shouldiuse.io

VERDICT

Should I use Wikidata?

Free, collaborative, multilingual structured knowledge base run by Wikimedia - wikidata.org

Depends. A no-brainer for researchers, librarians, and developers who want free open structured data at scale. Wrong tool if you want a guaranteed company listing, vendor support, or no-code querying — notability rules and SPARQL gate everything.

Confidence

Medium. Based on ~40 public sources: academic reviews, Wikimedia documentation, CVE databases, Reddit, and news coverage

Ratings

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

Pricing

Free

Wikidata

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes
Wikimedia EnterprisePaid (contact sales)

Best for

  • Researchers and digital humanities projects
  • Librarians and GLAM institutions
  • Developers needing open structured data
  • Entity/AI-visibility teams with technical skills

Not for

  • Businesses expecting a guaranteed company listing
  • Non-technical teams — SPARQL skills required
  • Anyone needing vendor SLAs or support contracts
  • Brands wanting control over their entity data

Gotchas - check before you buy

high

Notability 'bites later': items can be challenged or deleted after you build on them

medium

Script/API users must follow User-Agent policy; query service throttles heavy automated use

medium

High-volume commercial use pushes you to paid Wikimedia Enterprise API; public endpoints are limited

low

No dedicated security page; rely on Wikimedia-wide advisories

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Free, CC0-licensed open data with no lock-in
  • Over 120 million structured items
  • Feeds Google's Knowledge Graph and AI answers
  • Well-adopted in library and digital humanities research
  • Used by Wikipedia, Apple, and Google

Cons

  • Notability requirements gate entry; no guarantees
  • Querying demands SPARQL and technical skill
  • Criticized as unsourced and unreliable
  • No official support or SLA; community-run
  • You cannot control or easily remove your entity

Sources & method

Analyzed 9/20/2026 - 10 sources - CVEs exist in the MediaWiki/Wikidata stack; nothing actively exploited; no dedicated security page published.

official x3review x4security x2news x1
  • CVE-2019-19329, XSS in Wikidata Query GUI, CVSS 6.1, medium severity, since fixed
  • CVE-2025-32071, Improper input validation in MediaWiki Wikidata extension, April 2025

Key stats

  • Value for money: 5/5

    Rating

  • Free

    Starting price

  • 10

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 5/5. Free data, CC0 license, no lock-in
  • Ease of use: 2/5. SPARQL required; notability rules gate editing
  • Feature depth: 5/5. 120M+ items, SPARQL endpoint, APIs, multilingual
  • Support quality: 2/5. Community-run; no SLA or support channel
  • Security posture: 3/5. Public CVEs exist; no dedicated security page
  • Free Price Core data is CC0-licensed
  • 120M+ items Database size Structured, multilingual entities
  • 2012 Launched Operated by Wikimedia Foundation
  • 156 Top study citations For the Wikidata quality study

Pricing

Wikidata

Free

  • Full CC0 data access
  • SPARQL query service
  • Community support only

Wikimedia Enterprise

Not disclosed

  • High-volume commercial API
  • SLA-backed access at scale

Security

CVEs exist in the MediaWiki/Wikidata stack; nothing actively exploited; no dedicated security page published.

  • CVE-2019-19329XSS in Wikidata Query GUI, CVSS 6.1, medium severity, since fixed⁵
  • CVE-2025-32071Improper input validation in MediaWiki Wikidata extension, April 2025⁶

What users say

Researchers and data users value it as powerful free infrastructure, while critics and brands chafe at notability gates, unsourced entries, and lack of control.

“Unsourced, unreliable, and in your face forever”
The Register, 2015
“Can I request a page about me be removed?”
Reddit, r/Wikidata
“I really like Wikidata, but would lik”
Facebook, Wikidata Community group

Companies that use it

  • Google
  • Apple
Full analysis

Based on ~40 public sources: academic reviews, Wikimedia documentation, CVE databases, Reddit, and news coverage

Free, massive open knowledge base — great for researchers and devs; not a listing or SEO service you can buy.

Methodology

Based on ~40 public sources: academic reviews, Wikimedia documentation, CVE databases, Reddit, and news coverage

Sources

  1. A systematic review of Wikidata in librariessciencedirect.com
    review
  2. A systematic review of Wikidata in Digital Humanities projectsacademic.oup.com
    review
  3. A Study of the Quality of Wikidatawikidataworkshop.github.io
    review
  4. Unsourced, unreliable, and in your face forever (The Register)theregister.com
    news
  5. CVE-2019-19329: Wikidata Query GUI XSSstrix.ai
    security
  6. NVD-CVE-2025-32071nvd.nist.gov
    security
  7. Wikidata Query Service User-Agent requirementslists.wikimedia.org
    official
  8. Wikidata:Data accesswikidata.org
    official
  9. Wikimedia Enterprise pricingenterprise.wikimedia.com
    official
  10. Can I request a page about me be removed? (Reddit)reddit.com
    review

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