Frequently Asked Questions

We cover US industries classified by NAICS: over 1,000 6-digit codes across 20 economic sectors.

We don't cover:

• non-US markets
• niches that fall outside NAICS classification
• industries where federal data coverage is too thin to support a report

Browse our industry directory for the full list.

The cost structure is different, not the rigor of the data.

• Traditional firms such as IBISWorld or Euromonitor charge $800–2,000+ per report, because their pricing reflects analyst teams, primary interviews and proprietary survey data.
• We deliver $239–399 marketplace reports and $299–799 custom reports by sourcing exclusively from verified federal datasets (Census, BLS, FRED, SEC).

Every number is traceable to its agency, dataset and year, but we don't add a layer of paid analyst commentary on top.

If that's the differentiator that matters, we recommend IBISWorld or Gartner. For federal-data-grounded research delivered in hours, see what we are and what we're not.

Five cases where you should look elsewhere:

1. You need analyst-written primary research with interviews and proprietary survey data: that's IBISWorld, Gartner, or Euromonitor territory.
2. You need real-time market data. Federal data is rigorous but lags by months to a year, depending on the source.
3. You need international coverage. We are US-only, across ~1,000 NAICS-classified industries.
4. You need fabricated or speculative numbers. Some "AI-generated" reports do this; we explicitly don't.
5. The industry's NAICS code is suppressed by federal agencies for confidentiality (small or sensitive sectors).

For cases 1–4, see what we are and what we're not.

The sample is a complete, watermarked report: the same length and depth as a paid Basic or Standard report. We publish two:

• NAICS 561720, Janitorial Services (Basic)
• NAICS 562111, Solid Waste Collection (Standard)

Free with a verified account on our sample reports page: log in, verify your email, and the download link arrives in your inbox. Limited to 3 sample downloads per day.

• Basic ($239 marketplace / $299 custom): a national overview from Census CBP, BLS and FRED, covering market sizing, employment, wages and a 5-year forecast. About 20–25 pages.
• Standard ($399 / $499) adds state-by-state breakdowns and regional growth patterns. About 35–45 pages.
• Premium ($799, custom only, never resold) adds SEC EDGAR competitive intelligence, public-company financials and trade data. About 50–60 pages.

See our tier breakdown for the full comparison.

1. Federal data is fetched directly from agency APIs (Census Bureau, BLS, FRED, SEC EDGAR) when the report is built.
2. AI drafts the prose and analysis from that data; charts are drawn directly from the data in code.
3. A validation pass re-checks every numerical claim in the draft against the source data and corrects discrepancies before the PDF is finalized.
4. A person reads and reviews every report and corrects it where needed.

AI does not invent numbers, estimate values from training data, or scrape the web: every figure has a federal-data citation. See how we use AI for what AI writes, what it does not touch, and how it is checked.

It depends entirely on whether the AI is grounded in primary data or generating from training-text patterns.

• ChatGPT and most "AI market research" services hallucinate industry numbers, because their training data has no reliable boundary between citable statistics and pattern-matched prose.
• VantaInsights uses AI for synthesis and writing, never for the numbers themselves. Every CAGR, market size, employment figure and concentration ratio is computed deterministically from federal-data APIs before the AI is called, then validated again after generation.

Read more on AI market research →

IBISWorld and VantaInsights pull from many of the same federal sources (Census, BLS), but the model is different:

• IBISWorld is sales-gated, subscription-based and aimed at enterprise buyers; reports often run $1,000+.
• VantaInsights is self-serve, single-purchase, and starts at $239.

For enterprise teams with annual budgets and time for a sales cycle, IBISWorld is excellent. For everyone else, our reports cover the same federal data with transparent pricing and 48-hour delivery.

Read the full IBISWorld comparison →

• Statista aggregates statistics across syndicated and proprietary sources behind a subscription paywall.
• We compile primary federal data (Census, BLS, FRED, SEC EDGAR) directly from agency APIs and present it as professional industry reports, every figure cited to its source. No subscription, no PDF lock-in: you buy one report.

Read the full Statista alternative comparison →

• Gartner sells enterprise IT and strategy advisory: analyst calls, magic quadrants, multi-year contracts in the five- and six-figure range.
• VantaInsights sells industry research reports built on federal data, per report from $239.

Different products for different jobs: Gartner if you need an analyst on retainer; VantaInsights if you need verifiable industry data in a deliverable PDF.

Read the full Gartner alternative comparison →

• First Research (now part of D&B Hoovers) sells short industry profiles to sales and credit teams, mainly through enterprise subscriptions tied to D&B credit-data contracts. The product is breadth (thousands of one-page profiles for prospect prep), not depth.
• VantaInsights is the opposite: full single-industry reports (25–40 pages) built on the same underlying federal data, sold per report from $239 with no subscription or D&B contract.

