- Best for lead routing and management: ZoomInfo
- Best for intent data: UpLead
- Best for prioritizing data hygiene: Lusha
- Best for tracking sales engagement: Apollo
- Best for integrating with CRMs: Lead411
- Best for international markets: Clearbit
- Best for social media prospecting: Datanyze
- Best B2B database for LinkedIn integrations: Wiza
B2B database providers are companies that offer a range of data services like workflow management, data enrichment, and sales intelligence through an in-house platform or web integrations. They source leads that match your clientele and build databases with their most accurate contact information and sales predictions.
Some of the providers we’ve noted below are Zoominfo, UpLead, Lusha, and Apollo. Along with summaries of their platforms, pricing breakdowns, and notable pros and cons, we’ve also identified ideal use cases for each tool to help you navigate which might be best for your business needs. These use cases range from the best tool for social media prospecting to the best tool for integrating with a variety of CRM software.
Software Spotlight: ZoomInfoSPONSOREDZoomInfo can drastically shorten your sales cycle by not only identifying high quality leads, but also sends them to the right sales rep at the right time. With the help of territory management, routing assignments and lead distribution, ZoomInfo works to constantly funnel in the right B2B leads for your solution. |
Top B2B database providers comparison
Businesses of any size can utilize a B2B database provider to manage data and scale their services to match their scope of work. The best B2B database providers will help identify the best-fit leads for your solution while also compiling their most accurate contact information, demographic data, and firmographic data. From there, they manage these incoming leads through pipelines, workflows, and data enrichment features.
| Data cleansing | Chrome extension | Lead routing | Offline access | Starting price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ZoomInfo | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Contact for quote |
| UpLead | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | $99 per month* |
| Lusha | Yes | Yes | No | No | Free starting price |
| Apollo | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Free starting price |
| Lead411 | Yes | Yes | No | No | $99 per month per user |
| Clearbit | No | No | No | Yes | Free starting price |
| Datanyze | No | Yes | No | No | $21 per month* |
| Wiza | Yes | Yes | No | No | Free starting price |
*Pricing when billed annually.
ZoomInfo: Best for lead routing and management
ZoomInfo is a sales intelligence and go-to-market platform that helps businesses find company and individual contact data plus insight into their buyers’ consumption patterns. Users can create custom workflows and triggers within the ZoomInfo platform based on intent signals that automatically export leads to their CRM, and sales reps can be notified about active leads to start engaging with them at the right time.
Why I chose ZoomInfo
ZoomInfo not only identifies engagement-ready leads but can also send them to the right sales rep at the right time to shorten your sales cycle. It does this by automating territory management and routing assignments. You can manage and monitor lead distribution processes through an optimized, round-robin distribution system from one central dashboard.
Since users report a steep learning curve with this provider and there isn’t any information provided regarding pricing, consider looking into Lusha or Apollo for quick onboarding and competitive prices.
To learn more about this provider, head over to this ZoomInfo review.
Pricing
- SalesOS: Access company insights and contact information. Contact for quote.
- MarketingOS: Pipeline management and digital marketing solutions. Contact for quote.
- TalentOS: Source and manage candidates for company recruitment. Contact for quote.
Features
- Custom workflows: Launch and integrate your current tech stack tools with your workflow for personalized lead engagement.
- Website IP tracking: Identify and engage with website visitors in real time to turn them into high-quality leads.
- Cross-channel marketing: Design targeted display and social media advertising to use across multiple channels.
Zoominfo pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| 14-day free trial. | No upfront pricing. |
| Large internal database. | Buyer intent costs extra. |
| Identifies anonymous site visitors. | User reports of a steep platform learning curve. |
UpLead: Best for intent data
UpLead is a B2B database that focuses on finding high-quality prospects along with their most accurate data and contact information. Its platform allows you to filter over 50 unique search criteria to find leads that are active in their buyer journey and match your ideal customer profile. UpLead also offers real-time email verification and insights like demographics, firmographics, and technographics for your sales reps to rely on.
