12 best B2B contact databases for sales and marketing

A B2B contact database stores company and employee information, typically including business emails and phone numbers, and often enhanced with intent or firmographic data. The best contact databases combine accurate, compliant data with the coverage, integrations, and pricing model that fit a team's target markets. This guide compares 12 leading providers, including Cognism, Apollo.io, ZoomInfo, and LinkedIn Sales Navigator, on data quality, features, and pricing.

A B2B contact database sits at the centre of modern revenue execution. It determines how effectively organisations can identify, prioritise, and engage target accounts, shaping everything from territory planning to pipeline generation.

The quality of that data has direct commercial consequences. Gaps in accuracy, coverage, or compliance can limit market reach, distort targeting, and reduce confidence in forecasts. This becomes more pronounced in regions such as Europe, where regulatory requirements and market fragmentation add further complexity.

In this guide, we examine what defines a high-quality contact database, how leading providers compare, and what to consider when selecting a data foundation that supports consistent, scalable revenue growth.

1. Cognism

Cognism is a business contact database and a go-to-market intelligence and data infrastructure partner for sales, marketing, and revenue operations (RevOps) teams. With high-quality data, Cognism delivers data where you need it, to help you work smarter and with full context and control.

What makes Cognism stand out?

• Data quality and compliance: Cognism is built specifically for mid-market and enterprise companies selling into Europe, with local expertise and data fusion models that self-correct for accuracy.
• GTM intelligence platform: The Cognism platform turns data into actionable insight, so your sales team knows when and why to act.
• Data infrastructure and delivery: Cognism's Connect API and MCP connector deliver data wherever your team needs it, from CRM syncs to AI assistants.
• High-quality European data: 90% coverage of EU decision-makers.
• Fully compliant with global data laws, including GDPR and CCPA compliance, and screened against more Do Not Call lists than any other provider (16).
• A self-correcting data engine, including verified mobile numbers that deliver up to a 3x connect rate.
• Data enrichment for refreshing your CRM with high-quality B2B data.
• Flexible workflows: two-way CRM integrations, plus the Connect API and MCP connector, which help make data available wherever you need it.

Best for:

Cognism is built for international expansion into European countries, including our own expansion into France, the DACH region, and more. Reviewers echo this, with users highlighting that the level of GDPR compliance gives them peace of mind (G2) when doing business in Europe.

Key features:

• High-quality European data: 90% coverage of EU decision-makers.
• Fully compliant with global data laws, including GDPR and CCPA compliance, and screened against more Do Not Call lists than any other provider (15 and counting).
• A self-correcting data engine, including verified mobile numbers that deliver up to a 3x connect rate.
• Data enrichment for refreshing your CRM with high-quality B2B data.
• Flexible workflows: two-way CRM integrations, plus the Connect API and MCP connector, which help make data available wherever you need it.

“We compared Cognism to its competitors. The results showed that in both the EMEA and North America markets, Cognism had better results in every dimension. Most importantly giving us more contacts and the correct information of those contacts.”

Read the full case study

Mauro Visentin
Global Head of Inside Sales @Expert.ai

Pricing:

Choose a package to suit your needs; each is inclusive of five seats to get your team started:

• Standard: Includes all the core data you need to prospect, such as company and contact information, and context signals like hiring, funding, and job changes, plus basic dashboards.
• Pro: Includes additional specialist features, such as on-demand mobile phone verification, intent topics, and more.

2. Apollo.io

Apollo.io is a business contact information database that offers access to contact details for your potential leads. Its B2B database includes over 65 advanced search filters, such as company size, job title, and more.

Some G2 users have expressed disappointment that Apollo's emails and numbers are outdated most of the time.

Best for:

Users praise Apollo for being an all-in-one tool (Reddit). It's great for smaller organisations that need everything in one place, since they don't need to purchase additional tools for outreach and cadence automation.

Key features:

• Identifies prospects actively researching solutions, providing insights and talking points.
• Access to contact information, work histories, and activity timelines.
• Integrates with popular sales tools like Salesforce, HubSpot, and LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

Pricing:

Apollo's pricing starts at $49 per user, per month. It offers a free version. All plans have unlimited email credits but limited mobile and export credits. See how it compares in Cognism vs Apollo.

