Sales teams are constantly looking for tools and platforms to streamline their lead generation and prospecting efforts. Cognism, a popular sales intelligence platform, has gained considerable attention in recent years.
About Cognism
Cognism, a popular sales intelligence platform, has gained considerable attention in recent years.
One of the key features of Cognism is its vast international database, which is one of the largest in the industry. This database contains a wealth of information on millions of companies and professionals from various industries worldwide. It enables Cognism’s users to access valuable data points such as company profiles, contact details, and job titles, which can be utilized for targeted outreach and personalized marketing campaigns. This extensive database provides users with a broad reach and the potential to identify new business opportunities in global markets.
However, it’s important to note that while Cognism boasts a large international database, the concern lies in the relevancy and accuracy of the data it provides. As with any data-driven platform, there is always a risk of outdated or incorrect information. Cognism strives to maintain data accuracy by employing various methods, including machine learning algorithms and regular data verification processes.
Nevertheless, users should exercise caution and conduct their due diligence to ensure the accuracy and relevancy of the data they rely on for their sales and marketing efforts. Regular data updates and quality assurance practices can help mitigate these concerns and ensure the best possible outcomes when utilizing Cognism’s services.
Cognism Features
- Verified Contact Information: Users can find verified emails, direct dials, and safe-to-call mobile numbers for decision-makers.
- Sales Intelligence: It provides insights to identify and engage with ready-to-buy accounts, enhancing the effectiveness of sales campaigns.
- CRM Integrations: Seamlessly integrates with major CRMs like Salesforce and HubSpot, allowing for efficient data transfer and management.
- Data Enrichment: Enhances LinkedIn profiles or Sales Navigator lists and exports data to CSV, Cognism, or CRM systems.
Compliance and Security: Adheres to GDPR, SOC2, and ISO27001 standards, ensuring high data security and privacy.
Cognism Pricing
Cognism pricing starts at $1,000 per month per feature, with options for customized pricing based on specific needs and features. It offers subscription-based pricing with options for free trials to evaluate the platform before committing to a purchase.
Cognism Ratings and Reviews
Cognism generally receives positive reviews for its ease of use, customer support, and value for money. It has an overall rating of 4.6 out of 5 on platforms like Capterra.
Cognism Limitations
Cognism has been a reputable sales intelligence platform that offers globally compliant data and robust features to help revenue teams generate and close business opportunities faster. However, in recent times, users have noted several shortcomings that affect its efficiency and overall satisfaction. Here are some limitations and concerns that lead users to explore Cognism alternatives:
- Data Accuracy Issues: Users have reported inaccuracies and outdated data, particularly in the Asian market, which can lead to inefficiencies in sales outreach.
- Salesforce Integration Challenges: There have been difficulties in integrating intent data into Salesforce in a readable format, affecting email automation processes.
- Limited Contact Coverage: Some users find the contact information coverage insufficient, especially preferring more US-based contacts and an increase in European data.
- Application Performance: Occasional slowness in the application hampers prospecting efficiency.
Recently, a noticeable user base faced concerns with Cognism.
It’s always wise to explore Cognism alternatives and evaluate which one best suits your specific needs before making a purchase or renewing. In this blog post, we’ll delve into the top 10 alternatives to Cognism, comparing their features and pricing to help you make an informed decision.
Top 10 Cognism Alternatives
In the realm of B2B data platforms, Cognism has emerged as a leading solution, offering businesses valuable insights and comprehensive data for sales and marketing activities. However, as the market continues to evolve, several Cognism alternatives have emerged, providing organizations with a range of options to meet their specific data needs and drive success in their B2B strategies.
Here are the top 10 Cognism alternatives that offer unique features and functionalities that cater to different aspects of data analysis, customer relationship management, and business intelligence.
SalesIntel
Let’s start with a unique alternative: SalesIntel. Known for its accuracy, relevancy, and comprehensive data coverage, SalesIntel provides high-quality B2B contact and company data to empower sales and marketing teams. With its user-friendly interface and advanced search capabilities, SalesIntel offers a seamless experience for users. SalesIntel has moved to an unlimited pricing plan model instead of relying on data credits like other data providers.
Main features:
- Over 20 million companies are available
- Proprietary and accurate company technographic data that you can export to your own database
- Unlimited data access
- Data on Buying Intent including over 12,000 topics
- Over 14 million human-verified contacts
- 95% accurate B2B account and contact information.