Why I chose UpLead
UpLead’s intent data function allows you to filter through leads by their consumption patterns. This way, you can go after prospects who are currently in the market to make a purchase like your solution. Advanced intent data can help optimize your sales process since it notifies you exactly when to begin engaging leads and even what to say to them.
UpLead is a well-rounded B2B database provider, but its premium tiers are on the higher end of the industry standard. If you’re looking for a similar tool with transparent, competitive pricing, consider Lusha or Datanyze.
Pricing
- Test Drive: Get five credits and verified email addresses and phone numbers for seven days.
- Essentials: Everything in Test Drive plus CRM integration and 170 monthly credits for $99 per month.
- Plus: Everything in Essentials plus data enrichment and 400 monthly credits for $199 per month.
- Professional: Everything in the Plus tier, plus buyer intent data and a custom amount of monthly credits. Contact for quote.
Features
- Data collection: Follow an internal eight-step process for searching, segmenting, and managing lead information.
- Email verification: Verify every email address in real time to ensure delivery.
- Bulk downloads: Find and quickly download entire lead lists to access offline.
UpLead pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Offers a platform demo. | Short trial compared to industry standard. |
| 155+ million contacts. | Users report outdated dashboard UI. |
| 95% accuracy guarantee. | Limited customer support. |
Lusha: Best for prioritizing data hygiene
Lusha is affordable B2B database software designed to connect you with true decision makers and authority figures in your target clientele. In the free tier, you can find emails and phone numbers of five contacts per month. Lusha’s job change filter, integrations options and how it suggests similar leads can help small teams on a tight budget.
Why I chose Lusha
Lusha ensures you have the freshest information for the B2B leads it finds, including accurate contact information, location, industry tags and more. Its data hygiene capability also updates new contacts with correct information and cleans your CRM from having duplicates, inaccurate contacts, or out-of-date accounts. This also helps with lead prioritization by automating lead routing and scoring based on the healthiest lead info.
Lusha cannot provide a data accuracy guarantee. That is something plenty of other providers on my list can do. If that’s a must-have for your organization, consider UpLead, Apollo, or Wiza.
Pricing
- Free: Receive free credits and a direct phone number for one free user.
- Pro: Get everything in the Free tier, plus list management and exports for $36 per user per month when billed annually or $49 when billed monthly.
- Premium: Get everything in the Pro tier plus bulk prospecting and analytic access for $59 per user per month when billed annually or $79 when billed monthly.
- Scale: Get everything in the Premium tier plus CSV enrichment and CRM integrations for a custom quote.
Features
- Prospecting API: Reduce manual work by setting filter criteria for the database to automatically sort leads that match your ideal customer profile.
- Activity alerts: Receive notifications when a prospect makes a change or triggers an action that influences their buying potential.
- Data cleansing: Create data enrichment automation workflows and eliminate data decay or duplicates from your CRM.
Lusha pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| 45 million North American contacts. | No data accuracy guarantee. |
| Quick client onboarding and instant access. | Fewer contacts than other providers. |
| Affordable option for small businesses. | Limited LinkedIn prospecting. |
Apollo: Best for tracking sales engagement
Apollo is sales intelligence software that helps users build, manage and engage with B2B leads. With over 275 million contacts, its platform can help you find ideal leads for your company with 65+ filters and attributes. Once leads are funneled into your pipeline, you can track engagement, tasks and sequences, making it an all-in-one platform for lead generation and even nurturing.
Why I chose Apollo
Apollo offers end-to-end sales data and tracking. After curating a B2B database of qualified leads, Apollo creates automated, multi-step touchpoints for your outreach, including emails, cold calls, LinkedIn tasks, and more. It can also schedule meetings through automations, making it easier for clients to book demos or follow up meetings with you.
