OpeningBid

The OpeningBid art price database

OpeningBid is an auction price database for art and design. It holds past results and upcoming lots from hundreds of auction houses, with an independent Fair Estimate and free artist alerts. This page explains what is in it, how we count, what it costs, and how it compares with the other main art price databases. Figures are dated so you can check them.

What is in the database (as of 19 October 2026)

Count Source
Auction lots 14,226,862 [1]
Auction houses with lots 503 [1]
Results 9.6 million [1]
Lots from sales dated 2001 onwards 13,724,890 [2]
Upcoming and live lots 72,313 lots in 459 sales from 131 houses [3]
Artists 132,148 [1]
Design lots 3,524,237 [2]

Scope. Fine art and design only: paintings, works on paper, prints and multiples, photographs, sculpture, and design objects. We do not cover wine, watches, jewellery or cars.

Price basis. Each price is labelled as hammer or premium-inclusive, because houses publish different bases. Prices are stored in the sale currency and converted for display.

Lower-value lots are included. About 40% of the sold lots in the database with a recorded price made under US$500.[2]

What you can see free, and what Premium adds

Logged out Free account Premium
Artist summaries: medians, records, sell-through, price by size Yes Yes Yes
Market indexes Yes Yes Yes
Follow artists and get email alerts Up to 3 Unlimited
Weekly digest Yes Yes
Past results with price and auction house 10 a day 25 a day No daily limit (fair use)
Search results First page First page All
Upcoming lots with estimate, house and Fair Estimate The work only Yes
Price Free Free £4.99 a month or £50 a year, no VAT added[4]

Search results for logged-out visitors and free accounts show the work only, with no auction house or price. A free account can reveal the price of 25 past results a day; the auction house is Premium.

Sources: [5][6].

How OpeningBid compares (as of 19 October 2026)

Competitor prices below are the list prices each site showed on 19 Oct 2026. Artnet's exclude tax; MutualArt's and Artprice's pages do not say whether tax is included. OpeningBid's prices are the full price you pay.[4]

OpeningBid Artnet Price Database MutualArt Artprice
Cheapest plan with past results £4.99 a month; £50 a year[5] £21.50 day pass (5 searches); £26.50 per 30 days (10 searches)[7] £26 a month, last 12 months of results[8] £32 a day; £275 a year (Basics)[9]
Full-history plan £4.99 a month; £50 a year[5] £280 a year (Expert, 150 searches)[7] £36 a month; £339 a year (Premium)[8] £275 a year (Basics)[9]
Search meter None; fair use[5] Each page of 100 results is a search[7] None stated[8] None stated[9]
Free trial 7 days, no card[5] None stated[7] 1 month free on the alerts plan[8] None stated; free demo[9]
Free artist alerts Yes, up to 3 artists[6] No; Market Alerts from $19.50 per 30 days[10] No; alerts plan £22 a month[8] Yes, up to 10 artists or works[9]
Upcoming lots Yes, 131 houses this autumn[3] Yes[7] Yes[8] Yes, from Basics[9]
Live bids at major houses Premium; five houses[6] Not described[7] Not described[8] Not described[9]
Independent estimate on upcoming lots Fair Estimate[11] Not offered Not offered Valuation report, £72 per work[9]
Coverage stated by each company 14.2M lots, 503 houses[1] 18M results since 1985, lots estimated $500+[7] 982,000+ artists, "millions of lots"[12] 30M+ indices and results, 7,200 houses[13]

Coverage figures are each company's own and use different counting bases. On blue-chip artists the other three list more results than we do; for example, Andy Warhol has 20,255 lots on OpeningBid against 48,560 on Artnet, 57,948 on Artprice and 61,770 on MutualArt.[14]

Read the detailed comparisons: OpeningBid vs Artnet · OpeningBid vs MutualArt · OpeningBid vs Artprice.

How we count and check the data

See it for yourself

Artist pages are open to everyone. Try one: David Hockney

FAQ

What is an art price database? A searchable record of artworks sold at auction, with the price each made, the estimate, the sale and the date. Collectors, dealers, appraisers and researchers use it to see what comparable works have sold for.

