Buyers and sellers of alternative data and market data share insight on what's next for the industry in The Future of Alternative and Market Data 2026, the third annual data industry survey from Neudata.
Budget optimism is at a three-year high: 97% of buyers expect their alternative data spend to increase or stay the same between 2026 and 2027. But AI's returns are showing up in efficiency more than investment performance, and the market is split on whether AI-generated content is degrading data quality.
Key topics include:
- Where alternative and market data budgets are heading in 2027, and how last year's expectations compared with what buyers actually spent
- What buyers spend and how many datasets they use, broken down by fund size
- Whether AI has delivered a measurable return
- How providers price Model Context Protocol (MCP) access
- Why trials fail to convert
- The biggest pain points on each side, from compliance concerns among buyers to providers struggling to reach the right decision-makers
- The most in-demand data sectors and the buyer types providers see most promise in, including AI companies and frontier labs
Download the report for the full findings, three-year comparisons and methodology.
