Traits—the measurable features of organisms—can link the performance of individuals to the functions of, and services provided by, ecosystems. Thus, trait-based approaches are improving the way we understand the ecology and evolution of high-diversity systems such as coral reefs. In 2016, the Coral Trait Database was launched bringing together trait information for stony corals (anthozoan sub-class Hexacorallia) into an open-access repository. This repository became the basis for research that has advanced coral reef science worldwide. However, these advances are limited because another group of anthozoans are also common. Octocorals host more than 3500 species of mainly non-stony corals (e.g., soft corals and sea fans) that play critical roles in the ecosystem. Thus, octocorals are a crucial piece of the puzzle if we are to understand how coral reefs function, how are they being transformed by global change and how can we improve their management. Here, we present the Octocoral Trait Database, a global, open-source database of curated trait data for octocorals. This database has been integrated with hexacorals in the Coral Trait Database (www.coraltraits.org), and hosts species- and individual-level data alongside contextual data that provide relevant framing for analyses. The first version contains more than 50,000 trait observations for more than 30 traits and more than 3000 octocoral species. Moreover, the database has been developed as a community-led resource that is expected to grow, which will further facilitate the advance of coral reef science in the Anthropocene.