Where can I find a database of art auction results? The main subscription databases are OpeningBid, Artnet, MutualArt and Artprice. Many auction houses also publish their own results. OpeningBid brings results from 503 houses into one search.[1]

Is there a free art price database? OpeningBid's artist summaries, market indexes and artist alerts (up to 3 artists) are free. A free account also shows 25 past results a day with the price and auction house. Full access costs £4.99 a month.[6][5]

How much does an auction price database cost? As of 19 October 2026: OpeningBid £4.99 a month or £50 a year, with no VAT added; Artnet from £21.50 a day or £26.50 per 30 days; MutualArt from £26 a month for results; Artprice from £32 a day or £275 a year. Competitor prices are as listed on their sites.[5][7][8][9][4]

Does the OpeningBid database include upcoming auctions? Yes. It lists upcoming lots from 131 auction houses this autumn. Premium shows them in full, with live bids on open online sales at Christie's, Sotheby's, Phillips, Bonhams and Swann; free accounts see the work only.[3][6]

Follow artists free

Create a free account, follow up to 3 artists you care about, and we'll email you before their work comes to auction.

Follow artists free →

Artnet, MutualArt, Artprice and Artmarket.com are trademarks of their respective owners. OpeningBid is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of them. Competitor details are taken from their public pages on 19 October 2026 and may have changed since. Competitor prices are the list prices shown on their sites (Artnet's exclude tax); OpeningBid's prices are the full price you pay, as OpeningBid is not VAT-registered.

Sources

Sources

  1. OpeningBid site statistics, 19 Oct 2026: 14,226,862 lots, 9.6 million results, 503 auction houses, 132,148 artists. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  2. OpeningBid database, 19 Oct 2026: 13,724,890 lots from sales dated 2001 onwards; 2,718,617 of 6,733,826 sold lots with a recorded price under US$500 (40.4%; mixed price basis); 3,524,237 design lots. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  3. OpeningBid upcoming and live sales, 19 Oct 2026, 17:46 UTC: 459 sales, 72,313 lots, 131 houses. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  4. OpeningBid is not VAT-registered, so the price shown is the price you pay. Where a competitor adds VAT at checkout, UK buyers pay that on top of the list price shown. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  5. OpeningBid pricing page, https://www.openingbid.art/pricing, accessed 19 Oct 2026. Fair-use limits on Premium: OpeningBid Terms §5, Fair use, https://www.openingbid.art/terms#fair-use, accessed 19 Oct 2026. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  6. OpeningBid pricing page, https://www.openingbid.art/pricing, accessed 19 Oct 2026: free accounts get search, the work itself on every lot, 25 past-result reveals a day (price only; the auction house is Premium), a watchlist, up to 3 artist follows and the email digest; Premium has unlimited follows. Upcoming and live sales are shown in full to Premium; free accounts see the work only. Premium shows current bids on open online sales at Christie's, Sotheby's, Phillips, Bonhams and Swann. OpeningBid account terms: logged-out visitors can reveal 10 past results a day. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  7. https://www.artnet.com/price-database/, accessed 19 Oct 2026. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  8. https://www.mutualart.com/plans, accessed 19 Oct 2026. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  9. https://www.artprice.com/subscriptions, accessed 19 Oct 2026 in a browser (UK IP, GBP). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9

  10. https://www.artnet.com/market-alerts/, accessed 19 Oct 2026. ↩

  11. Fair Estimate methodology, https://www.openingbid.art/methodology/fair-estimate. ↩ ↩2

  12. https://www.mutualart.com/, accessed 19 Oct 2026. ↩

  13. Artmarket.com H1 2026 release, https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/artmarket-com-h1-2026-financial-report-one-of-a-kind-ai-systems-intuitive-artmarket-r-and-blind-spot-will-drive-the-next-phase-of-growth-for-ai-first-artprice-in-2026-2030-842424647.html, accessed 19 Oct 2026. ↩

  14. Our check of the logged-out Andy Warhol artist page on each site, 19 Oct 2026: https://www.openingbid.art/artist/andy-warhol, https://www.artnet.com/artists/andy-warhol/, https://www.mutualart.com/Artist/Andy-Warhol/85A84FA828A34B78 and https://www.artprice.com/artist/30269/andy-warhol. Counting bases differ; compare orders of magnitude only. ↩