Lead databases

Your list comes from somewhere. B2B data providers are the primary sources: databases of companies, roles, emails, and firmographic data that power most cold outbound. The quality and freshness varies dramatically by provider and by segment. Here's what I actually reach for.

The big categories

Full-data platforms

Apollo, ZoomInfo, Cognism, SalesIntel. Comprehensive B2B databases with contact info, company data, intent signals, technographics.

LinkedIn-based tools

Sales Navigator (for finding prospects), plus scrapers like Wiza, Evaboot, that extract emails from Nav searches.

Email finders

Lusha, Hunter, Anymail Finder, Findymail, Seamless. Take a name + company and return likely email addresses.

Enrichment platforms

Clay, Rocketreach, Bouncer. Enrich existing lists with additional data.

The main providers

Apollo

Most popular for cold outbound in 2026. Large database, reasonable pricing, includes sequencing tool (so it's an all-in-one).

• Strengths: huge database, decent email accuracy, built-in outreach
• Weaknesses: data quality varies; some industries sparse
• Price: $49-149/user/month for typical tiers

ZoomInfo

Enterprise-grade. Most accurate for direct-dial phone numbers and senior contacts. Expensive.

• Strengths: data quality, enterprise contact coverage
• Weaknesses: expensive, often 6-figure contracts
• Price: quote-based, typically $15K-100K+/year

LinkedIn Sales Navigator

The most current and accurate source of job titles and company data, because people update their own LinkedIn. Not an email source by itself; pair with Evaboot or Wiza to extract emails.

• Strengths: freshest data, best role filtering, strong ICP definition via filters
• Weaknesses: no emails natively; must pair with email finder
• Price: $99/user/month for Core, more for Advanced

Cognism

Strong for EU coverage. GDPR-compliant by design. Good B2B mobile numbers.

• Strengths: EU data, mobile coverage, compliance focus
• Weaknesses: US data less deep than ZoomInfo
• Price: quote-based, usually $12K-40K/year

Lusha

Popular Chrome extension for on-the-fly contact lookup. Used often for lower-volume or research-heavy workflows.

• Price: $29-95/user/month, pay-per-credit model

Hunter.io

Email finder and verifier. Straightforward. Good for small-scale or specific lookups.

• Price: $49-199/month

Clay

Not a database per se, an enrichment platform that chains data sources. More on this in Clay and enrichment.

Database accuracy reality

No provider has 100% accurate data. Typical accuracy:

• Company data (industry, size): 70-90% accurate
• Job titles: 60-85% accurate (people leave, change roles)
• Email addresses: 70-85% accurate
• Phone numbers: 40-70% accurate

Never send without verifying email addresses. Never assume titles are current without checking LinkedIn.

Segment-by-segment recommendations

US B2B SaaS, mid-market+

Apollo as primary, Sales Nav + Evaboot for key accounts, ZoomInfo for enterprise.

EU / UK

Cognism or Apollo with EU focus. GDPR compliance is critical.

SMB services (agencies, consultants)

Apollo, Sales Nav + email finder. Less need for enterprise-grade databases.

Specific niche industries

Niche databases exist for specific verticals (healthcare, legal, construction, manufacturing). Research per-vertical for best results.

Local / SMB / brick-and-mortar

Google Maps scrapers, Yelp data, industry-specific directories. Major databases are weak here.

The list-building workflow

Workflow 1: Apollo-direct

1. Filter Apollo by ICP criteria
2. Export contacts
3. Verify emails
4. Upload to cold email tool

Fast. Good enough for most campaigns.

Workflow 2: Sales Nav + enrichment

1. Build a search in Sales Navigator
2. Export via Wiza or Evaboot
3. Enrich with Clay for company data, signals
4. Verify emails
5. Upload to cold email tool

Slower but better data quality and more signal-driven targeting.

Workflow 3: Clay-orchestrated

1. Clay table as the source of truth
2. Multiple enrichment providers (Apollo, Clearbit, LinkedIn)
3. Data waterfall: try providers in order, use first match
4. Custom enrichment (scraping, AI-generated fields)
5. Push to cold email tool via integration

Most flexible. Highest data quality. Covered in Clay and enrichment.

Data freshness

All databases have stale data. A title from 6 months ago might be wrong today. Strategies:

• Pull recent data (prefer "last updated" within 90 days if shown)
• Re-enrich before each major campaign
• Check LinkedIn directly for high-priority targets
• Monitor bounce rates, sudden spike may signal stale data

Legal / ethical considerations

• GDPR: sourcing personal data from databases has compliance implications in the EU. Most major providers claim compliance but verify for your use case.
• Purchased lists from unknown sources: avoid. Reputation and legal risk.
• Opt-out: even with purchased data, honor opt-outs and maintain a suppression list.

The cost reality

Expect to spend $200-2000/month on data for a cold outbound operation. At enterprise scale, $20K-100K/year is normal.

This cost pays back many times over when the data is good. It's a complete write-off when the data is bad (bounces, wrong targets, no responses). Invest in data as seriously as you invest in copy.

What to do with this

• Test 2-3 data sources against the same ICP segment, accuracy varies dramatically by vertical and region, one source is never best at everything
• Measure data source quality by bounce rate + reply rate, not by listed count, a 10K list at 8% bounce is worse than a 4K list at 1% bounce
• Budget $200-2,000/month for data at small operations, $20K+/year at enterprise, underbuying data rarely saves money on cold email
• Build a waterfall (Clay is the canonical tool), try Source A, fall back to Source B if no email, fall back to manual research, the compound hit rate matters
• Drop a data source the moment post-verification bounce rate stays above 3% for 2 consecutive weeks, no amount of warming fixes bad data

Next: Clay and enrichment.