Explorium vs Bombora vs Clearbit

Objective, side-by-side analysis of Explorium, Bombora, and Clearbit 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

View Provider Sign up for free

Bombora

4.4

The original B2B intent data provider, powered by the industry's largest consent-based publisher cooperative

  • API
  • GDPR Compliance
4.9M+
Companies

Selected Customers

IBM • Salesforce • Adobe • Siemens • DataStax • OneLogin

View Provider

Clearbit

4.4

The data foundation for B2B go-to-market teams, combining 250+ data sources with ML processing to deliver firmographic, technographic, and contact-level enrichment natively inside HubSpot CRM

  • API
  • GDPR Compliance
200M+
Companies
500M+
People
100+
Data Points

Selected Customers

Intercom • Asana • Segment • Zendesk • Stripe • Atlassian

View Provider

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

Bombora

  • Account Prioritization

    Identify and rank the accounts actively researching your category right now using Company Surge® scores, so reps focus effort only on in-market buyers.

  • ABM Campaign Targeting

    Build precise audience segments from intent topic surges and activate them across LinkedIn Ads, programmatic display, and marketing automation platforms.

  • Churn Prevention & Upsell

    Monitor existing customers for surges on competitor or adjacent-product topics to trigger retention plays or identify expansion opportunities before they go to market.

Signals powering these use cases

  • Company Surge® topic scoring
  • Content consumption signals across 5,000+ B2B publisher sites
  • Account-level intent surge spikes
  • Competitive displacement signals
  • Churn risk / competitive research alerts
  • Upsell opportunity detection

Clearbit

  • Real-Time Data Enrichment

    Automatically enrich CRM contacts and company records with 100+ firmographic, demographic, and technographic attributes from 250+ data sources, refreshed every 30 days.

  • Anonymous Visitor Intelligence

    Clearbit Reveal uses IP matching across 4.5 billion mapped IPs to de-anonymize website traffic, surfacing buying intent signals and enabling real-time lead routing.

  • Lead Scoring & Form Optimization

    Power dynamic form shortening by pre-filling known fields via email-based enrichment, and apply enriched firmographic data to score and route inbound leads by ICP fit.

Signals powering these use cases

  • Anonymous website visitor identification via IP (Reveal)
  • Intent signals from website traffic
  • Technographic stack data
  • Corporate hierarchy mapping
  • Employee count and revenue range changes
  • Job title and role changes

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

Bombora Snapshot

  • Company coverage 1.1
  • Signals depth 3.6
  • Freshness 1.7

Clearbit Snapshot

  • Company coverage 2.8
  • Signals depth 3.5

Detailed Feature Comparison

Side-by-side analysis of Explorium, Bombora, and Clearbit across data coverage, platform capabilities, and technical specifications.

