The best sales intelligence platform depends on your sales process. Pick OXYGEN for data and outreach in one workspace, or Apollo for a contact database with sequences. ZoomInfo suits account signals, Cognism phone-led sales, Clay custom data workflows, and Lusha small contact lookups. Test each on the same list of target buyers. A large database does not prove it has the people you need.
By Tim Scheuer, Co-founder of Oxygen · Checked October 25, 2026
A sales intelligence platform helps a team find companies, reach buyers and choose when to act. Enrichment fills gaps in a record, such as a missing work email. Signals are dated events, such as a job change. Intent data points to firms researching a topic; it does not prove a person wants your product. A CRM is the shared record of contacts and deals. Test your target countries and roles before buying.
| Tool | Data and coverage | Signals | Enrichment method | CRM connection | Starting price | Starts at |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 OXYGENData, outreach and CRM in one workspace | Provider-sourced companies, contacts, emails and phone numbers | Hiring, funding and LinkedIn signals; no topic-intent feed | Managed work-email and phone finders bill on a match; verification and own-key fees are separate | Built-in CRM; two-way HubSpot sync; no Salesforce sync | $49 a month per workspace | Free; paid from $49 a month per workspace |
 Apollo.ioContact database with outreach | Apollo contact and account data plus partner providers | Basic includes six intent topics and intent filters | Apollo first, then configured providers; own keys supported | CRM integrations and automated CRM enrichment from Basic | $49 per seat a month, billed yearly; Free available | Free; Basic $49 per seat a month, billed yearly |
 ZoomInfoCompany data and account buying signals | Company and contact database with direct dials and emails | Buyer intent, website visitors and account alerts by package | ZoomInfo database with automatic record updates | HubSpot and Salesforce integrations; confirm quote scope | Quote based on licenses, features and credit use | Sales packages priced by quote |
 CognismContact data for phone-led sales | Company and contact data, with mobile verification on Pro | Hiring, funding and job changes; intent on Pro | Cognism contact data and on-demand mobile verification | Salesforce, HubSpot and Pipedrive; enrichment sold separately | Tailored quote; subscription plus contact credits | Standard and Pro by quote; five seats in each starting package |
 ClayCustom enrichment and data workflows | Multiple data providers and AI research in tables | Job changes from Launch; web intent from Growth | Custom multi-provider waterfalls; own API keys supported | CRM auto-sync and enrichment from Growth | Free; Launch $185 monthly or $167 billed yearly | Free; Launch from $185 monthly or $167 a month billed yearly |
 LushaContact lookups with a small free plan | Lusha email and phone data; test coverage on your market | Dated buying signals, including hiring and job changes | Contact database; Data Waterfall from Pro | HubSpot and Salesforce connections on every plan | Free: 40 credits a month; paid plans vary with volume | Free with 40 credits a month; paid price varies by credits and seats |
OXYGEN Data, outreach and CRM in one workspaceBest for: Sales-led B2B teams that want to find buyers, fill missing data and contact them without moving lists between tools.
OXYGEN combines lead data with email, LinkedIn and WhatsApp sequences and a built-in CRM. A sequence is a set of timed outreach steps. Its email waterfall tries up to 17 providers in order and stops on a result. Managed work-email and phone finder steps bill on a match. Verification can still cost credits. Successful calls on your own provider keys incur a platform fee even on a miss, and your provider can charge too.
Apollo.io Contact database with outreachBest for: Reps who want contact search, data enrichment and email sequences in one tool with public per-seat pricing.
Apollo combines contact and company search with sequences, CRM enrichment and a dialer. Basic includes intent filters and six intent topics. Its waterfall checks Apollo first, then the partners your admin chose. You can use providers paid with Apollo credits or connect your own provider key. This makes Apollo both a database and a waterfall tool, rather than one side of that choice.
ZoomInfo Company data and account buying signalsBest for: Sales teams with named target accounts that want contact data, buyer intent and CRM workflows in the same platform.
ZoomInfo brings company and contact data together with buyer intent, website visits and CRM updates. Its Professional package covers search, exports and CRM integrations. Copilot Advanced adds account fit scores, buyer intent and buying-group filters. These help a team choose which accounts to work first. They are buying clues, not proof that a named person is ready to buy.
Cognism Contact data for phone-led salesBest for: Calling teams that need verified mobile data, account research and contact exports to an existing CRM.
