The updated typology used to construct the Global Benchmarking Database (version 2.0) distinguishes between six types of practices based on the class of actor that is engaged in benchmarking. These six types of practices are: (I) statecraft; (II) international governance; (III) private market governance; (IV) transnational advocacy; (V) news reporting; (VI) academic research.

This does not preclude the possibility that one type of global benchmarking may be used by other actors for a different purpose, or that a benchmark may be produced by more than one class of actor. Analysis of the entries in the database indicates that a clear trend has developed during the last two decades for global benchmarks to be created as joint instruments between partner organizations, and often between different classes of actors. In most cases where partner organizations collaborate in benchmark production, one monitoring agent has the primary role as the ‘custodian agency’ responsible for the main tasks associated with compiling and verifying source material, defining concepts of measurement, constructing indicator sets, and other key features of methodological design.

This typology of global benchmarking is illustrated in the table below.