B2B contact databases compared: price, phone coverage, decay and the rules that come with the data

This page is for founders, sales leaders and RevOps people choosing a database of business contacts to prospect from. It covers three things the top-ranking lists skip: dated prices from each vendor's own page, how quickly contact data goes stale (with US government figures), and the legal duties that come with the data, in the US and for contacts in the EU and UK.

How we compared

Blackpearl Group, which makes Bebop, wrote this page. Bebop Insights, our data product, appears in the table as one option. Our rules:

• Selection. Databases named in the top search results for "b2b contact database" on 26 October 2026, plus Sales Navigator as the people database most teams already use.
• Facts. Prices, credit rules and compliance statements come from each vendor's own pricing page, help centre or terms, read on 26 October 2026. Accuracy figures are the vendors' own claims. Laws come from the regulators' own guidance and the legal texts.
• No hands-on scores. We haven't benchmarked these databases against each other. The two-week test below measures accuracy and decay on accounts you know.
• Not legal advice. The legal section summarizes primary sources so you know what to ask. For your own situation, ask a lawyer.

The databases at a glance

Published plans from each vendor's own page on 26 October 2026, in US dollars before tax. Annual prices are monthly equivalents.

The credit-by-credit comparison of these and other tools is in Apollo alternatives. For a quote-only vendor in depth, see Cognism pricing or ZoomInfo pricing.

Why every database goes stale

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics measures how often people leave their jobs. Its figures set the floor for how quickly any contact database decays:

What these numbers mean for a database:

• 3.2% a month is not your decay rate. Separations cluster in high-turnover jobs and among short-tenure workers, while the managers and professionals you sell to stay longer (median 4.9 years). A list of senior buyers decays more slowly than the headline.
• But BLS doesn't count everything that breaks a record. Promotions, title changes, new email formats and office moves inside the same employer aren't separations, yet each one can make a record wrong.
• Decay compounds. The share of a list still accurate after n months is (1 - monthly decay rate) to the power n:

So the question for any vendor isn't how accurate its data is today, but how it keeps records current: how often it re-verifies, how it detects job changes, and whether you pay again when it does. Cognism, for example, charges a credit again only when a contact changes jobs.

The legal side: what buying a database doesn't hand over

Buying data doesn't transfer your obligations to the vendor. Each rule below applies to you, the sender.

United States

• Email: CAN-SPAM. The FTC says the law "makes no exception for business-to-business email". Every commercial message needs accurate header information, a subject line that isn't deceptive, identification as an ad, your valid postal address and a clear way to opt out. You must honor opt-outs within 10 business days, you can't sell or transfer the addresses of people who opted out, and you're responsible for email others send on your behalf. Each email in violation can draw penalties of up to $53,088.
• Calls: the Telemarketing Sales Rule. The FTC says most business-to-business calls are exempt from the rule, including its Do Not Call Registry provisions. The exceptions: calls selling nondurable office or cleaning supplies, and calls to a business line that pitch employees for their own personal purchases.
• Mobiles: FCC consent rules. FCC rules require the person's consent before an autodialed or prerecorded call or text to a wireless number. If your database gives you mobile numbers, dial them by hand unless you have consent.
• California. The California Attorney General's office says the CCPA's exemption for business-to-business information expired on 31 December 2022, so business contacts in California have privacy rights too. Under the Delete Act, registered data brokers must start processing deletion requests from the state's DROP platform from 1 August 2026, and check it at least every 45 days. Expect vendors' California records to change as those requests are processed.

European Union and United Kingdom

• It's personal data. The UK ICO says a named person's business contact details are personal data "even if they are acting in their business capacity". The GDPR applies to a business outside the EU when it offers goods or services to people in the EU (Article 3(2)).
• A lawful basis. Most B2B prospecting relies on legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f)), and Recital 47 says direct marketing "may be regarded as carried out for a legitimate interest". That still requires weighing your interest against the person's rights.
• Tell people where you got their data. When data comes from someone else, such as a database vendor, Article 14 requires you to give your privacy information, including the source, within a reasonable period and at the latest within one month, or at your first communication if you contact the person sooner.
• Stop when they object. Under Article 21, a person can object to direct marketing at any time, and their data must then no longer be processed for it. The ICO calls this right "absolute".
• Email rules vary by country. The ePrivacy Directive's consent rule for marketing email covers individuals, and leaves protection for corporate subscribers to each member state (Article 13(5)), so some EU countries require consent even for business addresses. In the UK, the ICO says the email rule doesn't apply to corporate subscribers, but sole traders and some partnerships need consent or a soft opt-in.
• Fines. Breaches of the basic principles or of people's rights can draw fines of up to €20 million or 4% of worldwide annual turnover, whichever is higher (Article 83(5)).

