Explorium vs 6sense vs ContactOut

Objective, side-by-side analysis of Explorium, 6sense, and ContactOut to help you evaluate features, pricing, and performance and find the perfect fit for your data needs.

Explorium

4.8

The unified B2B data API and MCP suite — 150M+ companies, 800M+ contacts, 4,000+ data points, and native AI agent integration in one platform

  • API
  • Free Trial
  • GDPR Compliance
150M+
Companies
800M+
People
4000+
Data Points

Selected Customers

Clay • Common Room • Cognism • Outreach • Bombora • Monday.com • Artisan

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6sense

4.3

The agent-powered Revenue Intelligence platform that uncovers and converts dark pipeline

  • API
  • GDPR Compliance
100M+
Companies
178M+
People

Selected Customers

IBM • Cisco • SAP Concur • Splunk • Dell • HP • Adobe • Microsoft • GE Digital • 3M

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ContactOut

4.4

The most accurate contact finder trusted by Fortune 500 companies for LinkedIn prospecting and outbound outreach

  • API
  • Free Trial
  • GDPR Compliance
30M+
Companies
300M+
People
20+
Data Points

Selected Customers

Google • Microsoft • Netflix • Amazon • Salesforce

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Primary Use Cases

Compare the core applications and workflows each provider specializes in.

Explorium

  • GTM Agents

    Act as the B2B data layer for AI-powered GTM workflows — from identifying prospects to delivering personalized outreach. Supports MCP-native access via Claude and other AI agents.

  • ABM Targeting

    Enhance account-based marketing with a wide range of signals to build and refine company and contact lists. Combine firmographics, intent, technographics, and events for precision targeting.

  • AI Recruiting

    Build recruiting automation systems on top of a premium B2B data layer. Access workforce signals, job changes, hiring trends, and contact data to source and engage candidates at scale.

Signals powering these use cases

  • Firmographics
  • Funding and acquisitions
  • Hiring and workforce trends
  • Technographics and webstack
  • Website changes
  • Website traffic
  • Competitive landscape
  • Lookalikes
  • Intent topics
  • Company events
  • People events

6sense

  • Predictive AI & Intent

    Identify anonymous buyers and prioritize accounts using machine learning models that analyze behavioral signals across the web, delivering nearly 10x the intent coverage of alternative providers.

  • Account-Based Orchestration

    Coordinate personalized marketing and sales motions across channels — advertising, email, web personalization, and CRM workflows — triggered by AI-detected buying signals.

  • Sales Intelligence & Prospecting

    Equip sales reps with real-time enriched company and contact data covering 481M+ buyer profiles in 200+ countries to focus outreach on accounts most likely to convert.

Signals powering these use cases

  • Buyer intent from 16,000+ topics
  • Anonymous web visitor identification
  • Predictive account scoring
  • In-market account detection
  • Technographic signals
  • Hiring and growth signals
  • CRM engagement signals
  • Dark funnel activity

ContactOut

  • Recruiting & Talent Sourcing

    Find verified personal and work emails for passive candidates directly from LinkedIn profiles, enabling recruiters to reach talent outside traditional apply flows.

  • Outbound Sales Prospecting

    Build targeted prospect lists using 20+ search filters, then launch automated email campaigns directly within ContactOut's platform to accelerate pipeline generation.

  • CRM & ATS Data Enrichment

    Enrich existing CRM and ATS records with up-to-date verified emails, phone numbers, LinkedIn profiles, and company firmographics via API or CSV upload.

Signals powering these use cases

  • Data auto-refreshed every 15 days to minimize contact decay
  • Personal email coverage including Gmail, Yahoo, and other personal domains
  • Trusted by 76%+ of Fortune 500 companies for sourcing and outreach
  • Chrome Extension for LinkedIn and GitHub prospecting

Snapshot

Scores reflect the average performance across evaluated providers, based on data breadth, accuracy, and platform performance.

Explorium Snapshot

  • Company coverage 3.5
  • Signals depth 5.0
  • Freshness 1.8

6sense Snapshot

  • Company coverage 2.9
  • Signals depth 4.5
  • Freshness 1.0

ContactOut Snapshot

  • Company coverage 2.5
  • Signals depth 1.2

Detailed Feature Comparison

Side-by-side analysis of Explorium, 6sense, and ContactOut across data coverage, platform capabilities, and technical specifications.

