The Ultimate B2B Data Provider Market Overview (+ Side-by-Side Comparison of 50+ Tools)

Vlad Oleksiienko 16 Mar 2023

Every sales team runs on data. From prospect information to buyer intent and engagement metrics, having the access to up-to-date, valid data (and making a good use of it) is crucial to your revenue growth.

On the other hand, corrupt or stale data – or lack thereof – can impair even the best sales team.

That is why it’s so important to choose the right data providers.

We’ve been there and know first-hand how many options are available and how hard it is to pick the best one. We’ve even built our own contact database to solve this problem (we’ll get there).

So in this post we will explore the current state of the B2B data provider market, review the most popular tools, and provide some actionable recommendations to help you make the right choice.

Where do SDRs get B2B prospect data?

People tend to be very protective of their personal data. While business emails or other professional details can’t be considered sensitive information, it’s still relatively hard to get ahold of it.

Generally speaking, there are just two ways to get B2B prospect data:

Manual research

There are many ways to find anyone’s email or practically any other contact information online.

If you know who you’re after, you can look up their info on Google, social media, or their company website, make an educated guess using common patterns, or use various email finder tools.

The latter offers a perfect mix of manual sourcing and automation, offering a fast and convenient way to find prospect information, especially if there’s a bulk search option.

In my experience, manual research allows you to build high-quality, targeted lists with accurate data (since you get to double-check every detail you find). However, it is also a time-consuming task requiring more than a little ingenuity. And even if you use free tools, you can’t call it a cost-effective approach given all the time you or your team spend on it.

B2B database

Data providers offer a faster, more convenient way to source prospect contacts. Simply put, they aggregate the available information in one place, making it searchable and easy to navigate. This information can include anything from an email and phone number to business revenue, technographics, and even certain intent signals associated with each specific account.

The data is usually pre-verified and segmented by industry or other filters, which makes it easy to create targeted lists at scale.

Yet, building and maintaining such a B2B database isn’t an easy task. As a result, many contact databases are getting stale and the information – outdated or invalid. That is why you should always make an extra investment to validate the data (on top of the already high cost of the data).

Sidenote: You can also choose to get your data from a vendor – usually an agency – that will do all the work for you. However, the agency sourcers will still either do manual research to look up the right contacts or use some sort of contact database (their own or a third-party’s).

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What to look for in a B2B data provider?

The B2B database market is very versatile. There are dozens if not hundreds of different tools ranging in size, price, focus, and many other features.

So, before we talk about specific data providers, let’s do a quick market overview to identify some common or distinctive capabilities you should be looking for in a contact database.

1. Data attributes

The main function of a B2B data provider is, well, to provide businesses with relevant business data on their prospects. So the first thing you should look into when evaluating the potential data providers is the size, completeness, and quality.

database size – meaning the number of contacts you can get (and, as a result, your potential reach) is very important. What’s more, you should also consider the geography of the data, if you target prospects outside of the US.
available information, from personal contact data (email addresses, phone numbers, social links, even addresses) to job-related details (company, department, role).
data quality – in other words, its accuracy and validity (or built-in validation capabilities). This will directly impact your delivery rate and sales outcomes in general.

Note: Don’t be fooled by the numbers you see on the landing page. The biggest database isn’t always the best choice. Consider all of these data attributes in total to pick the right provider.

2. Specialization

As mentioned above, a B2B database can contain different types of data. Yet, there are also providers that specialize in certain information, for example:

Contact data – exhaustive contact and personal information about your prospects and accounts (companies) in general.
Firmographics – information about a company, from industry and headcount to funding or acquisitions (Owler, Vainu)
Technographics – the tools and technologies a business is running on (BuiltWith)
Psychographics – insights in the prospect’s personality (Crystal)
Intent data – like research signals or website visits (G2, Leadfeeder)

All of this information can be extremely valuable in sales prospecting, so it’s up to you to choose the provider that better fits your needs. But there are more things to keep in mind when making this choice ????.

3. Pricing

This is the most important and most difficult part of the data vendor evaluation process, especially considering the complex (and often undisclosed) pricing options they offer. While the budgets may vary, I will leave the choice up to you. But there are a few things to keep an eye on.

