Substantive Research, the research and market data discovery and pricing analytics provider, has published its latest market data pricing study, using the recently expanded universe of market data vendors, which Substantive Research now benchmarks.
The company writes that its expanded coverage of vendors now reveals market data pricing trends and behaviour amongst the most frequently used debt, credit and leveraged finance data providers.
The growth of private markets
The addition of many of these data providers to the existing Substantive Research price benchmarks reflects the explosive growth of private markets in recent years, particularly in private credit as active managers seek to boost performance from alpha opportunities offered from the asset class. The firm writes that these private assets are typically more illiquid instruments with less price transparency than publicly traded securities, creating an urgent need for accurate data from third-party sources.
Substantive Research’s new insights focus on data providers operating in the fastest growing investment asset class, private credit, which last year surpassed USD3 trillion AUM, up from USD2 trillion at the end of 2023, according to McKinsey.
With active asset managers struggling to beat the index in public securities markets, the allure of increased alpha from private markets has led asset allocators to increase their exposure to private credit. However, the trade-off is limited valuation transparency on the investing opportunities within the asset class, creating an urgent need from investors for accurate data from third-party sources.
Study findings
In February 2025, Substantive Research data showed that in ratings, terminals, indexes and ESG data, some consumers are paying some firms up to 12 times more than peers for the same products from the same vendor, with average renewal increases hitting 15 per cent in 2024. The data from the newly launched vendor pricing coverage shows similar provider power resulting from a core set of offerings with limited or non-existent competition.
The new coverage shows that amongst debt, credit and leveraged finance data providers:
Vendors are becoming increasingly aggressive, with renewal uplifts ranging from 10 per cent to 40 per cent for consumers already paying high prices (USD100k- USD1m).
Renewal discussions are inflexible — a “take-it-or-leave-it” stance is increasingly the norm, leaving consumers with little negotiation power.
Pricing variables are typically based on location/region, user count, team size, and coverage scope.
Whilst pricing inconsistency isn’t as extreme as the variability observed in the ratings, indexes, ESG and terminals markets, pricing can still vary by up to 20 per cent amongst comparable peers for identical products and use cases.
Czarina Reinante, Head of Market Data and ESG Analytics at Substantive Research says: “The issue with the ratings, index and terminals markets that we have been covering since 2021, has been opacity in most pricing models and the inconsistency in how they are applied. The problem for consumers in fixed income and leveraged finance markets is not opportunism and inconsistency – it’s aggressive year-on-year price hikes and a lack of viable alternatives. As we expand our ability to give price transparency across these markets, we uncover a picture that shows an increasingly unsustainable future for data-hungry financial institutions in all asset classes.”
Mike Carrodus, CEO of Substantive Research adds: “Data consumers looking to expand into private markets need to understand not only the initial cost implications, but also how that cost base will increase well above inflation in proceeding years. Negotiation is difficult and often the best way to mitigate the impact is to manage the user base and overall requirements extremely carefully. Our insights into pricing models and behaviours will help, but in the end financial institutions will have to make tough decisions on who needs access to these datasets and what the ROI really is on these significant investments.”