3. Constant Contact

Constant Contact is a marketing contact database focused on email marketing, contact management, and campaign automation. It enables businesses to build and manage contact lists, create campaigns, and engage audiences across email and other channels, with an emphasis on ease of use and accessibility.

Best for:

Constant Contact is best for small to mid-sized businesses looking for an accessible platform to manage email marketing and customer engagement, rather than organisations requiring advanced B2B data enrichment or large-scale revenue data infrastructure.

Key features:

• Email campaign creation and automation.
• Contact list management and segmentation.
• Pre-built templates and a drag-and-drop editor.
• Basic marketing automation workflows with event marketing and registration tools.
• Social media posting and ad integration, plus integrations with CRM and third-party platforms.

Pricing:

Constant Contact offers tiered, subscription-based pricing, typically structured by the size of your contact database and the features you access. Plans scale as contact lists grow, with higher tiers unlocking advanced automation, segmentation, and reporting capabilities.

4. Dun & Bradstreet

D&B Hoovers is a company contact information database. It helps sales and operations teams find qualified leads and new business opportunities. Its data covers existing customers, high-value prospects, and legacy data.

Some G2 reviewers have called out D&B Hoovers for its out-of-date or incorrect information.

Best for:

Dun & Bradstreet is favoured for its company insights. Users highlight that being able to view the SWOT matrix for S&P 500 companies is helpful and makes it ideal for targeting larger corporations.

Key features:

• Advanced search functions for concepts, technology, and trends.
• Alerts for business movements.
• An intuitive interface with automated workflow features.

Pricing:

Dun & Bradstreet offers monthly and annual pricing plans, both with credit limits. A free trial is also available.

5. Lead411

Lead411 is a contact database that provides intent signals and trigger alerts to help businesses identify and reach decision-makers. It offers unlimited data on annual subscriptions.

Best for:

Lead411 is widely recognised as a US data provider; some users note that the unlimited contacts don't match the coverage of larger players. For this reason, Lead411 may be better if you require data in specific niches and geographies.

Key features:

• Find and connect with decision-makers through verified data.
• Sales intelligence features like intent signals.
• White-labelled data for resellers.

Pricing:

Lead411's pricing starts at $49 per user, per month. Moving up the tiering system unlocks additional features, including CRM customisations, an AI search assistant, and company news updates.

6. RocketReach

RocketReach is an extensive database of company contacts. It includes over 100 advanced filters, including firmographic filters like annual revenue, number of employees, and geographic location.

Some G2 users rate RocketReach as so-so for data accuracy.

Best for:

Users find RocketReach particularly useful for getting emails (Reddit). The Chrome extension is popular for finding prospects on LinkedIn.

Key features:

• Over 700 million professional profiles and 35 million company profiles.
• Integrates with your workflows through an API and a range of custom integrations.
• Tracks and measures the performance of your cold email campaigns.

Pricing:

RocketReach's pricing plans are designed for individuals or teams. Prices start at $29 per user, per month, making it one of the more affordable B2B contact databases.

7. LeadIQ

LeadIQ is a B2B database that finds and captures prospect data, including emails and direct dial phone numbers. Its core features can help sales, customer success, and marketing teams.

Some G2 reviewers are dissatisfied with LeadIQ's contact info, in particular its hit-or-miss phone numbers.

Best for:

Users love LeadIQ's integration with Sales Navigator and Outreach (Reddit). However, as mentioned above, some users have had issues with the accuracy of contact data, particularly phone numbers (Reddit).

Key features:

• A prospecting workflow for identifying, capturing, and pushing leads into sequences.
• AI recommendations for personalised email outreach.
• Enriches contacts with location, email, mobile, job title, and social profiles.

Pricing:

LeadIQ offers several pricing plans, from Free to Enterprise. Prices start at $36 per user, per month.

8. ZoomInfo

ZoomInfo is a corporate contact database that provides information about businesses and their contacts, including names, phone numbers, email addresses, and social media profiles.

