Ethnologue
Ethnologue, published by nonprofit SIL Global, is the world's most comprehensive database on living languages, covering 7,170 languages across 242 countries. It serves academic institutions, governments, NGOs, and technology firms via subscriptions, licensed datasets for AI training, and research services.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1951
- HeadquartersDallas, United States
- Headcount—
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Ethnologue does
Ethnologue is the world's most comprehensive database on living languages, published by SIL Global — a faith-based nonprofit headquartered in Dallas, Texas — and maintained continuously since 1951. The platform covers 7,170 living languages across 242 countries, organized around 5 million curated data points contributed by a global network of 2,500 expert linguists. Its technical core rests on two proprietary frameworks: the EGIDS (Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale), the industry-standard reference for language vitality assessment, and the DLS (Digital Language Support) scale, positioned as the first dataset measuring digital language capabilities.
The product surface is structured around three delivery channels. First, tiered subscriptions: a free Starter tier, Essentials at $480 per user per year, Standard at $2,400 per user per year, and custom Enterprise contracts for institutional multi-user access with domain or IP-based authentication. Second, separately licensed raw datasets — the Ethnologue Global Dataset (longitudinal tab-delimited data back to 1996), Training Datasets (audio and text across thousands of languages, including low-resource and indigenous varieties, for AI/ML engine training), Language GIS Dataset (centroids and boundary polygons for 7,100+ languages), and the DLS Dataset. Third, Applied Research services offering customized data slices, maps, infographics, language research, and product prototyping via consulting engagements.
Ethnologue serves four primary customer segments: academic and research institutions requiring authoritative language data for scholarly work, technology companies and AI developers needing training data for multilingual models, governments and NGOs focused on language policy and preservation, and individual language professionals and contributors. Named customers include Meta, Ancestry.com, Carnegie Mellon University, USITC, World Bank, YouVersion, and GSMA. Go-to-market combines self-serve PLG for individual subscriptions with sales-led enterprise and dataset licensing motions. The business has no venture or private equity backing and operates as a commercial product line within the broader SIL Global nonprofit mission.
Ethnologue firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Ethnologue
- Legal name
- SIL Global
- Website
- https://ethnologue.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1951
- Operating status
- Operating
- Short description
- Ethnologue, published by nonprofit SIL Global, is the world's most comprehensive database on living languages, covering 7,170 languages across 242 countries. It serves academic institutions, governments, NGOs, and technology firms via subscriptions, licensed datasets for AI training, and research services.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Ethnologue industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Language Data and Linguistic Intelligence
- NAICS
- Web Search Portals, Libraries, Archives, and Other Information Services (5192), Software Publishers (5132)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Processing & Data Preparation (7374), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Dataset Discovery, Marketplaces & Licensing (HDAAALAE)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Language Learning eLearning Modules (ESL/EFL) (EDAGAEAI)
Keywords
Where Ethnologue is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Dallas
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Ethnologue business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Subscription Plans: Annual subscription tiers (Essentials $480/year, Standard $2,400/year) providing access to language profiles, country profiles, maps, and archives. Individual user accounts with optional enterprise multi-user access.
- Dataset Licensing: Raw data files (Global Dataset, Training Datasets, Language GIS Dataset, Digital Language Support Dataset) sold as separate licenses. Collated and curated data for advanced analysis including longitudinal studies. Pricing quote-based, not publicly disclosed.
- Applied Research & Consulting: Customized data slices, digital maps, specific language data sourcing, infographics, language research, and product prototyping services offered through consulting engagements.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Others | Free tier with basic language and country summaries |
| Subscription | Annual | Individual subscription with detailed language profiles and insights |
| Subscription | Annual | Complete collection with full DLS scale and country digests |
| Subscription | Multi-year contract | Institutional multi-user access with domain/IP-based authentication |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels5 records
Ethnologue product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Ethnologue operates a subscription-based linguistic database platform covering 7,170 living languages across 242 countries, delivered through tiered web subscriptions (Essentials, Standard, Enterprise) and licensed standalone datasets for advanced analysis. It also sells raw data files (Global Dataset, Training Datasets, Language GIS Dataset, Digital Language Support Dataset) and offers applied research and consulting services for customized language data projects.
Product overview
Ethnologue is a comprehensive language information platform organized as a core database plus multiple data delivery products. The core Ethnologue database covers 7,170 living languages across 242 countries with 5 million data points. Access is provided through three subscription tiers: Essentials ($480/year) for basic profiles and data, Standard ($2,400/year) for complete profiles with maps and digests, and Enterprise for multi-user institutional access. Separate from subscriptions, four dataset products can be licensed: the Ethnologue Global Dataset (raw tab-delimited data for analysis), Training Datasets (audio and text for AI/ML training), Language GIS Dataset (geographic polygons and coordinates), and Digital Language Support Dataset (digital capability measurements). The Applied Research team offers customized consulting services. The platform also provides free access to language insights, archives of previous editions, and code tables.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Ethnologue 200: List of the top 200 most spoken languages published for over 15 years, often cited by top-tier publications.
- Ethnologue Global Dataset
- Language GIS Dataset
- Digital Language Support
Products and services
- Ethnologue Language Database The world's most comprehensive database on living languages, providing 5 million data points covering 7,170 languages across 242 countries with 70+ years of linguistic expertise. Accessed via subscription tiers on ethnologue.com for language profiles, country profiles, language maps, archives, and vitality assessments.
- Ethnologue Global Dataset Raw tab-delimited data files behind the Ethnologue website for advanced language analysis and longitudinal studies, covering 7,467 languages across 242 countries with 11,292 Language-in-Country data points (28th edition) and historical datasets from 1996 onwards. Licensed separately from subscriptions.
