Comparison
Data Laboratory vs. hiring a data analyst.
The honest comparison nobody in our industry publishes — because for most marketing teams, the real alternative to a data platform isn’t another vendor. It’s a hire you keep putting off.
Side by side
The work of an analyst, without the req.
| Factor | A marketing data analyst | Data Laboratory |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | A median salary of $120,230 a year for data scientists (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, May 2025) — about $12,500/month fully loaded (1.25× payroll factor). | From $3,000/month, month-to-month — roughly a quarter of the hire. |
| Time to start | Months — recruiting, interviews, notice period, ramp. | The 15-minute demo is the onboarding. |
| The data | Not included. The analyst still has to buy it — see the enterprise-contract problem. | Included: consumer, property, mortgage, auto, business, and contact data on 263M+ U.S. adults, refreshed continuously. |
| Capacity | One person, one queue. Your question waits behind the last one. | Unlimited queries, profiles, and comparisons on every plan — for your whole team. |
| Scope | Anything you ask — including internal BI, custom pipelines, and general data science. | Marketing-data analysis on our databases and your uploads. That’s the job we do, and the whole job. |
Scroll the table sideways to see both columns.
Run the math with your own salary number on the pricing page →
When hiring is still the right call.
If you need general-purpose data science — internal dashboards, revenue modeling, custom pipelines — hire the analyst. We don’t replace a data science team, and we won’t pretend to. We do the marketing-data half of the job, unlimited, with the data included.
Real numbers, upfront.
Run the math yourself on the pricing page — there’s a calculator. Or book a 15-minute demo, bring a customer file, and watch the analysis happen live.
15 minutes · bring a real campaign · we build your audience live