Best B2B Data Providers 2026: Apollo vs ZoomInfo vs Cognism vs Lusha

If you are a small or growing B2B team in North America that needs broad coverage, transparent pricing, and an integrated outreach engine, Apollo is the strongest default in 2026. If you are a European or UK team with strict compliance requirements and a heavy reliance on mobile-dial phone outbound, Cognism is the strongest default. If you are an enterprise GTM team in North America with budget for premium data and intent signals, ZoomInfo remains the most complete dataset. Lusha is the lightest of the four and works well for individual reps who need fast lookups rather than a strategic data layer.

Apollo holds data on roughly 275 million contacts and 73 million companies, with around 210 million contacts and 35 million companies in the United States alone. It is sourced through a contributor network, public crawling, third-party data, and engagement signals from sequences run inside the platform. According to Apollo's own product comparisons, this engagement data is what allows the platform to flag bouncing or stale contacts in near real time.

Apollo's pricing is the most accessible of the four. The Free plan includes basic prospecting and a few hundred export credits per year. The Basic plan is around $49 per user per month on annual billing, the Professional plan is around $79, and the Organisation plan is around $119. Mobile phone numbers and advanced filters are gated behind Professional and above. Apollo also allows month-to-month billing, which makes it easier to start without a large annual commitment.

The trade-off is data accuracy. Independent testing has shown Apollo bounce rates clustering around 13% on verifier checks and a smaller percentage on live sends, with user-reported accuracy in the 65 to 80% range depending on industry and region. Outside North America, accuracy drops more noticeably, particularly in continental Europe. For teams whose ICP is squarely in the United States, Apollo's pricing-to-coverage ratio is hard to beat. For teams targeting niche European mid-market, Apollo alone is often not enough.

ZoomInfo is the largest and most expensive of the four. The platform reports over 500 million professional contacts, 135 million verified phone numbers, and 120 million direct-dial numbers, sourced through machine scanning of around 28 million domains daily, hundreds of human researchers, third-party partners, and a community contributor network, according to ZoomInfo's own product comparison. Independent benchmarks place ZoomInfo data accuracy among the highest in the category, with bounce rates typically below 5% in North American segments.

Pricing is opaque and based on annual contracts only. Public reporting and third-party disclosures put the Professional plan at roughly $14,995 per year as a starting point, with full enterprise deployments running $35,000 to $50,000 a year and beyond once Sales OS, Marketing OS, intent signals, and additional seats are added. ZoomInfo's enterprise positioning means smaller teams often find both the pricing and the contracting cycle a poor fit.

ZoomInfo's main strength outside data volume is intent. SalesOS bundles in technographic data, hiring signals, web behaviour, and Streaming Intent for high-tier customers, giving outbound teams an early signal on which accounts are researching solutions in their category. The downside is that ZoomInfo's coverage is heavily concentrated in North America. European data, particularly outside the UK, Germany, and France, is noticeably thinner, and several public comparisons including Cognism's own teardown flag this as ZoomInfo's structural weakness.

Cognism is built around two design choices that make it different from the others: GDPR-first compliance and phone-verified mobile data. The compliance posture is not marketing language. Cognism collects, processes, and shares data under the legitimate-interest basis of GDPR Article 6.1(f), holds ISO 27001, ISO 27701, and SOC 2 certifications, and screens its phone data against Do-Not-Call lists in 15 countries.

The phone offering, branded Diamond Data, is the practical differentiator for European outbound. Cognism employs human operators who physically dial each number before adding it to the verified dataset. This produces a smaller pool of mobile numbers but with markedly higher connect rates, which Cognism's compliance documentation ties to its DNC screening practices across 15 countries. For teams running calling-led outbound in Europe, this matters more than headline contact counts.

Coverage is concentrated in EMEA. Cognism reports roughly twice the European contact volume of competitors, with deep coverage in the UK, Germany, France, the Benelux, and the Nordics. Pricing is annual and quoted via sales rather than published online, but Cognism is unusual in offering unlimited views and unlimited individual contact exports inside its packages, removing the credit-budget anxiety that defines ZoomInfo and Apollo for many users. Annual commitments typically start in the low five figures and rise from there.

