Skip to content

18 Best B2B Sales Prospecting Tools

A B2B prospecting tool is software designed to help salespeople automate the process of identifying potential buyers, reaching out to them, and converting them into customers. It provides accurate, up-to-date, and compliant contact information comprising demographic, firmographic, technographic, and geographic data.

Salespeople only spend 23% of their time actually selling. This is because they spend hours researching and failing to connect with prospects, relying on outdated and incorrect free data. A sales prospecting tool addresses this, allowing reps to build more pipeline for your business to close, driving more revenue. 

Here is the list of the best sales prospecting tools. Click on the drop-down below for a quick feature comparison or scroll down to review each tool's credentials and see which is the best fit for your organization. 

 

Phone-verified mobiles

Chrome Extension

Compliance

Intent data solution

Cognism

✅ 

✅ GDPR & CCPA compliant

✅ - Bombora

Kaspr

✅ GDPR & CCPA compliant

ZoomInfo

✅ GDPR & CCPA compliant

✅ - Bidstream

Lusha

✅ - CCPA compliant & GDPR aligned

Clearbit

Apollo.io

✅  - GDPR & CCPA

LeadIQ

✅  - CCPA & GDPR

SalesIntel

Unclear

✅ - Bombora

Seamless.AI

✅  - CCPA

Outreach

✅  - Global

✅ - Bombora

LinkedIn Sales Navigator

✅ - Global

DiscoverOrg

Unclear

✅ - Bombora

Lead411

✅ - CCPA & GDPR

✅ - Bidstream

Lead Forensics

✅ - GDPR & CCPA

✅ - First party

Ricochet

✅ - Global

Bombora

✅ - Global

✅ - Bombora

Leadfeeder

✅ - GDPR (CCPA unclear)

✅ - First party

1. Cognism

Cognism is one of the best sales prospecting tools that lets you find and contact prospects in your target accounts. It offers compliant contact data in EMEA, NAM, and APAC markets, allowing B2B sales teams to prospect in multiple territories successfully. Its database has validated B2B emails, direct dials, and human-verified mobile numbers.

Seamless integrations with sales tools and CRMs allow customers to integrate Cognism with their existing systems and workflows. 

Why is Cognism one of the best prospecting tools?

Speak to our sales expert 

What do our customers say?

ZoomInfo’s plug-in took approximately 20 seconds to load a lead, and more often than not, the contact details were incorrect. This was a productivity drain. With Cognism, it’s either instant or takes four seconds. The plug-in’s velocity enables quick-fire prospecting allowing our salespeople to get on with what they do best - selling!
Drift
Michael Iannuzzi, Director of Marketing & Sales Development
5X
faster prospecting over LinkedIn
ROI
in 30 days

2. Kaspr

Kaspr is an all-in-one prospecting software that enriches data from LinkedIn. You can also automate parts of your sales outreach.

Kaspr is a great tool for individual users because it offers a freemium version. This makes it a popular tool with SDRs and recruiters that want to access accurate phone numbers, email addresses and company info.

The data Kaspr provides is GDPR and CCPA aligned and there’s a whole host of integrations included to send contact info straight to your other sales apps.

3. QuickMail

QuickMail is an email prospecting platform that makes it easy to reach out to your ideal prospects.

You can collaborate with team members and add new sending inboxes all from one account, which makes it the ideal tool for growing teams. If you’re just starting out with cold outreach, QuickMail has a 100% free plan you can use to test the waters.

G2 reviewers highlight that the tool has excellent email deliverability and people book 4x more meetings with QuickMail than they do with other cold outreach tools.

4. ZoomInfo

ZoomInfo is a US-headquartered B2B sales prospecting software specializing in the AMER region. It’s a well-known all-in-one solution with robust functionality and integrations (ABM, buyer intent).

Despite large volumes of contact and account data, GTM leaders in a recent Pavillon survey mentioned ZoomInfo could benefit from improving data accuracy and innovating core product functionality. Check out a list of ZoomInfo competitors with global coverage.

The platform has a Chrome Extension, is CCPA compliant, and provides bidstream data

 

5. Lusha

Lusha is a sales prospecting tool that offers a Chrome extension and web app.

