16 Best ZoomInfo Competitors and Alternatives for 2025

An Overview of ZoomInfo

What is ZoomInfo, exactly? Let’s take the basics first: imagine you have a new company without any customers. One possible marketing strategy is to rely exclusively on advertising and waiting for prospects to find you. 

In various industries – real estate and property management, IT and software sales, hospitality, education, and many more – the better plan is to reach out to potential buyers without waiting to build up a market reputation. For this, you need information like their business phone numbers and email addresses; this is essentially the service ZoomInfo (acquired by DiscoverOrg in 2019) provides. 

Like InsideView/Demandbase, it has expanded its reach over time. ZoomInfo’s current feature set also includes data enrichment (providing company information beyond contact details), email verification (ensuring addresses are deliverable), and AI-supported buyer intent analysis (helping you target the right prospects at the right time). The company generates revenue from:

• Subscriptions: Monthly payments made by users depending on the lead generation capabilities each requires.
• Usage-based services: Per-action payments made for services like email verification and other add-ons.
• Customization options: Larger clients with specific data needs, or those that require non-standard integration capabilities with other business software, may pay additional fees for this kind of support.

Top ZoomInfo Competitors and Alternatives

The sales intelligence market is estimated at over $4 billion in size; undoubtedly, it’s growing at a staggering pace. It’s therefore no surprise that ZoomInfo’s competitors are numerous and continue to sprout like mushrooms. Naturally, each strives to differentiate itself in various ways – selecting the right one for your marketing team can be tough, but understanding how the various alternatives diverge in strategy and capabilities is a good start.

1) BookYourData

• 97%+ data accuracy guarantee (compared to no reassurances from ZoomInfo)
• Real-time email verification as standard (optional extra with ZoomInfo)
• 10 free leads as free trial (ZoomInfo “Lite” is also free but requires you to share your contact database)

What Makes BookYourData the Better Choice?

BookYourData is the industry leader in terms of data accuracy, which is a more significant issue than you may think. A guaranteed 97% hit rate from BookYourData, vs ZoomInfo’s generally high but undeclared level of database precision, prevents sales staff from wasting time on outdated or nonexistent leads.

BookYourData, with its pay-as-you-go pricing model, is especially suited to businesses whose lead-generation requirements vary from month to month. Though some of ZoomInfo’s features, like automatic customer segmentation and data enrichment, are considered superior to BookYourData’s equivalents by some, many satisfied customers appreciate BookYourData’s update frequency and how simple it makes exporting anything from a dozen to a thousand leads at a time.

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2) UpLead

• Can automate much of your outreach marketing with UpLead (vs ZoomInfo which is focused on lead generation)
• Features ease of use (ZoomInfo’s dashboard does take a little time to set up and get used to)
• High (95%) level of lead accuracy and relevance (marginally better than ZoomInfo’s)

3) Seamless.AI

• More affordable than ZoomInfo
• Generates actionable leads automatically using AI
• Helps you search for prospects in real time, while ZoomInfo relies on its database

4) Apollo.io

• Apollo and its competitors streamline the whole outbound marketing pipeline (ZoomInfo is primarily a prospecting service)
• Numerous software integrations, from LinkedIn to Salesforce (ZoomInfo can be used alongside even more CRM and business tools)
• Incorporates impressive sales enablement features (whereas ZoomInfo shines with analytical tools to evaluate and categorize contacts)

5) Lusha

• Competes directly with ZoomInfo (Lusha also relies on a database curated using AI support)
• More suitable for smaller businesses (simpler, less intimidating interface, though offering less scalability)
• Less breadth and depth of information (ZoomInfo covers more regions and industries, and provides more company data)

6) Kaspr

• Useful browser extension for prospecting (as with many of ZoomInfo’s and Lusha’s competitors)
• Most useful for prospecting within North America and Europe (ZoomInfo’s international database is more complete)
• Undercuts on pricing compared to many sales intelligence platforms, assuming you don’t mind limited data coverage and analytics

7) Lead411

• Popular among small and medium-sized enterprises (fewer advanced features than ZoomInfo)
• Unlimited access to view (though not export) company data
• Unrestricted API access for independent developers (this is also true for many of Lead411’s competitors, while ZoomInfo supplies most interfacing capabilities only for a fee)

8) Clearbit

• Real-time data enrichment with information drawn from multiple sources provides more accurate and timely information (though ZoomInfo’s search filters and intent tracking are superior)
• Relatively small database of 50 million B2B contacts (ZoomInfo’s email list is approximately four times as large)
• Simpler setup and software integration than ZoomInfo (valuable for smaller, less sophisticated marketing teams)

9) LeadIQ

• Real-time data verification as standard (costs extra with ZoomInfo)
• Focused entirely on lead generation and outreach (ZoomInfo’s various platforms provide more extensive functionality)
• AI-powered automatic cold email generator matches capabilities of ZoomInfo’s Copilot