If you need a quick prospect-prep summary across many industries, First Research is faster. If you need rigorous data and analysis on one industry, our reports go deeper.

Read the full First Research comparison →

• ChatGPT is a language model: it predicts text. It does not query Census, BLS or SEC EDGAR. Asked for industry numbers, it generates them from patterns in its training data, often plausible-looking but unverifiable, and frequently wrong.
• VantaInsights does the opposite: every number in every report is fetched from a federal-data API when the report is built, validated against agency totals, and cited to its source.

ChatGPT is useful for summarizing and brainstorming; VantaInsights is what you use when the number has to be right.

Read the full ChatGPT comparison →

Yes. The MCP connector at https://vantainsights.com/mcp needs no account and no subscription.

• It serves the published federal record for 1,766 industries, each figure with its source agency and year.
• Growth rates, market concentration, forecasts and state-level tables stay in the reports.

Setup and the full tool list →

Seven federal datasets, all primary-source:

• County Business Patterns and Statistics of US Businesses (US Census Bureau): establishments, employment, payroll and revenue.
• Economic Census concentration table (US Census Bureau): the official CR4, CR8, CR20, CR50 and HHI.
• Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (Bureau of Labor Statistics): industry wages.
• FRED (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis): macroeconomic context.
• SEC EDGAR: public-company financials, via NAICS-to-SIC mapping.
• Census Foreign Trade: imports and exports, on Standard-tier reports.

Every number in every report cites the dataset, year and table it came from. Browse the full list with descriptions or see how we build reports.

SEC EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval) is the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's public database of mandatory corporate filings: 10-Ks, 10-Qs, 8-Ks, S-1s and more. Every U.S.-listed public company files there, and access is free at edgar.sec.gov.

• What we use it for: public-company financials, via NAICS-to-SIC mapping, to name the largest public operators in our Standard-tier competitor section.
• What we don't use it for: CR4. A 10-K reports consolidated enterprise revenue across many industries, not revenue within one NAICS code, and it carries no industry denominator. Our CR4, CR8, CR20, CR50 and HHI come from the Census Economic Census concentration table.
• Its limit: EDGAR alone gives a skewed view of most industries, because private companies don't file there. That's why we always pair it with Census CBP, BLS QCEW and FRED.

Read the full SEC EDGAR guide →

FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data) is the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis's free public database of 800,000+ economic time series: GDP, inflation, interest rates, sector output, consumer sentiment and more.

We pull FRED indicators into every report to set the macroeconomic context for your industry's metrics:

• Census CBP tells you how many establishments exist.
• BLS QCEW tells you their wages.
• FRED tells you whether the broader economy is expanding or contracting around them.

Read the full FRED guide →

Three things keep the AI honest:

1. Pre-computed numbers. We compute the hard numbers (CAGRs, ratios, year-over-year changes, market concentration) directly from the raw federal data and feed them to the AI as authoritative figures it must copy verbatim, never estimate.
2. Restricted inputs. The AI writes prose using only those pre-computed values plus the raw source data. It does not invent or paraphrase numbers and is explicitly prevented from drawing on training data.
3. Deterministic validation. A validation pass re-checks every numerical claim in the draft against the raw data (CAGRs to a 0.05 percentage-point tolerance, state-level figures against pre-computed tables, employment counts against Census originals) and auto-corrects any drift before the PDF is finalized.

The result: every figure in the final report has a federal-data citation and has been verified twice. See how we build reports for the full pipeline.

Federal statistics from Census, BLS, FRED and SEC are among the most rigorous data products in the world: collected under standardized methodologies, peer-reviewed and audited. They're not perfect:

• Census surveys have sampling error.
• BLS data is revised as more responses come in.
• Lag varies from near-real-time (FRED) to two years (Census CBP).

What makes federal data trustworthy for industry research is that the methodology is transparent, the error margins are published, and the same number is reproducible by anyone.

We compound that accuracy by validating every figure across multiple federal sources: Census employment cross-checked against BLS QCEW, SEC EDGAR financials cross-referenced with Census SUSB receipts.

Read more on federal-data accuracy →

1. Search for your industry by NAICS code or name on the request a custom report page.
2. Pick a tier: Basic $299, Standard $499 or Premium $799.
3. Optionally add the +$199 custom-branding add-on, and leave any special instructions.
4. Submit your email.

We respond within 24 hours with payment details, then deliver the report within 48 hours of payment (24 hours for annual branding subscribers).

Basic and Standard come with a 15-day money-back guarantee; Premium is non-refundable due to its exclusivity guarantee.

• Basic custom reports are exclusive to you for 15 days after delivery, Standard for 30 days. After that, the report can be added to the marketplace at the discounted price.
• Premium reports ($799) are never resold: fully exclusive, indefinitely.
• Branded reports (any tier with the +$199 custom-branding add-on) are also never resold on the marketplace, regardless of tier. The branding is yours, and the report stays out of the public catalog.