- Over 2,00 data researchers who continually re-verify account and contact data
- Every 90 days, SalesIntel re-verifies its data to maintain accuracy
- CRM automation for export
- Automatic and manual data enrichment functionality
- Free RevDriver Chrome Extension for real-time prospecting in your Chrome browser
Limitations:
- Learning Curve: The platform has a robust set of features that might take some time to master, but this extensive capability ensures comprehensive sales intelligence.
- Data Overlap: Occasionally, there may be data overlap, yet this also highlights the platform’s thoroughness in data collection.
- UI Complexity: The user interface can initially feel complex, though it reflects the depth and richness of the information available.
Pricing: Custom pricing is based on user requirements and the number of seats. It typically starts at around $69 per user per month.
Ratings: 4.5/5 (G2)
ZoomInfo
ZoomInfo is another leading sales intelligence platform that offers a wide range of features to help businesses find and engage with their target audience. It provides access to a vast database of contacts, along with detailed company information. ZoomInfo’s real-time updates and AI-powered insights enable sales teams to stay ahead of the game. While its pricing plans are not publicly available, ZoomInfo is known to be a more expensive option compared to its competitors.
Main features:
- Conversation intelligence is now included
- Contacts and interactions are automatically synchronized to your CRM.
- Prediction using modeling
- Cross-channel marketing via tracking website visits
Limitations:
- High Cost: Premium pricing may be prohibitive for smaller businesses.
- Data Accuracy: Users have reported occasional outdated information.
- Customer Support: Mixed reviews on responsiveness and helpfulness.
Zoominfo Pricing: Starts at $10,000 per year for small teams.
Ratings: 4.4/5 (G2)
Seamless
Seamless.AI is a platform that caters to sales, marketing, and recruiting teams by providing access to B2B contacts, including cell phone numbers, emails, direct dials, and buyer intent data. It positions itself as a real-time data intelligence search engine rather than a mere database, aiming to differentiate itself from competitors like ZoomInfo.
Main features:
- Using firmographic filter options, locate your company’s target audience and prospects.
- Features for news and person alerts let you know which prospects should be contacted
- Lead validation and lead quality in the context of lead creation
- Works with Zoho, Keap, Pipedrive, Zapier, Salesforce, and Outreach CRM, sales, and marketing solutions.
Limitations:
- Data Quality: Some users experience issues with outdated or incorrect data.
- Search Filters: Limited search filter options compared to competitors.
- Integration: Fewer native integrations with other software.
Seamless.Ai Pricing: Free basic plan; paid plans start at $147 per monthly user.
Ratings: 4.2/5 (G2)
Clearbit
Clearbit focuses on data enrichment and offers the ability to instantly append over 100 data points to a company’s profile, including information about its technology stack (technographics) and employees (firmographics). The platform integrates with popular CRMs like Salesforce, Marketo, HubSpot, Pardot, and Segment to automate and optimize sales and marketing workflows.
Main features:
- 250 public and private data sources 100+ business-to-business characteristics
- Website intent signal optimization
- Social media advertisements are immediately synchronized.
- Lead routing and scoring have been improved.
Limitations:
- Limited Contact Data: Primarily focused on company data rather than contact details.
- API-Dependent: Best suited for companies that can leverage its API.
- Pricing Transparency: Pricing details are not readily available.
Clearbit Pricing: Custom pricing based on usage and features.
Ratings: 4.3/5 (G2)
Apollo.io
Apollo boasts a B2B database of over 250 million contacts and 30 million companies. Along with its Engagement Suite, it enables sales and marketing teams to run outbound activities and sequences effectively. With its extensive database, Apollo aims to empower users to reach out to prospects with personalized outreach at scale.
Main Features:
- Lead Validation
- Lead Enrichment
- Lead Quality
- Lead Analysis
- Browser Extension
Limitations:
- Data Freshness: Users have reported occasional stale data.
- User Interface: Some find the UI to be less intuitive.
- Feature Set: Not as feature-rich as some competitors.
Apollo Pricing: Free tier available; paid plans start at $99 per user per month.
Ratings: 4.6/5 (G2)
LeadIQ
LeadIQ provides a prospecting platform that assists users in finding B2B prospect data, tracking sales triggers, and employing effective sequencing for personalized outreach. The platform utilizes patented AI technology to streamline the prospecting process, making it easier for sales teams to engage in faster outreach while maintaining personalization.
Main features:
- LinkedIn filters are compatible with LinkedIn Sales Navigator.
- Constant record updating integration with industry-leading technologies
- Analytics dashboard is available.
Limitations:
- Data Accuracy: Inconsistent data accuracy reported by some users.
- Integration: Limited integrations with CRM systems.
