To sell or not to sell, that is the question. We review which data providers work with the sell-side, what restrictions are put in place, and the themes across dataset categories. In this article, we answer these questions by surveying the best adopted providers by the buy-side to understand how, when and why they work with the sell-side.

The core driver behind this article is that the sell-side forms a key channel through which alternative data, and its signals, enter the market. Indeed, academic research has found that alternative data usage by the sell-side is growing quickly. In 2009/2010, 11% of sell-side analysts were using alternative data. By 2018/2019, this had more than doubled to 28%.

To find out the extent to which providers work with the sell-side in 2025, we surveyed the top 50 best adopted alternative datasets across eight distinct categories. The aim was to understand the prevalence and the nuances of how alternative data ends up in conventional sell-side research.

With these findings, we discuss which data providers are working with the sell-side, across each of our distinct dataset categories, with the ultimate aim of revealing what alternative data products are being used to form consensus figures and which datasets could be more potent due to their lower circulation.