$30,000 a year is the median PitchBook contract in 2026, per Vendr's buyer-transaction data — and most emerging managers and scouts don't need it. That's the short answer. The longer answer is which of the 7 genuinely free VC databases actually cover enough ground to make that $30K optional.
I've sourced deals off both a $30K/year data terminal and a stack of free tools stitched together with Google Sheets. The free stack has gotten dramatically better in the last two years — here's exactly what still works without a card on file.
What is the best free VC database in 2026?
Crunchbase's free tier remains the most widely used entry point for company and funding lookups, but Tracxn's free Lite plan now covers deeper ground — roughly 3.7 million company profiles with strong data outside the US, at zero cost. Dealroom's free search tier, Owler's Community plan, and the U.S. government's own SEC EDGAR full-text search round out a five-tool free stack that covers company profiles, funding history, competitive alerts, and primary-source filings without a single paid seat.
None of these fully replace PitchBook (median contract ~$30,000/year, per 2026 Vendr data) or CB Insights ($30,000–$80,000+/year) for institutional-grade fund performance, LP data, and comp analysis. But for solo GPs, scouts, angels, and founders doing their own market research, this combination covers most day-to-day sourcing and diligence lookups at $0.
Why free VC databases got this good in 2026
The same emerging-manager arbitrage that produced free CRMs and cap table tools has hit data providers too. Funds under $50M AUM now account for roughly 60% of new fund closes tracked by PitchBook itself, and that segment can't absorb a $30,000/year data terminal in year one. Tracxn, Dealroom, and Owler are all betting the same way Attio and Carta Launch did: give a real product away to a fund with 1-3 people, then monetize once deal volume or team size crosses a threshold.
The tradeoff moved the other direction on Crunchbase specifically — the company eliminated free API access entirely in 2025, pushing developers and no-code builders toward its $49–$99/month paid tiers, even as its browser-based free tier for manual company lookups remains intact. That split matters: if you need programmatic data pulls, Crunchbase's free door closed; if you're manually researching a handful of companies a week, it's still open.
Free vs paid: the best free VC database options, ranked
Free VC database vs paid alternative: the direct comparison
The gap between free and paid isn't just feature depth — it's coverage breadth, export limits, and whether the data is aggregated or requires manual digging. Here's the category-by-category breakdown.
| Category | Free tool | Free tier limit | Paid alternative & price |
|---|---|---|---|
| General company/funding data | Crunchbase Free | Limited monthly searches, no API | Crunchbase Pro — $99/mo ($588/yr) |
| Global sector coverage | Tracxn Lite | 3.7M+ companies, view-only depth | Tracxn Premium — $500/mo or $4,400/user/yr |
| European startup data | Dealroom free search | Basic search, no CRM sync | Dealroom Premium — ~€12,500/yr (3-seat min) |
| Competitive monitoring | Owler Community | Crowd-sourced estimates only | Owler Pro — subscription pricing by seat |
| Institutional fund/PE data | None (no free equivalent) | — | PitchBook — $12,000–$70,000+/yr, ~$30K median |
| Deep-dive market research | None (no free equivalent) | — | CB Insights — $30,000–$80,000+/yr |
| Primary-source filings | SEC EDGAR full-text search | Keyword search only, no aggregation | N/A — always free, government-run |
| Team/hiring signal | LinkedIn free + Wellfound | Self-reported, no verification | Live Data Technologies — custom pricing |
Figures are 2026 pricing blended from Vendr buyer-transaction data, G2 pricing pages, vendor sites for Crunchbase, PitchBook, Tracxn, Dealroom, and Owler, and SEC.gov for EDGAR. Paid pricing is approximate — vendors negotiate by seat count and contract length, and PitchBook and CB Insights publish no public price list.
Annual cost gap: free VC databases vs their paid alternative
The chart below shows what the paid version of each category costs per year — the number a free tool is effectively saving you, category by category.
When a free VC database stops being enough
Every free tier has a ceiling, and hitting it mid-diligence is worse than budgeting for the upgrade ahead of time. I've watched an associate burn half a day working around Crunchbase's free search cap while trying to build a competitive set for an IC memo due that afternoon — a $49/month Basic plan would have solved it in five minutes.
Free databases still work when
- ✓ You're spot-checking a handful of companies per week
- ✓ You don't need programmatic/API access to the data
- ✓ Fund AUM is under ~$50M with 1-3 investment staff
- ✓ You can tolerate manual cross-referencing across 2-3 tools
Time to pay for the upgrade
- ✕ You need fund performance and LP-comp benchmarking data
- ✕ Deal sourcing volume exceeds free monthly search caps weekly
- ✕ You need API access for a scraper, model, or internal tool
- ✕ IC memos require institutional-grade market-map exports
How to build a $0/month VC database stack
Start with Tracxn Lite for broad company coverage, Crunchbase Free for quick US funding-round lookups, and Dealroom's free search if any deal flow touches Europe. Layer in Owler Community for competitive alerts and SEC EDGAR for primary-source verification on anything approaching a real diligence process — Form D filings, in particular, confirm a private raise actually closed rather than relying on a press release.
Budget for the upgrade in the order you'll actually hit a ceiling. Most scouts and solo GPs outgrow Crunchbase's free search cap before they outgrow Tracxn's free profile depth — a $49–$99/month Crunchbase plan is a far cheaper next step than jumping straight to a $12,000+/year PitchBook seat. Save PitchBook or CB Insights for the year you're actually building LP-facing comp analysis or need fund-performance benchmarking that no free tool provides.
Track fund performance benchmarks once you're deploying capital on the VC Fund Performance Dashboard, and monitor portfolio company outcomes on the Unicorn Tracker at Value Add VC.
The Bottom Line
There's no free VC database that replaces a $30,000/year PitchBook seat or an $80,000/year CB Insights contract — that tier of institutional fund-performance and comp data still costs real money. But for company profiles, funding history, and primary-source verification, a free stack of Tracxn Lite, Crunchbase Free, Dealroom, Owler, and SEC EDGAR now covers most of what a solo GP, scout, or founder actually needs day to day, at $0.
PitchBook's median contract: $30,000/year.
5 free databases now cover most of what you actually check weekly — for $0.
Track fund performance and portfolio data on the VC Fund Performance Dashboard at Value Add VC. Originally published in the Trace Cohen newsletter.
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