Prodigy vs Defined.ai
A side-by-side look at pricing plans, free tiers, features, pros and cons, updated for 2026. Prodigy starts at See pricing page and Defined.ai starts at See pricing page. Check both pricing pages for current plans.
At a glance
Best for
Category
Pricing model
Starting price
Free plan
Made by
Based in
Rating
Key features
- Model-assisted annotation
- NER and text classification
- Image and AV labeling
- LLM prompt evaluation
- spaCy training
- Custom Python recipes
- Dataset marketplace
- Text, audio, image and video annotation
- Custom data collection
- Model and data evaluation
- Multilingual speech data
- Developer API
| Feature | Prodigy | Defined.ai |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Scriptable annotation tool for training NLP, vision and LLM models | Training data marketplace and annotation services for enterprise AI |
| Category | Data & analytics | Data & analytics |
| Pricing model | Paid | Paid |
| Starting price | See pricing page | See pricing page |
| Free plan | No | No |
| Made by | Explosion | Defined.ai |
| Based in | Germany | United States |
| Rating | No ratings yet | No ratings yet |
| Key features |
|
|
Pricing compared
Prodigy starts at See pricing page and Defined.ai starts at See pricing page. Check both pricing pages for current plans.
Free plan
Cheapest paid plan
Top plan
Free trial
Prices in USD, checked Nov 5, 2026 or later. Plans change often, so confirm on each tool's site before you buy.
Pros and cons
Prodigy
- Runs fully on your own machines
- Tight integration with spaCy
- Highly scriptable workflows
- Needs command-line and Python skills
- No free tier
- You manage installation and hosting
Defined.ai
- Covers many languages and data types
- Off-the-shelf datasets plus custom projects
- Human review on labeled data
- No public pricing
- Custom projects go through sales
- Aimed at enterprises rather than individuals
Which one should you choose?
Choose Prodigy if you want:
- Runs fully on your own machines
- Tight integration with spaCy
- Highly scriptable workflows
Watch out: needs command-line and python skills.
Choose Defined.ai if you want:
- Covers many languages and data types
- Off-the-shelf datasets plus custom projects
- Human review on labeled data
Watch out: no public pricing.
Prodigy vs Defined.ai FAQ
What is the difference between Prodigy and Defined.ai?
Prodigy: Scriptable annotation tool for training NLP, vision and LLM models. Defined.ai: Training data marketplace and annotation services for enterprise AI. Both are data & analytics tools.
Is Prodigy or Defined.ai cheaper?
Prodigy starts at See pricing page and Defined.ai starts at See pricing page. Check both pricing pages for current plans.
Do Prodigy and Defined.ai have free plans?
Prodigy: No. Defined.ai: No.
Who makes Prodigy?
Prodigy is made by Explosion, based in Germany.
Who makes Defined.ai?
Defined.ai is made by Defined.ai, based in United States.
Which should I choose, Prodigy or Defined.ai?
Choose Prodigy if you value runs fully on your own machines and tight integration with spacy. Choose Defined.ai if you value covers many languages and data types and off-the-shelf datasets plus custom projects.