Six Dakota alternatives worth comparing in 2026 are Altss, FINTRX, Preqin, PitchBook, Family Office Access, and a one-time Excel file such as ours. Dakota Marketplace costs $16,500 per year for full platform access plus $1,000 per additional user, per its Marketplace page as of November 2026. Our Full USA Database is a one-time $2,500 Excel file you own.
Full disclosure: we sell a family office database, so read this comparison knowing that. Dakota is one of the most respected data companies in fundraising, and buyers comparing the two of us are usually deciding between a platform subscription and a one-time list. Every fact about Dakota and the other providers below comes from their own published pages as of November 2026, except one clearly labelled third-party estimate, with sources at the end. Offerings change, so confirm on their sites before deciding.
What Dakota does well
Dakota's tagline is "Built for Fundraisers, by Fundraisers," and its pages back it up with a rare combination: allocator data plus a free education layer that has become a fixture in the industry. Dakota Marketplace covers, per its own Marketplace page, 250,000+ LP accounts, 386,000+ verified contacts, 17,000+ RIAs, and 5,000+ family offices, updated daily by its research team.
On family offices specifically, its family office page describes 8,000+ verified decision-maker contacts across 91 countries, a 60-person research team, and a filter for active allocators only. Around the data, Dakota runs the free monthly Dakota Live! call (200+ episodes), sales coaching content, and community programs. Dakota also deserves credit for pricing transparency: its cost is published plainly on its own site, which is uncommon in this market.
The Dakota model, in its own words
Dakota Marketplace is an annual, per-user subscription: $16,500 per year for full platform access and $1,000 per year for each additional user, per its Marketplace page and its pricing guide as of November 2026. Its FAQ describes a week-long free trial, and the Marketplace page offers a demo within 24 hours.
Delivery is the platform plus CRM integrations (its FAQ describes a Salesforce integration with the full features and data of Dakota Marketplace, plus HubSpot, DealCloud, Dynamo, Altvia, and others) and an API package covering its datasets. It is a model built for teams that fundraise continuously across many allocator channels and want live data in their CRM every day.
Other Dakota alternatives
If you are comparing data platforms, here are five other Dakota alternatives. Each line comes from the provider's own pages as of November 2026, except the Preqin estimate, which is labelled.
- Altss: a private-markets intelligence platform with published annual prices. Its pricing page lists Intelligence plans from $5,000 per year (Europe Family Offices) to $25,000 per year (Full Market), each with one named user, and a Fundraising OS from $25,000 per year. Subscriptions are annual, and Intelligence plans are in-platform research with no bulk export.
- FINTRX: a private-wealth intelligence platform. Its family office data page describes 4,600+ verified single and multi family offices and 30,000+ verified contacts, updated daily. We could not find published prices; the site invites visitors to request a trial.
- Preqin: an institutional alternatives data platform, part of BlackRock since March 2025, covering eight asset classes. Preqin does not publish prices; Vendr, a software purchasing platform, shows a median of $49,334 per year on its Preqin page (a third-party estimate; actual pricing is quoted by Preqin and varies).
- PitchBook: a private equity and venture capital database, a subsidiary of Morningstar since 2016 per its citation guidelines. We could not find published prices; its homepage invites visitors to request a demo.
- Family Office Access: a family office platform with annual subscriptions, paid upfront: Global $3,995, North America $2,495, and International $2,495 per year, per its homepage, with daily updates for 12 months. A Monthly tab is shown, though only annual prices were listed when we checked.
The sixth option is a one-time Excel file, covered next. For more vendors, see our roundup of the best family office databases, or FINTRX vs Dakota for a head-to-head.
The other job: one channel, one campaign, one file
If family offices are your channel and your raise is a defined campaign, the arithmetic changes. A $16,500 annual seat buys a universe of pensions, RIAs, and broker-dealers that a family-office-focused raise may not use (that figure is Dakota's published price for the first user as of November 2026, and the comparison assumes you need only what a family office campaign uses).
Active Family Offices sells family office databases as a one-time download of the current version, in Excel, yours to keep. Every listing is reviewed and verified by a team of humans and has a verified website or LinkedIn company page. Listings include the office website, LinkedIn company page, location, investment domains, and up to three top decision-makers. For the USA, decision-makers come with a personal LinkedIn profile and a verified personal work email; for Europe, Israel, Canada, Japan, and Brazil, the file lists names and positions with company email and phone, for regulatory reasons.