A single PDF covering one NAICS code. Six or seven pages, $99, instant download. It contains:

• headline figures with their source and year
• the seven-year Census CBP series
• every reportable state, ranked by employment
• the official Economic Census concentration table where Census publishes one for the code (CR4 through CR50, and the HHI where Census publishes that row; where Census publishes no table, the pack says so)
• a source-and-provenance sheet recording each source, the vintage used and the date it was extracted

No written analysis, and no forecast: a projection is analysis, and that belongs to the reports.

Because nobody wrote anything. A Data Pack is the raw numbers. A report is the analysis.

You can buy one on over 1,500 NAICS codes. Find your code; the option is on its page.

Every pack carries a dated identity such as 44531-2026-07-27, and the file you bought keeps returning the figures you paid for.

Agencies revise and republish. If we rebuild a pack against a newer vintage, that is a new snapshot; your download does not change under you.

That is what makes a pack citable months later, and why the provenance sheet records an extraction date rather than just a source name.

Yes. If you buy a report covering the same NAICS code within 30 days of buying the pack, the $99 you paid comes off its price.

• Email sales@vantainsights.com before you buy the report and we will issue the discount.
• It can be used once, and it is applied as a discount rather than refunded.

Full terms in the refund policy.

No. A Data Pack is delivered in full the moment payment clears, and at checkout you accept immediate supply and give up the right to cancel. There is no drafting stage and no revision round in which to change your mind.

Accuracy is the guarantee we do give: if a pack misstates a federal figure, email sales@vantainsights.com and we will correct and reissue it at no charge. See the refund policy.

Reports and Data Packs are always one-time purchases; you never need a plan to buy one. Two annual plans exist for people who work for clients:

• White-label ($1,500 a year) puts your brand on every report you buy and lets you resell them.
• Professional gives access to every industry we hold, by proposal.

Email sales@vantainsights.com.

No. A report reflects the federal data available at the time of generation. When new Census or BLS data is released and you want a refreshed report, you order again.

This is intentional: we don't lock you into a subscription to access data you've already paid for.

Yes, within your organization.

• Covered: internal use across your company, including consultants and contractors working under NDA on your behalf.
• Not covered: public redistribution, resale, or sharing outside the purchasing organization.

Yes. The standard license permits quoted excerpts up to 100 words with attribution to "VantaInsights": enough for client deliverables, internal decks and pitch documents.

For longer excerpts, wholesale chart reuse, or reproduction of full sections, email sales@vantainsights.com for written permission.

Yes, for pitch decks, business plans and SBA loan applications.

• The 100-word excerpt limit applies; for full charts or longer passages, get written permission.
• Always credit VantaInsights and the underlying federal data source (the report cites them for you).

Yes. Use either:

• "Source: VantaInsights, [Year]"
• "Source: VantaInsights analysis of [Census Bureau / BLS / FRED / SEC EDGAR] data, [Year]"

The second form is preferred when you're citing a specific federal data point: it's more verifiable and stronger for credibility.

• A VantaInsights report is for your own organization's use and may not be resold.
• A branded report, bought with the +$199 add-on or under the $1,500 White-label plan, may be resold to your clients as delivered.
• Offering reports as a catalog or database needs a separate license: email sales@vantainsights.com.

See the White-Label and Branded Reports section of our Terms.

Mostly, with one distinction worth stating plainly.

• The file is licensed on the same terms as a report: internal use across your organization, no public redistribution or resale of the file itself.
• The figures inside it are federal statistics in the public domain, and nothing we license can restrict those. Use, quote and republish the numbers freely.

What the license covers is our compilation of them: the assembly, the formatting, the state table and the source-and-provenance sheet. In practice, put the figures in your deck or model with attribution, and don't pass the PDF around outside your organization. See Section 4 of our Terms of Service.

Yes. Your reports remain available for re-download in your account dashboard indefinitely. Data Packs are there too, in the same order list, each with its own download button.

A pack always returns the exact snapshot you bought, identified by its snapshot ID, so a later federal vintage never quietly replaces the file you paid for.

If you can't access your account or the email, contact sales@vantainsights.com with your order number and we'll resend.

• Basic and Standard reports: 15-day money-back guarantee, no questions asked. We confirm refunds within 24 hours, and funds return to your original payment method in 5–10 business days.
• Custom Basic/Standard reports: if you refund a custom report, VantaInsights reserves the right to list and sell that report on the public marketplace.
• Premium ($799) is non-refundable due to its exclusivity guarantee, but includes unlimited revisions until you're satisfied.
• Branding services (+$199) are non-refundable as custom work.
• Professional: non-refundable once access is switched on; misstated figures are corrected free.

See our full refund policy for details.