ausdata.io

Cotality (formerly CoreLogic) is the dominant property data provider in Australia. They maintain proprietary databases on millions of properties, deliver enterprise-grade valuations, and serve the largest banks, insurers, and real estate firms. They are excellent at what they do. They are also expensive, complex to procure, and overkill for most developer use cases.

ausdata.io is not a replacement for Cotality at the enterprise tier. We are the developer-first complement for the public-data subset of what Cotality offers, plus the cross-source macro context Cotality does not provide.

What Cotality does well

Cotality strengths:

  1. Proprietary property database --- millions of properties with attributes, sale history, valuation models
  2. AVMs --- automated valuation models with bank-grade accuracy
  3. Settlement-grade data --- used by lenders for loan decisioning
  4. Suburb / postcode analytics --- depth and detail unmatched in the market
  5. Long-standing industry relationships --- every major Australian bank uses them

If your need is "I am a bank or insurer making lending decisions on individual properties," Cotality is the right answer.

What ausdata.io does differently

ausdata.io covers the public-data layer Cotality builds on, plus 8 other Australian government data sources Cotality does not focus on:

  • ABS housing approvals, completions, residential dwelling prices (mean and median)
  • ATO postcode income medians
  • ABS Net Overseas Migration
  • ABS CPI by capital city
  • RBA cash rate and lending rates
  • APRA banking and ADI statistics
  • AEMO live energy data
  • ABS Census 2021 demographics by postcode and SA2

Three things ausdata.io provides that Cotality does not (or does not emphasise):

  1. Macro overlay --- cash rate, real-wages, real-rate-regime, credit-impulse alongside property data
  2. Cross-source composers --- /v1/approvals-vs-migration, /v1/housing-affordability joining multiple agencies in one call
  3. Developer-first API --- clean JSON, MCP server, $0-99/mo pricing, instant signup

When Cotality is the right answer

  • You need property-level valuations (AVM)
  • You need settlement-grade accuracy for lending decisions
  • You need proprietary sales history (not just public listings)
  • Your organisation is a bank, insurer, large REIT
  • Your budget for property data is $20,000+ per year per seat

When ausdata.io is the right answer

  • You need macro and demographic context, not property-level valuations
  • You are building a fintech, proptech, or AI product where public data is sufficient
  • You want the developer experience to be 30 seconds, not 3 weeks
  • Your budget for data is $0-200 per month
  • You want the data alongside RBA, ABS, APRA in one envelope

Pricing comparison

                      Cotality                ausdata.io

Free tier None 500 calls/month

Entry pricing Enterprise contracts $29/mo Analyst (10k ($$$) calls)

Mid-tier Custom $99/mo Embed (100k calls + webhooks + signing)

Enterprise Custom Custom

Sales cycle Procurement Self-service signup (60 (weeks-months) seconds)

Card required Yes (commercial No (free tier) agreement)

For most developer use cases, ausdata.io is 100-1,000x cheaper. For enterprise valuation use cases, Cotality is the right tool.

A complementary approach

Some of our customers use both:

  • Cotality for individual property valuations (the proprietary AVM)
  • ausdata.io for the macro context layered alongside (cash rate, real-wages, by-state CPI)

This works well when you have one specific Cotality dataset you need and the rest of your data layer can come from public sources via ausdata.io.

Honest migration notes

If you currently have a Cotality contract and the macro / cross-source / public-data subset is what you use most:

  1. Start with ausdata.io free tier to verify the data fits
  2. Identify which Cotality datasets are property-level vs public-data-derived
  3. Migrate the public-data-derived portion to ausdata.io
  4. Keep Cotality for the property-level AVM work
  5. Renegotiate Cotality contract scope at next renewal

Typical outcome: companies reduce Cotality spend 30-60% by moving the public-data work to ausdata.io, while keeping Cotality for the valuations work where they are unmatched.

Source citations

ausdata.io property-adjacent data uses ABS (CC-BY 4.0) and ATO (CC-BY 3.0 AU). Cotality data is proprietary; you cannot publish derivatives from Cotality without licence. ausdata.io data is CC-BY-licensed; you can publish derivatives with attribution.

Honest read

Cotality is the right answer for property-level valuations. ausdata.io is the right answer for the public-data and macro context surrounding property. We are not trying to replace Cotality at the enterprise tier. We are trying to give developers a free, clean alternative for the 80% of property-adjacent use cases that do not require Cotality proprietary AVM.

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Try ausdata.io for your Australian data layer

500 free calls per month. No credit card.

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