B2B Lead Generation Tools, Grouped by Data Source
Before comparing features, find out where a tool's data comes from. The source decides which buyers it can find at all, and no feature fixes a source that doesn't cover your market. Here are the main B2B options grouped that way.
Selling to mid-size and large companies, try a compiled contact database like Cognism, UpLead or Seamless.AI. Want to stack several databases to fill the gaps, look at Clay. Selling to small local businesses that barely show up in contact databases, use a tool built on business listings, like ZipLead. Whichever it is, run five accounts you already know through the free plan or trial before paying.
There are three kinds of source
- Compiled contact databases. A vendor builds and maintains records on people and companies, then sells access by the credit. Strongest on companies with visible staff and job titles.
- Aggregators. One tool that queries many databases in turn and keeps the first good answer. Coverage is as wide as the providers behind it, and so is the bill.
- Business listings. Google Maps and directories like it, where the business itself put up its phone number and website. Covers small companies the databases rarely reach, but it's company data, not an org chart.
Most B2B tool roundups only cover the first kind. That's fine if your customers have org charts. Less fine if they're a dental practice and a roofing company.
Compared
| Tool | Source | Free option | Paid from | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cognism | Compiled database | None listed. Demo through sales | Not published. Plans include 5 seats | Priced for a team, not one person |
| UpLead | Compiled database | 7-day trial, 5 credits | $99/mo for 170 credits, or $74/mo billed annually | Monthly credits go fast |
| Seamless.AI | Compiled database | Free plan, 50 credits, 1 user | Pro price not published | You need a sales call to see paid pricing |
| Clay | Aggregator across 150+ providers | Free plan, 100 data credits a month | Launch, $167/mo billed monthly | You build the workflow yourself |
| ZipLead | Business listings (Google Places, Foursquare) | 5 ZIP code searches a month | $59/mo | No job titles, revenue or headcount. US only |
Compiled databases
Cognism
No published prices. There are two plans, Standard and Pro, and each comes with 5 seats included, so it's built for a team. Pro adds what Cognism calls phone-verified mobile numbers, plus intent data (signals that a company is researching topics related to what you sell).
If your team lives on the phone and needs mobile numbers for decision makers, press hard on that in the demo. Ask them to look up accounts you pick, not ones they pick.
UpLead
UpLead publishes its prices, which already puts it ahead of half this category. Essentials is $99 a month for 170 credits, or $74 a month billed annually with 2,040 credits for the year. Plus is $199 a month for 400. Extra credits on Essentials are $0.60 each. UpLead says it verifies emails with a 95% accuracy rate.
170 credits is 170 contacts. Plenty for a founder doing tight, targeted outreach. Thin for an SDR team.
Seamless.AI
The free plan gives one user 50 credits. Pro is sold per user with annual credit packages, where one credit covers a phone and an email, and the price isn't on the site. Enterprise is custom too.
The free plan is a fair coverage test. Whether you can live with the Pro price is a conversation you'll have with sales.
Aggregators: Clay
Clay pulls from 150+ data providers and lets you chain them, so if the first one has no email for a contact, the next one gets asked. Free includes 100 data credits and 500 actions a month. Launch starts at $167 a month on monthly billing, Growth at $446.
It's the most flexible tool here and the one that takes the most setup. You build tables and workflows. If someone on your team enjoys that, great. If nobody does, it's the wrong pick however good the data is.
Business listings: where small companies actually show up
A lot of B2B selling is to small businesses. Insurance agents, payment processors, bookkeepers, IT providers, software vendors and suppliers all have customers like a salon, a body shop or a three-truck plumbing company. Those businesses are on Google Maps because their customers find them there. In contact databases they're often missing, or there as a bare company name.
ZipLead is built on that source. Search a ZIP code and the businesses Google and Foursquare list there come back scored 0-99 and sorted. Enrich the ones worth it to pull contact emails and phone numbers off their own site, owner or manager names when the site lists them, whether they run ads (a yes or no, read from ad tags on the site), and how fast new reviews are coming in.
What you won't get: job titles across a company, revenue, employee counts, or anything outside the US. Search depth has a ceiling too. Google returns up to 60 results per business type on a narrow search and 20 per type when you search five or more types at once, so big cities get split by ZIP.
Free is 5 ZIP code searches a month with 3 enrichment credits. Operator is $59 a month and adds city and state searches, CSV export, and send to HubSpot.
Match the source to your market
- List your last ten customers.
- Next to each one, note whether it has staff you could find by job title, or whether the owner answers the phone.
- Mostly the first kind, test a compiled database. Mostly the second, test a listings-based tool. A real mix usually ends up with one of each.
Bring that list to any sales call too. A vendor's own examples will always look good, and yours are the only ones that tell you anything.
Common questions
What are B2B lead generation tools?
Tools that give you companies or people to sell to, usually with contact details. The biggest difference between them is where the data comes from: compiled contact databases, aggregators that query many databases, or public business listings like Google Maps.
Which B2B lead tool has the most accurate data?
There's no neutral answer, because each vendor measures accuracy its own way. UpLead, for example, states a 95% email accuracy rate on its pricing page. The test that counts is yours: look up accounts you already know and see how many come back right.
Are there free B2B lead generation tools?
Seamless.AI has a 50-credit free plan, Clay's free plan includes 100 data credits a month, and ZipLead gives 5 ZIP code searches a month. UpLead has a 7-day trial with 5 credits.
Can I use B2B contact databases to find local businesses?
You can try, and it's worth running the five-account test. For owner-run local businesses, coverage in contact databases tends to be thin, and a tool built on Google Maps listings will usually find more of them.
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