The Lie of Free Data: My Experience with Common Crawl
Common Crawl claims its dataset is “freely available to anyone.”
That sounds great — until you try to actually use it.
Like many people interested in open data, I was excited when I first found out about Common Crawl. A massive archive of the web, updated regularly, free to access — what’s not to love?
But the deeper I went, the more I realized something:
This data might be free in theory, but in practice? It’s locked behind a wall of costs, infrastructure, and complexity.
The Reality Check
Here’s what I discovered when I tried to use Common Crawl:
The files are huge.
We’re talking multi-gigabyte WARC files, each packed with raw, unfiltered data. Just downloading a month’s worth can crush your storage quota.
You need serious compute power.
Parsing and processing these files is no joke. You’ll need distributed computing, beefy cloud machines, or a lot of patience and local hardware — and none of that is free.
Cloud costs add up fast.
Common Crawl is hosted on AWS Open Data, which sounds helpful. But when you start pulling petabytes of data, or even just indexing portions, you run into storage and bandwidth costs that are… let’s just say “adult money.”
The tooling is complex and fragmented.
Unless you’re already familiar with WARC files, Apache Spark, and other big data tools, you’re in for a steep learning curve.
Who Can Actually Use It?
Despite the “anyone can access it” language, Common Crawl is realistically only usable by:
- Large companies
- Academic institutions with infrastructure
- People with generous cloud credits
If you’re an independent researcher, hobbyist, journalist, or student? You’re on your own. And “free” quickly becomes anything but.
So Why Say It’s Free?
Because technically, it is.
Common Crawl doesn’t charge you. They release the data under a permissive license. That checks the box.
But what they don’t say — and what should be said — is that this data is effectively paywalled by infrastructure. You’re not paying them, but you’re still paying. And it’s disingenuous to pretend otherwise.
Why This Matters
The promise of open data is powerful: a more equitable digital ecosystem, where access isn’t limited by privilege or position. But when projects like Common Crawl claim openness while quietly depending on cloud infrastructure and technical gatekeeping, they undermine that promise.
It’s time to stop confusing “available” with “accessible.”
What Should Change?
Be honest about the real costs involved
Support tools and subsets that make the data usable at a smaller scale
Fund initiatives to truly democratize access — not just publish massive files and walk away
Open data shouldn’t just be for those who can afford it. If we want to build a more equitable tech future, we need to stop pretending that “free” data is enough.
Have you tried using Common Crawl or similar datasets? I’d love to hear your experience — especially if you’ve found a way to make it work without burning cash or racking up compute bills.
