PolicyEngine
PolicyEngine is a US nonprofit operating a free, open-source microsimulation platform that models the household-level impact of US and UK tax and benefit policy reforms, serving government agencies, think tanks, academic researchers, and benefit-screening platforms.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2021
- HeadquartersWashington, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What PolicyEngine does
PolicyEngine is a US 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2021 and headquartered in Washington, DC that operates a free, open-source microsimulation platform modeling the household-level impact of tax and benefit policy reforms. It is led by CEO Max Ghenis and CTO Nikhil Woodruff and serves a user base spanning federal and state government agencies (CBO, Joint Committee on Taxation, Treasury, state legislatures), think tanks (Tax Foundation, CRFB, Urban Institute, NBER), academic researchers, benefit-screening platforms, and major media outlets including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and BBC.
The platform combines encoded policy rules, household microdata derived from the Census CPS ASEC and IRS public-use files, and CBO-derived behavioral elasticities (labor supply, savings) to compute household-level outcomes for 55+ federal, state, and local programs across all 50 states plus DC, with an analogous UK offering via the policyengine-uk package. The simulation engine is calibrated against 37,758 administrative targets across 488 geographically representative datasets and has been independently validated against the NBER TAXSIM benchmark. Distribution occurs through a web platform, REST API, open-source Python packages (policyengine-us, policyengine-uk), and purpose-built tools including CliffWatch (benefit-cliff detection), SALTernative (SALT deduction modeling), Coverage Compass (healthcare coverage), PolicyBench (AI model evaluation), and a State Legislative Tracker. AI is used operationally via multi-agent systems that automate policy encoding into tested pull requests within roughly 90 minutes.
PolicyEngine's business model is entirely grant and donation funded, with no commercial pricing. Cumulative grant inflows exceed $2M from a diversified base of philanthropic funders (Arnold Ventures, Nuffield Foundation, NEO Philanthropy, Pritzker Children's Initiative, Gerald Huff Fund), federal sources (NSF POSE), and strategic partners (MyFriendBen). The organization operates with a lean team of 8-10 personnel and is a member of the Digital Public Goods Alliance.
PolicyEngine firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- PolicyEngine
- Legal name
- PolicyEngine
- Website
- https://policyengine.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2021
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- PolicyEngine is a US nonprofit operating a free, open-source microsimulation platform that models the household-level impact of US and UK tax and benefit policy reforms, serving government agencies, think tanks, academic researchers, and benefit-screening platforms.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
PolicyEngine industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Tax-Benefit Microsimulation Software
- NAICS
- Administration of Economic Programs (926)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Healthcare-Linked Social Benefits Administration (e.g., Medicaid/Means-Tested Health Coverage) (BPAIAKAH)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Health Equity, Community Health & Social Determinants Policy (HLAJAMAG)
Keywords
Where PolicyEngine is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Washington
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
PolicyEngine business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Grants and Donations: PolicyEngine is a free, open-source platform supported entirely by grants and donations. Funding comes from foundations and individuals including Arnold Ventures, Nuffield Foundation, NEO Philanthropy, Pritzker Children's Initiative, Gerald Huff Fund for Humanity, National Science Foundation, and others.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Free access to all features |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels7 records
PolicyEngine product offering
Product offeringCore offering
PolicyEngine is a free, open-source microsimulation platform that combines executable policy rules for 55+ federal, state, and local tax and benefit programs, representative household microdata calibrated against administrative targets, and behavioral response modeling to estimate the household- and population-level impact of policy reforms across all 50 U.S. states plus D.C. and the U.K. It is delivered as a self-serve web calculator, a public REST API, and Python packages, and is supported entirely by grants and donations.
Product overview
PolicyEngine is a free, open-source microsimulation platform providing tax and benefit policy analysis. The core platform combines a web calculator application (PolicyEngine Calculator), Python API packages (policyengine-us/policyengine-uk on PyPI), and a public REST API. Key products include CliffWatch (benefit cliff explorer), Coverage Compass (healthcare coverage modeling), SALTernative (SALT-AMT calculator), PolicyBench (AI benchmark), and the State Legislative Tracker. The platform covers over 55 federal, state, and local programs with optional behavioral response modeling using CBO elasticities.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- CliffWatch: A free, open-source tool from PolicyEngine that maps benefit cliffs and marginal tax rates for US households.
- Coverage Compass
- PolicyBench
Products and services
- PolicyEngine Platform Free, open-source microsimulation platform for US (and UK) tax and benefit policy analysis. Combines executable policy rules across 55+ programs, calibrated household microdata, and behavioral dynamics to estimate the household and population impact of policy reforms.
- PolicyEngine Calculator (Web App) Interactive web application for generating comprehensive impact analyses comparing tax and benefit policy scenarios, showing distributional effects, budget impacts, and poverty outcomes across demographics. Self-serve access at app.policyengine.org with no login required for basic use.
- PolicyEngine API Public REST API enabling developers to programmatically compute tax and benefit calculations for US programs, powering external applications including benefit eligibility screening tools like MyFriendBen.
- PolicyEngine Python Package (policyengine-us) Open-source Python package on PyPI enabling US tax-benefit microsimulation inside custom Python applications and research workflows, with a sibling policyengine-uk package for the UK model.
- CliffWatch Free, open-source tool mapping benefit cliffs and marginal tax rates for US households across all 50 states plus DC, showing how net resources change as wages rise across programs such as SNAP, TANF, EITC, CTC, Medicaid, CHIP, ACA, WIC, housing, and childcare.