The tool’s data accuracy is highlighted as being great for email contacts throughout G2 reviews.

Lusha is CCPA and GDPR-compliant.

Check out the detailed Zoominfo vs. Lusha comparison page.

6. LeadIQ

US-headquartered LeadIQ is one of the best lead prospecting tools that aims to help salespeople prospect smarter.

LeadIQ’s ease of use and lead-capturing capabilities have been praised by G2 users, particularly its lead-capturing abilities from LinkedIn Sales Navigator. 

The platform provides a Chrome Extension and is CCPA and GDPR-compliant.

Check out Cognism vs LeadIQ direct comparison page or a list of the best LeadIQ alternatives.

Cognism defeated all the other lead generation providers by a huge amount. Its database had an 80% accuracy rate and the highest coverage of mobile numbers
Drift
Michael Iannuzzi, Director of Marketing & Sales Development
80%
data accuracy
4000
leads enriched

7. Clearbit

Clearbit is a market intelligence tool for sales prospecting offering data enrichment for mid-market and small businesses. It has US and European data sourced across public and private sources, including social profiles, company websites, legal filings, or crowdsourcing.

G2 reviews praise the fact that it integrates directly with Salesforce and enriches lead, contact, and account records for incomplete or out-of-date data.

Check out the list of the best Clearbit alternatives.

8. Apollo.io

Apollo.io is a US-headquartered B2B prospecting tool with a database consisting of over 220M contacts and 30M companies. 

Despite a large contact database, prospects in an independent survey mentioned it needed better cell phone numbers and email verification. Check out Apollo.io alternatives with better mobile data coverage.

Apollo.io is GDPR and CCPA-compliant and provides a Chrome Extension.

See Cognism vs Apollo and Apollo vs ZoomInfo pages.

9. SalesIntel

SalesIntel is a US-centric sales prospecting database. The company claims to have every direct dial number and email tested and re-verified every 90 days. 

Users praise the platform’s intent data, provided by industry leader, Bombora, and the swift support customers receive. 

10. Seamless.AI

Seamless.AI is a B2B prospecting software that uses artificial intelligence to crawl the web and discover sales prospects’ data.

G2 reviews praise the platform’s SMB contact database when compared to ZoomInfo. Its ability to streamline the lead generation process was also applauded.

Its GDPR compliance status is unknown.

11. Outreach

Outreach is a well-rounded platform that helps B2B sales teams with sales prospecting.

It does this by integrating with a number of platforms on this list, including Cognism and ZoomInfo.

Many of the reviews of the platform on G2 stress how useful the platform’s email templates are. 

Outreach has a Chrome Extension, global compliance credentials and Bombora intent data. 

12. LinkedIn Sales Navigator

LinkedIn Sales Navigator is one of the sales research tools and part of every salesperson’s workflow. It allows users to create lead and account lists. 

Typically, sales teams use other B2B prospecting tools alongside Sales Nav, as many get poor response rates from InMails. For example, you can enrich Sales Navigator lists with emails and cell phone data provided by Cognism.

The platform’s search functionalities are widely applauded across many G2 reviews

13. DiscoverOrg

DiscoverOrg is a ZoomInfo company that provides direct dials and intent data to help with B2B prospecting. 

You can expect a similar offering to its parent company. In contrast to ZoomInfo, DiscoverOrg offers Bombora intent data rather than bidstream data.

14. Lead411

Lead411 boasts 450M contacts with 20M global companies, with G2 reviewers praising its lead quality and price point. 

The business prospecting platform provides bidstream intent data, a Chrome Extension and CCPA/GDPR compliance.

15. Lead Forensics

Lead Forensics claims to have “inbox response verified emails that are 96% accurate and the most direct-dial phone numbers in the Industry.”

The tool is widely praised on G2 for its insights into who is visiting your website.

16. Ricochet

Ricochet is a Cognism company that provides a free Chrome Extension, enabling B2B salespeople’s prospecting efforts. 

Its HubSpot integration helps salespeople to identify whether a deal is already in their pipeline. 

17. Bombora

While Cognism, SalesIntel, Outreach, and DiscoverOrg all give you access to Bombora’s intent data, purchasing the tool separately is also an option. 

