Cognism vs LinkedIn Sales Navigator
Stronger outreach starts with clean, reliable data. Cognism delivers a verified, compliant B2B contact database designed for organisations selling into Europe.
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Why revenue leaders have switched to Cognism
80% higher-quality mobile data
Cognism is recognised for the reliability of its European contact data, including industry-leading verified mobile numbers.
By embedding high-quality European mobile data into existing systems, Cognism enables teams to execute confidently without adding overhead or fragmentation to their stack.
“In the last 30 days, we’ve booked 4 meetings that have turned into qualified opportunities, all thanks to using Cognism’s data. Given that we typically close 1 or 2 deals per year in this industry, that is a brilliant result.” Stevie, Sub1
30–40% reduction in tech overhead costs
Credit-based pricing models restrict outreach and create hidden cost pressure as teams scale activity across markets.
Cognism removes credit ceilings, giving revenue leaders predictable access to European data without throttling execution or forcing incremental spend.
“20% of our revenue now comes from Cognism, and we see a significant ROI on the tool with the results it generates.” Antoine, Toucan
ROI in 8 weeks
Cognism provides high-quality B2B data designed to help revenue teams focus on accounts and decision-makers that matter, accelerating time-to-impact.
“Our sales cycle is typically 6-8 months long. At Cognism, we saw ROI in 8 weeks from intent data and direct dials. One deal pays for a year’s Cognism subscription.” George, Ultima
What’s the difference between LinkedIn Sales Navigator and Cognism?
LinkedIn Sales Navigator is designed to help teams identify and engage prospects who maintain active LinkedIn profiles. It enables filtering by role, company and activity, and surfaces contact details only where individuals have chosen to make them public on the platform.
Cognism is a B2B data infrastructure built to deliver verified contact and company data beyond LinkedIn’s self-reported network. Cognism supplies direct dials, phone-verified mobile numbers and emails across Europe, North America and Asia Pacific, with data delivered directly into existing CRM and revenue workflows.
Cognism’s browser extension works across LinkedIn and the wider web, ensuring access to consistent data wherever research takes place. Mobile numbers are verified rather than inferred or user-entered, supporting higher confidence in contact accuracy.
By contrast, Sales Navigator relies on user-maintained profile information, which can vary in completeness and freshness, as mentioned in this independent review of the platform. For organisations that require dependable contact data at scale, this distinction becomes increasingly important.
Below is a side-by-side comparison of Cognism vs LinkedIn Sales Nav.
See how Cognism compares with other GTM data platforms
Key features of Cognism vs LinkedIn Sales Navigator
Cognism provides verified, compliant B2B contact and company data that serves as a foundational data layer across revenue systems. Data is built for use beyond any single platform and delivered directly into CRM, analytics and go-to-market workflows, with governance aligned to GDPR and CCPA requirements.
LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a prospecting product built on LinkedIn’s professional network. It enables users to search profiles, build lists and engage prospects through InMail, using information that individuals choose to maintain on the platform.
While Sales Navigator supports research and outreach within LinkedIn, it should not be considered a data source or system of record. Contact details are limited to publicly available or self-reported information, and the data is not designed to flow natively into broader revenue infrastructure.
Below is a side-by-side view of Cognism vs Sales Navigator’s features.
Cognism
SOC 2 accreditations, TPS & DNC screening across 15 countries & notified database.
Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.
Native integrations and APIs designed to embed Cognism data directly into CRM and GTM workflows.
Verified mobile numbers that materially improve connect rates and reduce wasted outreach.
Bombora intent data, alongside real-time signals covering hiring activity, funding events and technographic insights.
Natural-language search across accounts and contacts, designed to support research and prioritisation rather than list scraping.
Contextual access to account and contact intelligence, surfaced directly within CRM, LinkedIn and web workflows to support better-timed, more relevant engagement.
API-driven and on-demand enrichment to keep CRM and downstream systems accurate and current.
Full access to contact and company records, with generous fair usage designed for scale.
LinkedIn Sales Navigator
Job title, company size, location, and industry.
Based on a user’s search history and LinkedIn activity.
Helps you reach prospects outside your network.
Notifies users when prospects or accounts engage with company content.
Intent signals based on users' interactions across LinkedIn.
Syncs LinkedIn profile insights and activities with connected CRMs
What revenue teams see after switching to Cognism
Director of Business Development @SUB1
Head of Sales & Partnerships @UpCloud
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LinkedIn Sales Navigator versus Cognism: Compliance
LinkedIn Sales Navigator states it is GDPR- and CCPA-compliant and holds multiple ISO certifications. The platform is built on LinkedIn profile data, including contact details that users choose to make available.
Some organisations reassess their use of Sales Navigator due to the inclusion of personal email addresses. Personal emails typically introduce additional consent requirements and compliance obligations, particularly when operating across European jurisdictions.