- PolicyBench Open benchmark evaluating how accurately frontier AI language models compute taxes and benefits, testing 13 models on 100 representative US households across 18 outputs per household for tax year 2026 and scoring against PolicyEngine calculations.
- Coverage Compass Interactive tool modeling how life events such as moving, income changes, and pregnancy affect a household's healthcare coverage and out-of-pocket costs across Medicaid, CHIP, and ACA marketplace plans.
- SALTernative Free web app for modeling State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction and Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) reforms, simulating federal budget impacts (2026-35), distributional effects, and individual household net income impacts with optional behavioral responses.
- State Legislative Tracker Interactive tool monitoring tax and benefit legislation across all 50 US states, tracking active bills and state legislative sessions and linking to PolicyEngine's research on state-level policy reforms.
Quantifiable outcome
- 100% exact match on 80.3% of tax/benefit outputs for GPT-5.5 in PolicyBench evaluation
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use PolicyEngine
Customer profileNamed customers11 records
Segments1 record
Ideal customer profiles4 records
PolicyEngine technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability4 records
Feature7 records
PolicyEngine partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- MyFriendBencoreBenefit eligibility screener providing households comprehensive understanding of available programs. Awarded $300,000 (October 2024) for benefit eligibility API development and maintenance, and $25,000 (January 2025) for ACA premium tax credit modeling. PolicyEngine API powers MyFriendBen's calculations.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
PolicyEngine competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- RAND Corporation: Large policy research organization producing microsimulation analyses (TRIM, COMPARE) for federal agencies; broadly overlapping scope with PolicyEngine but as part of a much wider research portfolio funded primarily by government contracts.
- Urban Institute: Major policy research organization producing microsimulation-driven analyses of tax, health, and antipoverty programs using the TRIM model; overlapping mission with PolicyEngine on poverty, benefit eligibility, and family economic security topics.
- Congressional Budget Office: Federal government agency producing budget and distributional analyses of legislation using proprietary microsimulation models; operates the same function but as a government body with much broader mandate than PolicyEngine's targeted external research role.
Emerging players
- MyFriendBen: Benefit eligibility screener platform that uses PolicyEngine's API for tax/benefit calculations; an integration partner in the benefit access space serving overlapping end users (households seeking benefits) but with a different core product focus on screening vs. microsimulation.
- Benefits Data Trust: Nonprofit that uses data and technology to increase access to public benefits; overlaps with PolicyEngine's benefit access mission and uses policy modeling infrastructure, but focuses on benefits navigation and enrollment rather than microsimulation of policy reforms.
Direct peers
- Tax Foundation: Nonpartisan tax policy research organization producing microsimulation-driven analysis of federal and state tax proposals; competes for the same institutional audience and uses comparable microsimulation approaches to project reform impacts.
- NBER TAXSIM: NBER's microsimulation model for federal and state income tax liabilities — explicitly cited as PolicyEngine's validation benchmark, serving the same developer/researcher audience with comparable household-level tax calculations.
- Penn Wharton Budget Model: Academic microsimulation model for federal tax and spending policy, providing free public-facing tools for distributional and budget analysis — directly comparable to PolicyEngine's core microsimulation engine and public-facing web calculator.
- Tax Policy Center (Urban-Brookings): Joint Urban Institute-Brookings initiative providing distributional analysis of tax proposals across income groups; directly comparable methodology and user base (policymakers, think tanks, journalists), with similar microsimulation orientation.
- Institute for Fiscal Studies (UK): Leading UK tax-benefit microsimulation research organization (operating TAXBEN, the National Institute social and economic model); directly comparable to PolicyEngine UK's functionalities and funded by Nuffield Foundation, the same backbone funder of PolicyEngine UK.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks7 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
PolicyEngine social profiles
Digital presencePolicyEngine financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
PolicyEngine leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles10 records
PolicyEngine funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
PolicyEngine 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 PolicyEngine
What does PolicyEngine do?
PolicyEngine is a free, open-source microsimulation platform that combines executable policy rules for 55+ federal, state, and local tax and benefit programs, representative household microdata calibrated against administrative targets, and behavioral response modeling to estimate the household- and population-level impact of policy reforms across all 50 U.S. states plus D.C. and the U.K. It is delivered as a self-serve web calculator, a public REST API, and Python packages, and is supported entirely by grants and donations.
Is PolicyEngine a public or private company?
PolicyEngine is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was PolicyEngine founded?
PolicyEngine was founded in 2021. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is PolicyEngine based?
PolicyEngine is headquartered in Washington, United States, in the North America region.
How does PolicyEngine make money?
One revenue line is on record: grants and Donations.
Who are PolicyEngine's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are RAND Corporation, Urban Institute and Congressional Budget Office. Emerging players are MyFriendBen and Benefits Data Trust. Direct peers are Tax Foundation, NBER TAXSIM, Penn Wharton Budget Model, Tax Policy Center (Urban-Brookings) and Institute for Fiscal Studies (UK).
Does PolicyEngine have an API?
Yes. PolicyEngine provides a public API that allows developers to compute tax and benefit calculations programmatically. The API powers external applications including state and federal program calculations. Available via policyengine.org/us/api with Python packages (policyengine-us, policyengine-uk) published to PyPI. Developer documentation is at www.policyengine.org/us/api.
What industry is PolicyEngine in?
PolicyEngine's product category is Tax-Benefit Microsimulation Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAIAKAH, Healthcare-Linked Social Benefits Administration (e.g., Medicaid/Means-Tested Health Coverage), with a secondary code of HLAJAMAG, Health Equity, Community Health & Social Determinants Policy. Its NAICS code is 926 and its SIC code is 7370.