10) LinkedIn Sales Navigator

• Less B2B company information immediately available (requires more research than ZoomInfo)
• Good for connecting with individual decision-makers (ZoomInfo provides data primarily on the company level)
• Few supplementary tools (assuming you’re willing to pay extra, ZoomInfo supplies software that can do much more than prospect for leads)

11) CrunchBase

• Optimized for startups and small businesses (aside from ZoomInfo Lite/Community, subscriptions tend to be expensive)
• Beyond generating leads, CrunchBase allows you to monitor companies’ and industries’ performance and buying potential over time (ZoomInfo, while certainly legit as a sales tool, is weak in this regard)
• Clear pricing models (prospective clients have to contact ZoomInfo to learn what it will cost)

12) Cognism

• Good prospecting tool, but only limited company data is provided by Cognism (ZoomInfo, by contrast, shines in this regard) 
• Frequently provides valid phone numbers to contact prospects directly (many of ZoomInfo’s records only include email addresses or switchboard numbers)
• Very high level of data accuracy, with contact details vetted through a combination of AI and human verification (ZoomInfo’s database is sometimes outdated or incorrect).

13) SalesIntel

• Very high data quality and freshness (ZoomInfo’s database entries often go a year or more without an update; SalesIntel’s are verified every 90 days)
• Known for good customer support (ZoomInfo isn’t bad in this regard, but SalesIntel frequently exceeds expectations)
• Relatively small prospect list compared to ZoomInfo

14) Hunter

• Generous free user functionality with 25 free searches per month (ZoomInfo Lite is also attractive, but involves sharing your email list with potential competitors)
• Limited number of data points on each company (ZoomInfo gives a much more comprehensive overview)
• Simpler, user-friendly interface (ZoomInfo requires a longer learning curve but is also more feature-rich)

15) Pipedrive

• A robust CRM system for outbound marketing (does not contain the same prospecting and lead-generating capabilities as ZoomInfo)
• Connects to ZoomInfo for use as a complementary tool
• Works on both desktop computers and mobile devices

16) LeadFuze

• Specializes in providing highly accurate and targeted leads (better, in this regard, than ZoomInfo for small businesses or those with a limited prospect pool)
• Database not as extensive or comprehensive as ZoomInfo’s
• Mirrors features found in ZoomInfo, including lead scoring and synchronization; is easier to use but less capable

How to Choose the Best ZoomInfo Competitor for Your Business

It’s no great secret that growing your revenue probably requires landing more accounts, which generally results from contacting more of the right kind of potential customers. This latter part can be complicated, though: what you need is a market research and business intelligence tool that’s designed for your business’s size, industry, and sales approach. One that works well in general, or for other business models, may not cut the mustard in your case.

While you may well have special requirements that will dictate your eventual choice, plugging the following considerations into a decision matrix may help you compare different products on a rational basis:

Consider Plans & Pricing

ZoomInfo’s pricing policy, for better or worse, is that each interested company is quoted on an individual basis, whereas most competing companies are more transparent about what features you get at each subscription tier. This makes it much easier to analyze and compare these alternatives’ value propositions. Anecdotally, though, we can say that ZoomInfo is most attractive to users who require a relatively sophisticated feature set. 

One wrinkle you should definitely be aware of is that ZoomInfo locks you in for a year-long subscription; they also require you to give 60 days advance notice if you wish to cancel. By contrast, most of their competitors allow month-to-month billing unless you opt for an annual discount. 

This is much less risky if you’re not really sure which prospect-generation service you want to go with. BookYourData is even more flexible: though it offers volume discounts, you needn’t sign up for any subscription at all and can pay only for the leads you need.

Look Into Features and Functionality

The number of leads you’re allowed to export each month without incurring additional charges plays a big role in how much different sales intelligence companies charge. Aside from that, though, each offers different services aside from simply supplying you with phone numbers and emails. In general, you get what you pay for…but it’s also possible to end up paying for functionality you really don’t need.

It may be worth it to game out various use cases against your current workflow; this will let you see which features can add value to your process and which are irrelevant to it. If you sell a product that’s in high demand and offers few customization options, for instance, data enrichment capabilities may not be high on your priority list.

Other areas of functionality that may, or may not, be important to you include.

• CRM and other software integrations
• Real-time data verification and other guarantees of accuracy
• Data enrichment functionality to keep your current lead database updated and comprehensive
• Insights on industry trends and prospect behavior, including real-time buyer alerts.

Analyze the Overall Ease of Use

The sad truth is that those sales intelligence platforms ZoomInfo outperforms in efficiency are often more effective in practice: sales reps and other users simply find them easier to learn and can thus access more of their functionality, more quickly. If you’re a larger organization with a generous training budget, this isn’t much of an issue. If, however, deadlines or other constraints play a role, prioritizing user-friendliness over functionality makes sense.

