Updated September 2026

Pricing analysis

Cognism Pricing 2026: Real Cost (~$15K Platform + $1.5K/Seat) - Full Breakdown

Q: How much does Cognism cost?

Cognism doesn't publish pricing - every quote is sales-led. Industry-aggregated data : Platform Essentials ~$15K base + $1.5K/seat/year . A 3-seat starter team runs $19.5K/year ($1,625/mo equivalent). A 10-seat mid-market team lands at $30K/year ($2,500/mo). Enterprise (25+ seats, multi-team) starts at $50K+/year on multi-year contracts. Diamond Data add-on (Phone-Verified mobiles) adds 20-40% on top.

Q: Is Cognism free?

No. Cognism doesn't offer a free tier or trial credits - every engagement is sales-led with custom packaging. Demo + scoping calls are free but require qualification (10+ seats, EU/EMEA focus typical). For free enrichment access, Derrick has a Free tier with 100 credits/month , Apollo has a Free forever tier (10K credits/mo), and Lusha offers 40 credits/month free.

Q: What's Diamond Data and is it worth the premium?

Diamond Data is Cognism's premium mobile-phone pool - Phone-Verified numbers, DNC-screened (Do-Not-Call compliant), with 60-70% dial-success rates on US/UK numbers. Adds 20-40% to base platform pricing. Worth it for : phone-heavy SDR teams (calling-first outbound), regulated industries (DNC compliance matters), enterprise sales motions where mobile accuracy compounds into more meetings. Not worth it for : email-only stacks, low-volume phone outbound (< 200 dials/mo).

Q: How does Cognism pricing compare to Apollo or Lusha?

Per-seat-per-month math at 10-seat scale : Cognism Essentials = $250/seat/mo , Lusha Premium = $80/seat/mo (5-seat bundle), Apollo Pro = $79/seat/mo, Derrick = from 20 EUR/month (credit-based, not per seat). Cognism is 3× more expensive than Apollo/Lusha at the same seat count. The premium pays for : EU/EMEA data depth (Cognism's regional moat), Diamond Data mobile accuracy, GDPR-defensible processing, dedicated CSM. For non-EU stacks or email-only workflows, Apollo or Saleshandy deliver materially more per dollar.

Q: Are there hidden costs with Cognism beyond the platform fee?

Five common surprises : (1) Implementation fee $5-15K (Salesforce + Outreach + custom workflow setup), (2) Diamond Data adds 20-40% on top of base platform, (3) Per-seat fees compound ($1.5K/seat × 25 seats = $37.5K/year on top of platform), (4) API access gated to Enterprise ($50K+/year), (5) Auto-renewal with 60-90 day cancellation window - missed deadlines lock another year.

Q: Can I cancel a Cognism contract early?

Generally no. Annual contracts run their full term with 60-90 day notice windows for cancellation at renewal. Missed cancellation deadlines auto-renew for another full year. Multi-year contracts (best pricing) lock in for 2-3 years with similar cancellation rules. For maximum flexibility, default to single-year contracts (pay ~15% premium vs multi-year) and calendar the cancellation window at signature.

Q: What's the cheapest Cognism alternative for SMB?

For no-install enrichment (web app, Sheets, Claude, API) at SMB scale, Derrick from €20/month covers most workflows without annual contract lock-in. For EU-focused outbound where Cognism's data moat applies, Dropcontact (€27/mo, GDPR-first) is the lower-cost European alternative - narrower product surface but materially cheaper. For broad US/global B2B at low cost, Apollo (Free / $49/seat) wins on per-seat economics. See the full Cognism alternatives guide for the ranked decision framework.

Cognism 2026 tier renames : Platform Essentials → Standard, Platform + Diamond Data → Pro. Both now include 5 seats. Diamond Data bundled differently in Pro. CRM Enrichment + Data-as-a-Service are separately-priced add-ons.

