Cognism vs 6sense

For organisations that need accurate, compliant data to support outbound, ABM and European growth, Cognism is one of the strongest alternatives to 6sense.

While 6sense focuses primarily on intent signals and marketing orchestration, Cognism provides the verified mobile numbers and B2B email data teams need to actually reach decision-makers.

Built on Cortex AI and supported by a responsive customer success team, Cognism combines high data quality with ease of use, helping teams convert account insight into live conversations.

The cost of 6sense is based on a credit model across four plans:

• Free.
• Sales Intelligence + Data Credits + Predictive AI.
• Sales Intelligence + Data Credits.
• Sales Intelligence + Predictive AI.

Plans start at 50 credits on the Free tier, with higher tiers priced based on team size and usage.

While 6sense may appear cost-effective initially, buyers should consider how credit-based limits affect execution at scale.

Once credits are exhausted, additional credits must be purchased, which can restrict outreach and introduce unplanned spend. There is also no verification-on-demand service comparable to Cognism’s Diamond Data®.

Cognism pricing includes unlimited contact data credits under a generous fair usage policy. Its exclusive Diamond Data® asset provides phone-verified mobile numbers, enabling teams to connect with up to 87 percent of their prospecting lists and improving the efficiency of outbound activity.

Speak to a Cognism data expert for 25 sample leads based on your ICP.

For teams focused on direct engagement and pipeline creation, Cognism is often a better fit than 6sense.

Cognism has operated as a trusted B2B contact data provider for more than eight years, building a comprehensive sales intelligence platform and a strong partnership with Bombora that prioritises data quality over volume.

This enables teams to connect with the right decision-makers, rather than spending time working through outdated or inaccurate contact records.

Yes. Cognism is a strong alternative to 6sense, especially for teams that want to turn intent into real conversations.

With high-quality, regularly verified contact data, Cognism helps sales and revenue teams reduce wasted dials, improve connect rates and accelerate pipeline generation.

Customers consistently cite ease of use, data accuracy and responsive support as key reasons for choosing Cognism when evaluating alternatives to 6sense.

Yes. Many organisations use Cognism alongside 6sense.

In these setups, 6sense provides account-level intent and prioritisation, while Cognism supplies the accurate, compliant contact data required to execute outreach and maintain a clean CRM.

This combination allows teams to align insight with action, particularly when selling across Europe and other regulated markets.

Cognism is widely recognised for stronger data quality, particularly for European contact data.

Cognism’s dataset is built and maintained through continuous verification, human research and its proprietary Diamond Data® asset, which includes phone-verified mobile numbers. This focus on accuracy, freshness and compliance is central to Cognism’s role as a trusted data foundation.

6sense combines multiple first- and third-party sources to support intent and account intelligence, but reviews frequently cite challenges with data freshness and duplication when activating contacts downstream.

Cognism is generally easier to implement and faster to adopt.

Cognism integrates directly into existing CRMs, engagement platforms and seller workflows, with minimal configuration required. Teams can access data via the web app, browser extension or API without re-architecting their stack.

6sense is more complex to implement, often requiring onboarding, configuration and ongoing management to connect intent insight to day-to-day execution.

6sense offers a limited free tier with restricted credits.

Cognism does not offer a self-serve free version, but prospective customers can request sample data aligned to their ideal customer profile to assess data quality, coverage and accuracy before purchasing.

It depends on how each platform is used.

6sense can appear lower cost initially, but credit-based limits, add-ons and expansion often increase total cost over time.

Cognism’s pricing is typically more predictable for teams running sustained outbound or ABM programmes, as usage is not constrained by per-record credits.

For organisations focused on direct engagement, pipeline creation and European expansion, Cognism typically offers stronger value.

Its emphasis on data quality, compliance and execution reduces wasted activity and operational friction. 6sense delivers value upstream through intent and prioritisation, but often requires additional investment to convert insight into action.

Yes, in many cases Cognism can replace both standalone data providers and separate intent tools.

Cognism includes Bombora intent data alongside its accurate, compliant B2B contact and company data. This allows teams to identify in-market accounts and immediately act on that insight using verified emails and phone-verified mobile numbers, all within the same workflow.

For organisations that want to reduce tool sprawl and move faster from insight to execution, Cognism provides both intent signals and the trusted data required to engage decision-makers. This is particularly valuable when selling into Europe, where data accuracy and compliance directly affect whether intent can be actioned at scale.

Some organisations with highly mature ABM or marketing orchestration requirements may still choose to layer Cognism alongside a dedicated intent platform. However, for many revenue teams, Cognism delivers the right balance of intent, execution and governance in a single, integrated data foundation.

It depends on how you define ABM.

If ABM means account prioritisation, intent signals and planning, 6sense plays a strong role. If ABM means reaching the right people within target accounts and executing outreach, Cognism is essential.

Many organisations use both together.