Cognism vs ZoomInfo is a choice between two quote-only data platforms. Cognism sells contact data built around phone-verified mobiles, in Standard and Pro packages with 5 seats included and 1 credit per revealed contact. ZoomInfo sells contact, company and intent data on custom-quoted annual contracts, and adds a free tier, ZoomInfo Lite.
Below, both tools get the same 11 fields, in the same order, from their own pricing pages, help centers and trust pages on 27 September 2026. Neither was in our own benchmark, so every data figure is labeled as the vendor’s claim.
Cognism vs ZoomInfo at a glance
Cognism is a quote-only contact data platform centered on phone-verified mobiles; ZoomInfo is a quote-only enterprise platform for contact, company and intent data. Here are the same 11 fields for each.
| Field | Cognism | ZoomInfo |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | B2B sales intelligence platform: contact data with phone-verified mobiles | Enterprise B2B data platform: contacts, companies, intent |
| Best for | Teams calling into Europe and other Do Not Call-regulated markets | Larger teams buying data, intent and engagement on one contract |
| Entry price | Not published: Standard and Pro are “Talk to sales”. No free plan, a free data sample | Paid plans not published. ZoomInfo Lite: 0 USD, 10 credits a month |
| Pricing model | Quote only, 5 seats included, a credit allocation per seat | Custom quote, seat minimums, credits |
| Contracts | Length not published; extra credits “at any point” | Annual, most “billed annually upfront” |
| Email data | 1 credit per revealed contact, email and phone together | 1 credit per exported record; claims 300M+ verified emails |
| Mobile numbers and cost | Yes, phone-verified, inside the 1-credit contact; on-demand verification on Pro | Paid plans, inside the exported record; price per number not published |
| Charged on a miss | Not published | Not published |
| Integrations | Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Bullhorn, Microsoft Dynamics, Salesloft, Outreach, Zapier, API | Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics, Zoho, SugarCRM, Pipedrive, API, MCP |
| Compliance | ISO 27001 and 27701, SOC 2 Type II, GDPR and CCPA, Do Not Call screening | SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, 27017 and 27701, TRUSTe GDPR and CCPA |
| Where it falls short | No public price, 5-seat packages only, intent and on-demand verification on Pro | No public price, credits expire, each user pays for the same export |
For each tool on its own, read our Cognism review and our ZoomInfo review.
How are Cognism and ZoomInfo different?
Cognism and ZoomInfo differ most in how seats are packaged, how a contact is charged and what is done to a mobile number before you dial it. These six differences change the bill or the calls.
- Seats. Cognism lists both packages with “5 seats included” and publishes no single-seat plan. ZoomInfo says paid plans “include a minimum number of seats and scale with headcount,” without naming the minimum. It also has a permanent free tier, ZoomInfo Lite.
- How a contact is charged. On Cognism, “1 credit = 1 revealed contact”, viewing a contact you already revealed is free, and a credit is used again only if the person changes jobs. On ZoomInfo, one credit is charged per exported record, and if two users export the same record, “two credits will be charged.”
- What happens to a mobile. Cognism calls its phone-verified mobiles “premium records” that go through “additional layers of verification checks,” and on-demand mobile verification is a Pro feature. ZoomInfo puts “direct dials, mobile numbers, org chart data” in its paid plans, not in Lite.
- Do Not Call screening. Cognism says it screens phones against Do Not Call registries, including the UK’s TPS and CTPS and lists in the US, Australia, Germany and France. ZoomInfo’s trust center lists certifications and attestations: SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, 27017 and 27701, TRUSTe GDPR and CCPA.
- Intent and company data. Cognism’s intent is a Pro feature built on Bombora’s Company Surge data: admins pick up to 12 topics from a library of over 11,000. ZoomInfo claims intent across 4,500+ topics and 122M+ company records, with org charts and funding and M&A signal datasets. It sells intent as an add-on.
- Credits you do not use. ZoomInfo monthly credits “can not be rolled over,” and bulk credits expire at the end of the contract. Cognism says each seat includes a credit allocation and more can be bought “at any point”; whether unused credits roll over is not published.
Cognism vs ZoomInfo pricing
Neither Cognism nor ZoomInfo publishes a paid price. Here is everything each one does publish, plus the one third-party figure we could verify.
Cognism pricing
| Cognism package | Price | Seats | What it adds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | Not published (“Talk to sales”) | 5 included | Core prospecting, firmographic, technographic and signal search, AI account research, CSV export and enrichment |
| Pro (“Most popular”) | Not published (“Talk to sales”) | 5 included | Standard plus higher-quality mobile data, on-demand verification, buying intent, enhanced dashboards |
| CRM Enrichment, Data-as-a-Service | Not published | Add-ons | Enrichment in your CRM; data by API or bulk delivery |
The same credits work across Cognism’s prospecting platform, Enrich and the API. We found no third-party price we could verify: Vendr’s Cognism page returned an error when we checked on 27 September 2026, so we do not repeat the medians older articles quote. Our Cognism pricing guide lists what to ask sales.
ZoomInfo pricing
- ZoomInfo Lite: 0 USD, 10 credits a month (25 with Community Edition), no credit card and no contract. A reveal shows a business email and a direct or office phone. Integrations need a paid plan.
- Paid plans: quoted and annual. ZoomInfo names the quote drivers as team size, credit volume, features such as intent and WebSights, integrations and API access, and contract length.
- Third-party data: Vendr, a software buying marketplace, reports a median ZoomInfo contract of 33,500 USD a year across 1,573 purchases, from 7,213 to 155,820 USD, with buyers saving 22% on average.