- Search Capabilities: Basic search functionality could be enhanced.
LeadIQ Pricing: Starts at $75 per user per month.
Ratings: 4.3/5 (G2)
Lead411
Lead411 offers global contact and company data, boasting over 450 million contacts within 20 million companies worldwide. Their database includes B2B emails, B2B direct dials, and intent data, providing users with a wide range of options for their prospecting needs.
Main Features:
- Marketing services may be used to develop custom lists.
- The lead score recognizes companies that are fast expanding.
- Email and phone number lookup Chrome extension
Limitations:
- UI Design: The user interface is considered outdated by some users.
- Data Accuracy: Mixed reviews on the reliability of data.
- Customer Support: Inconsistent support experiences.
Lead411 Pricing: Starts at $99 per user per month.
Ratings: 4.2/5 (G2)
UpLead
UpLead offers B2B prospecting services with access to contacts and company data from over 200 countries worldwide. The platform provides search filters, intent data, data enrichment, technology tracking, and account-based marketing (ABM) capabilities. It also integrates seamlessly with major CRM platforms.
Main feature:
- Lead show in real time
- 50+ search filters
- CRM connectors of many types
- Social profile connections
Limitations:
- Data Accuracy: Occasional discrepancies in data accuracy.
- Lead Volume: Limited number of leads in the basic plan.
- Interface: Some users find the interface less user-friendly.
Uplead Pricing: Starts at $99 per month for 200 credits.
Ratings: 4.5/5 (G2)
Lusha
Lusha provides B2B data for enterprise sales, marketing, and recruiting teams through its prospecting platform, web extension, and API. The platform also offers a browser extension for LinkedIn that allows users to enrich and verify business profiles. Lusha claims to serve a large number of sales professionals and organizations.
Main features:
- In a single search, you can find up to 1000 contacts and companies.
- Export your prospect lists to CRM or CSV with ease.
- Salesforce, Outlook, Gmail, Hubspot, and Zoho are among the systems that it integrates with.
- Dashboard analytics highlights team members’ prospecting activities.
Limitations:
- Data Quantity: Smaller database compared to some competitors.
- Integration: Limited CRM and sales tool integrations.
- Pricing: Some users find the pricing higher for the data volume provided.
Lusha Pricing: Starts at $99 per user per month.
Ratings: 4.4/5 (G2)
Slintel/6Sense
Slintel, which has been acquired by 6Sense, offers a sales intelligence platform that provides B2B leads and buyer intent data. It delivers essential information about organizations and leads to sales and marketing teams. 6Sense also helps to streamline lead generation and research processes, increase conversions, and maximize marketing ROI.
Main Features:
- It offers various key data types and features, including technographics, firmographics, and lead enrichment.
- The platform integrates with major CRMs like Salesforce, HubSpot, and Pipedrive, as well as sales tools like Outreach.
Limitations:
- Complexity: Steeper learning curve due to comprehensive feature set.
- Cost: Premium pricing may not be suitable for smaller businesses.
- Data Accuracy: Some users report issues with data accuracy.
6sense Pricing: Custom pricing based on requirements.
Ratings: 4.6/5 (G2)
When comparing these Cognism alternatives, it’s important to consider factors such as data accuracy, user interface, pricing, and specific features that align with your sales objectives. Each platform has its own strengths and may cater to different business needs, so a thorough evaluation based on your requirements is essential.
SalesIntel, with its accurate data and user-friendly interface, stands out as a strong contender.
However, ZoomInfo, Clearbit, DiscoverOrg, InsideView, Lead411, UpLead, Apollo.io, Snov.io, and Lusha offer unique features and capabilities that may better suit your business needs. Take the time to assess each option, considering the features and pricing that align with your goals, and make an informed decision that will empower your sales team to thrive in today’s competitive marketplace.
Compare SalesIntel with your existing data provider. Schedule a SalesIntel demo tailored to your ICP.
Cognism Pricing
Cognism pricing is based on an annual access fee and a user fee. Pricing starts at $15,000 a year and $1,500 per user and goes up to $25,000 yearly and $2,500 per user. Both of these are annual-only agreements. So the minimum you’ll pay is $16,500 or $27,500 yearly.
Cognism pricing is on an annual basis only. It’s possible to negotiate the per-user fee. And payment terms should always be something to consider when negotiating your Cognism pricing with the vendor. But is Cognism’s pricing worth it or over-hyped?
