6sense vs Cognism: pricing, features and which to choose

6sense was founded in San Francisco in 2013 and grew into one of the two largest account-based marketing (ABM) vendors, alongside Demandbase. It raised a $200 million Series E in 2022 at a $5.2 billion valuation. The product watches anonymous research activity across the web, matches it to companies, and tells sellers and marketers which accounts are likely in market and how far along they are. 6sense now calls itself an intelligence engine for agentic go-to-market, and most 2026 releases push its data into other tools, including Claude, ChatGPT and Salesforce Agentforce, instead of asking users to live in its dashboards.

The platform splits into Revenue Marketing and Sales Intelligence. On the marketing side, teams define keywords and personas, 6sense scores accounts into buying stages, and the system builds segments for display and LinkedIn ads, website personalization and email. An account that crosses a threshold becomes a 6QA, or 6sense Qualified Account, and is routed to sales. Sales Intelligence gives reps account pages, a Chrome extension that works inside LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, Salesforce, Salesloft and Outreach, alerts, buying-group discovery and contact data. Credits buy access to emails and phone numbers and power list building. AI Email Agents can write, send and reply to prospecting emails based on intent signals.

The common complaints are cost, a long setup before predictions become trustworthy, and intent signals that some buyers find noisy for niche categories. Contact data coverage outside North America draws criticism on review sites. Demandbase is the closest rival, with similar intent and advertising features and a median contract slightly higher, at about $68,600 according to Vendr. ZoomInfo leads on contact data and is often bought for that alone. Clay and Apollo cover account research and outreach at published prices from under $100 a month. 6sense fits B2B companies with enough deal volume and ad budget to act on account scoring; small teams should start with Apollo or Clay.

Cognism is a B2B sales intelligence company founded in London in 2015. It built its service for revenue teams selling across EMEA, expanded into Europe and the United States in 2019, acquired Kaspr, and raised Series C funding in 2022. The company does not publish current employee, revenue, or funding totals. Its platform combines company and people records with firmographics, technology data, hiring, funding, mergers and acquisitions, and intent signals. Cognism said in March 2025 that its database contained more than 440 million contacts and 100 million mobile numbers. The company’s 2026 brand update presents Cognism as a global data business focused on professional information, compliance controls, and usable records for sales and marketing teams.

A typical Cognism workflow begins with a company or people search, then narrows results through filters for location, industry, headcount, revenue, technology, funding, hiring, job title, seniority, department, skills, and buying intent. Users can count matching records before retrieving them, resolve accepted filter values through dictionaries, and collect results through paginated searches. Contact details appear only when requested, which controls credit use. Teams can reveal records, export them, enrich CSV files, and connect data to CRM systems. CRM Enrichment can operate as an add-on or standalone service, maintaining records as details change. A previously revealed contact can be viewed without another credit, while a job change can require another credit for updated information.

Cognism’s main weakness is procurement friction. Buyers cannot see current prices, credit allocations, search-token allowances, or API limits before receiving a package proposal, and API access applies only to eligible subscriptions. The EULA limits use to internal business purposes and restricts reproducing, selling, distributing, or commercially exploiting Cognism Data unless an agreement permits it. Lusha offers published self-serve plans and a free tier, making it easier for smaller teams to start. Apollo.io combines contact data with email sequences and sales engagement, while Cognism concentrates on data, signals, enrichment, and delivery. ZoomInfo offers a broader enterprise sales suite. Pick Cognism if your revenue team needs managed enrichment and compliance-focused international data, especially across EMEA.