Most AI data buyers that publish a figure start at about $100,000 per license, and the published ceilings run from $1M+ to $5M. The deals that have actually been disclosed are much more spread out: from about $25,000 for a small startup’s codebase to $10 million for an airline’s internal records. This guide sets out the published bands, the disclosed deals and what moves a company’s figure up or down. If you want a range for your own company first, get a confidential estimate.
Every figure below is public: a buyer’s own published number or a named press report. The full table, with a CSV download, is in our market index. If you are still deciding whether to sell at all, start with our overview: can you sell company data to AI companies?
What do buyers publish?
These are the bands buyers showed on their own pages when we checked them on Oct 16, 2026.
| Buyer | Published band | Note |
|---|---|---|
| micro1 | $100K+, $500K+, $1M+ | Tiers by scope (micro1) |
| Handshake AI | $100K–$4M | 20+ full-time staff, 3+ years (Handshake) |
| Mode | $100K–$5M | Labelled indicative (Mode) |
| Polyshares | $100K–$2M+ | Per license (Polyshares) |
| SuperAnnotate | $100K–$1M+ | Labelled indicative (SuperAnnotate) |
| Labelbox Prism | About $50K–$1M+ | Exclusive by default (Prism) |
| Scale AI | $10K–$1M+ | Labelled illustrative (Scale) |
| Turing | Up to $1M | One payment for a full operating record (Turing) |
Some buyers publish nothing at all. Mercor says pay depends on data volume, the tools connected and data depth (Mercor, observed Oct 16, 2026). Surge AI has no public seller page we could find.
aitrainer.work reported on Oct 4, 2026 a typical range of $100,000 to $400,000 for selected partners in micro1’s frontline operations program. That is closer to what a mid-sized company should expect than the top of any band.
What has actually been paid?
Disclosed deals are rare, and most come from bankruptcies and wind-downs, where court filings or the platform make figures public.
- $10M. Google won the bankruptcy auction for Spirit Airlines’ internal business data in August 2026 (iTnews, Aug 19, 2026). The records included about 100 million emails, 500 million Teams messages and 176,000 employee records (MIT Technology Review, Oct 13, 2026). micro1 later filed a $12.5M bid and Mercor was the backup bidder at $7.5M (ch-aviation, Aug 24, 2026). Court approval was still pending on Oct 16, 2026.
- $10,000 to $100,000 per company. Forbes reported this as the typical payout on SimpleClosure’s startup data deals in April 2026 (via Skylab Intel, Oct 8, 2026).
- About $25,000. A shut-down crypto startup netted roughly this for its codebase, with about $15,000 more expected for its workspace data (MIT Technology Review, Oct 13, 2026).
- $110,000 to $1.2 million. The intermediary Pewter publishes closed deals in this range for US firms in distribution, freight, engineering, accounting and construction. Pewter’s own page says the figures have not been independently verified (Pewter, observed Oct 16, 2026).
What moves the price?
Buyers describe the same few drivers in their own words.
Headcount and years of history
Sunset’s CEO told MIT Technology Review it values assets by headcount, years in operation, data volume and how the team used its tools (Oct 13, 2026). Ooak Data names the same factors (Ooak). Collinear says prices rise with 15 or more people at peak and several years of history (Collinear).
Records that connect across tools
Ooak prices on how many tools connect “and how deeply.” Collinear wants pull requests together with the tickets behind them. A ticket linked to the email thread, the code change and the invoice shows how a decision was made.
Rarity and depth
SuperAnnotate prices on rarity, depth and exclusivity. micro1’s top tier is for “highly unique, proprietary operational data” (micro1).
Exclusivity
An exclusive license is worth more to a buyer and should cost it more. See our guide to exclusive and non-exclusive licenses.
Human work
Collinear says it does not want AI-generated code, and it lists human-written code among the factors that raise its price.
What lowers the figure or ends the conversation?
Records that identify people, HR and health records, and data you cannot prove you own. SimpleClosure does not sell sensitive employee and health records (SimpleClosure, Sep 3, 2026). The General Data Company takes customer or supplier records only where no confidentiality agreement stands in the way (Who Sells Data, Oct 14, 2026). Records sitting in a vendor whose terms limit AI use can also drop out. Our guide on whether it is legal covers this.
Why do calculators disagree?
Each calculator reflects one buyer’s assumptions. Skylab Intel tested micro1’s calculator on Oct 7, 2026: it returned $379,290 to $888,088 for 100 employees and 10 years of data (Skylab Intel, Oct 8, 2026). On Oct 16, 2026, Nyne AI’s estimator showed $44,379 to $103,910 at its default inputs (Nyne). Both are labelled indicative. A calculator gives you a starting range. The figure you can bank is a written offer after the buyer has seen a sample.
How does the payment arrive?
Turing pays once. Labelbox Prism pays an upfront fee at signing plus a revenue share on later use. Troveo and SuperAnnotate pay on each sale or relicense. Mercor pays by wire once the anonymized dataset reaches the buyer, typically 2–4 weeks after signing. Mode expects about three months from first conversation to payment. Polyshares pays Net 30–60 after delivery. All of these terms come from each buyer’s own page, observed Oct 16, 2026. Our comparison of AI data partnership programs groups every published program by how it pays.
What would you keep after fees?
Most buyers charge the seller nothing. Mode and Polyshares say so directly. If you use an advisor, ask what they charge and who pays them. Marin Data charges the seller nothing; the AI lab pays us.
A sensible way to read the numbers
Take the band that matches your headcount and years. Expect to start near its low end. Move up for linked records across several tools, long history and a field few others can supply. Move down for gaps in ownership, heavy personal data or a single tool. Then get the buyer’s figure in writing.
Get a confidential estimate. It takes two minutes and asks for no documents.
Sources
- micro1, data partnerships, observed Oct 16, 2026
- Handshake AI, license page, observed Oct 16, 2026
- Mode, company data, observed Oct 16, 2026
- Polyshares, SuperAnnotate, Labelbox Prism, Scale AI, Turing Project Lazarus, Mercor, Ooak Data, Collinear, Nyne AI, Pewter, all observed Oct 16, 2026
- aitrainer.work, how companies get paid for operational data, reviewed Oct 4, 2026
- MIT Technology Review, AI labs are buying data from dead startups, Oct 13, 2026
- iTnews (Reuters), Google to buy Spirit Airlines business data, Aug 19, 2026
- ch-aviation, court delays Google acquisition of Spirit data, Aug 24, 2026
- Skylab Intel, AI labs are buying company records, Oct 8, 2026
- SimpleClosure release via Webull, Sep 3, 2026
- Who Sells Data, buying programs, observed Oct 14, 2026