Build or Buy Trial Data

Use ClinicalTrials.gov directly for one-registry work

Choose the official API when ClinicalTrials.gov is the required source, its schema meets the application need, and your team can own extraction, storage, change handling, and downstream serving. This is often the simplest and most authoritative design.

• The official API is the source contract for records posted on ClinicalTrials.gov.
• Official study downloads can be configured and exported in supported formats without purchasing TrialBase.

Use a common layer for a five-source registry job

Choose TrialBase when the application needs one response and snapshot contract across ClinicalTrials.gov, EU CTIS, EudraCT, ISRCTN, and the licensed DRKS slice, together with preserved source identifiers, source URLs, and a dated release.

• The value is normalized delivery and connector operations, not replacement of an official registry.
• Registry-specific meanings remain source-qualified even when fields share a common response shape.

Compare evidence, not headline totals

Evaluate active source contributions, field-fill rates, source freshness, date ranges, identifier ownership, and exact cross-registry evidence. A larger canonical total does not show whether the fields or jurisdictions needed by a workflow are covered.

Budget for the operating model

Direct access makes your team responsible for pagination, schema changes, backfills, release reproducibility, and any additional registry connectors. A maintained layer moves some of that work to a vendor but adds procurement, licensing, and vendor-dependency review.