Lusha is the lightest tool of the four, originally built as a Chrome extension for fast contact lookups on LinkedIn. It is now a full prospecting platform with a database it claims is over 100 million contacts, but its core appeal is still simplicity and pay-as-you-go pricing for individual users.

Lusha pricing is published openly. The Free plan includes 5 credits per month. The Pro plan is around $49 per user per month for 480 credits a year. Premium is around $69 per user per month for 960 credits. Scale is custom. Each contact lookup consumes credits, which makes the per-contact cost approximately $0.37 at the Pro tier. This is higher per-contact than Apollo or Cognism at scale, but the lower entry price makes Lusha appealing for individual reps and lean SDR teams.

Data quality is competitive at the top end of the contact list but thins out for niche or non-North American records. Lusha's GDPR compliance is also legitimate-interest based and well-documented, though the company is smaller and offers less of the procurement-friendly certification stack that Cognism foregrounds. For mobile dial-out in Europe, Lusha can supplement but is rarely a sole source for compliance-conscious enterprise buyers.

Comparing the four providers across the criteria that actually drive choice in 2026:

B2B contact data costs in 2026 range from around $0.10 per contact on budget platforms to $1.50 or more on premium enterprise providers like ZoomInfo, according to pricing analysis from Salesmotion. Apollo's effective per-contact cost is the lowest of the four when used at volume. Cognism's unlimited model can become the cheapest per-contact in heavy-usage scenarios despite a higher headline annual price.

Apollo Free includes around 900 export credits per year and access to the contact database with feature limits. The Basic plan at roughly $49 per user per month adds advanced filters and more exports. The Professional plan at around $79 per user per month is the realistic working tier for most outbound teams because it unlocks mobile numbers, sequences, and intent.

Lusha's pricing is the most transparent of the four. Pro at around $49 per user per month, Premium at around $69, and credits priced cleanly. The catch is that everything is credit-gated. A team that hits its credit ceiling halfway through the month either pauses prospecting or pays for top-ups, which can erode the apparent affordability.

Data accuracy is the single most consequential variable in this category and the hardest to measure publicly. Vendors report their own numbers and the methodology rarely matches across providers. The most reliable approach is independent testing on a sample of your real ICP, but a few patterns are consistent enough to call out.

ZoomInfo accuracy in North America consistently lands at the top of independent comparisons, typically 90% or higher on verifier tests. Apollo lands second in the United States with verifier accuracy in the 80 to 87% range and bounce rates around 13% on cold lists. Cognism leads on European mobile accuracy in independent reviews of European B2B databases, with phone-verified Diamond records reaching connect rates that Apollo and Lusha can rarely match in continental Europe. Lusha sits between Apollo and Cognism in regional accuracy and is generally strongest at the senior decision-maker layer where its long-running LinkedIn extension has compiled the most data.

Regional fit drives the right choice more than total database size. The largest database is irrelevant if it misses the segments you sell into. We have seen Leadriver clients abandon ZoomInfo specifically because UK and DACH coverage gaps left half their target list inaccessible, and we have seen North American clients abandon Cognism because they were paying for European coverage they did not need.

GDPR compliance is no longer a checkbox issue. Enforcement actions across Europe have made the procurement and legal teams of mid-market and enterprise buyers far more careful about which data sources their sales teams use. The relevant questions are how data is sourced, what lawful basis applies, where it is stored, how subject access requests are handled, and what certifications back the policies.

Cognism is the clearest leader on this dimension. Its legitimate-interest basis is well-documented, its certification stack is procurement-friendly, and its data minimisation practices are explicit. Lusha is also legitimate-interest based and has reasonable documentation, though without the same procurement-grade certifications. Apollo runs GDPR-compliant operations but has historically been positioned around US data norms, and European buyers should review its documentation carefully against their own internal policies. ZoomInfo is compliant but its origin as a US data provider sometimes shows up in how its European data is sourced and flagged.

The practical test most teams should run is: ask the provider for a copy of their privacy policy, their lawful basis statement, and their documented process for handling subject access requests. Vendors who can answer these in writing within a day are usually the ones whose compliance is genuinely operational rather than theoretical.

Pick Apollo if you are a North American or international SMB or mid-market team that needs an all-in-one prospecting and sequencing platform, prefers transparent monthly pricing, and is willing to accept moderate data accuracy in exchange for cost. Apollo is the right default for most teams under 50 reps in 2026.