Ways to evaluate this aspect of lead-generation services include:

• Read online reviews, especially those that talk about learning curves, training resources, and customer support.
• Make use of free trial and demos – ZoomInfo as well as most of its competitors offer these.
• Reach out to your contacts in different industries: what platforms have they tried, and which were they most happy with?

Consider Integrations 

Saving money on buying an email list makes little sense if this means your colleagues have to spend valuable hours manually transposing the data into your CRM system. Now, ZoomInfo (and most of its competitors, including BookYourData) integrates similarly with these; the process is largely fool-proof.

The trickier question, and one you shouldn’t overlook, is how well your chosen prospecting service “talks” to other digital systems. This becomes especially relevant for larger teams, especially those that have embraced remote work and digital transformation. This is one point on which ZoomInfo continues to be highly competitive.

If you’re considering switching to an alternative, you should ensure that it also supports integrations with whichever of the following platforms you may be using; alternatively, you will have to replace more than one of your software solutions:

• Communications: Slack and other platforms make it easy to keep in touch with remote teams using a seamless interface
• Data storage: if your enterprise is cloud-based, your sales intelligence platform should be supported
• Marketing automation: Automatic dialing and cold-emailing software should be able to reach contacts without additional human intervention
• Business and revenue intelligence: While managing a small team can be done one-on-one, larger enterprises should be able to see their entire sales pipeline’s performance in one place.

Which ZoomInfo Competitor is the Best?

Straightforward answers to questions as complex as this are almost always misleading. Each prospecting, sales intelligence, and outbound marketing platform has its own set of capabilities and limitations, pros and cons, features and drawbacks. If you’re having trouble choosing one, you may want to try rating each from one to ten on the following criteria:

• Cost-effectiveness and contract flexibility
• Features that you require or may want to use in future
• Data accuracy, timeliness, and relevance
• Compliance with regulations such as GDPR and CCPA
• Reputation for effective customer support
• Scalability, so you can keep using the same platform and interface as your business grows

Given the wealth of options you have, evaluating these aspects should at least allow you to draw up a shortlist of companies that meet your requirements. Hunter.io, for example, is easy to implement, but ZoomInfo is better for taking a deep dive into individual prospects. ZoomInfo also comes with multiple add-ons and useful features, but LeadIQ may be all that you need if you’re only interested in generating a few dozen fresh prospects each month.

Also, ZoomInfo’s database quality is fairly good but may fall short in fast-changing markets, where people frequently change jobs and companies evolve quickly. In this case, either SalesIntel or BookYourData will prevent your sales reps from chasing ghosts or wasting time manually searching for contact information.

Key Takeaways

• Though many businesses have found that ZoomInfo does everything they need at an affordable price, it does not stack up as well for others.
• Smaller companies may find Seamless.ai or Lusha to be more economical.
• Those who are interested in an end-to-end marketing solution (without paying for add-ons) may prefer Apollo.io or UpLead.
• When data accuracy is a concern, BookYourData and SalesIntel are superior.
• There are several factors to consider before making your final choice. Also note that it’s more expensive to switch away from ZoomInfo than leaving its competitors due to its annual, locked-in contracts.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is ZoomInfo's Biggest Competitor?

Comparing the turnover, user base, and other metrics of success between different sales intelligence platforms is problematic, partly because each provides a different kind of service. However, Apollo.io, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Cognism, and Seamless.ai are all considered major rivals to ZoomInfo.

What Makes ZoomInfo Different?

Aside from a solid, well-established track record, ZoomInfo is distinguished by a very capable set of tools developed in-house as well as numerous integrations with third-party software.

Is ZoomInfo Expensive?

Smaller companies will generally find that ZoomInfo is not the most cost-effective option at their disposal. Those who require advanced functionality and access to its premium features, however, consider its return on investment quite attractive.

Which ZoomInfo competitor offers the most innovative features?

Arguably, ZoomInfo has devoted more effort to developing its add-on services than to technological innovation in its core business of supplying emails and phone numbers to clients. CrunchBase, for example, excels in company and industry monitoring, while Clearbit’s real-time data enrichment is superior to ZoomInfo’s equivalent.

Can any competitors provide more customized data solutions than ZoomInfo?

Marketing managers who operate in niche industries or target very specific types of companies (eg. in terms of location, technology stack, recent growth, etc.) often find that the advanced search and filtering capabilities of platforms like LeadFuze and BookYourData outperform those of ZoomInfo.

Is ZoomInfo a CRM tool?

Though ZoomInfo does some of the jobs you’d expect of a true CRM system, it’s primarily meant to generate leads and enrich prospect data. It is generally used alongside one of the CRM suits it’s designed to integrate with, like HubSpot, Salesforce, and Pipedrive. 

Which ZoomInfo competitor offers the best value for money?

Small companies, and those who are still getting into digital marketing, often find that CrunchBase or Lead411 works out cheapest for their requirements. If you only require sporadic influxes of leads and don’t want to commit to a fixed yearly contract, BookYourData’s non-subscription pricing model is, in practical terms and all things considered, the cheapest.

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