Direct comparison
Dataverse vs Figshare Compared
Dataverse is open-source, self-hostable repository software; Figshare is commercial hosted SaaS. Compare cost, licensing, curation, and certification.
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How do Dataverse, Figshare compare side by side?
The table below compares Dataverse, Figshare across 12 procurement-relevant dimensions, from what it is through governance.
Side-by-side comparison
| Dimension | Dataverse | Figshare |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Open-source repository software (self-hostable) plus the free, public Harvard Dataverse instance | Commercial, centrally hosted SaaS platform (Digital Science) |
| Origin | Harvard Institute for Quantitative Social Science (IQSS), first released 2006 | Founded 2011 by Mark Hahnel; developed/backed by Digital Science since 2012 |
| Self-hosting option | Yes — institutions/consortia can install and run their own instance | No — always Digital Science-hosted, even for the branded institutional product |
| Cost to institution | Software free; self-hosting costs are IT/infrastructure, not licensing | Free public tier for individuals; Figshare for Institutions and Figshare+ are paid subscriptions |
| Individual researcher free option | Yes — free deposit into Harvard Dataverse, no institutional subscription needed | Yes — free deposit on public figshare.com, no institutional subscription needed |
| Default license | CC0 strongly encouraged by default; configurable per collection | CC-BY by default on figshare.com; CC0 also available; broader CC suite on institutional/Figshare+ tiers |
| Curation/review | Varies by self-hosted instance/collection — no single uniform policy | No pre-publication review on free tier; Figshare+ adds expert review for journal-linked submissions |
| CoreTrustSeal certification | Harvard Dataverse itself is CoreTrustSeal certified | Not certified as a platform — supports institutional customers pursuing their own certification |
| Other certification | Varies by self-hosted instance | ISO/IEC 27001 (Digital Science) |
| Institutional branding | Full control if self-hosted (own domain, own configuration) | White-labelled instance of the same underlying commercial platform |
| DOI registration | Typically DataCite (or Handle, per instance configuration) | DataCite |
| Governance | Community-governed via the Global Dataverse Community Consortium (GDCC); Harvard hosts the flagship instance | Single commercial vendor (Digital Science) |
Common questions
Common questions about Dataverse vs Figshare
Is Dataverse free?
+
The software is free and open source, and depositing into Harvard Dataverse (the flagship public instance) is free. Running your own self-hosted installation is free of licensing fees but requires your own server infrastructure and IT staff time.
Is Figshare free?
+
The public figshare.com site is free for individual researchers, with storage and per-file limits. Figshare for Institutions and Figshare+ are paid products.
Can my institution self-host Figshare the way it can with Dataverse?
+
No. Figshare has no self-hosted option — institutions subscribe to a Digital Science-hosted, white-labelled instance rather than installing the software on their own infrastructure.
Which one is CoreTrustSeal certified?
+
Harvard Dataverse itself holds CoreTrustSeal certification. Figshare as a platform does not; it provides template support to help institutional customers pursue their own certification for a branded instance, which is a different claim from platform-wide certification.
Going deeper