ZoomInfo’s own pricing article also says “Renewal pricing can increase from the initial contract rate”. Our ZoomInfo pricing breakdown covers each credit type.
What one contact costs before you have a quote
On both platforms, your real price per contact is the contract value divided by the contacts your team actually reveals or exports.
At Vendr’s ZoomInfo median, one exported record costs 6.70 USD if you export 5,000 a year and 0.67 USD at 50,000. That is our math on third-party data, not a ZoomInfo price. For Cognism, run the same division on your quote.
Which has better mobile numbers, Cognism or ZoomInfo?
We cannot rank them: neither Cognism nor ZoomInfo was in our benchmark, so the answer rests on vendor claims until you test both on your own list.
- Cognism claims “a 3x improvement in connect rates with phone-verified mobiles compared to industry average,” and says its “Director level and above data is continually refreshed on a 30 day basis.”
- ZoomInfo claims “87% Mobile Number Accuracy,” “135M+ Direct Dial Numbers,” “300M+ Verified Emails” and a “96% Email Deliverability Rate,” verified by machine learning, third-party partners and “300+ human researchers.”
For measured coverage on the 8 providers we did test, see our B2B data provider comparison.
A third option: Scalelist, if you need mobiles without a 5-seat package
If your reps mostly need mobile numbers and verified emails, a pay-per-result tool may fit better than either platform. Scalelist is an AI Lead Finder: you describe the people you want in one sentence and get them back with verified work emails and mobile numbers.
- How you pay: 1 credit per lead or email found, 20 per mobile found, and nothing when nothing is found. Plans run from 29 USD a month for 500 credits to 649 USD for 20,000, with no seats and no annual contract (Scalelist plans and credits).
- Measured: in our own benchmark, Scalelist found a phone number for 73% of the EMEA list and 87% of the North America list, and an email for 89% and 92%.
- Where it is not the better buy: there is no intent data, org chart, sequencer or dialer, and HubSpot is the only native CRM. Scalelist operates under the GDPR and Singapore’s PDPA with a DPA and SCCs, and does not publish an audited certification like the ones Cognism and ZoomInfo list.
Whichever tool you pick, check numbers against the Do Not Call rules of every country you call. The direct matchups are in Scalelist vs Cognism and Scalelist vs ZoomInfo.
Describe the buyers you would look up in Cognism or ZoomInfo and see how many match before you spend a credit.
Describe your buyer in one sentenceHow to choose between Cognism and ZoomInfo
Cognism or ZoomInfo comes down to where your reps call, how many seats you need and how much company data you want beyond contacts.
- Map where you call. If most dials go to the UK and Europe, Cognism’s phone verification and Do Not Call screening are built for that. Our cold calling laws guide covers the US, UK, EU and Australian rules.
- Count the seats. Cognism’s packages include 5 seats. ZoomInfo sets a minimum per contract, so ask for the number.
- Decide if you need company intelligence. Org charts, intent across thousands of topics and website visitor data point to ZoomInfo.
- Ask both sales teams the same questions, in writing, before you compare quotes.
- Test both on the same 100 contacts in the regions you sell into, and count connected calls.
Still deciding? Compare Cognism alternatives and ZoomInfo competitors, or read ZoomInfo vs Apollo, Lusha vs ZoomInfo and, for a workflow tool, Clay vs Apollo. The Scalelist blog has more matchups.
FAQ
Is Cognism better than ZoomInfo?
For teams that mostly call into the UK and Europe, Cognism is the closer fit on published features: it phone-verifies mobiles and screens them against Do Not Call registries such as the UK’s TPS and CTPS. ZoomInfo fits larger teams that want company data, org charts and intent across 4,500+ topics under one annual contract. Neither was in our benchmark, so test both on your own accounts.
Cognism vs ZoomInfo: which is cheaper?
Neither publishes a paid price, so you only know after two quotes. Cognism’s Standard and Pro packages both include 5 seats. ZoomInfo’s paid plans are annual with a seat minimum; Vendr, a buying marketplace, reports a median ZoomInfo contract of 33,500 USD a year. ZoomInfo Lite is free with 10 credits a month. No verified third-party figure exists for Cognism.
ZoomInfo vs Cognism: which is better for calling into Europe?
Cognism publishes more for that job. It screens phones against Do Not Call registries in the UK, Germany and France among others, and offers on-demand mobile verification on Pro. ZoomInfo’s trust center lists a TRUSTe GDPR attestation and ISO 27001, 27017 and 27701. We have not tested either tool, so run a paid pilot on your own European list before you sign a year.
Does Cognism or ZoomInfo have a free plan?
ZoomInfo does: ZoomInfo Lite is a permanent free tier with 10 credits a month (25 with Community Edition), no credit card and no contract. Cognism publishes no free plan, but its site offers a free data sample and demos. On both, paid plans are quoted by sales, so a free check is the only way to see the data before a conversation.
Do Cognism and ZoomInfo charge a credit when no mobile is found?
Neither says. Cognism uses 1 credit per revealed contact and does not publish whether a contact with no mobile or email still costs a credit. ZoomInfo charges one credit per exported record and says consumption “varies by data depth”. Ask both vendors to answer in writing before you sign, because it decides your real cost per mobile.
Is there an alternative to Cognism and ZoomInfo for mobile numbers?
Yes. Scalelist, an AI Lead Finder, returns verified work emails and mobile numbers from a one-sentence description. It charges 20 credits per mobile found and nothing for a miss, with no seats and no annual contract. It has no intent data, org charts or sequencer, and HubSpot is its only native CRM. New accounts get 20 free credits.
