Our three-part licensing guide covers many common inquiries. We recommend reading this series to better understand market data licensing, fees, and your licensing options.
What are licensing fees?
At Databento, we use the term "licensing fees" to refer to any monthly charges imposed by trading venues for the distribution, display, and non-display use of live market data (real-time and intraday) for personal or commercial applications.
When do I need a license?
You need a license to access live market data. You do NOT need a license to access historical data. These rules apply regardless of which data vendor you choose.
How does Databento streamline the licensing process?
Databento is a licensed distributor of data from 30+ venues, and we can report eligible users under our license agreement. If you qualify, you don’t need a direct agreement with the venue. This means you can reduce your reporting burden (we'll handle that for you) and access live data without waiting for approval.
Determine licensing fees
Licensing fees are assessed by the venue and passed through by Databento. These are paid monthly in advance, and you can terminate at any time. Our dataset bundle Databento Equities Basic is an exception and is free to license for distribution, display, and non-display use cases.
You can determine your fees in a few ways:
Click Activate on a dataset in the Live data page in your portal. You'll be prompted to complete a short questionnaire to determine your subscriber status. Here, you can see clear pricing breakdowns before signing any documents.
Look at the fee schedule for the dataset you're interested in. These are linked from our Pricing page.
Note: license fees can be complicated for commercial use cases. Contact us if you need help determining your fees as a professional user.