OpeningBid vs the Artnet Price Database
The Artnet Price Database is one of the longest-running records of art auction results, and many dealers, appraisers and researchers rely on it. OpeningBid is a newer auction intelligence service covering art and design. This page sets out how the two compare on price, free features and coverage, using what each site published on 19 October 2026. Where Artnet is the better fit, we say so.
At a glance (as of 19 October 2026)
Competitor prices below are list prices before VAT (before tax for US dollar and euro prices). OpeningBid's prices are the full price you pay.[1]
| OpeningBid | Artnet Price Database (Fine Art and Design) | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry paid plan, monthly | Premium, £4.99 a month (US $5.99, €4.99)[2] | Individual Rollover, £26.50 per 30 days (US $42.50, €37)[3] |
| What the entry plan includes | Results and upcoming lots, no search meter; fair-use limits apply[2] | 10 searches per 30 days, up to 1,000 results; up to 10 unused searches roll over[3] |
| How a "search" is counted | Not metered on Premium[2] | Each page of 100 results counts as one search; extra searches $3.50 each[3] |
| Annual plan | £50 a year[2] | Expert, £280 a year, 150 searches, up to 15,000 results[3] |
| Professional plan | n/a | Appraiser, £750 a year, 450 searches, up to 45,000 results[3] |
| Short-term access | 7-day Premium trial, no card needed[2] | One-Day Pass, £21.50, 5 searches, up to 500 results[3] |
| Free trial | Yes, 7 days, no card[2] | None stated on the price-database page[3] |
| Free account | Up to 3 artist follows and email alerts, email digest, watchlist, 25 past-result reveals a day (price)[4] | Free artist pages (biography, record price, work counts); no free price search described[3][5] |
| Artist alerts | Free with a free account, up to 3 artists[4] | Separate Market Alerts product, $19.50 to $44 per 30 days[6] |
| Upcoming lots | Upcoming lots from 131 houses in one search: 72,313 lots in 459 upcoming or live sales[7]; shown in full to Premium, work only on a free account[4] | Upcoming auction lots included in the database; artist pages list upcoming lots free[3][8] |
| Live bids on open online sales | Premium: Christie's, Sotheby's, Phillips, Bonhams and Swann[4] | Not described on the price-database page[3] |
| Independent estimate next to the house estimate | Fair Estimate, a model-based band for upcoming lots[9] | Not offered on the plans we reviewed[3] |
| Price by size, sell-through, market indexes | Free on artist pages and index pages[10] | Not seen on the free pages we reviewed[10] |
| Coverage stated | 14.2 million lots from 503 auction houses[11] | "18 million auction results, verified by specialists", since 1985[3] |
| Lower-value lots | Included: 40% of priced sold lots in our database made under US$500[12] | Only items estimated at $500 and above are included[3] |
| Example depth: Andy Warhol | 20,255 lots[10] | 48,560 auction results[10] |
On price, plan for plan: Artnet's Individual Rollover costs 5.3 times OpeningBid Premium's monthly price (£26.50 against £4.99). Artnet's Expert plan costs 5.6 times OpeningBid's annual plan (£280 against £50).[3][2] Both are list prices shown to a UK visitor: OpeningBid's are the full price you pay, and Artnet's are before VAT.[1]
Where OpeningBid is different
- Price without a meter. Premium is £4.99 a month or £50 a year. We do not count searches or pages of results; ordinary fair-use limits apply to protect the service from automated scraping.[2]
- Free alerts. Follow up to 3 artists with a free account and we email you before their work comes up at auction, and again with results.[4] Artnet sells artist alerts as a separate product from $19.50 per 30 days before tax.[6]
- Upcoming lots and live bids in one place. One search covers upcoming sales from 131 auction houses this autumn. Premium shows these in full, with the current bid on open online sales at Christie's, Sotheby's, Phillips, Bonhams and Swann; free accounts see the work only.[7][4]
- Fair Estimate. For upcoming lots with a house estimate of $1,000 or more, we show our own model-based band next to the house estimate. It is a second opinion from a statistical model, not an appraisal or a forecast of the hammer price, and the method is public.[9]
- Design-led, and design is in scope. A fast, modern interface, and design objects are a core category: 3.5 million design lots sit alongside paintings, prints and photographs.[12]
- Broad house coverage, including lower-value sales. Results from 503 auction houses, including European regional and Asian salerooms. About 40% of the priced sold lots in our database made under US$500, a range outside Artnet's stated scope.[11][12][3]
Where Artnet is stronger
- Depth on blue-chip artists. For the artists we checked, Artnet lists far more results than we do: Andy Warhol 48,560 against our 20,255; Marc Chagall 46,953 against 14,492; L.S. Lowry 5,140 against 2,237.[10] If your work centres on a handful of major names, that depth matters.