Read the vendor's contract for the same duties. Cognism's standard terms, for example, have Cognism warrant that it collected its data lawfully, honor opt-outs it receives and make available a list of people who asked to be removed, and have the customer warrant that it complies with data protection and marketing law and deletes data when someone opts out. Ask every vendor where the equivalent clauses are.

Worked example: a two-person consultancy with US and EU targets

Illustrative example. The firm, decay rate and volumes are invented. The bank count is real, and prices are list prices published on 26 October 2026.

The firm: Halden Treasury Advisory (halden.example) is two partners who advise banks on liquidity and interest-rate risk. Their home market: Pennsylvania banks with $300 million to $3 billion in assets, of which the FDIC's BankFind listed 65 on 26 October 2026 (data as of 30 June 2026). They want three contacts at each (CEO, CFO and treasurer): 195 people, each with an email and a mobile. They also plan to email 30 treasury heads at banks in Ireland and the Netherlands.

Buying the 195:

• Apollo Basic, 1 seat: 195 × (1 + 8) = 1,755 credits, inside one seat's 2,500 a month: $49 a month annual.
• Lusha Pro: 195 × (1 + 5) = 1,170 credits, inside 7,200 a year: $52.45 a month annual, two seats.
• UpLead: 195 credits, more than Essentials' 170 a month, so two months of Essentials ($198) or one month of Plus ($199).
• Cognism: 195 credits, quote only, five seats.

Keeping them current: at an illustrative 1.5% a month, after six months 195 × (1 - 0.985^6) = 195 × 0.087 = about 17 records are wrong, and after 12 months 195 × (1 - 0.985^12) = 195 × 0.166 = about 32. Halden re-checks the list every quarter and before each campaign, and watches for job changes among the 65 CFOs, because a new CFO is also a reason to call.

The EU contacts: for the 30 contacts in Ireland and the Netherlands, Halden records where each came from and when, includes its privacy information and the source in the first email (Article 14), honors any objection immediately (Article 21), and checks each country's rules on marketing email to business addresses before sending.

A footer like this covers the US basics and the GDPR source notice. Adapt it with your lawyer:

[Your name], [Firm name], [street address, city, state, ZIP]

You're receiving this because you're [role] at [company]. We found your work email in [vendor name], a business contact database, on [date], and we're contacting you because of our legitimate interest in offering [service] to [type of organization]. Our privacy notice, including your rights, is at [link].

If you'd rather not hear from us, reply "stop" or use this link: [unsubscribe link]. We'll remove you right away and won't contact you again.

Checklist before you send to a bought list

• Screen against your suppression list and every opt-out from every tool you use.
• Record the source and date of each contact, so you can answer "where did you get my email?"
• Re-verify emails on any list older than six months, and cut hard bounces after the first send.
• Include a postal address and a working opt-out in every commercial email, and process opt-outs within 10 business days at most.
• Add privacy information and the source to first emails to EU and UK contacts.
• Check country rules before emailing business addresses in EU countries.
• Dial mobiles by hand unless you have consent for autodialed or prerecorded calls.
• Pass on deletion requests from your vendor, and delete those people from your systems.

Which database fits

Run a two-week test, including decay

1. Days 1 and 2: build a truth set. 40 accounts and 80 buyers you know are right because they replied or answered in the last six months. Add 10 people you know have left their company in the past year.
2. Days 3 to 5: look them up in each database. Same accounts, same roles, no names supplied.
3. Days 6 and 7: score every record. +1 for the right person in their current role with working details, 0 for unconfirmed, -1 for a wrong person, a departed contact, a bounce or a wrong number. GTM-Bench, Blackpearl Group's June 2026 benchmark of AI prospecting systems, scores records the same way so volume can't hide errors.
4. Day 8: measure decay directly. How many of the 10 leavers does each database still show at their old company? That's your best view of how current its records are.
5. Days 9 to 14: send and call. Email the +1 contacts from a warmed-up mailbox with a compliant footer, dial the numbers by hand, and count bounces and right-person connects. Cost per usable contact = monthly price ÷ contacts scored +1.

Next step: with a database chosen, build your first targeted list with how to build a prospect list.