Cognism helps reps build target lists, research accounts and find mobile numbers. Its Pro package adds on-demand mobile verification and intent data to Standard. Both list five seats in the starting package. CRM Enrichment is a separate add-on or standalone product. Ask for a sample of the mobile numbers in your target countries before choosing it for a calling team.
Clay Custom enrichment and data workflowsBest for: Teams with an operator who wants to combine data providers, research accounts and build custom workflows.
Clay lets an operator combine data providers in tables and run them as a waterfall. You choose the fields and the order. Its plans separate Actions, which pay for platform work, from Data Credits, which buy data and AI. Free supports waterfalls and your own API keys, the private codes that connect a provider account. Growth adds CRM auto-sync, HTTP API steps, webhooks and web intent signals.
Lusha Contact lookups with a small free planBest for: A rep or small team that wants to test email and phone coverage before taking on a larger data budget.
Lusha gives a rep contact data in its workspace, browser extension and AI connectors. Free includes 40 credits a month and one seat. An email reveal costs one credit and a phone reveal costs five. Its FAQ puts Data Waterfall on Pro and above and includes HubSpot and Salesforce connections on Free. Treat a free test as a coverage check on your own buyers, rather than a promise about all markets.
| If you need | Pick |
|---|---|
| A sales team that wants data, outreach and the CRM in one workspace | OXYGEN |
| Reps who each need contact search and email sequences | Apollo.io |
| An account-based team that needs buyer intent and account signals | ZoomInfo |
| A calling team that puts mobile verification first | Cognism |
| A team with an operator building custom data workflows | Clay |
| One rep testing email and phone lookups on a small list | Lusha |
A sales intelligence platform gives reps data and context to find, rank and reach buyers. A lead intelligence platform usually describes the same job. The data can include a work email, company size or job title. The context can include a job change or a firm's interest in a topic. Choose the fields your team will act on, then check that they reach the right CRM record.
Yes. ZoomInfo combines company and contact data with buyer intent and CRM workflows. Professional covers contact search and CRM integrations, while Copilot Advanced adds buyer intent and account fit scores. It suits a team that works named accounts and needs to decide which to call first. Ask which package includes the signals your reps will actually use.
Match the alternative to the job. Apollo suits reps who want a database and sequences. Cognism is worth testing for phone-led outreach. Clay suits an operator building custom provider workflows, while Lusha gives one rep a small free contact test. OXYGEN puts provider data, outreach and the CRM in one workspace. Compare them on the same target list before choosing.
There is no useful single accuracy number for every market and role. Run the same sample through each shortlisted tool. Count missing values separately from wrong values, and check that the person still works at the company. For email, track verified addresses and bounces. For phone data, track wrong numbers and connections to the intended buyer. A high fill rate can still hide poor data.
A database searches one vendor's stored records. A waterfall tries sources in order to fill a field and stops under the rule you chose. Those models can overlap: Apollo starts its waterfall with Apollo data, then tries configured partners. A longer provider list alone proves little. Check the filled fields, the verification rule and the cost of each usable result.
Compare the whole bill: platform or seats, contact credits, signals, CRM connections and the contract term. OXYGEN starts at $49 a month per workspace. Apollo Basic is $49 per seat a month billed yearly. Clay Launch starts at $185 monthly. Cognism and ZoomInfo sales packages use quotes. A credit means a different action at each vendor, so compare the cost of a usable buyer record.
Start with the job and the person who will own it. A few reps who need contact lookups can test a database. A team that already has enough data may need better signals or cleaner CRM updates. Choose a custom waterfall when someone can maintain the rules. Write down the target countries, roles, monthly volume and must-have fields, then test those before adding seats.
Use a fixed sample of accounts and buyers from your real market. Keep the input names and domains identical across tools. Record email fill rate, wrong data, phone connections, credit spend and time spent fixing records. Test one CRM export too: confirm the field mapping and duplicate rules. Choose from the result your reps can use, rather than the largest headline database count.
We make OXYGEN, so it comes first and you should read this as an interested list. The other tools are the ones teams compare most often when they pick a sales intelligence platform. Each one is described from its own website, pricing page and docs, checked on the dates below; OXYGEN's facts and prices come from the product and its live price list. Prices are the cheapest self-serve plan each vendor lists.
The products named here are trademarks of their owners and are not affiliated with OXYGEN. Something out of date? Tell us.