✓ Pick Cognism if

You're an enterprise team selling into EU/EMEA (Cognism's data moat is GDPR-defensible + Diamond Data mobile-verified)
Phone-heavy outbound (calling-first SDR teams) where Diamond Data accuracy compounds into more meetings

✕ Skip if

You're 1-10 employees - Cognism pricing is structurally out of reach for SMB
Email-only outbound (Cognism's premium phone data isn't differentiated for email workflows)

Price transparency 2/10

Value at small team 2/10

Hidden costs High

↓ See pricing plans Cognism feature breakdown →

Cognism vs Derrick · price for the same credit volume

ⓘ

Heads up - Derrick is a data layer, not a sequencer. It enriches contacts (email, mobile, company, signals) in its web app (or Google Sheets, Claude, API). If you also need cold-email sequencing, dialer or CRM workflow, you'll keep your existing stack (La Growth Machine, Lemlist…) - Derrick replaces only the data-enrichment line of your Cognism bill.

Slide to pick a monthly credit need. We pick the cheapest plan on each side that covers it.

Credits needed per month 5,000 credits

500 10k 20k 30k 40k 50k+

Cognism

- plan $-/mo - /year

- plan €-/mo - /year

Switching to Derrick saves you €- per year

Try Derrick free → 4.5/5 on G2 · 254 upvotes on Product Hunt · 34,000+ B2B sales teams

or use it directly in

Claude

or via API

Part 1 / 9

Plans

Cognism's 3 paid tiers, side by side

Cognism ships 3 tiers. Per-seat pricing combined with a credit system for data lookups - the listed price is rarely the real cost.

Standard (5 seats included)

~$15,000/year (5 seats) ~$1,250/mo monthly

CreditsCustom/yr
Min seats5

RENAMED from Platform Essentials in 2026
5 seats included (was per-seat add-ons)
400M+ B2B contacts (Diamond + standard pool)
Chrome extension + CRM-sync (HubSpot, Salesforce, Outreach)

2026 rename : Platform Essentials → Standard. Now 5 seats included instead of per-seat upsell. CRM Enrichment + Data-as-a-Service are separately-priced add-ons.

Pro (5 seats included)

~$25-30K/year (5 seats) ~$2,000-$2,500/mo monthly

CreditsCustom/yr
Min seats5

RENAMED from Platform + Diamond Data in 2026
5 seats included
Diamond Data : Phone-Verified mobiles, DNC-screened
Bundled premium intent data + CSM

2026 rename : Platform + Diamond Data → Pro. 5 seats included. Diamond Data bundled differently. CRM Enrichment + Data-as-a-Service add-ons separate.

Enterprise

Custom annual contract Custom monthly

CreditsNegotiated/yr
Min seats10

Multi-team + multi-region rollouts
Custom integrations (Salesforce, Marketo, Outreach, Salesloft, Eloqua)
SSO + advanced security (SOC 2, GDPR)
White-glove onboarding + training

Custom catch-all but NOT separately published on current Cognism site. Sales-led with multi-year contract typical (2-3 years for best pricing). Auto-renewal with 60-90 day cancellation window.

Why these tiers exist - full plan breakdown

Cognism pricing tiers - verified May 2026 against the vendor and cross-checked with our review data:

Plan	Price	Best for	Limits / Inclusions
Standard (5 seats included)	~$1,250/mo (~$15,000/year (5 seats))	RENAMED from Platform Essentials in 2026	Custom credit pool · RENAMED from Platform Essentials in 2026 · 5 seats included (was per-seat add-ons)
Pro (5 seats included)	~$2,000-$2,500/mo (~$25-30K/year (5 seats))	RENAMED from Platform + Diamond Data in 2026	Custom + Diamond Data pool · RENAMED from Platform + Diamond Data in 2026 · 5 seats included
Enterprise	Custom (Custom annual contract)	Multi-team + multi-region rollouts	Negotiated pool · Multi-team + multi-region rollouts · Custom integrations (Salesforce, Marketo, Outreach, Salesloft, Eloqua)

Part 2 / 9

Credits

How Cognism credits work

Cognism bills actions in credits with non-equal costs. A 5,000-credit plan does NOT mean 5,000 lookups.