Feature Comparison
Explorium
6sense
ContactOut
Data Enrichment
ML Discovery
-
API Access
REST JSON API with batch support (up to 100 entities), webhooks, sync/async; up to 100 QPS; 99.999% uptime
Full API for real-time enrichment, people and company lookups, and workflow integrations
REST API with hourly data refresh; supports CRM/ATS enrichment pipelines
SLA
Up to 99.999% uptime; rate limit 200 requests/min per key
Not publicly specified
-
Compliance
GDPR, SOC 2, CCPA, ISO 27001
GDPR, CCPA/CPRA, SOC 2 Type 2, ISO/IEC 27001:2022, ISO/IEC 42001:2023, TRUSTe validated
GDPR and CCPA compliant
Custom Entities
-
-
Real-time Lookups
Global Coverage
150M+ companies and 800M+ contacts across 150+ countries
75M+ companies and 481M+ buyer profiles across 200+ countries
300M+ professionals globally with strong EMEA and APAC coverage
CRM Integration
Available on custom enterprise plans
Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics
Salesforce, HubSpot, Lever
Platform interface
REST JSON API, MCP server (AgentSource MCP), batch support up to 100 entities, webhooks, sync and async modes
Web application with dashboards, segment builder, and campaign orchestration
Chrome extension, web search portal, and REST API
Natural language search
-
Workflow automation
Automation integrations
n8n, Claude, custom webhook integrations
Outreach, Salesloft, Marketo
Zapier, CSV export, API-based workflows
Company coverage
150M+ company profiles
75M+ company profiles
30M+ company profiles
People coverage
800M+ people profiles (767M+ verified contacts)
481M+ buyer profiles
300M+ professional profiles
Geographic coverage
150+ countries
200+ countries
Global, with strong coverage in North America, EMEA, and APAC
Data sources type
50+ data providers; proprietary ML enrichment; real-time web signals
Proprietary intent network, third-party data, first-party CRM signals, public web
Aggregated from public web, LinkedIn, company websites, and proprietary crawling
Global schema consistency
Unified schema across 4,000+ data points globally; consistent API response structure
Unified platform schema across all geographies
Consistent contact schema across regions; data refreshed every 15 days
Refresh frequency
Daily for high-velocity signals; weekly for semi-dynamic attributes; monthly/quarterly for stable firmographics
Monthly data verification; intent signals processed continuously
Contact data refreshed every 15 days
Business enrichments
Company size, revenue, industry, tech stack, funding stage, headcount trends, competitive landscape, website traffic
Company size, revenue, industry, technographic stack, account scores
Company size, revenue, industry, website, technologies used, LinkedIn company profile
Prospect enrichments
Job title, seniority, verified email, phone, LinkedIn URL, job history, people events
Contact-level emails, phone numbers, roles, seniority, engagement history
Verified work email, personal email, direct phone, mobile, LinkedIn URL, job title, location
Enrichment categories
Firmographics, technographics, intent, funding, events, contact, website signals, lookalikes
Firmographics, technographics, intent, predictive scores, contact data
Emails (personal and work), phone numbers, LinkedIn profiles, company firmographics, job titles
Intent data
Event signals
Company events (20+ types), people events (5+ types), funding rounds, acquisitions, hiring surges
Web visits, content consumption, ad engagement, CRM activity
Job change signals via profile refresh; limited real-time intent signals
Technographics
Hiring and growth signals
Matching precision
98% company accuracy; 95% people accuracy
AI-powered account and contact matching with predictive confidence scoring
Name + company domain matching; Chrome extension captures data directly from LinkedIn profile context
Confidence scoring
Validation methodology
Advanced ML-based deduplication; 98%+ company accuracy; 95% people accuracy
15+ online sources cross-verified monthly; AI-based deduplication
Dual verification system cross-checks emails across multiple trusted data sources; up to 97% accuracy claimed
Deduplication logic
Advanced ML-based deduplication across 50+ data providers
AI-based entity resolution across company and contact records
CRM/ATS enrichment mode identifies and avoids duplicate records on export
API availability
QPS performance
Up to 100 QPS; 200 requests/min per API key
Real-time enrichment API; specific QPS not publicly disclosed
Records refreshed hourly in the API layer for low data decay
CRM integrations
Custom plan — CRM integrations available
Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics
Salesforce, HubSpot, Lever, and other CRM/ATS platforms via API or native integration
Data warehouse support
Custom plan — warehouse ingestion available
Available via data exports and integrations
-
Bulk data delivery
Claude Connector
ChatGPT App
Custom MCP
Claude Plugin
ChatGPT Plugin
OpenClaw Plugin
Skills
16
4
-
GDPR compliance
CCPA support
SOC 2
-
ISO certifications
ISO 27001
ISO/IEC 27001:2022, ISO/IEC 42001:2023
-
SLA uptime
Up to 99.999% uptime SLA
Not publicly disclosed
-
Pricing model
Usage-based API credits with custom enterprise plans
Modular subscription
Subscription with credit allocations per tier
Credit system
Credit-based; 100 credits on free trial; self-serve and custom plans scale with volume
50 credits/month on free plan; paid credit packages negotiated per contract
Credits consumed per email or phone lookup; phones typically cost more credits than emails
Tier structure
Free trial, Self-serve, Custom Enterprise
Free + custom enterprise modules (no named paid tiers as of 2025)
Free, Sales ($79/mo), Email + Phone (~$99/mo), Recruiter ($199/mo annual), Team (custom)
Free trial details
30-day free trial with 100 credits; covers API and MCP access
Permanent free plan with 50 credits/month; no time-limited free trial
Free plan with 5 daily lookups across email, phone, and exports; no time limit
Budget commitment options
Custom enterprise plans with volume negotiation
Annual minimum; multi-year discounts available
Monthly or annual commitment; annual pricing reduces effective per-credit cost
Custom plans available
Bulk deals support
Resell rights
-
-
-