Apollo is a robust option, but there are reports of lacking international databases. If that’s a priority for your business and you’re considering Apollo alternatives, try starting with Clearbit.
Read this Apollo review for a more detailed breakdown of its offerings.
Pricing
- Free: Basic sequence automations plus 60 credits and 120 exports a year.
- Basic: $49 per user per month for 900 credits and 12,000 exports a year.
- Professional: $79 per user per month for 1,200 credits and 24,000 exports a year.
- Organization: $119 per user per month for 2,400 credits and 48,000 exports a year.
Features
- Reporting and analytics: Combine multiple reports into one dashboard to visualize your entire sales pipeline.
- Lead scoring: Leverage data from your CRM and Apollo account to get AI-generated lead scores after defining your own criteria for good leads.
- Meeting scheduling: Automate appointment scheduling with leads by building this functionality right into your Apollo workflow.
Apollo pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| 14-day free trial. | User reports of incomplete contact profiles. |
| 275+ million contacts. | Inconsistent international data. |
| 98% email accuracy. | Users request more onboarding training. |
Lead411: Best for integrating with CRMs
Lead411 is a B2B lead database that supports sales, technology, marketing and recruiting teams. Apart from its standard subscription-based database offerings, it also offers to build and sell a one-time B2B email list of verified email addresses with a 96% accuracy rate.
Why I chose Lead411
Lead411 integrates with over 25 CRMs, including Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Insightly, Zoho, and more. This makes contact enrichment and cleansing easier by syncing the data in your CRM with their up-to-date information. It also fills in holes and filters out outdated information. All of its paid pricing tiers come with this integration functionality.
Since users of Lead411 report some limitations around filtering larger imports of individual or company contact data, consider also looking into Lusha for its data hygiene and segmenting.
Pricing
- Basis Plus Unlimited: $99 per month per user for unlimited email views and 2,400 exports a year.
- Pro with Bombora Intent: Everything in Basic Plus with 10,000 exports a year. Contact for quote.
- Unlimited: Everything in Basic Plus with unlimited exporting and dedicated support. Contact for quote..
Features
- International searching: Access databases of domestic and international contacts for opening up new sales territories.
- Custom triggers: Use a growth intent algorithm to create workflows that move leads through your sales funnel if they take specific actions.
- Lead scoring: Segment incoming leads with strict filters that match your ideal customer profile.
Lead411 pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Offers a 7-day free trial. | Limited filtering options. |
| Integrates with 25 different CRMs. | Limited customer support. |
| Domestic and international sourcing. | User reports of slow exporting. |
Clearbit: Best for international markets
Clearbit is a B2B data provider that focuses on targeting your top accounts, revealing the buying intent of those accounts and then finding the decision makers of those accounts. Recently acquired by HubSpot, Clearbit can integrate with a variety of software in your sales tech stack, including HubSpot, Salesforce, Slack, Drift and Clarli.
Why I chose Clearbit
Clearbit offers a target market builder that filters through the global B2B landscape. This builder can then identify companies in multiple countries that would most likely need your product or service or are in the market for it. It then tracks these potential customers as they visit your website to help your sales reps time their outreach.
Clearbit users have reported poor data accuracy with their produced contact data. If you need a guarantee of data accuracy, check out Apollo or Wiza.
Pricing
- Free: Basic access to 25 credits a month and HubSpot pipeline building.
- Growth: 125–1,000 credits a month plus qualified leads for $50–275 per month.
- Business: If you want more or are an enterprise-level company, contact for a custom quote.
Features
- Lead filtering: Organize incoming leads by updated job titles or company tenure.
- Company insights: See your target account firmographics, revenue reports and more.
- Global targeting: Access markets across the world when pulling B2B datalists.
