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VERDICT

Should I use Dryad?

Publish and preserve your data - datadryad.org

Depends. Researchers who must publish open, non-sensitive data under a journal or funder mandate get a curated, citable home for it. Businesses, or anyone holding sensitive, PHI, or de-identification-risk human data, should not use it.

Confidence

Medium. Based on ~20 public sources; the pasted page itself 404'd, so claims are drawn from Dryad's help docs and university library guides.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support quality
  • Security posture

Pricing

$150 for up to 5 GB

Data Publishing Charge

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Large dataset feeExtra fee over 10 GB
Assessment fee$25

Best for

  • Researchers publishing open datasets
  • Journals requiring data availability statements
  • De-identified, non-sensitive research data
  • Dataset sizes under 5 GB

Not for

  • PHI, sensitive, or identifiable human data
  • Businesses storing private or commercial data
  • Very large datasets on a tight budget
  • Anyone wanting free unlimited hosting

Gotchas - check before you buy

high

Data Publishing Charge may be billed to the unsponsored author if no institutional coverage

medium

$25 assessment fee can apply even when a submission can't be published; balance refunded

medium

Large dataset fee kicks in above 10 GB; pricing via direct contact only

low

Standard interface caps at 300 GB; larger projects require emailing Dryad

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Nonprofit, curated, general-purpose repository for citable open research data
  • Private-for-peer-review links let journals access data during review
  • Searchable via interface and API
  • ORCID-based login for researcher identity
  • FAIR best-practice guidance for datasets

Cons

  • Rejects PHI and sensitive data entirely
  • Human-subjects data must be fully de-identified
  • Fees scale with size; extra charge over 10 GB
  • Security page currently returns a 404 error

Sources & method

Analyzed 9/29/2026 - 11 sources - No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

official x4review x5news x2

Key stats

  • Value for money: 3/5

    Rating

  • $150 for up to 5 GB

    Starting price

  • 11

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 3/5. Per-deposit fees scale with dataset size
  • Ease of use: 4/5. Promotes smooth, easy publishing with curator checks
  • Feature depth: 4/5. Peer-review locks, curation, search API, ORCID login
  • Support quality: 3/5. Helpdesk email plus curator review process
  • Security posture: 3/5. No public CVEs, but security page currently 404s
  • 2007 Founded Nonprofit open-data infrastructure
  • $150 Starting price Deposit up to 5 GB (May 2025 fee schedule)
  • 300 GB Max standard upload Bigger datasets need direct contact

Pricing

Data Publishing Charge

$150 for up to 5 GB

  • Fee scales with dataset size
  • May be billed to unsponsored author

Large dataset fee

Extra fee over 10 GB

  • Case-by-case via help@datadryad.org

Assessment fee

$25

  • Applies if submission can't be published
  • Balance refunded to payment method

Security

No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

What users say

University library guides widely recommend Dryad for open-data mandates but flag its size-based fees and sensitive-data exclusions.

Alternatives

Compare Dryad with each alternative.

Companies that use it

  • MIT⁶
  • NC State University⁴
  • UCSF⁵
  • University of Maryland⁷
  • Temple University
Full analysis

Based on ~20 public sources; the pasted page itself 404'd, so claims are drawn from Dryad's help docs and university library guides.

Curated nonprofit repository for open research data. Great for funder mandates; useless for sensitive or private data.

Methodology

Based on ~20 public sources; the pasted page itself 404'd, so claims are drawn from Dryad's help docs and university library guides.

Sources

  1. Dryad | Publish and preserve your datadatadryad.org
    official
  2. Submission costsdatadryad.org
    official
  3. Dryad Data Repository: Costs, Curation, and DMP Fitcasrai.org
    review
  4. Dryad Data Repository | Managing Data (NCSU)lib.ncsu.edu
    review
  5. What is the Dryad Data Repository? (UCSF)libraryhelp.ucsf.edu
    review
  6. Dryad at MIT | Data managementlibraries.mit.edu
    review
  7. Make My Data Open (UMD)lib.umd.edu
    review
  8. Private for Peer Reviewdatadryad.org
    official
  9. Dryad | File requirementsdatadryad.org
    official
  10. Dryad (repository) — Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
    news
  11. Trends in open infrastructure performance and adoptioninvestinopen.org
    news

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