First of all, review the available pricing plans and their terms, including the number of seats/team, search credits/month, as well as the required minimum commitment. Different teams might be looking for different terms. For example, usage-based pricing is a great choice for startups while enterprise teams could go with fixed plans.

The free/freemium option is a nice way to test the waters or for those of you looking for a quick and dirty way to build a smaller list.

Note: It also makes sense to know the cost per 100 contacts to calculate the sales ROI you could get from this tool. This will also allow you to understand if this option is scalable and feasible in the long run.

4. Additional features

It’s said that an average sales stack contains around 10 tools. But the number is increasing as more sales software categories emerge on the market. As a result, many sales teams try to optimize their budgets choosing complex, all-in-one solutions or at least tools that combine a few key features.

As for the B2B data providers, there are several additional features they may offer as a part of the package.

Sequencing capabilities for sales engagement. This may be limited to emails or cover other channels as well (calls, social, messengers). BTW, it’s also one of the recent sales tech trends for email finder tools to introduce some sort of email sending as a hybrid solution.

Intelligence/AI features can help you better tailor your ICPs, get extra insights into your audience, or even prequalify the prospects using intent data. In the case of AI, it can enrich your buyer persona based on certain patterns or use its algorithms to provide you with custom-built lists.
Data enrichment allows you to get some extra data points for the existing records in your CRM. So, rather than hand-picking new prospects, you can discover more information about the ones you already have on your list (inbound or outbound).
Data validation is a crucial element of your deliverability toolset. Of course, you can use a third-party tool to verify your data, but having it as a part of the package (rather than moving data back and forth between the tools) could be a nice option.

On top of that, many data providers also offer Chrome extension or a lightweight addon – usually an email finder tool to use on the go. These can help you discover prospects anywhere on the web, especially on LinkedIn, or have all the information about your prospects right in your inbox. While it’s not as important as, for example, validation, it can definitely make your life as an SDR easier.

5. Integrations

If you don’t want to limit your choice of a B2B data provider based on the extra features they provide, at least make sure the vendor integrates with the rest of your stack. There are at least two must-have tools that any contact database should integrate with: a customer relationship management platform and a sales engagement platform. Being able to sync the data you get from the vendor to your CRM or your SEP directly – rather than exporting and importing the CSV files – will save you a ton of time and effort.

I would recommend you go with native integrations when building your stack. In this case you can rest assured that your data will move smoothly across your toolset.

However, there are also other integration options that you can explore, including tools like Zapier or Integrately. In this case, you can build a no-code bridge between your data provider and practically any tool in your stack and automate not just data synchronization but also certain processes.

Note: Some tools also offer an API so you can build your own integrations. This option, however, isn’t always easy or free and will require some technical efforts.

Overview of the top B2B data providers on the market

Considering the growing adoption of sales engagement and automation tactics, the B2B data market is thriving. There are dozens of tools available, ranging from niche solutions to industry leaders and from lightweight email finders to rich databases containing hundreds of millions of contacts.

Analyzing each of the available options would take too long, so we’ve made this brief overview table highlighting the most important aspects of each tool.

Now, I’d like to focus on B2B databases specifically – the most popular and the largest. Here are my top 10 picks with a more in-depth analysis.

Reply Data

Most of my professional life as an SDR I’ve been a sceptic when it came to B2B data providers. I’ve always preferred manual research, coming up with creative tactics to find business leads and trying to automate certain parts of the list-building processes.

This eventually led us to develop our own database to fuel our prospecting efforts with high-quality, relevant, and affordable contact data. And just recently we’ve decided to make it available to Reply users. Let’s break down its unique selling points.

First and most importantly, it contains data we’ve sourced internally; it’s not just a purchased list. There’s currently just over 100 million contacts, mostly covering the US and European audience. You can fine-tune your search using 10+ filters and source contact info (name, email, phone, and LinkedIn profile) as well as full firmographic data.

We verify the data internally and mark the contacts accordingly so you know if the email is safe to use (or simply filter out just 100% valid contacts). However, you can also double-check the data using our validation feature.

Secondly, it’s integrated into our core sales engagement platform, which makes it an all-in-one tool. From building a list to booking meetings – you can do all of that without leaving your Reply account.