Clearbit pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| More than 30 million B2B contacts. | Doesn’t integrate with Outlook. |
| Free version available. | User reports of poor data accuracy. |
| Integrates with a variety of technologies. | Limited regional/geographic searching. |
Datanyze: Best for social media prospecting
Datanyze is a B2B database and sales intelligence platform that helps identify and then segment online leads. Use its platform and extensions to search for and connect with individual prospects or entire companies online and then manage or export filtered lists as you need.
Why I chose Datanyze
Datanyze offers a Google Chrome extension that captures valuable lead data while you scroll through social media. For example, if you come across a pre-qualified lead organically online, the extension will pull that lead’s contact information directly without you having to leave the webpage. This way, you can access their individual and company information in real time to start engaging.
Datanyze does have a limitation with its integration capabilities, only offering syncs with Salesforce. If you have another CRM currently, consider looking into ZoomInfo or Lead411 for a similar mix of features with additional CRM integrations.
Pricing
- Nyze Lite: 3-month free trial; receive 10 credits a month.
- Nyze Pro 1: 960 credits a year for $21 per month when billed annually or $29 when billed monthly.
- Nyze Pro 2: 1,920 credits a year for $39 per month when billed annually or $55 when billed monthly.
Features
- Google Chrome extension: Access valuable lead info directly on their social media, company or LinkedIn page.
- List exporting: Segment and export lead lists to CSV with just a few clicks.
- Icebreakers: After a lead is identified, look through curated topics to help initiate first contact.
Datanyze pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| 90-day free trial. | Limited data accuracy. |
| Comprehensive dashboard interface. | No predictive data capabilities. |
| Prevents duplicate profiles. | Salesforce integration only. |
Wiza: Best B2B database for LinkedIn integrations
Wiza can support all live versions of LinkedIn. Through integrations, users can connect to LinkedIn, Sales Navigator and Recruiter. The platform will verify email addresses in real time and allows users to export prospect lists from LinkedIn in bulk. The access to multiple LinkedIn tools means Wiza can act as a lead prospecting tool as well as a candidate prospecting tool for recruiting firms and agencies.
Why I chose Wiza
Wiza is a modern sales prospecting and engagement platform that can produce verified contact information in real time. Sourced from the web and LinkedIn, users can convert leads from LinkedIn into lists of contact data. Leads can be contacted through cold outreach or recruiting the best talent. Wiza prioritizes connecting users and prospects quickly and easily. The information available to be unveiled includes work, personal and generic emails, plus cell, direct and work phone numbers.
If you want a more robust tool with more integrations beyond LinkedIn, check out ZoomInfo for its offerings.
Pricing
- Free: 20 emails and 5 phone numbers per month and no CRM integration. Best for those who want to do occasional prospecting.
- Starter: $49 per user per month, billed monthly. Users receive 100 emails and 100 phone numbers per month. This tier integrates with CRMs.
- Email: $83 per user per month, billed annually, or $99 per user per month, billed monthly. Annual subscriptions receive unlimited emails. Monthly subscriptions receive 500 emails per month and can purchase numbers for $0.35 per number.
- Email + Phone: $166 per user per month, billed annually, for unlimited emails and phone numbers. $199 per user per month, billed monthly, for 500 emails and 500 phone numbers per month.
Features
- Built-in email verification: Pay for continuously verified emails and contact information with over a 99% deliverability rate.
- Enriched data: Receive prospect data that includes 30+ data points such as revenue, funding, headcount and more.
- Valid data credits: Use paid Wiza credits only on contact information that is verified so users aren’t wasting funds on insufficient data.
Wiza pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| 97% title accuracy, 99% email accuracy and less than 1% bounce rates. | No integrations to send emails directly from the platform. |
| Users report easy implementation and startup. | Premium plans can be costly. |
| Can source leads in a large variety of industries. | Users mention how monthly credits don’t roll over if you pause or stop your subscription. |
Key features of B2B database providers
It’s possible to pick a plan based on specific features, since most B2B database providers have multiple pricing tiers and levels of service. However, there are still core offerings to prioritize when researching a B2B contact database. These include whether the providers are data compliant, can guarantee data accuracy, and offer buyer intent data, workflow creation, and CRM integrations.