Cognism’s pricing plan gives you access:
Data:
- Direct Dial
- Mobile
- Job Title
- Location
- Skills
Company:
- Industry
- Revenue
- Employees
- Location
- Funded Date
- Technology
Events:
- Hiring
- Funding
- Intent (Bombora)*
Functionality:
- Unlimited Views
- Unlimited Individual and Page Level Exporting
- Diamonds on Demand*
Support:
- Live Chat
- Customer Support
While you get enough information using Cognism, you can miss crucial services – Research on Demand, data relevance, accuracy, and maximum accessibility. SalesIntel not only provides you with the relevant and accurate human-verified data mentioned above, but it also gives you Research on Demand, the highest human-verified direct mobile dials, and unlimited data access. As a result, SalesIntel has been considered the best among the Cognism alternatives.
Why are Cognism Users Switching to SalesIntel?
SalesIntel offers several compelling reasons to choose their platform over Cognism:
1. Unlimited, accurate data with no credit limits:
SalesIntel provides comprehensive and accurate account and contact data without any restrictions on usage. With unlimited data and credits, you can seamlessly integrate data into your workflow without worrying about hitting credit limits. This gives you a consistent and reliable data source to support your sales and marketing activities.
2. Actionable contact information:
Having an extensive database of companies and contacts is only valuable if it includes actionable contact information. SalesIntel ensures that every company and contact in their database has corresponding email addresses or phone numbers that you can immediately utilize. This saves you time and effort by providing readily usable contact details for your outreach and prospecting efforts.
3. Support for the entire go-to-market (GTM) team:
SalesIntel empowers the entire go-to-market team, including sales, marketing, and revenue operations (RevOps) teams. Marketing teams can leverage SalesIntel to define their ideal customer profile (ICP), enabling better targeting for paid ads and improved alignment over lead quality. Sales teams benefit from reliable contact and account data, reducing time-to-close, improved win rates, and more effective prospecting. RevOps teams can continually enrich data for clean data hygiene and more accurate revenue forecasting.
4. Friendly contract terms and no data destroy clause:
SalesIntel positions itself as a true business partner rather than just a line item on your profit and loss (P&L) statement. They offer friendly contract terms, ensuring a smooth and flexible partnership. Additionally, SalesIntel does not have a data destroy clause, which means you can rely on their platform for ongoing data access and utilization without concerns about data limitations or restrictions.
Here’s a comparison table to summarize the reasons to switch to SalesIntel:
Overall, SalesIntel provides unlimited, accurate data with actionable contact information, supports the entire GTM team, and offers favorable contract terms, making it an attractive choice for businesses seeking a comprehensive and reliable data solution.
Compare SalesIntel with your existing data provider. Schedule a SalesIntel demo tailored to your ICP.
Cognism Alternative FAQs
What are the best alternatives to Cognism for B2B sales intelligence?
SalesIntel Offers highly accurate human-verified data, extensive integrations, powerful CRM integrations, PredictiveIntel, and strong customer support. It also offers flexible pricing plans to cater to businesses of all sizes.
Other Notable Alternatives:
- ZoomInfo: Comprehensive database with advanced filtering options.
- Clearbit: Real-time data enrichment and firmographic insights.
- Lusha: Easy-to-use platform with affordable pricing.
How to Choose the Right Cognism Alternative for Your Business?
Consider the following:
- Data Accuracy: Look for platforms with a reputation for high-quality, verified data.
- Features: Evaluate the specific tools you need, such as CRM integration, data enrichment, or intent data.
- Cost: Balance your budget with the value and features offered.
- Customer Support: Ensure robust support options for troubleshooting and training.
Features to Look for in a Cognism Alternative
The following are the features to consider to choose the best Cognism alternative:
- Verified Contact Data: Ensures accuracy and compliance.
- CRM Integrations: Seamless data transfer and management.
- Data Enrichment: Enhances existing data for better insights.
- User-Friendly Interface: Easy to navigate and use.
- Real-Time Updates: Keeps data current and relevant.
Best Cognism Alternative for Small Businesses
Top Options:
- SalesIntel: Best for its user-friendly interface and accurate data, ideal for small businesses needing reliable contact information with comprehensive data and advanced features like auto-enrichment, VisitorIntel, and PredectiveIntel.
- Lusha: Affordable and straightforward, suitable for startups and small teams.
- Clearbit: Offers real-time enrichment that is useful for growing businesses.
Are There Any Free Alternatives to Cognism?
Most alternatives like SalesIntel, ZoomInfo, and Lusha offer free trial versions.
Freemium Tool:
- RevDriver Chrome Extension: The best freemium tool for quick access to B2B contact information without any initial cost.