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Comparison

IEA vs Our World in Data

IEA and Our World in Data both land on Depends.

IEA

iea.org

Depends
Confidence: Medium

Use the IEA if you need authoritative global energy data, country policy reviews, or emission factors . most content is free.

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IEA versus Our World in Data
CompareIEAOur World in Data
VerdictDependsDepends
Best forEnergy analysts and researchersJournalists citing global trends
Who it's not forAnyone shopping for software with pricing and supportTeams needing real-time or commercial market data
PrivacyNo known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed; the nonprofit site runs behind Cloudflare Project Galileo protection.
Support qualityNo evidence of support responsivenessNo support evidence in sources
Public sentimentPublic commentary is polarized: critics allege anti-renewables bias in its statistics, while defenders argue it sits exactly where it should.⁵Redditors and bloggers mostly praise it as a free, chart-rich reference; a vocal minority alleges donor-driven framing.
Biggest gotchaCommercial reuse of non-CC material needs IEA permission . check terms before embedding data in products10It's a publication, not a vendor: no helpdesk, no SLAs, no uptime guarantees.12

Pick IEA when

  • Energy analysts and researchers
  • Government and policy teams
  • ESG tool builders needing emission factors
  • Long-form market research

When IEA is not a fit

  • Anyone shopping for software with pricing and support
  • Quick-glance dashboards . reports are dense and slow
  • Small teams needing just a few data points
  • Vendors wanting API guarantees or SLAs

Pick Our World in Data when

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

When Our World in Data is not a fit

  • 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

Sources

  1. International Energy Agency . Aboutiea.org
    official
  2. International Energy Agency . Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
    official
  3. IEA . Data and statisticsiea.org
    official
  4. World Energy Outlook 2025iea.org
    official
  5. How the IEA is still grossly biased against renewablesdavidtoke.substack.com
    review
  6. US Republican lawmakers attack IEA over energy security, peak oil forecastspglobal.com
    news
  7. Climatiq API . IEA emission factor sourceclimatiq.io
    official
  8. Open letter to IEA requesting open dataforum.openmod.org
    news
  9. CVE-2008-5284 . IEA Software RadiusNT (unrelated vendor)vuldb.com
    security
  10. IEA Terms of Use for Non-CC Materialiea.org
    official
  11. Our World in Data . official siteourworldindata.org
    official
  12. Our World in Data . Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
    official
  13. OWID GitHub orggithub.com
    official
  14. Y Combinator profileycombinator.com
    official
  15. How we're fundedourworldindata.org
    official
  16. Oxford Martin School grant announcementoxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk
    news