Cognism is built to deliver GDPR- and CCPA-compliant B2B contact data across regulated markets. Compliance is embedded into the data lifecycle, rather than applied only at the point of outreach.
In addition to GDPR and CCPA compliance, Cognism screens mobile numbers against a wide range of national suppression lists, including:
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TPS and CTPS registers in the UK
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Do-not-call lists across the United States, Canada, Australia and multiple European countries, including Germany, France, Spain, Ireland, Belgium, Croatia, Portugal, Sweden and Italy
Where a number appears on a national register, it indicates that the individual has opted out of unsolicited telephone contact via the relevant authority.
Cognism also provides administrative controls that allow organisations to determine whether suppressed records are visible to users, enabling consistent policy enforcement and auditability across teams.
Compliance controls applied across the Cognism platform include:
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A structured B2B data verification process
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Legal sourcing and ongoing validation of records
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Regulation by the UK Information Commissioner’s Office, with a notified database
Directeur informatique @Henderson Scott
LinkedIn Sales Navigator vs Cognism: Usability & Integrations
LinkedIn Sales Navigator reviews mention that it integrates with a range of systems, including Oracle, Bullhorn, Greenhouse, and Zoho. It operates primarily within the LinkedIn environment and is generally straightforward to adopt, particularly for teams already embedded in LinkedIn workflows.
Cognism integrates directly into core revenue systems, with integrations included across all packages. These include Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics, Pipedrive, Salesloft, Outreach, Bullhorn and Zapier. Data is consistently available across CRM, engagement, and RevOps workflows, rather than being accessed through a single interface.
Cognism also applies AI to how data is accessed and used across systems:
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Web app and browser extension — Build structured target lists in the Cognism web app, while the Sales Companion extension delivers compliant data directly within LinkedIn, corporate websites and connected CRMs
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AI Search — Query companies and contacts using natural language, for example: “CMOs at fintech companies in Germany”
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Sales Intelligence — Provides territory-ready views with data enriched by intent surges, funding activity, hiring signals and company-level events
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Smart Personas — Define your ideal customer once and apply persona-driven filters across accounts, intent topics and technographics
This approach reduces fragmentation between research, data access and execution, while keeping data governed and consistent across teams.
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Does LinkedIn Sales Navigator provide contact data?
LinkedIn Sales Navigator helps teams identify and engage prospects within the LinkedIn network. It is effective for discovering people and companies based on profile information and activity.
However, Sales Navigator is not a contact database. It does not provide verified mobile numbers or emails beyond what individuals choose to make publicly available on their profiles.
Cognism fills this gap by providing verified mobile numbers and business emails, screened against do-not-call lists, alongside enrichment and Signals. This allows organisations to use Cognism as a system of record for contact data, rather than relying on network-restricted, self-reported profiles.
This distinction matters when contact data needs to flow reliably into CRM, analytics and revenue operations.
Better conversion rates (Lead Forensics)
Time saved each week (UpCloud)
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LinkedIn Sales Navigator provides access to LinkedIn’s global professional network, which includes over one billion user profiles. Coverage is limited to individuals who maintain a LinkedIn presence and choose to keep their profiles up to date.
Cognism operates independently of any single network. It enables organisations to reconcile LinkedIn profile data with verified contact and company records inside their CRM and revenue systems, creating a more complete and reliable view of target accounts.
Customers commonly use Cognism alongside LinkedIn to operationalise profile data at scale. As Axys noted:
“Cognism provides an interface that allows us to take data from LinkedIn in volume and reconcile it with the CRM. The level of targeting is very detailed and precise in the search, which allows us to import both volume and quality.”
“Very quickly, we can offer our business units high-quality, enhanced and recent contact databases. We no longer have any limitations in terms of account identification sources.”
Cognism provides one of the most complete datasets for Europe, supported by dedicated research teams in the EU and United States. Coverage also extends across North America and Asia Pacific, supporting organisations selling across multiple regions from a single data foundation.
Data quality is prioritised throughout the dataset, including phone-verified mobile numbers and strong European coverage. This ensures coverage is not only broad but usable as a system of record across markets.
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Where does Cognism get its data?
Cognism sources B2B contact and company data from a combination of proprietary sources, third-party data providers, publicly available information, manual research and strategic partnerships. This multi-source approach supports depth and resilience across markets.
Machine learning systems evaluate millions of data points each day, while dedicated research teams verify records to ensure accuracy and regulatory compliance. This verification process is applied across the entire dataset, rather than limited to specific regions or data types.
Cognism applies additional verification to key contact fields, including phone-verified mobile numbers and verified business email addresses. Mobile numbers are verified directly, and email addresses are validated to reduce bounce rates and improve reliability.
Customers can also request verification for specific contacts through an on-demand research service, allowing teams to prioritise accuracy in high-value accounts or target segments.