Data compliance
When dealing with data and pulling information from multiple sources, working with a provider that is data standards compliant ensures the validity and security of the data they pull on your behalf. There are different compliances and certifications, like CCPA and GDPR, as well as being validated by third-party auditors.
Data accuracy
Data accuracy refers to how up to date the data and information the provider pulls is. This is important because when your sales reps begin pulling leads to contact, they need every detail, such as the lead’s phone number and job title, to be correct. Data accuracy helps cut down on prospecting time since sales reps don’t have to go back and forth making sure each phone number or email address matches the lead they’re looking to connect with.
Buyer intent data
Buyer intent data is the information a database can pull about a lead that would suggest if they’re currently in the market for a solution like yours or when they might be. This can include insight as to whether the lead has been searching for keywords about your industry, if they have any current providers of your solution and if they’re a good fit to purchase your solution.
Workflow creation
Workflows are a series of triggers and pipelines that filter and cleanse incoming data. Workflows better categorize and visualize the leads. They’re also meant to help segment leads into a status that matches your sales process. For example, if a lead visits your website twice in one week, they’re marked as interested and are automatically sent to a sales rep to begin engaging.
CRM integration
Customer relationship management software integration is when the platform or delivered data automatically updates in your CRM, or vice versa. Any edits made on one platform should immediately be reflected on the other. The best CRM software are scalable solutions and can be used by any company size or industry. This helps make the process of outsourcing a B2B database efficient for your company so sales reps don’t have to manually transfer updates, profiles, and lead lists.
How do I choose the best B2B database for my business?
Now that you know some of the best B2B databases in the market currently, plus what core features you should expect, it’s time to start looking into which provider would serve your company best. Luckily, it’s an industry standard for B2B databases to offer sample data, demos and even lengthy trials with their platform. Some providers even have free tiers offering a minimal amount of credits per month and per user.
Below are sample questions to ask a B2B database provider before onboarding its services:
- What in-market industry specialization do they have?
- Do their services match your allocated budget?
- Exactly what data services come with each pricing tier?
- What level of support does the provider have?
Methodology
When reviewing the top B2B database providers serving the market today, we consider the core offerings of the most popular options as well as cost transparency and more. We compare each company to this preset criteria consisting of categories an average buyer might deem important when choosing a provider.
Below are the criteria we consider when selecting the top providers, in order of importance:
- Cost: Cost transparency, payment options and price compared to industry standards.
- Core features: Standard capabilities of an average B2B database provider, such as pipeline management or data cleansing.
- Advance tech offerings: Unique or industry-specific functionality that a provider might offer in addition to the core features.
- User reviews: Average user feedback for each provider, either praising or criticizing features, platform UI or support.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
What is a B2B database?
A B2B database houses business–to-business data, or any information that is generated or exchanged between companies that do business transactions with other businesses. This is compared to B2C databases, which house information for businesses whose customers are direct consumers. A B2B database will provide sales reps with accurate information about targeted accounts or individual leads for more strategic outreach.
What is an example of B2B data?
An example of B2B data or a situation where B2B databases might be beneficial is recruitment agencies. Sales reps and account managers at a recruitment agency will target hiring managers and high-level employees of companies they wish to hire for. So accessing a B2B database with all the hiring managers at a target account will provide their emails and phone numbers for reps to begin cold calling to seek new business opportunities.
How do I create a B2B database?
A B2B database can technically be stored in as simple of a program as Excel. But there isn’t much benefit from storing them in a system like that because information isn’t being verified, gets stale, and makes it difficult to contact them directly. When B2B prospecting is a priority for your business, it makes sense to invest into a B2B database provider that does the hard work of sourcing, importing, and scoring leads for you to begin contacting immediately.