The Full USA Database is $2,500, there are no seats, and the whole team can use the file. Full databases carry an accuracy guarantee of 95% or higher or your money back, under the terms on each product page. The free sample lets you inspect the data first.
Side by side
| Dakota Marketplace (per its pages, Nov 2026) | Active Family Offices | |
|---|---|---|
| Model | Annual per-user subscription platform | One-time purchase, Excel file you own |
| Published pricing | $16,500 per year for full platform access, $1,000 per year for each additional user | Full USA $2,500; Full Europe $1,500; Full Worldwide $5,000, one time |
| Scope | Full allocator universe; family offices are one channel | Family offices are the entire product |
| Family office coverage (as each provider states it) | 5,000+ family offices, 8,000+ decision-maker contacts | Family offices worldwide, each reviewed and verified by a team of humans; scale on each product page |
| Updates | Daily, per its pages | Each purchase is the current version, a one-time download |
| Best for | Teams fundraising continuously across channels | A defined family office outreach effort |
For a closer look at what the subscription buys, see our guide to Dakota Marketplace pricing.
Choose Dakota if
You are an investment sales team raising across institutional channels all year, you live in Salesforce or a similar CRM, and family offices are one of several allocator types you cover. Its platform and community were made for you.
Choose Active Family Offices if
Family offices are your channel, your raise is a defined campaign, and you want the file in your own tools for one payment. You can check the data with the free sample before you buy.
FAQ
What are the best Dakota alternatives?
It depends on the job. For an annual platform, buyers compare Altss ($5,000 to $25,000 per year for its Intelligence plans), FINTRX (quoted by sales), and Family Office Access ($2,495 to $3,995 per year). For institutional research, Preqin and PitchBook quote prices through sales. For a defined family office campaign, a one-time Excel file such as our Full USA Database ($2,500) is the pay-once option.
How much does Dakota Marketplace cost?
As of November 2026, Dakota's Marketplace page lists $16,500 per year for full platform access and $1,000 per year for each additional user. The page also invites buyers to contact Dakota to build a plan, so custom arrangements may differ. Confirm current pricing with Dakota directly.
Does Dakota offer a free trial?
Dakota's FAQ, as of November 2026, states that it offers a week-long free trial of Dakota Marketplace, and its Marketplace page offers a demo within 24 hours. If you want to test a one-time file first, the Active Family Offices free sample has 40 family offices with the same columns as the full databases.
How to find family office investors?
Start with a verified list filtered by location and investment domain, so every office you contact invests in what you offer. Read each office's website for its thesis and any deal submission channel, look for a warm introduction through your network, and send a short, specific email to the right decision-maker. A one-time file gives you the list; a platform such as Dakota adds continuous updates across many allocator types.
The bottom line for a capital raiser choosing now
If you raise across the institutional universe all year, Dakota's platform, published pricing, and free education layer make it a strong subscription to own. If your campaign is family offices specifically and you want the whole file in Excel for one payment, we believe the strongest buy is the Full USA Database at $2,500, or the Full Worldwide Database at $5,000. Start with the free sample and check our standards on the FAQ page.
Sources
Dakota Marketplace page (dakota.com/dakota-marketplace), Dakota family office page (dakota.com/dakota-family-office), "How Much Does Dakota Marketplace Cost?" pricing guide (dakota.com, 29 September 2025), Dakota Marketplace FAQ blog (dakota.com), Dakota's API package blog post (dakota.com, December 2025), Dakota Live! call page (dakota.com/dakota-live-call), and dakota.com homepage, all read 1 November 2026. Altss pricing page (altss.com/pricing), FINTRX family office data page (fintrx.com/data/family-office-data), Preqin Pro page (preqin.com/our-products/preqin-pro), BlackRock's Preqin acquisition press release of 3 March 2025 (blackrock.com), PitchBook homepage and citation guidelines (pitchbook.com), and Family Office Access homepage (familyofficeaccess.com), all read 1 November 2026. Vendr Preqin marketplace page (vendr.com/marketplace/preqin, last updated February 2026), read 1 November 2026, a third-party estimate. Facts about Active Family Offices are from activefamilyoffices.com.
This article reflects publicly available information as of November 2026 and our own understanding of the market. It is not a review of data we have not tested. Offerings change; see each provider's site for current details. If you represent a company mentioned here and something is out of date, contact us and we will correct it promptly. All product names, logos, and brands are the property of their respective owners and are used for identification purposes only. Active Family Offices is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by any company mentioned.