 years of Jewish texts in 15+ languages, with AI-assisted translation and a developer API, serving Jewish learners, educators, and scholars globally and funded through charitable donations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Digital religious text library

NAICS

Web Search Portals, Libraries, Archives, and Other Information Services (5192), Libraries and Archives (519210)

SIC

Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731), Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)

akta.pro primary industry

Sacred Texts & Scripture Publishing (Bibles, Qur’ans, Vedas, Torah, Sutras) (MPAJAHAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Religious Reference & Study Tools Publishing (Commentaries, Concordances, Lexicons) (MPAJAHAL), Religious Education & Catechetical Publishing (Sunday School, Catechism, Study Guides) (MPAJAHAC)

Keywords

• Jewish text library
• Digital religious texts
• Torah study platform
• Religious education platform
• Nonprofit digital library

Headquarters

HQ city

Brooklyn

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Charitable Contributions: Sefaria operates as a nonprofit organization generating revenue through tax-deductible donations from individuals, foundations, and institutional supporters. The platform explicitly states 'Support us by making a tax-deductible donation' and offers multiple giving options including one-time and recurring donations.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Sefaria operates a free, open-access digital library of Jewish texts spanning 3,000 years, including the Tanakh, Mishnah, Talmud, Midrash, Halakhah, Kabbalah, and liturgy, presented in Hebrew and English (with additional translations). Texts are deeply interlinked through cross-references and source sheets, and the platform is supported by community contributions, a developer API, AI-assisted translation, and mobile applications.

Product overview

Sefaria is a nonprofit organization offering a digital library of Jewish texts as a unified platform. The core product is the Sefaria Library, which provides free access to 3,000 years of Jewish texts in Hebrew with translations in 15+ languages. Supporting products include Voices (user-generated content platform), Mobile Apps, Visualizations (interactive text interconnections), Torah Tab (browser extension), and Teach with Sefaria (educator tools). The William Davidson Talmud and Jack Nash/Bravmann Collection feature specialized commentary editions. The platform also offers a Developer API for third-party integrations and MCP for AI applications.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Sefaria Library Free, open-access digital library of Jewish texts spanning 3,000 years — including the Tanakh, Mishnah, Talmud, Midrash, Halakhah, Kabbalah, and liturgy — with Hebrew and English translations, interlinked cross-references, source sheets, learning schedules, and interactive visualizations. Targeted at individual learners, students, and educators.
• Voices Community platform (voices.sefaria.org) where Sefaria shares updates, learning resources, essays, and insights from contributors, scholars, and educators engaging with Jewish texts.
• Sefaria Mobile Apps Native iOS and Android applications providing mobile access to the Sefaria library, enabling study, reference, and reading of Jewish texts on smartphones and tablets.
• William Davidson Talmud A complete digital edition of the Babylonian Talmud featuring a new English translation and structured commentary, made freely available on the Sefaria platform.
• Jack Nash and Ludwig Bravmann Collection Collection of Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz's complete commentaries on the Torah, Haftarah, and Megillot, available on the Sefaria platform for free access and study.
• Sefaria Developer API and MCP Public developer API and Model Context Protocol (MCP) integration that provides programmatic, structured access to Sefaria's text corpus, translations, and references for developers, researchers, and AI builders.

