Wikidata
Wikidata is a free, non-profit structured knowledge base operated by the Wikimedia Foundation, holding 122M+ data entities under CC0 license that serve as central structured-data storage for Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects across 338+ languages.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2012
- HeadquartersBerlin, Germany
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingSoftware
What Wikidata does
Wikidata is a free, collaborative, multilingual structured knowledge base operated as a project of the Wikimedia Foundation, a US-based 501(c)(3) non-profit. Launched in 2012, it stores 122,297,270+ data entities using a graph-based data model built on MediaWiki software, supporting items, properties, lexemes, and entity schemas, with data exportable via JSON, XML, and RDF. It serves as the central structured-data layer for the entire Wikimedia family — including Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikisource, Wikibooks, Wikiquote, Wikiversity, Wikivoyage, Wikispecies, and Wikifunctions — and exposes its data through a SPARQL query service, APIs, and full database downloads under the CC0 (public domain) license. Primary user segments include academic researchers and educators, Wikimedia sister projects, AI/ML developers using the data for training and knowledge-graph applications, and Indigenous and cultural-heritage communities preserving traditional knowledge.
Wikidata operates a community-led go-to-market model with no direct revenue stream. Contributors include volunteers, WikiProject participants, organizations donating datasets, and individual editors; participation is supported through the Community Portal, edit-a-thons, WikiProject Days events, and documentation. Distribution is entirely self-serve via web access, the SPARQL endpoint, API, and database dumps. All content is free under CC0 with no paid tiers. Funding flows indirectly through donations and grants to the Wikimedia Foundation rather than venture capital; there are no funding rounds, subsidiaries, M&A, leadership changes, or regulatory actions in the disclosed record. The firmographic listing (51-100 employees, Berlin, Germany, year founded 2011) appears partially inconsistent with the primary source stating Wikidata is a non-profit project of the Wikimedia Foundation headquartered in San Francisco; the Berlin/Germany attribution likely refers to Wikimedia Deutschland, a regional chapter.
Wikidata firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Wikidata
- Legal name
- Wikidata (project of Wikimedia Foundation)
- Website
- https://wikidata.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2012
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- Wikidata is a free, non-profit structured knowledge base operated by the Wikimedia Foundation, holding 122M+ data entities under CC0 license that serve as central structured-data storage for Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects across 338+ languages.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Wikidata industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Open Knowledge Base
- NAICS
- Libraries and Archives (51921), Web Search Portals, Libraries, Archives, and Other Information Services (519), Web Search Portals and All Other Information Services (51929)
- SIC
- Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Knowledge Management & Wikis (BPAMAMAH)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- OER Repositories, Discovery & Metadata Services (EDAGAJAL), Metadata, Catalog & Semantic Layer for Data Platforms (HDAEABAJ)
Keywords
Where Wikidata is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Berlin
- HQ country
- Germany
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Wikidata business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Personnel, Operations
Revenue model
- Non-profit/free service: Wikidata operates as a non-profit, free knowledge base under the Wikimedia Foundation. There is no direct revenue model - it is funded by donations to the Wikimedia Foundation and operates under a free license (CC0) with no commercial transaction for data access.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Pay-as-you-go | Free access for all users |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels5 records
Wikidata product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Wikidata is a free, open knowledge base that serves as central structured data storage for the Wikimedia ecosystem, containing 122+ million data entities readable and editable by both humans and machines. It provides SPARQL query capabilities, multilingual support across 338+ languages, and standard data exports (JSON, XML, RDF) under a CC0 public domain license. The platform acts as a knowledge graph feeding Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikisource, Wikivoyage, and other Wikimedia sister projects, while also serving external developers and researchers.
Product overview
Wikidata is a free, open knowledge base that serves as the central storage for structured data across the Wikimedia ecosystem. It operates as a single unified platform consisting of the core Wikidata Knowledge Base (with over 122 million data entities), the Wikidata SPARQL Query Service for data retrieval, Lexicographical Data features for linguistic entries, and Mobile Editing capabilities. The platform provides structured data to Wikimedia sister projects including Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikisource, Wikibooks, Wikiquote, Wikinews, Wikiversity, Wikivoyage, and Wikispecies, while also supporting external sites and services. All content is available under Creative Commons CC0 License and uses standard export formats.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Wikidata Knowledge Base A free and open knowledge base containing 122+ million structured data entities that anyone can read and edit. Acts as central storage for structured data of Wikimedia sister projects including Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikisource, and others, while supporting external sites and services. All content is available under Creative Commons CC0 License (Public Domain Dedication).
