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Our World in Data Review

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Should I use Our World in Data?

Research and data to make progress against the world's largest problems. - ourworldindata.org

· 1 month ago

It's free, so there's nothing to buy — use it if you need credible global development data with clean, citable charts. Skip it for commercial, real-time, or niche market data, or if you need vendor support.

Confidence

Medium. Based on 30+ public sources; user sentiment drawn mainly from Reddit threads and blogs, no structured review ratings.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support qualityNo support evidence in sources
  • Security posture

Pricing

$0

Everything

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes

Best for

  • Journalists citing global trends
  • Students and academics
  • Policy and NGO analysts
  • Slide decks needing clean charts

Not for

  • Teams needing real-time or commercial market data
  • Buyers wanting SLA-backed vendor support
  • Audiences rejecting editorial framing — critics allege bias
  • Apps needing an official, supported API

Gotchas - check before you buy

medium

It's a publication, not a vendor: no helpdesk, no SLAs, no uptime guarantees.

medium

Editorial framing is disputed — some communities argue donor money skews its optimism.

medium

No official API — you depend on CSV downloads or unofficial scrapers like Apify.

low

Left-Center bias rating means some audiences may contest its framing in citations.

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Entirely free: all articles, charts, and datasets open to everyone
  • Open-source code and downloadable datasets on GitHub
  • Cited in peer-reviewed journals, from Springer to MDPI
  • Interactive explorers for COVID, climate, health, energy, and more
  • Ranked a top free Statista alternative for global statistics

Cons

  • Some critics call its progress framing 'consumerist propaganda'
  • Rated Left-Center bias by Media Bias/Fact Check
  • Critics allege billionaire donors shape its narrative
  • No official API; third-party scrapers fill the gap
  • Covers global development, not business or commercial data

Sources & method

- 14 sources - No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed; the nonprofit site runs behind Cloudflare Project Galileo protection.

official x5review x5security x2news x2

Key stats

  • Value for money: 5/5

    Rating

  • $0

    Starting price

  • 14

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 5/5. Completely free, no paywall
  • Ease of use: 4/5. Clean charts, new search added 2025
  • Feature depth: 4/5. Data explorers, downloads, open-source code
  • Support quality. No support evidence in sources
  • Security posture: 4/5. No incidents found; Cloudflare-protected
  • $0 Price Free and open to everyone
  • Yes Free tier All articles, charts, and datasets
  • $1.8M Notable funding Gates Foundation grant via Oxford Martin, 2018
  • Left-Center Bias rating Per Media Bias/Fact Check

Pricing

Everything

$0

  • All articles and interactive charts
  • Downloadable CSV datasets
  • Open-source code and tools

Security

No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed; the nonprofit site runs behind Cloudflare Project Galileo protection.

What users say

Redditors and bloggers mostly praise it as a free, chart-rich reference; a vocal minority alleges donor-driven framing.

“Our World in Data is an awesome resource”
Reddit, r/neoliberal
“Our World In Data is consumerist propaganda”
Reddit, r/Anticonsumption
“My main source is Our World in Data”
Cold Takes (blog)
Full analysis

Based on 30+ public sources; user sentiment drawn mainly from Reddit threads and blogs, no structured review ratings.

Free nonprofit data publication — nothing to buy. Great for global trends; no support, no official API, some allege bias.

Methodology

Based on 30+ public sources; user sentiment drawn mainly from Reddit threads and blogs, no structured review ratings.

Read how a report is made.

Sources

  1. Our World in Data — official siteourworldindata.org
    official
  2. Our World in Data — Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
    official
  3. OWID GitHub orggithub.com
    official
  4. Y Combinator profileycombinator.com
    official
  5. How we're fundedourworldindata.org
    official
  6. Oxford Martin School grant announcementoxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk
    news
  7. Media Bias/Fact Check ratingmediabiasfactcheck.com
    review
  8. Reddit, r/Anticonsumption criticism threadreddit.com
    review
  9. Reddit, r/neoliberal praise threadreddit.com
    review
  10. Statista alternatives roundupexplodingtopics.com
    review
  11. Springer academic citationlink.springer.com
    news
  12. Apify OWID scraperapify.com
    review
  13. Cloudflare Project Galileo case studycloudflare.com
    security
  14. OWID privacy policyourworldindata.org
    security

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