Cognism
The most GDPR-defensible phone-verified contact database in Europe — the AI on top researches and summarises, it doesn't act, and there's no native protocol for agents to plug into it.
| Standard | Custom | core prospecting workflows, 5 seats included, AI company research and AI search |
| Pro | Custom | everything in Standard plus premium mobile filter, on-demand mobile verification, intent data |
| CRM Enrichment | Custom add-on | priced separately, works alongside Standard/Pro or standalone |
| Data-as-a-Service | Custom, by volume | API or bulk delivery; API access requires a Prospecting seat |
No public list pricing at all — every package is quote-based. Third-party buyer reports put Standard/Pro in the low-to-mid thousands of USD per seat per year, but Cognism does not confirm figures publicly.
checked 2026-07-28 · vendor pricing page
Element scores
Strengths
Best-in-class European compliance posture: GDPR/CCPA legitimate-interest processing with documented assessments, Do-Not-Call scrubbing across 15+ territories, ISO 27001, ISO 27701 and SOC 2 Type II. Diamond Data phone-verified mobiles claim a 3x connect-rate lift and carry a transparent per-record confidence score. Research by Cognism AI surfaces news, funding, hiring and tech-stack signals automatically on every company profile with no prompt required.
Honest dings
The AI layer is research-assist, not agentic — nothing creates sequences, drafts outreach or updates the CRM on its own, unlike Apollo.io's Assistant or Attio's Research Agent. No native MCP or A2A support; the only 'MCP server' is a third-party Zapier/viaSocket wrapper, not shipped by Cognism. Pricing is quote-only with zero public numbers, which makes it hard to compare against competitors without a sales call.
Sources
Every audit lists the research it rests on — transparency and traceability are the product. Tools evolve: each audit is a snapshot of its audit date, and re-audits supersede older versions (kept below for reference).
- cognism.com/pricing — Standard/Pro package structure, feature comparison table, custom-quote-only pricing model (accessed 2026-07-28)
- cognism.com — Official '4,000+ revenue teams/companies worldwide' customer count, product suite overview, compliance messaging (accessed 2026-07-28)
- cognism.com/compliance — GDPR/CCPA legitimate-interest legal basis, Do-Not-Call scrubbing across 15 territories, ISO 27001/27701, SOC 2 Type II (accessed 2026-07-28)
- cognism.com/diamond-data — Phone-verified data methodology, per-record AI confidence scoring, 3x connect-rate claim (accessed 2026-07-28)
- help.cognism.com/hc/en-gb/articles/34153942796818-H… — Official help-centre doc: Research by Cognism AI runs automatically on every profile, no prompt needed, insight categories listed (accessed 2026-07-28)
- help.cognism.com/hc/en-gb/articles/20476709060370-A… — AI Search is explicitly labelled beta; natural-language query scope and CRM-question limitation documented (accessed 2026-07-28)
- cognism.com/signal-data — Bombora-powered intent data partnership, localised signal claims (accessed 2026-07-28)
- zapier.com/mcp/cognism-prospector — Evidence that the only 'Cognism Prospector MCP' is a third-party Zapier-hosted wrapper, not a native Cognism MCP server (accessed 2026-07-28)
- getlatka.com/companies/cognism — Independent estimate: $83M ARR (2024), ~500 employees, London HQ, founded 2015 (accessed 2026-07-28)
- pitchbook.com/profiles/company/129274-12 — Independent profile: 455 employees, London HQ address, $163M total raised (accessed 2026-07-28)