But the best part about it is that Reply Data is 100% free to use with 200 monthly email search credits for trial or Free plan users and 1,000 credits with all paid engagement plans. This makes it a perfect choice for small-medium teams working with laser-focused lists. But if you decide to ramp up your prospecting, you can get up to 100,000 extra credits with paid add-ons.

Data attributes: 110M contacts, personal data, and firmographics.

Additional features: multichannel sequences, sales automation, email validation, AI features, analytics, Chrome extension.

Integrations: CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive), Zapier, API.

Pricing: free to use with 200 email search credits per month (for trial and Free plan).

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ZoomInfo

ZoomInfo is by far the largest and most popular B2B database. It collects data from a variety of sources and uses machine learning algorithms to organize and analyze the data. One of its killer features is that ZoomInfo employs a combination of artificial intelligence and human verification to ensure that its database is up to date and contains accurate information.

There are several product packages tailored for different use cases, including sales, marketing, operations, and talent, offering specific capabilities within separate pricing plans.

An interesting feature is ZoomInfo Community Edition where you can get limited access to the product in exchange for sharing your business contacts with them.

Data attributes: 220M professional and 100+ million company profiles, intent signals.

Additional features: sales automation, conversational intelligence, sales intelligence, data enrichment, Chrome extension.

Integrations: a few dozen integrations as well as solution partners in the marketplace.

Pricing: undisclosed – available on request, plans start from $1,000 (with 5,000 credits in the lowest tier).

Clearbit

Clearbit is more than just a B2B data provider that offers insights about companies and individuals. Dubbed “a data activation platform,” it specializes in offering a few sub-products, including:

Database of over 20 million companies to build targeted lists
Enrichment API to enhance customer data with additional information
Intent intelligence to identify website visitors and provide insights into their behavior
Data analysis and reporting tools to help businesses make informed decisions about their sales and marketing strategies

This makes Clearbit a powerful tool for data-driven sales and marketing teams, looking to optimize their lead generation efforts through different channels and methods.

Data attributes: 100+ attributes on more than 44 million companies and 350 million contacts; intent signals.

Additional features: data enrichment, analytics, Chrome extension.

Integrations: native CRM integrations (Salesforce/Pardot, HubSpot), Zapier, API, as well as a number of partner-built integrations.

Pricing: free option with 100 emails/months and 50 domain or email enrichments/month, paid plans start from $199/month.

UpLead

UpLead is a B2B lead intelligence platform that offers a suite of tools to help businesses find and connect with potential leads and prospects using account based marketing or direct outreach.

While the database size isn’t as impressive (108 million contacts and 14 million company profiles), UpLead boasts 95% accuracy using a combination of technology and human verification. The platform also makes it easier to find the best-fit leads in 200+ countries with over 50 search filters, including title and management level, industry, location, revenue, etc.

Aside from emails (verified in real-time) and direct dials, it also offers intent and technographics data.

Data attributes: 108 million contacts and 14 million company profiles with 95% accuracy, intent signals and technographics.

Additional features: data enrichment and verification, Chrome extension.

Integrations: CRM integrations (Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Copper), SEP integrations (including Reply), Zapier, API.

Pricing: free option limited to just 5 credits, paid plans start from $74/month and 2,040 credits/year (additional credits cost $0.60).

Apollo

Apollo is a B2B database combined with a sales engagement platform that provides access to a database of 250 million contacts (82 million being located outside of the US) across 60 million companies. The data contains 200+ attributes, from location and title to VC funding and revenue, so you can precisely choose the right prospects.

The platform offers a suite of sales tools, including advanced data search and enrichment, email sequencing, and real-time analytics. What makes it a go-to solution for many is the ability to handle practically every aspect of basic prospecting at a relatively affordable cost.

There’s also an additional safety level with customizable rulesets to avoid any negative activity with your account.

Data attributes: 250 million contacts at over 60 million companies, 200+ data attributes, buyer intent data.

Additional features: data enrichment and alerts, sales engagement, analytics and lead scoring; Chrome extension.

Integrations: CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot), sales engagement (SalesLoft, Outreach), email sending (Mailgun), Zapier, API.

Pricing: free option offers 1,200 email (and 60 mobile, 120 export) credits per year; paid plans start at $39 per user, per month.

Seamless AI

Seamless AI claims to be the “first and only real-time search engine for B2B sales leads” using AI and machine learning to provide users with not just contact data but also insights and recommendations for more effective engagement.