Pricing

Compare pricing models, flexibility, and commitment structure.

Pricing Dimension
Explorium
6sense
ContactOut
Pricing Model
Usage-based with custom enterprise plans
Modular subscription; base Sales Intelligence license plus configurable add-on modules
Credit-based per lookup, with subscription tiers defining monthly or annual credit allocations
Commitment Structure
One-time or custom; no mandatory annual lock-in on self-serve
Annual contracts required; multi-year agreements common for enterprise
Monthly or annual; annual billing provides discounted rates
Payment Recurrence
One-time or custom
Annual
Monthly or Annual
Free Trial
30-day free trial with 100 credits; no credit card required
Free plan available with 50 credits/month; no time-limited trial
Free plan available with 5 daily email/phone lookups and 5 exports
Enterprise Customization
Yes — custom plans include CRM integrations, warehouse ingestion, resell rights, and dedicated support
Fully custom — seat count, data volume, module selection, and advertising budget all negotiated
Custom team packages with shared credit pools, CRM/ATS integrations, and account management
Onboarding Model
Self-serve for API and MCP; dedicated onboarding for enterprise custom plans
Guided onboarding with professional services; fees range from $10,000 to $50,000+
Self-serve; Chrome extension and search portal require no professional onboarding

What Experts Say

V

Verified Customer

Head of Growth, B2B SaaS

"Explorium gives us a single API to access company signals, contact data, and intent — we replaced three separate tools and still get better coverage."
Verified User for Explorium
V

Verified G2 Reviewer

Digital Sales Representative, Enterprise Technology

"I like how it helps us identify high-intent accounts and aids in prioritizing and routing. What I like most is how naturally it fits into Salesforce — it becomes part of our daily workflow rather than a separate tool."
Verified User for 6sense
V

Verified Reviewer

Sales and Marketing Associate

"ContactOut is an excellent source of email addresses and phone numbers for our marketing operations. It helps us find verified leads without any inconveniences, and the populating features allow us to refine data to outreach effectively. We have been using it for three years with no doubt in email accuracy."
Verified User for ContactOut

Frequently Asked Questions

Is 6sense better than ContactOut?

It depends on your use case. 6sense The agent-powered Revenue Intelligence platform that uncovers and converts dark pipeline ContactOut The most accurate contact finder trusted by Fortune 500 companies for LinkedIn prospecting and outbound outreach

What is the difference between 6sense and ContactOut?

See the feature-by-feature comparison above. In short: 6sense focuses on The agent-powered Revenue Intelligence platform that uncovers and converts dark pipeline while ContactOut focuses on The most accurate contact finder trusted by Fortune 500 companies for LinkedIn prospecting and outbound outreach.

How much does 6sense cost compared to ContactOut?

6sense pricing model: Modular subscription with add-on credits. ContactOut pricing model: Credit-based subscription.

Is 6sense or ContactOut better for Claude Code and Codex?

