Cognism alternatives 2026: 10 tools compared by price

Teams look for Cognism alternatives mainly over price and package size: Cognism publishes no prices, its own blog puts Standard from $12,750 and Pro from $17,000 with 5 seats each, and intent data and on-demand mobile verification are Pro only. The closest swap is Kaspr, part of Cognism since 2022, from $65 a user a month, billed monthly, while Lusha from $37.45 and Apollo from $49 per seat publish prices and also bill monthly. Check what you give up: Cognism stores personal data in the EU and its help center lists do-not-call registries in 16 countries; among the cheaper tools, Dropcontact, Hunter, Leadfeeder and Vainu say they host or process data in the EU, and Apollo screens six countries.

Checked on 15 October 2026 against each vendor's pricing, privacy and help pages. Revexa builds Leo, one of the tools below; it is not a contact database, so it has its own section after the list.

The table is ordered by starting price: the lowest monthly US dollar price a buyer in the US sees for the cheapest paid plan, whatever the billing term, with euros converted at the ECB rate of 15 October 2026 ($1.1208 per euro). Free plans don't count, ties are alphabetical, and tools without a public price come last.

Why teams look for Cognism alternatives

From Cognism's own pages (more in Cognism pricing 2026):

• No public price. Pricing "is tailored based on the product you need, your team setup and how you plan to use the platform" (pricing). Cognism's blog gives Standard "starting at $12,750" and Pro "starting at $17,000" without stating the period (blog, modified 16 March 2026).
• Five seats per package. Standard and Pro each list "5 seats included", and no smaller package is shown.
• Pro for the key extras. Intent data from Bombora (up to 12 topics), the premium mobile filter and on-demand mobile verification are Pro features.
• No trial. Cognism offers a free data sample instead.
• No country figures. Cognism claims "90%" coverage of director-level and above contacts in Europe and the US (data), but its data page gives no figures per country.

What Cognism does well, by its own documents: it "stores personal data inside the European Union" (privacy), hosts on AWS in Ireland (trust center), notifies contacts "within GDPR timeframes" (compliance) and masks numbers on do-not-call registries in the 16 countries its help center lists, including Sweden, Norway and Finland (help center), while the compliance page names 12.

Cognism alternatives compared

Prices exclude VAT. "Best for" is our judgement; other cells are vendor claims, not independent tests.

The alternatives one by one

1. RocketReach

Email and phone lookups. Best for: one person who needs verified emails at a low price. Wrong choice if: you call Europe; phones start on Pro at $75 a month billed annually in the US ($52 from Sweden), and its pricing and privacy pages mention neither do-not-call screening nor European figures. Price: Essentials $33 a month billed annually in the US, or $19 and $39 monthly as shown from Sweden (pricing, 15 Oct 2026).

2. Hunter

An email finder and verifier with cold email sending, on servers "located in Belgium" (privacy). Best for: teams that used Cognism mainly for emails. Wrong choice if: you need mobile numbers; the plans list email data only. Price: Starter $34 a month billed yearly or $49 monthly for a buyer in the US, and €34 or €49 in the EU (pricing, 16 Oct 2026).

3. Lusha

Self-serve contact data that publishes coverage for 238 countries and territories (data). Best for: small teams that want Cognism-style data without five seats. Wrong choice if: you call Europe at volume; Lusha stores data in the US, and its do-not-call screening is described for the UK and US and sold on Scale plans only (docs). Price: Starter $37.45 a month billed yearly or $49.90 monthly (pricing, 15 Oct 2026; see Lusha pricing).

4. Apollo

A contact database with sequences and a dialer. Best for: teams that want data and outreach in one tool, per seat. Wrong choice if: you need EU hosting or screening beyond six countries; Apollo hosts in the US and screens the US, Germany, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK (Apollo). Price: Basic $49 per seat a month billed annually or $65 monthly (pricing, 15 Oct 2026).

5. Kaspr

A Chrome extension that shows emails and phone numbers on LinkedIn profiles. Kaspr "is part of Cognism" and joined in 2022 (about). Best for: a self-serve, per-user route into European contact data. Wrong choice if: you need intent data (Enterprise only) or do-not-call screening, which Kaspr's pages don't mention. Price: Starter $65 per user a month, billed monthly (€59 in Europe) (pricing, 16 Oct 2026).

6. Dropcontact

A French email finder that works from a name and company website and says it stores no personal data. Best for: cleaning and enriching your CRM with emails. Wrong choice if: you need to find new people or mobiles. Price: Starter €66 a month billed yearly or €79 monthly for 500 credits (pricing, 15 Oct 2026).