- Training Datasets Audio and text content in thousands of languages suitable for training AI and ML engines and models, including hard-to-source indigenous and low-resource languages. Licensed for academic and commercial purposes, with customers including Meta and Carnegie Mellon University.
- Language GIS Dataset Comprehensive geographic dataset of locations for 7,100+ living languages, including centroid coordinates and boundary polygons displaying traditional homelands. Available as geodatabase GIS or Esri shapefiles and used by customers such as Ancestry.com for digital language mapping.
- Digital Language Support Dataset The world's first dataset dedicated to measuring digital language capabilities across living languages using a 5-point scale with component scores, designed to understand the Digital Language Divide. Used by GSMA for the SOMIC report and available via separate license.
- Applied Research Services Customized research and consulting services including specific data slices, digital maps, language data sourcing, infographics, language research, and product prototyping. Engagements are relationship-based and include a free one-hour consultation, serving clients such as the World Bank.
- Ethnologue Archives Access to previous editions of Ethnologue from the 13th edition through the current edition, enabling longitudinal language research and historical comparison. Sold as a standalone digital product via the storefront.
- Language Code Tables Reference tables providing language codes including ISO 639-3 identifiers for languages worldwide, sold as a standalone reference product.
Quantifiable outcome
- 600,000 annual users rely on Ethnologue data
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use Ethnologue
Customer profileNamed customers7 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Ethnologue technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature4 records
Ethnologue partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators10 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights7 records
Ethnologue competitors and assessment
Company assessmentEmerging players
- Wikitongues: Nonprofit community-driven initiative documenting languages through volunteer video. Comparable to Ethnologue in mission (language documentation and preservation) but operates an open, grassroots model without commercial dataset licensing.
- The Rosetta Project (Long Now Foundation): Long-running archive of language documentation including a physical and digital archive of language materials. Comparable as a curated language archive with a preservation mission, though more research-archive oriented than commercial.
- OpenStreetMap / Natural Earth language data: Open geographic data projects containing language and place-name information. Comparable as a partial substitute for Ethnologue's Language GIS Dataset, particularly for open-data use cases in research and mapping.
Direct peers
- Glottolog: Open-access reference catalog of the world's languages maintained by the Max Planck Institute. Directly comparable to Ethnologue as a comprehensive language metadata resource used by linguists and researchers, though offering fewer commercial delivery products.
- Endangered Languages Project: Collaborative platform backed by First Peoples' Cultural Council and partners (including Google) that catalogs endangered languages. Overlaps with Ethnologue in vitality classification and indigenous-language coverage, serving similar academic and preservation audiences.
Others
- Derivation: Data science consultancy referenced on Ethnologue's site ('Derivation for Business'). Operates as an adjacent data services partner that builds on Ethnologue datasets, providing commercial analytics on top of the underlying language data.
- ISO 639 / Registration Authority (SIL International): ISO 639-3 language code registry administered by SIL International. Directly linked to Ethnologue via shared parent organization and overlapping language identification data — a complementary standards body rather than a commercial competitor.
Broad incumbents
- Wikidata / Wikimedia Foundation: Open structured knowledge base containing language identifiers, family trees, and metadata. Comparable as a free, crowd-sourced alternative source of language reference data that researchers and developers may substitute for Ethnologue subscriptions.
- World Atlas of Languages (UNESCO): UNESCO-led global initiative to map the world's languages. Comparable to Ethnologue in authoritative policy positioning and government/government-adjacent user base, with potential overlap on language vitality and endangerment metrics.
- Google Translate / Google Language AI: Mass-market translation and language AI product with broad multilingual datasets. Comparable as a buyer of large-scale language data and as a potential substitute for some Ethnologue use cases, especially for big-tech NLP customers.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Ethnologue social profiles
Digital presenceEthnologue financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Ethnologue leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Ethnologue funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Ethnologue 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 Ethnologue
What does Ethnologue do?
Ethnologue operates a subscription-based linguistic database platform covering 7,170 living languages across 242 countries, delivered through tiered web subscriptions (Essentials, Standard, Enterprise) and licensed standalone datasets for advanced analysis. It also sells raw data files (Global Dataset, Training Datasets, Language GIS Dataset, Digital Language Support Dataset) and offers applied research and consulting services for customized language data projects.
Is Ethnologue a public or private company?
Ethnologue is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Ethnologue founded?
Ethnologue was founded in 1951.
Where is Ethnologue based?
Ethnologue is headquartered in Dallas, United States, in the North America region.
How does Ethnologue make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Subscription Plans are the primary driver. The others are dataset Licensing and applied Research & Consulting.
Who are Ethnologue's main competitors?
Emerging players on record are Wikitongues, The Rosetta Project (Long Now Foundation) and OpenStreetMap / Natural Earth language data. Direct peers are Glottolog and Endangered Languages Project. Others are Derivation and ISO 639 / Registration Authority (SIL International). Broad incumbents are Wikidata / Wikimedia Foundation, World Atlas of Languages (UNESCO) and Google Translate / Google Language AI.
Does Ethnologue have an API?
No public API is recorded for Ethnologue.
What industry is Ethnologue in?
Ethnologue's product category is Language Data and Linguistic Intelligence. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDAAALAE, Dataset Discovery, Marketplaces & Licensing, with a secondary code of EDAGAEAI, Language Learning eLearning Modules (ESL/EFL). Its NAICS code is 5192 and its SIC code is 7374.