The tool enables you to target companies who are in the market for your solution right now, rather than wasting time on prospects who aren’t ready to buy.

The sales prospecting platform is GDPR and CCPA-compliant and yields high praise for its UX and integrations with other MarTech. 

18. Leadfeeder

Similar to Lead Forensics, Leadfeeder is website tracking software for sales prospecting. It shows how visitors found you and what they’re interested in. 

This functionality is highly applauded throughout G2 reviews

It helps sales teams tailor their messaging to prospects according to where they’re at in the customer journey. 

Leadfeeder is best used alongside other B2B prospecting tools like Cognism. 

What is the best B2B prospecting tool?

Cognism is the best sales tool for B2B prospecting in multiple territories due to its global coverage and accurate, verified data, and the best integrations with your existing workflows. It’s also the best tool for prospecting in Europe because it prides itself on compliance, including strict GDPR rules in the EU.

  • Phone-verified Diamond Data®, confirming the identity of prospects and the accuracy of their details
  • Chrome Extension that works with LinkedIn and Sales Navigator 
  • Consent-based intent data to prioritise outreach to prospects who are ready to buy
  • Records scrubbed against DNC lists to protect you from global non-compliance
design testimonials-01

Diamond Data®

By leveraging Diamond Data®, B2B sales teams can:

  • Increase their connect rates by 3x
  • Reach 9 in 10 prospects on their list

Crucially, Cognism focuses on Diamond-verifying mobile numbers, ensuring you can always connect with your ideal-fit prospects, whether they’re working from home or the office. 

Salespeople can significantly improve connect rates by using correct mobile numbers in sales prospecting. This results in more conversations with fewer dials, plus huge efficiency and morale improvements in the sales team

As a sales rep, I don’t have to worry about the quality of data affecting my ability to hit quota. This saves a huge amount of time and enables me to book 80% of my meetings through Cognism.
SaaSLeads
Jack Vesztrocy, Sales Development Representative
80%
of demos booked with Cognism leads
£0.8 million
Cognism-influenced revenue

Chrome Extension

Cognism’s Chrome Extension is an essential sales prospecting tool that makes the data you find in LinkedIn and LinkedIn Sales Navigator actionable. 

It does this by providing prospects:

  • Direct dials
  • Mobile numbers
  • Email data

It means you no longer have to rely on InMails to connect with prospects. 

Most importantly, the Chrome Extension allows users to send data directly to their CRM and/or their sales engagement software, removing the need for manual data entry and admin.

cognism chrome extension export
The Chrome Extension is my go-to as I’m on LinkedIn most days. Once I’ve retrieved the contact information from LinkedIn, the data is synced to HubSpot ready for prospecting. It’s super helpful and makes my everyday life in new business a lot easier.
Intermate
Felix Behrendt, Senior BDR
2.8K leads
generated in 1 year

Intent data

Cognism sales prospecting platform integrates with Bombora's intent data to intercept buyers early in their journey and before they get in touch with a competitor.

It allows sales reps to prioritise their outreach and gain greater control over sales conversations. 

  • 70% of Bambora's data is exclusive
  • It's consent-based and collected from a cooperative of leading high-traffic publications and sources
  • Takes into consideration the context and the length of each interaction
  • Takes into consideration a historical baseline or the typical content consumption in a given company to only show significantly above that typical consumption as intent
Engage_accounts_actively searching (1)-1

Bidstream data is considered by some to be an alternative to intent data, but as Bombora puts it:

“Bidstream data is collected only from websites that auction off advertising, and is compiled from only the ad impressions that are available for auction.”

On the other hand, Bambora's intent data:

“Monitors content consumption on a business level to detect when businesses are in market for a particular product or service.”

Compliance

Cognism is a premium sales intelligence platform, giving revenue teams access to globally compliant contact and contextual data to power up their new business pipeline. 

We achieve this status thanks to:

  • Notifying our database
  • Excluding B2C emails
  • Checking global DNC lists

Explore other self-guided tours

B2B sales
How to find and reach decision-makers in target accounts
B2B marketing
How to revitalise your stagnant LinkedIn campaigns
B2B marketing
How to enrich and connect with inbound leads faster