- Wikidata SPARQL Query Service
Quantifiable outcome
- 122,297,270+ data entities
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Wikidata
Customer profileSegments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Wikidata technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability2 records
Feature4 records
Wikidata partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Wikimedia Sister Projects (Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikisource, Wikibooks, Wikiquote, Wikiversity, Wikivoyage, Wikispecies, Wikifunctions)coreWikidata serves as the central structured data storage for all Wikimedia sister projects. These projects both contribute to and consume data from Wikidata, creating a bidirectional relationship where structured data from Wikidata populates Wikipedia articles and other Wikimedia content.
- Wikimedia FoundationcoreWikidata is a project of the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation, which provides funding, infrastructure, and governance. The Foundation supports Wikidata operations as part of its mission to bring free knowledge to the world.
- OpenSpeaks Archives ProjectminorThe OpenSpeaks Archives project integrates audio-visual recordings of Indigenous medicinal plant knowledge into Wikidata and Wikisource platforms. This partnership demonstrates Wikidata's role in cultural heritage preservation and Indigenous knowledge documentation.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Wikidata competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- DBpedia: A crowd-sourced community effort to extract structured content from Wikipedia and make it available on the Web. DBpedia is the most direct comparable to Wikidata as both serve as structured data layers over Wikipedia content, with similar linked data and SPARQL query capabilities.
- YAGO: A large semantic knowledge base derived from Wikipedia and WordNet. YAGO is highly comparable to Wikidata as both are open, machine-readable knowledge bases built from Wikipedia data with similar SPARQL query capabilities and academic research applications.
- ConceptNet: A freely-available semantic network designed to help computers understand the meanings of words. ConceptNet is comparable to Wikidata's Lexicographical data features, both focusing on linguistic and commonsense knowledge representation for AI applications.
- BabelNet: A multilingual semantic network that integrates Wikipedia and WordNet across multiple languages. BabelNet is directly comparable to Wikidata in providing multilingual, structured knowledge representation for NLP and AI research applications.
- Wikidata Query Service: Actually part of Wikidata, but worth noting that the SPARQL endpoint is itself a comparable service to other RDF query services like the DBpedia SPARQL Endpoint, serving as a key technical component that defines the category.
Emerging players
- NELL (Never-Ending Language Learner): A semantic machine learning system that reads the web and learns structured knowledge over time. NELL is comparable to Wikidata in building structured knowledge bases, but uses automated learning approaches rather than community editing.
Regional players
- GeoNames: A geographical database available and accessible through various web services, under a Creative Commons license. GeoNames is comparable to Wikidata as a structured open data repository with CC licensing, though focused specifically on geographical data rather than general knowledge.
Broad incumbents
- OpenCyc: An open-source version of the Cyc project, which is one of the oldest and largest commonsense knowledge bases. OpenCyc is comparable to Wikidata in providing structured, machine-readable knowledge, though with a focus on commonsense reasoning rather than encyclopedic data.
- Google Knowledge Graph: Google's proprietary knowledge graph that powers search results and provides structured information across Google's products. It is comparable to Wikidata in providing structured entity data, but operates as a closed commercial system at vastly larger scale.
- Freebase: A former large-scale collaborative knowledge base that was acquired by Google and contributed to the Google Knowledge Graph. Freebase was a direct predecessor and comparable system to Wikidata, both being community-curated structured data repositories.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Wikidata social profiles
Digital presenceWikidata financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Wikidata leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Wikidata funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors1 record
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Wikidata M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Wikidata
What does Wikidata do?
Wikidata is a free, open knowledge base that serves as central structured data storage for the Wikimedia ecosystem, containing 122+ million data entities readable and editable by both humans and machines. It provides SPARQL query capabilities, multilingual support across 338+ languages, and standard data exports (JSON, XML, RDF) under a CC0 public domain license. The platform acts as a knowledge graph feeding Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikisource, Wikivoyage, and other Wikimedia sister projects, while also serving external developers and researchers.
Is Wikidata a public or private company?
Wikidata is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Wikidata founded?
Wikidata was founded in 2012. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is Wikidata based?
Wikidata is headquartered in Berlin, Germany, in the Europe region.
How does Wikidata make money?
One revenue line is on record: non-profit/free service.
Who are Wikidata's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are DBpedia, YAGO, ConceptNet, BabelNet and Wikidata Query Service. NELL (Never-Ending Language Learner) is listed as an emerging player. GeoNames is listed as a regional player. Broad incumbents are OpenCyc, Google Knowledge Graph and Freebase.
Does Wikidata have an API?
Yes. Wikidata provides a SPARQL query service for retrieving and querying structured data. The endpoint allows querying the knowledge base using SPARQL. Data is available under Creative Commons CC0 License and can be exported using standard formats.
What industry is Wikidata in?
Wikidata's product category is Open Knowledge Base. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAMAMAH, Knowledge Management & Wikis, with a secondary code of EDAGAJAL, OER Repositories, Discovery & Metadata Services. Its NAICS code is 51921 and its SIC code is 8200.