Quantifiable outcome

• Free access to 3,000 years of Jewish texts
• +2 more outcomes

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles3 records

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

AI capability3 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• Rabbi Adin Even-Israel SteinsaltzcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2013Rabbi Steinsaltz, a prolific rabbi, educator, and commentator born in Jerusalem in 1937, partnered with Sefaria co-founders to digitize his complete works. His mantra 'Let my people know' aligned with Sefaria's mission. The partnership resulted in the William Davidson Talmud (2017) and Nash-Bravmann Collection (2024).
• Steinsaltz CentermajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Steinsaltz Center continues Rabbi Steinsaltz's mission through an app, online portal for daily learning, and a library of his writings. This partnership ensures the ongoing expansion and accessibility of Steinsaltz's scholarly works.
• Koren Jerusalem PublishersmajorTechnology or IntegrationKoren Jerusalem Publishers partnered with The Rabbi Sacks Legacy and Sefaria to bring Rabbi Sacks's work to more learners globally, contributing translations and scholarly content to the Sefaria library.
• The Rabbi Sacks LegacymajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborating with Koren Jerusalem and Sefaria to expand global access to Rabbi Jonathan Sacks's teachings and interpretations of Jewish texts.
• Professor Haim (Heinrich) GuggenheimmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProfessor Guggenheim prepared the complete English translation of the Jerusalem Talmud, which was added to Sefaria in 2021 as a significant milestone for the library.
• Jewish Publication Society (JPS)majorTechnology or IntegrationJPS 1985 and 2023 Torah translations are available on Sefaria, providing authoritative English translations alongside other versions for comparative study.
• Michael KimmelminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMichael Kimmel assisted Professor Haim Guggenheim on the Jerusalem Talmud translation project and shared key insights from the work in honor of Guggenheim's second yahrzeit.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Chabad.org: Chabad.org is one of the largest free digital libraries of Jewish texts, teachings, and educational content, serving learners worldwide. It directly competes with Sefaria in offering free online access to Torah, Talmud, and Jewish wisdom and overlapping educator/user audiences.
• HebrewBooks.org: HebrewBooks.org hosts a massive free digital library of seforim (Jewish books) in original Hebrew and English, run by Yeshiva University/Project Genesis. It overlaps directly with Sefaria's core mission of digitizing and democratizing access to Jewish textual heritage.
• My Jewish Learning: My Jewish Learning is a nonprofit online publication offering Jewish educational content, including text study resources and learning guides. It shares Sefaria's nonprofit, education-first model and serves overlapping audiences of Jewish learners and educators.
• Yeshiva.org / YUTorah.org: YUTorah.org provides free audio and text shiurim (Torah lectures) and source sheets from Yeshiva University, integrating Jewish texts with rabbinic commentary. It competes for the same Torah-study and educator audience as Sefaria's sheet and Voices platform.
• TorahAnytime: TorahAnytime offers free online Torah classes and shiurim with searchable transcripts and source sheets. It targets a similar learner/educator demographic and overlaps with Sefaria's mission of democratizing Jewish text access.

Broad incumbents

• Internet Archive: The Internet Archive is a massive free digital library preserving books, audio, video, and websites. While far broader than Sefaria, it serves as a complementary general-purpose repository that also hosts Jewish texts and competing source for free digital content access.
• JSTOR: JSTOR is a large digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources. It is an adjacent, enabling platform serving scholars and students, with overlapping but differentiated scholarly-text usage compared to Sefaria's Jewish-text specialization.

Others

• Koren Jerusalem Publishers: Koren is a major Jewish publisher producing high-quality editions of siddurim, chumashim, and Talmud. It is currently a Sefaria partner (e.g., Rabbi Sacks collaborations) but also an adjacent publisher whose traditional editions overlap with Sefaria's digital offerings.
• Jewish Publication Society (JPS): JPS is a venerable nonprofit publisher of authoritative Jewish translations, including the JPS Tanakh. As a Sefaria integration partner (JPS Torah translations 1985 and 2023 are available on Sefaria), it is an adjacent publisher enabling Sefaria's library while preserving its own book-publishing business.

Emerging players

• Open Siddur Project: Open Siddur is an open-source, volunteer-built archive of Jewish liturgy, translations, and prayers, similar in ethos and open-access model to Sefaria. It overlaps meaningfully with Sefaria's Liturgy corpus and shares the open-knowledge, community-contribution model.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/SefariaProject
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/SefariaProject
• Facebookfacebook.com/sefaria.org
• Instagraminstagram.com/sefariaproject

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds5 records

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Sefaria