Wikidata

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.

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

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

• Open knowledge base
• Structured data platform
• Linked data services
• Knowledge graph software
• Semantic web database

Headquarters

HQ city

Berlin

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Personnel, Operations

Revenue model

1. 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

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core 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

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability2 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Wikimedia Sister Projects (Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikisource, Wikibooks, Wikiquote, Wikiversity, Wikivoyage, Wikispecies, Wikifunctions)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWikidata 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 FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWikidata 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 ProjectminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe 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

Direct 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

• Xx.com/wikidata
• Facebookfacebook.com/Wikidata
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/wikidata

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

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 Wikidata