- A long, specialist-verified archive. Artnet's results go back to 1985 and are described as verified by specialists.[3]
- A separate decorative arts database with unlimited searches, from £21.50 per 30 days before VAT.[3]
- Brand and editorial. Artnet News and Artnet's market reports have a large readership and a long track record that OpeningBid does not yet have.
- Professional tiers and partnerships, such as the Appraiser plan and a discount for American Society of Appraisers members.[13]
Which should you choose?
Choose Artnet if you need the deepest archive on major names and you run a small number of searches. Choose OpeningBid if you want upcoming lots, alerts and a second opinion on estimates across many houses, at a flat price. Many professionals use more than one source; at £4.99 a month, OpeningBid is inexpensive to add.
FAQ
Is there an alternative to the Artnet Price Database? Yes. OpeningBid covers 14.2 million auction lots from 503 houses, with upcoming lots, free artist alerts and an independent Fair Estimate. Premium costs £4.99 a month or £50 a year, with no VAT added.[11][2][1]
How much does the Artnet Price Database cost? On 19 October 2026 Artnet listed a One-Day Pass at £21.50 (5 searches), Individual Rollover at £26.50 per 30 days (10 searches), Expert at £280 a year (150 searches) and Appraiser at £750 a year (450 searches), before VAT.[3]
Does OpeningBid limit searches? Premium has no search meter. Fair-use limits apply to stop automated scraping. Free accounts get 25 past-result reveals a day (price).[2][4]
Does OpeningBid have as many results as Artnet? Not for every artist. On blue-chip names Artnet lists more results; for example, Andy Warhol has 48,560 results on Artnet and 20,255 lots on OpeningBid. OpeningBid includes lower-value lots that Artnet's $500 estimate threshold excludes.[10][3]
Can I get artist alerts free? Yes. Following up to 3 artists and receiving email alerts is free with an OpeningBid account.[4]
Follow artists free
Create a free account, follow up to 3 artists you collect, and we'll email you before their work comes to auction.
Artnet is a trademark of its owner. OpeningBid is not affiliated with or endorsed by Artnet. Competitor details are taken from Artnet's public pages on 19 October 2026 and may have changed since; see the sources below. Competitor prices are list prices before VAT (before tax outside the UK); OpeningBid's prices are the full price you pay, as OpeningBid is not VAT-registered.
Sources
Sources
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OpeningBid is not VAT-registered, so the price shown is the price you pay. Artnet lists its prices before tax, so UK buyers may pay VAT on top. ↩ ↩2 ↩3
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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 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10
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Artnet Price Database plans and FAQ, https://www.artnet.com/price-database/, accessed 19 Oct 2026. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15 ↩16 ↩17 ↩18 ↩19
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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. 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. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8
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Artnet artist page, https://www.artnet.com/artists/andy-warhol/, accessed 19 Oct 2026. ↩
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Artnet Market Alerts, https://www.artnet.com/market-alerts/, accessed 19 Oct 2026. ↩ ↩2
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OpeningBid upcoming and live sales, 19 Oct 2026, 17:46 UTC: 459 sales with status upcoming or live, 72,313 lots, 131 houses. ↩ ↩2
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https://www.artnet.com/artists/andy-warhol/upcoming-auctions, accessed 19 Oct 2026. ↩
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Fair Estimate methodology, https://www.openingbid.art/methodology/fair-estimate. ↩ ↩2
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Our side-by-side check of each site's logged-out artist pages, 19 Oct 2026: https://www.openingbid.art/artist/andy-warhol, https://www.artnet.com/artists/andy-warhol/, https://www.artnet.com/artists/marc-chagall/, https://www.artnet.com/artists/laurence-stephen-lowry/ and the OpeningBid equivalents. Counting bases differ; compare orders of magnitude only. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6
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OpeningBid site statistics, 19 Oct 2026: 14,226,862 lots, 9.6 million results, 503 auction houses, 132,148 artists. ↩ ↩2 ↩3
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OpeningBid database, 19 Oct 2026: 2,718,617 of 6,733,826 sold lots with a recorded price made under US$500 (40.4%); 3,524,237 lots in the design category. Price basis is mixed (premium-inclusive where the house publishes it, hammer otherwise). ↩ ↩2 ↩3
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American Society of Appraisers announcement, 4 Dec 2025, https://www.appraisers.org/asa-newsroom/article/2025/12/04/asa-partners-with-artnet-to-offer-exclusive-discounted-access-to-the-artnet-price-database-for-asa-appraisers, accessed 19 Oct 2026. ↩