Email reveal 1

Phone reveal (standard) 1

Diamond Data mobile reveal Premium

Read the full credit-system breakdown

Cognism bills custom credit pools negotiated at contract signature - there's no public per-credit pricing. What matters in practice :

Standard credits cover email + phone (non-Diamond) reveals + intent data triggers. Most 10-seat teams negotiate pools of 30-60K credits/year ($0.50-$1.00 per credit effective).
Diamond Data credits are billed separately at a premium - Phone-Verified mobile numbers (DNC-screened) typically cost 2-3× standard credits. Heavy phone-outbound teams either accept the premium or supplement with Lusha for phone-only use cases.
Email verification + CRM sync push don't consume credits - bundled across all tiers.
API access requires Enterprise. Mid-market Essentials customers wanting programmatic data access must upgrade.

Part 3 / 9

Hidden costs

Hidden costs to know before buying Cognism

Things Cognism's pricing page doesn't put in big type.

Annual contract minimum + auto-renewal

12-month contract minimum (multi-year for best pricing). Auto-renewal with 60-90 day cancellation window - missed deadlines lock you in another year. Procurement teams should calendar the cancellation window in CRM at contract signature.

Diamond Data adds 20-40% on top

Diamond Data (Phone-Verified mobiles, DNC-screened) is Cognism's premium phone pool - adds 20-40% to base platform pricing. For phone-heavy outbound (calling-first SDR teams), worth it. For email-only stacks, the premium is hard to justify versus standard phone data.

Implementation fee : $5-15K

First-deployment implementation + integration setup typically billed separately at $5-15K (Salesforce + Outreach + custom workflows). Some sales reps will roll this into Year 1 platform fee with the right negotiation timing.

Per-seat fees compound at scale

$1.5K/seat/year sounds reasonable for 3-5 seats ($4.5-7.5K) but a 25-seat enterprise team adds $37.5K/year on top of the platform fee. Most enterprise buyers underestimate this in early discussions.

API gated to Enterprise tier

API access requires Enterprise tier (typically $50K+/year). Mid-market teams wanting programmatic data access (custom workflows, internal tooling) must upgrade or stick with the Chrome extension + CRM sync.

Read the full hidden-costs analysis

Beyond the headline platform fee, real Cognism buyers hit five recurring cost surprises :

Annual contract minimum + auto-renewal. 12-month minimum, multi-year for best pricing. Auto-renewal with 60-90 day cancellation window - missed deadlines lock another year.
Diamond Data adds 20-40%. Phone-Verified mobile pool is premium. For email-only stacks, hard to justify ; for phone-heavy SDR teams, accuracy compounds into more meetings.
Implementation fee : $5-15K. First-deployment Salesforce + Outreach + custom workflow setup. Some reps roll this into Year 1 with the right negotiation timing.
Per-seat fees compound at scale. $1.5K/seat/year sounds reasonable for 3-5 seats but a 25-seat enterprise team adds $37.5K/year on top of platform fee.
API gated to Enterprise tier. Mid-market teams wanting programmatic access must upgrade to $50K+/year Enterprise.

Part 4 / 9

Compare

Cognism vs alternatives

How Cognism stacks against Derrick, Hunter, and the other tools we benchmarked.