One of the unique selling points of the product is its Autopilot feature. It allows you to build targeted lists automatically – simply provide your desired criteria and their AI will take care of the rest. You can use it to build prospecting lists as well as hyper-targeted advertising audiences. But the feature is available within their Pro and Enterprise pricing packages, which is no surprise.

Data attributes: database size undisclosed; buyer intent (12,000+ topics), technographics.

Additional features: AI-driven list-building, data enrichment, and real-time verification, Chrome extension.

Integrations: CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive), sales engagement (Outreach, Salesloft), Zapier.

Pricing: the free plan includes 50 credits; paid options start at $147/month with 250 credits/month (limited to basic contact info).

Cognism

Cognism is a sales intelligence platform that offers rich prospect data with international coverage. Their data comes from a number of sources, including proprietary data capture mechanisms, public sources, machine learning, and strategic partnerships.

Its unique selling points are 98% mobile phone number accuracy and contextual data (from intent to technographics) for better conversations with your prospects.

However, all of this comes at a pretty steep price (undisclosed on the website) fit for an enterprise buyer.

Data attributes: database size undisclosed; intent data, technographics.

Additional features: data cleansing and enrichment, Chrome extension.

Integrations: CRMs (Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive), SEP (Outreach, SalesLoft), Zapier.

Pricing: no free options, paid plans are customizable and start from $1,250 (details available on request).

AeroLeads

AeroLeads is a stripped down B2B data provider that allows you to search for potential leads on LinkedIn or their web app. You can also upload your own lists to enrich with valid emails and verify your emails in bulk.

What’s interesting about this tool is that it doesn’t just offer a lightweight email finder Chrome extension, but also a convenient Google Sheets add-on for domain and email lookup.

One more unique feature that I’d like to highlight is the ability to get prospect email and phone numbers by simply uploading a list of LinkedIn profile links.

Data attributes: 650 million profiles.

Additional features: email verification, email sequences (in Beta), Chrome extension.

Integrations: CRMs (Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho), Zapier, API.

Pricing: free plan comes with 50 monthly credits; paid packages start at $49/month (2,000 monthly credits and limited to just 1 user).

GetProspect

GetProspect is a B2B prospecting and lead generation platform that provides access to a database of over 200 million contacts (and 50 million companies) worldwide. There’s also a Chrome extension and a Google Sheets add-on for your convenience.

Aside from the B2B database, GetProspect also offers a lightweight CRM as a way to organize your lead storage system. It’s pretty flexible and easy to manage with nested folders, dynamic lists, and custom lead fields. There’s also basic team management features like workspaces.

Data attributes: 200 million contacts (and 50 million companies) worldwide.

Additional features: data verification and enrichment, built-in CRM, email automation (coming soon).

Integrations: Zapier, API

Pricing: free plan includes 50 emails; paid plans start at $49/month and offer 250 emails.

SalesIntel

SalesIntel is a full-cycle go-to-market intelligence platform for marketing, sales, and revenue operations teams. It offers verified contact information for decision-makers of 100M+ contacts with emails and mobile phone numbers. While the size of the database is smaller compared to some of the competitors overall, the company claims to deliver the industry’s most accurate data for the US market.

Data attributes: 100M+ verified contacts and 22+ million company accounts profiled by 300 million unique technology install data points (technographics), combined with buyer Intent Data, company news and alerts, and website visitor data.

Additional features: Research on-demand (with a 2000+ member human-verification team), data enrichment, Chrome extension.

Integrations: Native integrations with leading CRMs and marketing automation platforms including Salesforce, HubSpot, SalesLoft, and more.

Pricing: Starts at $69/month for individuals and $199/month for teams. Pricing for enterprise licenses is available on request, all plans have unlimited credits.

Final word

Picking the right B2B data provider is no easy task. There’s a ton of options available offering various types and amounts of data, different pricing options, extra features, integrations, etc. After all, some of you might make a decision based on the UI or simply pick the cheapest option.

Just make sure to evaluate all the options and make an informed decision. Relying on poor data will null your sales engagement efforts. As they say, GIGO – garbage in, garbage out ????

Hope this overview will come in handy. Let me know if there are any tools that we’ve missed!