Pick ZoomInfo if you are an enterprise GTM team with budget above $30,000 a year, are heavily concentrated in North American buyers, and want intent signals built into your data layer. ZoomInfo is the right call when total dataset depth and intent matter more than agility.

Pick Cognism if you are a European or UK B2B team with strong calling motion and procurement teams that demand documented compliance. Cognism is the right call when European mobile data, GDPR posture, and unlimited usage at predictable annual cost matter more than the lowest per-seat price.

Pick Lusha if you are an individual rep or a small team that needs fast LinkedIn-based lookups, transparent pricing, and minimal procurement overhead. Lusha is rarely the right enterprise choice but it remains an excellent pragmatic tool for the SDR who needs a phone number now.

We run multichannel campaigns for B2B clients across Europe and increasingly into North America, and we have used all four of these tools at different stages of the same client relationship. Our internal default is Cognism for European mid-market and enterprise outbound, particularly when the client wants a calling motion. Apollo is our default for North American SMB and mid-market because the price-to-coverage trade is right and the integrated sequencing reduces tool sprawl.

We rarely recommend a single provider as the entire data layer. The strongest stacks we operate combine a primary provider with a waterfall enrichment tool that fills gaps where the primary misses. ZoomInfo features in client stacks where intent data is genuinely used by the GTM team, not where it is bought because the brand is familiar. Lusha features as a backup or rep-level tool, not as a strategic data spine.

The most expensive mistake we see clients make is buying their data provider before defining their ICP. The right tool depends on which segments you actually sell into, and that question has to be answered first. A provider chosen on brand recognition alone almost always disappoints somewhere, usually in coverage or compliance, when the campaign meets reality.

Which is the best B2B data provider in 2026? There is no single best B2B data provider in 2026. Apollo is the best default for affordable broad-coverage outbound. ZoomInfo is the best for enterprise teams with budget and intent needs. Cognism is the best for European GDPR-conscious calling motions. Lusha is the best for individual reps and lean SDR teams. The right choice depends on region, deal size, and compliance requirements.

Is Apollo cheaper than ZoomInfo? Yes, significantly. Apollo's Professional plan is around $79 per user per month with monthly billing available, while ZoomInfo's Professional plan starts at approximately $14,995 per year on annual contracts only and full enterprise deployments commonly reach $35,000 to $50,000 annually. The price-to-coverage ratio favours Apollo for most teams under 50 reps.

Is Cognism more GDPR compliant than Apollo or ZoomInfo? Cognism has the strongest documented GDPR compliance posture of the four. It holds ISO 27001, ISO 27701, and SOC 2 certifications, screens phone data against Do-Not-Call lists in 15 countries, and operates under legitimate interest with documented data minimisation practices. Apollo and Lusha also run legitimate-interest GDPR programmes. ZoomInfo is GDPR-compliant but originally built around US data norms.

Which provider has the most accurate mobile phone numbers in Europe? Cognism leads on European mobile accuracy. Its Diamond Data set is human-verified, with operators physically dialling each number before adding it to the verified pool. Cognism reports 2 to 3 times higher connect rates than industry baselines on European numbers. For non-European mobile data, ZoomInfo's 120 million direct-dial numbers offer broader US coverage.

How big is each provider's contact database? ZoomInfo reports over 500 million professional contacts. Apollo reports approximately 275 million contacts and 73 million companies. Lusha reports over 100 million contacts. Cognism does not publish a single global figure but reports approximately twice the European contact volume of comparable providers. Database size matters less than coverage of your specific ICP.

Do these providers have free plans? Apollo and Lusha have functional free plans. Apollo's free plan includes around 900 export credits per year and access to the contact database with feature restrictions. Lusha's free plan offers 5 credits per month for individual lookups. ZoomInfo offers free trials but no permanent free tier. Cognism offers product demos but no permanent free tier.

Should I use more than one B2B data provider? Many serious outbound teams use a primary provider plus a waterfall enrichment layer that fills gaps. A typical European stack might combine Cognism for primary mobile data with a secondary tool like Apollo or a waterfall enrichment service for filling missing emails. A North American stack might combine Apollo as the primary with ZoomInfo for enterprise targets where intent matters most.