7. UpLead

Emails and mobile numbers on credits. Best for: one user who wants monthly billing. Wrong choice if: you need European figures or EU storage; UpLead stores data "on servers located in the United States" (privacy). Price: Essentials $74 a month billed annually or $99 monthly for 170 credits a month (pricing, 15 Oct 2026).

8. Leadfeeder

Called Dealfront until 24 March 2026 (FAQ); identifies companies visiting your website and adds contact data. Best for: EU-hosted data on accounts already showing interest. Wrong choice if: you mainly call; it says it has "fewer personal phone numbers and mobile direct dials than others" (GDPR). Price: Discover from €79 a month billed annually or €113 monthly; contacts from €369 on Activate (pricing, 15 Oct 2026).

9. Vainu

Nordic company data from the four national business registers, with decision-makers and triggers (data). Best for: teams selling in the Nordics, where Cognism publishes no country figures. Wrong choice if: you sell across Europe. Price: Reach from €250 a month on an annual licence, one country database and one to two seats (pricing, 15 Oct 2026; more in Nordic B2B data tools).

10. ZoomInfo

A broad database with intent on higher plans. Best for: teams whose main market is North America, where it lists 157.8M+ contacts against 66M+ in Europe (data). Wrong choice if: you leave Cognism over price or terms: ZoomInfo is also quote-only, billed annually and "not cancellable" (terms). Price: not published; Vendr's median is $33,500 a year (Vendr, 15 Oct 2026).

Cognism alternatives in Europe: storage, do-not-call lists and GDPR

From the vendors' own documents:

• Sources. Cognism combines "first party with third party sources", including "community-sourced data" (compliance); Kaspr uses public registries, its own collection and third-party providers (data); Lusha names four sources, among them "The opt-in Lusha Community" (facts); Vainu uses the national registers, and Leadfeeder links each item to its source.
• Storage. Like Cognism, Leadfeeder and Vainu host on AWS in Ireland (Leadfeeder, Vainu) and Hunter in Belgium; Kaspr processes data in the UK, EU or EEA "as far as possible" (privacy). Apollo, Lusha and UpLead store data in the US, and ZoomInfo may.
• Do-not-call screening. Cognism's help center names 16 countries (its compliance page 12), Apollo six (in Europe the UK and Germany) and Lusha's docs the UK and US, on Scale plans; Leadfeeder checks "public do-not-call (DNC) lists in many countries" without naming them, and Kaspr and Vainu don't mention screening on the pages we checked.
• Notifying contacts. Cognism and Kaspr say they notify people that they are in the database; Kaspr "notifies over 50,000 contacts per day" (data). Both treat you as an independent controller, so you still need your own lawful basis, usually GDPR art. 6.1 f, and must inform each person "at the latest at the time of the first communication" (Article 14, GDPR).
• Email rules are national. Germany's UWG §7 requires prior express consent for advertising email; see cold email laws by country. This is not legal advice.

If what you want is meetings, not a database

Cognism sells data; the outreach is still yours. Leo by Revexa, our product, is a buying-signal agent rather than a database: it builds your ideal customer profile from your website, watches signals such as hiring, funding, new executives in the buying role and engagement with competitors' LinkedIn posts, finds the right person and drafts LinkedIn messages and emails in your voice. By default you approve every draft, and leads in Germany get no cold messages (UWG §7). It costs €89 a month in Europe, $99 in the US and 999 SEK in Sweden, excluding VAT, with 7 days free and no lock-in (pricing). Wrong choice if: you need mobile numbers to call, list exports or website visitor identification.

More prices: what 30 sales tools cost.

Related: ZoomInfo alternatives and Lusha alternatives.

Common questions

How much does Cognism cost?

Cognism publishes no prices. Its own blog gives Standard "starting at $12,750" and Pro "starting at $17,000", each with 5 seats, without stating the period, so ask for the term in writing.

Is Kaspr owned by Cognism?

Yes. Kaspr says it "is part of Cognism" and joined in 2022. It sells self-serve, from $65 per user a month billed monthly (€59 in Europe), with intent data only on Enterprise.

What is the cheapest Cognism alternative?

RocketReach Essentials, $33 a month billed annually in the US, for emails only. With phone numbers: Lusha from $37.45 a month billed yearly, Apollo from $49 per seat and Kaspr from $65.

Which Cognism alternatives screen do-not-call lists in Europe?

Apollo screens six countries, in Europe the UK and Germany; Lusha's docs name the UK and US, on Scale plans; Leadfeeder says "many countries" without naming them. Cognism's help center names 16.

Does Cognism have a free trial?

No trial is listed. Cognism offers a free data sample, so test it on companies you already know before a sales call.