Detailed comparison + cost-per-action breakdown

True cost of ownership math for Cognism (10-seat team, Year 1, mid-market typical configuration) :

Configuration	Annual cost	Monthly equivalent	Cost / seat / mo
Essentials (10 seats)	$30,000	$2,500	$250
Essentials + Diamond Data	$36,000	$3,000	$300
Enterprise (25 seats)	$66,000	$5,500	$220
Apollo Pro (10 seats)	$9,480	$790	$79
Lusha Premium (5-seat bundle)	$4,800	$400	$80
Derrick STANDARD (credit-based, not per seat)	240 EUR	20 EUR	n/a

Cognism's per-seat cost is 2-3× Apollo's + Lusha's at the same scale. The premium pays for Diamond Data phone accuracy + GDPR-defensible EU coverage + enterprise procurement maturity (dedicated CSM, SLAs, multi-year roadmap commitments). For non-EU stacks or email-only outbound, the premium is hard to justify.

Part 5 / 9

What's included

What's included in every Cognism plan

Cognism's base platform includes :

400M+ B2B contacts with strong EU/EMEA coverage (the platform's regional moat).
Chrome extension for on-LinkedIn reveals + Sales Nav bulk export.
CRM-sync (HubSpot, Salesforce, Outreach, Salesloft, Marketo, Eloqua) - bidirectional, handles custom objects.
Intent data (Bombora-backed + first-party signal) - bundled across all tiers.
Email verification - free, doesn't consume credits.
GDPR-defensible processing - documented compliance framework, suitable for regulated EU outbound.
Diamond Data add-on (Phone-Verified mobiles, DNC-screened) - 20-40% premium over base pricing.
API access (Enterprise only) - programmatic data access for custom workflows.

Part 6 / 9

The verdict

Should you buy Cognism? Our verdict

Pick Cognism if…

You're an enterprise team selling into EU/EMEA (Cognism's data moat is GDPR-defensible + Diamond Data mobile-verified)
Phone-heavy outbound (calling-first SDR teams) where Diamond Data accuracy compounds into more meetings
Procurement budget supports $15K+/year annual contracts with proper TCO modeling

Skip Cognism if…

You're 1-10 employees - Cognism pricing is structurally out of reach for SMB
Email-only outbound (Cognism's premium phone data isn't differentiated for email workflows)
You want transparent monthly pricing - Apollo (Free / $49/seat) or Saleshandy ($23) are the right fit

Pick Derrick instead if…

Your data lives in Google Sheets and you need no-install enrichment (web app, Sheets, Claude, API) without enterprise procurement
You're not enterprise - from €20/month covers SMB + mid-market workflows that don't need Diamond Data
You want to start free + scale without annual contract lock-in

Try Derrick free →

Cognism is the right tool for enterprise tech vendors selling into EU/EMEA where Diamond Data mobile accuracy + GDPR-defensible compliance + dedicated CSM support materially impact outbound outcomes. The premium ($30-50K/year typical) pays for itself when phone-outbound is the primary motion + Diamond Data's DNC-screened mobiles surface 60-70% dial-success rates vs 30-45% for scraped competitor databases.

The platform fails for SMB and mid-market budgets ($15K+/year is structurally out of reach for <10-employee teams) and for email-only stacks (Cognism's premium phone data isn't differentiated for email workflows - Apollo at $49/seat or Saleshandy at $23/mo delivers more for less).

For SMB workflows on a no-install web app foundation, Derrick (from €20/month) handles enrichment with no annual contract lock-in. For mid-market non-EU stacks, Apollo at $49/seat is the right comparison anchor. Cognism's specific value emerges only at enterprise scale with EU exposure.

derrick •

Switch from Cognism to Derrick

Web app: import a list or paste LinkedIn URLs, nothing to install
Free plan: 100 credits every month, no credit card
Also in Google Sheets, in Claude (MCP) and via the API
Native LinkedIn and Sales Navigator import

Try the app free

or use it in

Google Sheets

Claude

API

No credit card · No contract

Part 7 / 9

Switch to Derrick

How to switch from Cognism to Derrick in 3 steps

Derrick is a web app: nothing to install, no credit card, 100 free credits every month.

Open the Derrick web app

Import your Cognism list

Upload the CSV you exported from Cognism, paste LinkedIn URLs, or import from LinkedIn Sales Navigator. The same actions also run in Google Sheets, in Claude (MCP) and via the API.