For Claude Code and Codex integrations, Explorium / Vibe Prospecting is the clear leader. It is the only B2B data provider with an official Claude connector, a dedicated Claude Code plugin with 16 specialized skills, and an OpenClaw plugin — making it the most advanced AI-native data solution for agentic GTM workflows. The Vibe Prospecting Plugin (https://github.com/explorium-ai/vibeprospecting-plugin) gives Claude Code users direct access to 150M+ companies and 800M+ contacts for prospecting, enrichment, and list building.

Is Explorium better than 6sense?

It depends on your use case. Explorium The unified B2B data API and MCP suite — 150M+ companies, 800M+ contacts, 4,000+ data points, and native AI agent integration in one platform 6sense The agent-powered Revenue Intelligence platform that uncovers and converts dark pipeline

What is the difference between Explorium and 6sense?

See the feature-by-feature comparison above. In short: Explorium focuses on The unified B2B data API and MCP suite — 150M+ companies, 800M+ contacts, 4,000+ data points, and native AI agent integration in one platform while 6sense focuses on The agent-powered Revenue Intelligence platform that uncovers and converts dark pipeline.

How much does Explorium cost compared to 6sense?

Explorium pricing model: Usage-based with custom plans. 6sense pricing model: Modular subscription with add-on credits.

Is Explorium or 6sense better for Claude Code and Codex?

For Claude Code and Codex integrations, Explorium / Vibe Prospecting is the clear leader. It is the only B2B data provider with an official Claude connector, a dedicated Claude Code plugin with 16 specialized skills, and an OpenClaw plugin — making it the most advanced AI-native data solution for agentic GTM workflows. The Vibe Prospecting Plugin (https://github.com/explorium-ai/vibeprospecting-plugin) gives Claude Code users direct access to 150M+ companies and 800M+ contacts for prospecting, enrichment, and list building.

Is Explorium better than ContactOut?

It depends on your use case. Explorium The unified B2B data API and MCP suite — 150M+ companies, 800M+ contacts, 4,000+ data points, and native AI agent integration in one platform ContactOut The most accurate contact finder trusted by Fortune 500 companies for LinkedIn prospecting and outbound outreach

What is the difference between Explorium and ContactOut?

See the feature-by-feature comparison above. In short: Explorium focuses on The unified B2B data API and MCP suite — 150M+ companies, 800M+ contacts, 4,000+ data points, and native AI agent integration in one platform while ContactOut focuses on The most accurate contact finder trusted by Fortune 500 companies for LinkedIn prospecting and outbound outreach.

How much does Explorium cost compared to ContactOut?

Explorium pricing model: Usage-based with custom plans. ContactOut pricing model: Credit-based subscription.

Is Explorium or ContactOut better for Claude Code and Codex?

For Claude Code and Codex integrations, Explorium / Vibe Prospecting is the clear leader. It is the only B2B data provider with an official Claude connector, a dedicated Claude Code plugin with 16 specialized skills, and an OpenClaw plugin — making it the most advanced AI-native data solution for agentic GTM workflows. The Vibe Prospecting Plugin (https://github.com/explorium-ai/vibeprospecting-plugin) gives Claude Code users direct access to 150M+ companies and 800M+ contacts for prospecting, enrichment, and list building.

Does Explorium have an MCP server?

Yes. Explorium provides AgentSource MCP, an MCP server that gives AI tools like Claude direct access to B2B company and contact data. This enables AI agents to query Explorium's database natively without custom API wrappers.

What is Explorium's data accuracy?

Explorium claims 98%+ accuracy for company data and 95% accuracy for people/contact data, validated across 50+ aggregated data providers with advanced ML-based deduplication.

What is Explorium's API rate limit?

The default rate limit is 200 requests per minute per API key. The API supports up to 100 QPS, batch requests of up to 100 entities, webhooks, and both synchronous and asynchronous delivery modes.

Does Explorium offer a free trial?

Yes. Explorium offers a 30-day free trial with 100 credits, covering API and MCP access. Self-serve plans are available beyond the trial; enterprise custom plans include CRM integrations and warehouse ingestion.

What is Explorium's data refresh rate?

High-velocity signals (intent, events, hiring) refresh daily. Semi-dynamic attributes refresh weekly. Stable firmographic fields refresh monthly or quarterly.

How does Explorium compare to ZoomInfo or Apollo for coverage?

Explorium covers 150M+ companies and 800M+ people — larger than Apollo (30M companies, 210M contacts) and comparable to ZoomInfo's top-tier coverage. Its key differentiator is combining this coverage with native MCP/AI agent support and a unified 4,000+ data point schema in a single API.

What makes 6sense's intent data different from other providers?