It's a large, well-established provider, but not all customers are happy. According to a CB Insights survey, some customers voiced dissatisfaction with ZoomInfo, particularly its contact data quality.

Best for:

ZoomInfo is a comprehensive database, especially for prospecting in the US. Users like how it streamlines the prospecting process and integrates well with other tools (G2).

Key features:

• Automates deduplication, verifies new records, and cleanses data.
• Intent signals and buying scoops to alert users to potential customers in real time.
• Integrates with popular CRM and marketing automation tools.

Pricing:

ZoomInfo's pricing depends on the package you want (Sales, Marketing, or Talent), and is based on licences, credit usage, and desired features. You'll need to contact the company for a quote.

9. Seamless.AI

Seamless.AI uses artificial intelligence and a real-time contact data search engine to help businesses find potential leads.

Some G2 reviewers complain that Seamless's data accuracy rate is low.

Best for:

Users of Seamless.AI appear to enjoy the AI prospect research feature. However, the pricing is based on a credit model, which some say means credits burn through quickly, with other options working out cheaper per contact.

Key features:

• Automates lead management tasks, such as locating contacts, importing data, and converting leads.
• Integrates with third-party apps like HubSpot, Google Sheets, and LinkedIn.
• Offers buyer intent data to identify leads interested in products or services.

Pricing:

Seamless.AI's pricing is divided into several plans, from Free to Enterprise, with custom pricing available on request.

10. 6sense

6sense offers a variety of features to help business development teams find and engage with potential customers, using AI to provide insights into customer behaviour, intent, and interest.

Some G2 users dislike 6sense's data quality and UX navigation.

Best for:

6sense is primarily positioned as an ABM platform, rather than solely an online contact database. Users report closing enterprise logos using its intent signal data in targeted campaigns (Reddit).

Key features:

• Notifies sellers of recent account activity, buying momentum, and changes in engagement levels.
• Firmographic, technographic, and psychographic attributes for each contact.
• Deanonymises website visitor behaviour and maps it back to accounts.

Pricing:

6sense offers a variety of plans, from Free to Enterprise.

11. Breeze Intelligence (formerly Clearbit)

Clearbit was a contact management database offering data on decision-makers and other data products. HubSpot acquired it and rebranded it as Breeze Intelligence.

According to some G2 users, Clearbit's data contained inaccuracies and duplications.

Best for:

Breeze Intelligence offers extensive functionality for inbound contact data, including form shortening that automatically pre-fills fields. Users find it useful for enriching target accounts and consider the data fairly accurate (Reddit).

Key features:

• Uses AI and machine learning to clean and refresh company records.
• Includes website visitor identification, lead enrichment features, and lead scoring.
• Offers an IP-to-domain dataset to identify website traffic from target contacts.

Pricing:

Breeze Intelligence pricing is based on credit packs of 100, 1,000, and 10,000, ranging from $30 to $700 a month.

12. LinkedIn Sales Navigator

LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a social networking platform for business professionals that also serves as a simple contact database.

Best for:

LinkedIn Sales Navigator is best suited for finding prospects who are registered on LinkedIn. Using Sales Navigator alongside a tool like Cognism takes it further, since accurate contact information is available for any LinkedIn profile or company page you visit via the Cognism Browser Extension.

Key features:

• Find and connect with people who are using LinkedIn.
• Intent-based signals across LinkedIn.
• Build a personal brand within and outside your network.

Pricing:

LinkedIn Sales Navigator has three packages: Core, Advanced, and Advanced Plus, plus a free one-month trial.

Is Cognism the right contact database for you?

Cognism is a strong fit if:

• You work in B2B – our data isn't built for B2C businesses.
• You're a mid-market or enterprise sales, marketing, or RevOps team – our data isn't designed for sole traders or smaller businesses.
• You want to connect with other businesses – our data can't help you reach freelancers.
• You're targeting EMEA, DACH, or APAC – this is where our data is strongest.
• You're concerned about compliance – Cognism is built to be compliant by design.

Frequently asked questions