ShipIndex
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2007
- HeadquartersIthaca, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingSoftware
ShipIndex firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- ShipIndex
- Legal name
- Ship Index, LLC
- Website
- https://shipindex.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2007
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Where ShipIndex is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Ithaca
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
ShipIndex business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Individual Subscriptions: Monthly recurring subscriptions ($10/month) and fixed time period subscriptions ranging from two weeks ($7.50) to one year ($80.00). Provides full access to the complete database of 3.7M+ citations across 1,236 resources.
- Institutional Subscriptions: Library and institutional access programs providing full site access for patrons through IP authentication, proxy servers, and library cards. Includes integration with discovery layers. Discounts available for certain institution types.
- Freemium Access: Free tier providing access to over 150,000 citations from 74 resources, allowing users to explore the database before converting to paid subscriptions
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Others | Free Tier - Guest Access |
| Subscription | Monthly | Monthly Subscription |
| Subscription | Pay-as-you-go | Two Week Subscription |
| Subscription | Pay-as-you-go | Three Month Subscription |
| Subscription | Pay-as-you-go | Six Month Subscription |
| Subscription | Annual | Annual Subscription |
| Subscription | Multi-year contract | Institutional Subscription |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels3 records
ShipIndex product offering
Product offeringCore offering
ShipIndex.org is a web-based maritime vessel research database that aggregates citations of ships from books, journals, magazines, newspapers, CD-ROMs, websites, and online databases. It provides searchable access to over 3.7 million citations across 1,236 maritime resources, enhanced with metadata on illustrations, crew lists, and passenger lists, and offers both individual subscriptions and institutional access for libraries.
Product overview
ShipIndex.org is a single, unified vessel research database product. It provides searchable access to citations of ships across maritime resources, offering tiered access: free guest accounts access 150,000+ citations from 74 resources, while paid subscriptions unlock the full database of 3,736,073 citations in 1,236 resources. Institutional subscriptions are also available for libraries and organizations.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Quantifiable outcome
- Access to 3.7M+ ship citations
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use ShipIndex
Customer profileNamed customers3 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
ShipIndex technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration1 record
Feature3 records
ShipIndex partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and foundational.
- University of Washington LibrariescorePeter McCracken was employed as a reference librarian at University of Washington Libraries where he developed the initial ShipIndex.org concept. He collected indexes to books and journals from the UW's collection, scanning pages and creating a searchable database.
- East Carolina UniversityfoundationalPeter McCracken earned a Masters in Maritime History from East Carolina University. This advanced degree in maritime history provided the domain expertise necessary to build a comprehensive maritime vessel research database.
- Serials SolutionscoreCo-founded by Peter McCracken with his brothers Mike and Steve, and high school friend Chris. Technical expertise from Serials Solutions was used to develop the initial ShipIndex.org website. Mike McCracken later partnered with Peter to rebuild and expand the current ShipIndex.org platform.
- UNC-Chapel HillfoundationalPeter McCracken earned a Masters in Library Science from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1995. The university provided the academic foundation for database organization and information science expertise.
- Maine Maritime MuseumfoundationalDuring a summer internship in 1994, Peter McCracken spent ten weeks working in the library at the Maine Maritime Museum. This experience inspired the concept for ShipIndex.org as he observed the inefficient process of checking individual book indexes for vessel research.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights5 records
ShipIndex competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Ancestry.com: The largest consumer genealogy platform, aggregating census records, immigration manifests, and historical documents. Compares to ShipIndex because genealogists use Ancestry to find passengers/crew on vessels, and the two services address overlapping customer use cases around tracing people across maritime history.
- MyHeritage: Global genealogy platform with record collections including ship passenger lists and immigration records. Comparable as a subscription-based genealogy research service that serves ShipIndex's core genealogist customer segment, though at much larger scale and broader scope.
- FamilySearch: Free genealogy service operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with massive historical record collections including maritime immigration records. Comparable as a free-tier genealogy research resource targeting the same primary user persona as ShipIndex, and a partial substitute especially for genealogists unwilling to pay.
- Internet Archive: Non-profit digital library archiving books, periodicals, websites, and multimedia, accessible for free. Comparable as a foundational resource ShipIndex cites, and serves overlapping customer segments (historians, genealogists, researchers); both curate and provide access to historical maritime content.
- ProQuest: Major academic research database platform providing access to historical newspapers, periodicals, and primary sources to libraries. Comparable business model (institutional subscription with IP authentication) and overlapping customer base (academic and maritime history researchers at libraries).
- JSTOR: Large academic research database providing access to scholarly journals, books, and primary sources. Compares to ShipIndex as a subscription-based research database serving historians and academic institutions, though JSTOR operates at vastly larger scale and broader scope; both serve the maritime historian customer segment.
- Findmypast: British-origin genealogy subscription service with deep collections of maritime passenger lists, crew records, and naval records. Highly comparable target customer (genealogists and family historians researching maritime ancestors) and similar subscription business model.
- Google Books: Free book search engine indexing millions of books with snippet and preview search. Comparable as a tool researchers use to find ship references in books, though it does not aggregate citations in the way ShipIndex does; both serve the maritime historian and genealogist segments with free-tier access.
Others
- Mystic Seaport: Maritime history museum and research institution in Connecticut with significant maritime archives and scholarly resources. Thematically related as an institutional maritime history resource whose researchers are potential ShipIndex subscribers; not a direct competitor but an ecosystem participant.
Direct peers
- Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation: Operates the Ellis Island passenger record database (American Family Immigration History Center), a major free resource for maritime immigration research. Direct peer in serving genealogists researching ship passengers and crew arriving in the United States, and a partial substitute for some of ShipIndex's genealogist use cases.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
ShipIndex social profiles
Digital presenceShipIndex financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
ShipIndex leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
ShipIndex funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
ShipIndex 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 ShipIndex
What does ShipIndex do?
ShipIndex.org is a web-based maritime vessel research database that aggregates citations of ships from books, journals, magazines, newspapers, CD-ROMs, websites, and online databases. It provides searchable access to over 3.7 million citations across 1,236 maritime resources, enhanced with metadata on illustrations, crew lists, and passenger lists, and offers both individual subscriptions and institutional access for libraries.
Is ShipIndex a public or private company?
ShipIndex is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was ShipIndex founded?
ShipIndex was founded in 2007. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is ShipIndex based?
ShipIndex is headquartered in Ithaca, United States, in the North America region.
How does ShipIndex make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Individual Subscriptions are the primary driver. The others are institutional Subscriptions and freemium Access.
Who are ShipIndex's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Ancestry.com, MyHeritage, FamilySearch, Internet Archive, ProQuest, JSTOR, Findmypast and Google Books. Mystic Seaport is listed as an others. Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation is listed as a direct peer.
Does ShipIndex have an API?
No public API is recorded for ShipIndex.