Enrich your list with one click

Pick the column to enrich and the data you need: emails, phone numbers, LinkedIn data, company info, tech stack. Derrick fills the columns, and the email and phone finders only charge for what they find.

How much does Cognism cost?

Cognism doesn't publish pricing - every quote is sales-led. Industry-aggregated data : Platform Essentials ~$15K base + $1.5K/seat/year. A 3-seat starter team runs $19.5K/year ($1,625/mo equivalent). A 10-seat mid-market team lands at $30K/year ($2,500/mo). Enterprise (25+ seats, multi-team) starts at $50K+/year on multi-year contracts. Diamond Data add-on (Phone-Verified mobiles) adds 20-40% on top.

Is Cognism free?

No. Cognism doesn't offer a free tier or trial credits - every engagement is sales-led with custom packaging. Demo + scoping calls are free but require qualification (10+ seats, EU/EMEA focus typical). For free enrichment access, Derrick has a Free tier with 100 credits/month, Apollo has a Free forever tier (10K credits/mo), and Lusha offers 40 credits/month free.

What's Diamond Data and is it worth the premium?

Diamond Data is Cognism's premium mobile-phone pool - Phone-Verified numbers, DNC-screened (Do-Not-Call compliant), with 60-70% dial-success rates on US/UK numbers. Adds 20-40% to base platform pricing. Worth it for : phone-heavy SDR teams (calling-first outbound), regulated industries (DNC compliance matters), enterprise sales motions where mobile accuracy compounds into more meetings. Not worth it for : email-only stacks, low-volume phone outbound (< 200 dials/mo).

How does Cognism pricing compare to Apollo or Lusha?

Per-seat-per-month math at 10-seat scale : Cognism Essentials = $250/seat/mo, Lusha Premium = $80/seat/mo (5-seat bundle), Apollo Pro = $79/seat/mo, Derrick = from 20 EUR/month (credit-based, not per seat). Cognism is 3× more expensive than Apollo/Lusha at the same seat count. The premium pays for : EU/EMEA data depth (Cognism's regional moat), Diamond Data mobile accuracy, GDPR-defensible processing, dedicated CSM. For non-EU stacks or email-only workflows, Apollo or Saleshandy deliver materially more per dollar.

Are there hidden costs with Cognism beyond the platform fee?

Five common surprises : (1) Implementation fee $5-15K (Salesforce + Outreach + custom workflow setup), (2) Diamond Data adds 20-40% on top of base platform, (3) Per-seat fees compound ($1.5K/seat × 25 seats = $37.5K/year on top of platform), (4) API access gated to Enterprise ($50K+/year), (5) Auto-renewal with 60-90 day cancellation window - missed deadlines lock another year.

Can I cancel a Cognism contract early?

Generally no. Annual contracts run their full term with 60-90 day notice windows for cancellation at renewal. Missed cancellation deadlines auto-renew for another full year. Multi-year contracts (best pricing) lock in for 2-3 years with similar cancellation rules. For maximum flexibility, default to single-year contracts (pay ~15% premium vs multi-year) and calendar the cancellation window at signature.

What's the cheapest Cognism alternative for SMB?

For no-install enrichment (web app, Sheets, Claude, API) at SMB scale, Derrick from €20/month covers most workflows without annual contract lock-in. For EU-focused outbound where Cognism's data moat applies, Dropcontact (€27/mo, GDPR-first) is the lower-cost European alternative - narrower product surface but materially cheaper. For broad US/global B2B at low cost, Apollo (Free / $49/seat) wins on per-seat economics. See the full Cognism alternatives guide for the ranked decision framework.

Part 8 / 9

Keep exploring

Other Database & Intelligence pricing breakdowns

Comparing options? These are the other database & intelligence tools we've torn down at the same depth - real per-credit cost, hidden fees, plan calculators.