The Future of Alternative and Market Data 2026: Budget confidence hits a 3-year high while AI drives operational efficiencies

Alternative data buyers are more optimistic about their spending than at any point in the past 3 years. That is the headline finding of The Future of Alternative and Market Data 2026, the third edition of Neudata's annual industry survey, drawn from 191 responses from data buyers and providers worldwide. It is our largest sample yet, up from 171 in 2025 and 157 in 2024.

AI is the reason buyers most often give for recent changes in how they source data and choose vendors, but the payoff so far is operational rather than investment-led. Some 56% of buyers report a tangible return from AI in the past 12 months: 41% cite efficiency gains, while 19% say it's helped with cost savings and 17% credit AI with improving investment performance.

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Why Neudata is a trusted source for alternative and market data trends

Neudata is a leading independent alternative and market data discovery platform connecting institutional data buyers with data providers. Each year for the past three years, Neudata has put a core set of questions to both data providers and data buyers to track trends consistently over time, while adding new questions, particularly around AI, to capture how the market is evolving. Sharing these findings with the wider industry gives market participants a clearer read on how spending, AI adoption and vendor selection are shifting. It also gives Neudata a direct line into what both sides of the market need, whichit uses to keep evolving its own platform and services to better serve buyers and providers alike.

About the survey

The 2026 edition drew 191 respondents, comprising 122 data providers and 69 data buyers, including quant, multi-strategy, discretionary and macro funds, as well as AI research labs. 60% of buyer respondents manage over $1bn in assets.

Key findings

Budget optimism reaches a 3-year high: 97% of data buyers said they expect their alternative data spend to increase or stay the same between 2026 and 2027, up from 89% in 2025's survey. No respondents expected a notable decrease in either alternative or market data spending.

AI returns are showing up in efficiency more than performance: 56% of buyers said their firm has measured a tangible return from AI deployment over the past 12 months. Efficiency gains were the most commonly cited form of that return, at 41%, against 17% who credited AI with improving investment performance. The share of buyers using AI-processed data to optimise investment strategies fell slightly, from 31% to 28%.

MCP access is widely offered, but pricing has yet to stabilise: 44% of data providers said they offer access via Model Context Protocol (MCP), and over half of those charge no additional fee for it. Of the 54 providers offering MCP access, only four charge more than 40% above their base price.

Views on AI's effect on data quality are divided: One-third of buyers reported a deterioration in the quality of their data sources over the past 1-2 years. Of that group of 22 respondents, around three in five attributed it at least partly to AI-generated content, which amounts to roughly one in five buyers overall. The remainder of the panel was split between seeing no deterioration and being unsure.

Signal strength remains the deciding factor: 39% of buyers said the main reason a trial does not lead to a purchase is that the dataset showed no discernible signal, ahead of price at 25%. 72% of providers identified signal strength as what their investment management clients value most, up from 64% in 2025.

Why this matters

The Future of Alternative and Market Data 2026 gives financial institutions, hedge funds, asset managers and data providers a benchmark for budgeting, AI adoption and vendor strategy decisions over the year ahead. Rado Lipuš, CEO and founder of Neudata, said: "Three years of running this survey show a market with continued confidence in the value of alternative and market data. What's changing is AI's role in reshaping that market. Efficiency gains are already well established. What comes next, and what we're only seeing early signs of, is how AI affects data quality, pricing and whether it can improve investment performance." As the platform connecting both sides of this market, Neudata is positioned to track these shifts as they develop.

About Neudata

Neudata is an independent alternative and market data discovery platform connecting institutional data buyers with data providers. The company connects more than 1,000 data buyers with over 4,400 data providers and 11,000+ datasets, providing unbiased research and analysis that helps clients discover, evaluate and manage external datasets with confidence. A team of 100 people across London, New York and Shanghai runs Neudata's Scout and Ranger platforms, its global events programme, and its industry-acclaimed 1-to-1 networking programme, AltDating. Neudata also helps organisations monetise their existing data assets through its consulting services. For more information, visit www.neudata.co.