At its core, successful B2B prospecting comes down to two fundamentals: finding contacts who actually match your ideal customer profile and verifying that their information is accurate and current before you reach out to them.
While this sounds pretty simple, executing it consistently across hundreds or thousands of prospects is anything but. The sheer volume of data sources, people constantly changing jobs, and the need to move fast without losing accuracy create a complexity that slows down even experienced sales teams. This is exactly why the lead intelligence software market has grown into a multi-billion dollar industry, and why tools that automate prospecting have become a necessity for competitive teams.
In this article, we give you a closer look at seven of those tools. We’ll discuss what they do well, who they're built for, and how they fit into your prospecting workflow. You’ll also see how they automate the manual work of locating B2B prospects, verifying contact details, and gathering the information you need before outreach. Let’s begin!
Instantly combines a database of over 450 million verified contacts (called SuperSearch) with an AI campaign engine and email deliverability tools. This means that everything happens on one platform: lead generation, inbox optimization, and personalization.
SuperSearch lets you find prospects using either natural language prompts or detailed filters covering job titles, company size, industry, revenue, tech stack, and funding status. You can save these searches and repeat them whenever you need fresh leads that match the same criteria, which is useful when you're building ongoing campaigns or testing new segments.
One of the bigger advantages here is the waterfall enrichment system. When one data provider can't locate an email address, the system automatically queries the next one in sequence. It keeps going until it finds verified contact information or exhausts all available sources. This layered approach means you're far more likely to end up with complete profiles instead of partial data that forces you to hunt elsewhere.
SuperSearch also pulls in contextual information like active job listings that indicate growth phases, technology stacks you can use for competitive displacement, and recent news mentions that give you personalization hooks. Plus, there's a Lookalike Audience feature that lets you enter a competitor's domain and find similar companies that match your ideal customer profile.
Once you've built your list, you can reach those contacts directly from Instantly without exporting to another platform. The system handles everything from managing high-volume sends to testing email performance across different inboxes, while also monitoring your domain health to keep deliverability strong throughout your campaigns.
Pricing: Pricing starts at $47 per month for the Growth plan, which includes 1,500-2,000 credits monthly with access to the full lead database, waterfall enrichment, and AI email writing tools. The Supersonic plan runs $97 monthly for 5,000-7,500 credits, while the Hyper Credits plan at $197 per month offers 10,000-200,000 credits with all features included.
ZoomInfo is a sales intelligence platform designed for teams that need deeper data on large accounts and decision-makers. The database holds over 321 million professional profiles and 104 million companies, with especially strong coverage across North America.
ZoomInfo also provides intent data that shows which companies are actively searching for products or services like yours. This helps businesses direct their efforts in the right place and focus on leads that are more likely to buy. You also get access to org charts, technology stack information, and direct integrations with tools like Salesforce and HubSpot.
Pricing: The pricing reflects the scale. Annual contracts start around $15,000 for three users and use a credit system where exporting contacts depletes your allotment. Costs can climb quickly depending on how many people need access and how much data you pull. There's no monthly billing option.
Cognism is a sales intelligence platform built around phone-verified mobile numbers and strong European data coverage. The database includes contact information across EMEA, North America, and APAC regions, with particularly deep coverage in markets like the UK, France, and Germany, where other tools often fall short.
When it comes to phone verification, the platform doesn’t solely rely on automated data scraping. Instead, it uses a 16-step verification process that combines AI with manual checks, resulting in mobile numbers that connect at three times the industry average rate.
Cognism also offers intent data through a partnership with Bombora, tracking which companies are actively researching specific topics across a network of over 5,000 B2B websites.
Pricing: Pricing isn't published, but according to third-party sources, it typically ranges from $1,500 to $25,000 a year, depending on team size and feature requirements. The platform skips the credit system entirely—users get unrestricted access to view and export contacts within their contract terms.
Clay is a data enrichment platform built around the waterfall method. What does this mean? Instead of relying on a single database, Clay queries over 75 data providers in sequence until it finds the information you need. If one provider doesn't have an email address, the system automatically moves to the next one. This approach typically achieves match rates around 80% for emails, significantly higher than single-provider tools.
Clay also includes an AI research agent called Claygent that can scrape publicly available web data to find information that traditional providers miss—things like podcast appearances, certifications, or recent company news.
Pricing: The platform operates on a credit-based system where basic email enrichment costs 2-3 credits per match, while comprehensive profile building can consume 15-25 credits per prospect. Plans start at $134 monthly for 2,000 credits, with higher tiers offering better per-credit pricing.
UpLead is a lead generation platform focused on data accuracy and real-time email verification. The database contains over 160 million business contacts and 14 million company profiles, with particularly strong coverage in North America and Europe.
The platform's main selling point is its 95% email accuracy guarantee. Every email address goes through real-time verification before you download it, so you only pay credits for contacts that actually work.
UpLead offers over 50 search filters, including job title, company size, revenue, industry, location, and technology stack. You can also access technographic data to find companies based on the tools they're currently using, which is useful for targeting businesses with specific tech needs.
Pricing: Pricing starts at $74 monthly for the Essentials plan with 170 credits. The Plus plan runs $199 monthly for 400 credits, while Professional pricing is customized for larger teams.
Apollo.io is an all-in-one sales platform that combines a database of over 275 million contacts with built-in email sequencing and call automation. Similar to Instantly, it is designed to handle prospecting and outreach in one place instead of subscribing to multiple tools.
You get access to verified emails, direct dials where available, and over 200 search filters to narrow down prospects by job title, seniority, company size, industry, location, and tech stack. The Chrome extension works while you browse LinkedIn, pulling contact data directly from profiles. Once you've built your list, sequences automate your follow-ups across email and phone so your outreach stays consistent without needing constant attention.
Pricing: Apollo uses a credit-based system where unlocking an email costs one credit and a mobile number costs eight credits. The free plan includes 50 email credits monthly. Paid plans start at $49 per user per month for the Basic tier with 200 email credits, while the Professional plan at $99 monthly offers 400 email credits and 40 mobile credits.
Lusha is a sales intelligence platform that gives sales and marketing teams access to over 100 million business profiles, with a particular strength in verified phone numbers and direct dials. The platform reports an 81% data accuracy rate and focuses on maintaining fresh contact records rather than inflating its database size with outdated information.
Many users rely on the Chrome extension, which pulls contact details directly from LinkedIn profiles or company websites as you browse. You can reveal emails and mobile numbers in real time, making it particularly useful for quick, targeted prospecting instead of building large volume lists.
Pricing: Lusha uses a credit-based pricing model where one credit gets you an email address and five credits reveal a phone number. The free plan offers 5 credits per month, enough to test data quality but not enough for sustained prospecting. Paid plans start at $29 per user monthly and include CRM integrations with Salesforce, HubSpot, and Pipedrive.
Finding qualified prospects is one of the hardest (and slowest) parts of B2B sales, but it doesn't have to be.
This article covered seven lead finder tools built to handle different prospecting challenges:
Instantly combines lead discovery with email outreach in one platform
ZoomInfo provides intent signals and deep account intelligence for enterprise teams
Cognism specializes in phone-verified numbers and strong European coverage
Clay uses waterfall enrichment for technical teams building custom workflows
UpLead focuses on real-time email verification and 95% data accuracy
Apollo offers affordable prospecting with built-in email sequences
Lusha works through a browser extension for quick contact enrichment
At the end of the day, the best tool is the one that matches how your team actually prospects and gets you to outreach faster without extra steps.
If you want fewer steps between finding leads and reaching them, Instantly handles prospecting and email campaigns in the same place.
Get started with Instantly and start building your lead list today.