This verification-led approach improves confidence in contact data at scale, particularly in European markets where accuracy and consent requirements are higher.
Below is an overview of how Cognism’s phone-verified mobile numbers differ from standard mobile data.
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Does LinkedIn Sales Navigator give verified email addresses?
LinkedIn Sales Navigator may display email addresses where individuals choose to make them public on their profiles. These details are self-reported and are not verified or governed for use in outbound outreach.
As a result, email availability and reliability can vary significantly across profiles and regions, particularly outside the US.
Cognism provides verified business email addresses and phone-verified mobile numbers, with compliance controls applied across the data lifecycle. This gives organisations dependable contact data that can be used confidently across channels and embedded in CRM and revenue systems, rather than being limited to engagement on LinkedIn.
increase in meetings booked (Lockton)
Better mobile accuracy than competitors (Docfield)
Influenced closed/won deals (Openprise)
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Cognism vs LinkedIn Sales Navigator pricing
**Cognism and LinkedIn Sales Navigator pricing information is dependent on your company’s needs. For accurate pricing, please contact your preferred data provider.
Cognism Pricing
Cognism’s core packages are designed to provide predictable, unrestricted access to high-quality European data. Reps can view records freely and export up to 25 contacts at a time, without credit limits or usage penalties.
Cognism’s pricing model is split into two primary packages:
- Grow provides access to Cognism’s core European contact and company dataset, including phone-verified mobile numbers. It’s designed for teams that need reliable, compliant data to support day-to-day prospecting and account coverage.
- Elevate builds on Grow by combining Cognism’s dataset with advanced intelligence and actionable signals. This enables teams to prioritise accounts more effectively, understand buying context and act with better timing across complex European markets.
In addition, organisations can extend coverage with additional intent topics (12 included with Elevate) and on-demand verification, depending on their prospecting requirements.
LinkedIn Sales Navigator Pricing
LinkedIn Sales Navigator pricing includes three packages - Core, Advanced and Advanced Plus.
Each package includes:
- Extended network access for saved searches and profile view tracking.
- InMail reach out.
- Advanced search, relationship builder, buyer persona segmentation, etc.
- Lead/account tracking.
- Sales tool integrations.
- Relationship map, saved leads/accounts, custom lists, alerts, etc.
TeamLink, SmartLink, reporting, advanced CRM integrations, Enterprise tools and Premium Business access all come with higher-tier packages.
Trusted by Revenue Teams
See why sales, marketing and go-to-market teams rely on Cognism for accurate, compliant contact data and consistent results across European markets.
FAQs: LinkedIn Sales Navigator vs Cognism
Yes. Cognism is a strong LinkedIn Sales Nav alternative, particularly for organisations with established CRM, RevOps and data governance requirements.
Cognism provides verified, regularly refreshed contact data, helping teams operate from a reliable system of record rather than relying on self-reported profile information. Customer feedback frequently highlights data accuracy, predictable access and the ability to operationalise contact data across workflows.
LinkedIn Sales Navigator’s intent signals are based on activity and engagement within the LinkedIn platform, such as profile views and content interactions. These signals reflect behaviour limited to LinkedIn’s ecosystem.
Cognism integrates consent-based intent data powered by Bombora, collected from a cooperative of thousands of B2B websites where buyers actively research topics relevant to purchasing decisions. Bombora measures intent by analysing historical baselines, interaction context and depth of engagement, with a significant proportion of the dataset being exclusive.
When combined with Cognism’s verified contact data, Bombora intent helps organisations prioritise accounts showing genuine in-market behaviour and connect using reliable contact details, supporting more relevant and timely engagement.
No. LinkedIn Sales Navigator operates within the LinkedIn ecosystem. Its data and insights are limited to LinkedIn profiles and activity and do not extend independently across the wider web or external systems.
Cognism, by contrast, provides contact data that can be accessed across LinkedIn, corporate websites and directly within CRM and GTM systems.
Cognism is better for finding phone numbers. It provides phone-verified mobile numbers that are validated and screened against do-not-call lists.
LinkedIn Sales Navigator does not provide verified phone numbers and only displays contact details where users choose to make them public on their profiles.
Cognism can replace Sales Navigator for organisations whose primary need is reliable contact data embedded into revenue systems.
However, many organisations use Cognism and LinkedIn Sales Navigator together — using Sales Navigator for profile-based research and Cognism as the system of record for verified contact data.
Cognism is better suited for selling into Europe. It provides deep European coverage, phone-verified contact data and GDPR-compliant governance controls built for regulated markets.
Sales Navigator’s value is limited to LinkedIn profiles and does not address the additional compliance and data accuracy requirements common in European selling.
For profile research and engagement within LinkedIn, Sales Navigator may be sufficient.
For organisations that require verified contact details, CRM enrichment and governed data that can be used across channels, Sales Navigator alone is not enough. A dedicated data provider such as Cognism is typically required.