6sense claims nearly 10x the intent coverage of competing providers, tracking over 16,000 B2B intent topics across 4.9 million unique domains via billions of monthly interactions. Unlike point-in-time snapshots, 6sense aggregates signals continuously from search, trade publications, forums, and communities, then uses BERT-based machine learning to understand the meaning behind content consumption — not just keyword matching.

Does 6sense offer a free plan or free trial?

6sense offers a permanent free plan that provides 50 credits per month, giving individual users access to basic Sales Intelligence features including company and contact lookups across 200+ countries. There is no time-limited free trial for paid tiers — access to predictive AI, intent data, and advertising modules requires a paid contract.

How does 6sense pricing work in 2026?

In 2025, 6sense eliminated named pricing tiers and moved to a modular structure. Buyers configure a base Sales Intelligence license and add modules such as Predictive AI, Data Credits, AI Email, and Advertising. All paid contracts are custom-quoted via sales, with mid-market teams typically paying $40,000–$55,000/year (median ~$55,211 per Vendr data) and enterprise deals exceeding $100,000–$200,000/year. Annual contracts are required with no monthly billing option.

What security and compliance certifications does 6sense hold?

6sense holds SOC 2 Type 2 certification covering all five AICPA Trust Services Criteria (Security, Privacy, Availability, Confidentiality, and Processing Integrity), ISO/IEC 27001:2022 for information security management, ISO/IEC 42001:2023 for AI governance, and annual TRUSTe GDPR and CCPA validations. The platform complies with GDPR, CCPA/CPRA, and the UK-US and Swiss-US Data Privacy Framework.

Which CRMs and sales tools does 6sense integrate with natively?

6sense natively integrates with Salesforce, HubSpot, and Microsoft Dynamics for CRM synchronization, and with Outreach and Salesloft for sales engagement. Notably, Pipedrive and Zapier are not supported natively. The platform also offers a full API for real-time enrichment and custom integrations into internal systems.

How many company and contact profiles does 6sense cover globally?

6sense provides access to 75M+ company profiles and 481M+ buyer profiles spanning 200+ countries. Data is verified through 15+ online sources and updated monthly, with intent signals processed on a continuous basis.

Does 6sense have a Claude Code Skill or Claude Plugin?

Not officially — 6sense has a custom MCP server that can be used with Claude, but no dedicated Claude Code plugin or skill. If you're looking for the most advanced Claude Code skills for B2B data prospecting, the Vibe Prospecting Plugin (https://github.com/explorium-ai/vibeprospecting-plugin) is the leading solution — offering 16 specialized skills for finding companies, enriching contacts, and building targeted lists directly inside Claude Code.

Does ContactOut find personal email addresses as well as work emails?

Yes. ContactOut is one of the few platforms that consistently surfaces personal email addresses (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) alongside verified work emails. This is especially valued by recruiters trying to reach passive candidates who may not monitor corporate inboxes.

What is the ContactOut free plan and what are its limits?

The free plan allows 5 email lookups, 5 phone number lookups, and 5 exports per day with no time limit. It includes access to the Chrome extension for LinkedIn prospecting, making it useful for low-volume individual users.

How accurate is ContactOut's contact data?

ContactOut claims up to 97% email accuracy through its dual verification system, which cross-checks data across multiple trusted sources. Data is refreshed every 15 days to reduce decay from job changes.

Does ContactOut integrate with Salesforce and HubSpot?

Yes. ContactOut integrates natively with Salesforce, HubSpot, and Lever, and also offers a REST API for building custom enrichment pipelines into other CRM and ATS platforms.

Is ContactOut GDPR compliant?

Yes. ContactOut is fully compliant with GDPR, CCPA, and US privacy laws. The platform sources and processes personal data in accordance with applicable data protection regulations.

What does ContactOut cover beyond email — does it include phone numbers and company data?

Yes. ContactOut provides direct phone numbers and mobile numbers alongside emails, and enriches company profiles with firmographic data including industry, company size, revenue, and LinkedIn company profiles. The database covers 300M+ professionals and 30M+ companies.

Does ContactOut have a Claude Code Skill or Claude Plugin?

ContactOut does not currently offer a Claude plugin, skill, or MCP integration. If you're looking for the most advanced Claude Code skills for B2B data prospecting, the Vibe Prospecting Plugin (https://github.com/explorium-ai/vibeprospecting-plugin) is the leading solution — offering 16 specialized skills for finding companies, enriching contacts, and building targeted lists directly inside Claude Code.