Feature Comparison
Explorium
Bombora
Clearbit
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
Yes, available for programmatic data access and platform integrations
Available; primarily through HubSpot ecosystem post-acquisition; standalone API limited for new customers
SLA
Up to 99.999% uptime; rate limit 200 requests/min per key
-
Not publicly documented post-HubSpot acquisition
Compliance
GDPR, SOC 2, CCPA, ISO 27001
SOC 2 Type II, GDPR compliant, CCPA compliant; consent-based co-op model
GDPR, CCPA, SOC 2 certified; Trust Center and Privacy Request Form available
Custom Entities
-
Real-time Lookups
Global Coverage
150M+ companies and 800M+ contacts across 150+ countries
Global domain tracking; deepest coverage in English-language B2B markets
Global company and contact coverage; 4.5B mapped IPs; EU suppression settings
CRM Integration
Available on custom enterprise plans
Native Salesforce AppExchange app; HubSpot and Dynamics integrations available
Native HubSpot integration; Salesforce integration available
Platform interface
REST JSON API, MCP server (AgentSource MCP), batch support up to 100 entities, webhooks, sync and async modes
Web UI, Salesforce App, HubSpot integration, API, and direct platform partner activations
Native HubSpot CRM UI; standalone dashboard deprecated for new users
Natural language search
-
Workflow automation
Automation integrations
n8n, Claude, custom webhook integrations
Marketo, Eloqua, Pardot, 6sense, Terminus, RollWorks, DemandBase
Zapier, Tray.io, Segment (Twilio), Drift, Intercom, Qualified
Company coverage
150M+ company profiles
4.9 million+ unique domains tracked monthly
50 million company records
People coverage
800M+ people profiles (767M+ verified contacts)
Company-level only; no individual contact data
389 million contact records
Geographic coverage
150+ countries
Global, with primary depth in North America and Western Europe
Global; 4.5 billion mapped IPs for Reveal; EU GDPR suppression settings available
Data sources type
50+ data providers; proprietary ML enrichment; real-time web signals
Consent-based Data Co-op of 5,000+ B2B publisher and brand sites (86% exclusive to Bombora)
250+ public and proprietary sources: social profiles, company websites, legal filings, crowdsourced data
Global schema consistency
Unified schema across 4,000+ data points globally; consistent API response structure
Consistent topic taxonomy across all markets via NLP and BERT-based ML
Standardized role, seniority, and industry taxonomy (NAICS, GICS, SIC) applied globally
Refresh frequency
Daily for high-velocity signals; weekly for semi-dynamic attributes; monthly/quarterly for stable firmographics
Weekly surge score updates; co-op data ingested daily
Full dataset refresh every 30 days
Business enrichments
Company size, revenue, industry, tech stack, funding stage, headcount trends, competitive landscape, website traffic
Company Surge® scores by topic, industry, firmographics via partner integrations
Employee count, revenue, industry (GICS/SIC/NAICS), tech stack, funding raised, market cap, corporate parent/hierarchy
Prospect enrichments
Job title, seniority, verified email, phone, LinkedIn URL, job history, people events
No direct people enrichment; integrates with contact data providers
Job title, standardized role and seniority, social profiles (LinkedIn, Twitter, GitHub), email, location, employment history
Enrichment categories
Firmographics, technographics, intent, funding, events, contact, website signals, lookalikes
Intent topic scores, Company Surge® analytics, audience segmentation, measurement
Firmographic, technographic, demographic, corporate hierarchy, funding data
Intent data
Event signals
Company events (20+ types), people events (5+ types), funding rounds, acquisitions, hiring surges
Content consumption events, page-level engagement, research intensity spikes
Anonymous visitor identification (Reveal), job title changes, employee count changes, new company registrations
Technographics
Hiring and growth signals
Matching precision
98% company accuracy; 95% people accuracy
Account/domain-level matching; no individual-level signal attribution
Email-based and domain-based matching; IP-based matching for Reveal (4.5B mapped IPs)
Confidence scoring
-
Validation methodology
Advanced ML-based deduplication; 98%+ company accuracy; 95% people accuracy
Consent-based co-op model with publisher data agreements; BERT NLP topic classification
Four-stage verification; ML algorithms; 2,500-person flexible QA team; 94% email deliverability
Deduplication logic
Advanced ML-based deduplication across 50+ data providers
Domain-level deduplication and normalization across publisher network
No charges for re-enriching previously enriched records within the same billing period
API availability
QPS performance
Up to 100 QPS; 200 requests/min per API key
-
Historically ~10–20 req/sec; post-acquisition limits governed by credit system
CRM integrations
Custom plan — CRM integrations available
Salesforce (native AppExchange app), HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics
HubSpot (native), Salesforce
Data warehouse support
Custom plan — warehouse ingestion available
Available via data delivery partnerships and integrations
Batch enrichment available; Salesforce integration supported
Bulk data delivery
Claude Connector
ChatGPT App
Custom MCP
Claude Plugin
ChatGPT Plugin
OpenClaw Plugin
Skills
16
-
-
GDPR compliance
CCPA support
SOC 2
ISO certifications
ISO 27001
-
-
SLA uptime
Up to 99.999% uptime SLA
-
Not publicly specified post-HubSpot acquisition
Pricing model
Usage-based API credits with custom enterprise plans
Custom annual contract
Credit-based, consumption model bundled with HubSpot subscription
Credit system
Credit-based; 100 credits on free trial; self-serve and custom plans scale with volume
No credit system; pricing based on topic and signal volume
HubSpot Credits; 1 credit per contact or company enrichment; packs of 100/1,000/10,000
Tier structure
Free trial, Self-serve, Custom Enterprise
Basic Company Surge / Enhanced Plans / Full Audience Solutions
Starter, Professional, Enterprise (mapped to HubSpot Customer Platform tiers)
Free trial details
30-day free trial with 100 credits; covers API and MCP access
No free trial available
No free trial; no free plan; legacy free tools (Reveal Lite, TAM) sunset April 30, 2025
Budget commitment options
Custom enterprise plans with volume negotiation
Annual commitment only
Annual commitment with monthly billing; enterprise negotiated contracts
Custom plans available
Bulk deals support
Resell rights
-
-

Pricing

Compare pricing models, flexibility, and commitment structure.

Pricing Dimension
Explorium
Bombora
Clearbit
Pricing Model
Usage-based with custom enterprise plans
Custom enterprise contract, no self-serve option
Credit-based consumption model bundled with HubSpot subscription
Commitment Structure
One-time or custom; no mandatory annual lock-in on self-serve
Annual contracts only; no monthly option
Annual commitment for best pricing; monthly option available
Payment Recurrence
One-time or custom
Annual
Monthly billing with annual contract
Free Trial
30-day free trial with 100 credits; no credit card required
No free trial offered
No free trial; legacy free tools sunset April 30, 2025
Enterprise Customization
Yes — custom plans include CRM integrations, warehouse ingestion, resell rights, and dedicated support
Fully customizable by topic set, volume, integrations, and data delivery method
Available via HubSpot Enterprise Customer Platform with custom pricing
Onboarding Model
Self-serve for API and MCP; dedicated onboarding for enterprise custom plans
Dedicated customer success and implementation team
Self-serve within HubSpot; sales-assisted for enterprise

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 Reviewer

Director of Demand Generation, Enterprise SaaS

"Bombora's Company Surge data has transformed how we prioritize our pipeline. We can see which accounts are actively researching our space and focus our reps and ad spend there — it's dramatically shortened our sales cycles."
Verified User for Bombora
V

Verified G2 User

Sales Operations Manager

"Clearbit summarized everything I needed about a contact before a meeting — saved me 30 minutes of prep. The HubSpot integration is seamless, but the credit system caught us off guard when automatic enrichment ran on our full database."
Verified User for Clearbit

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Bombora better than Clearbit?

It depends on your use case. Bombora The original B2B intent data provider, powered by the industry's largest consent-based publisher cooperative Clearbit The data foundation for B2B go-to-market teams, combining 250+ data sources with ML processing to deliver firmographic, technographic, and contact-level enrichment natively inside HubSpot CRM

What is the difference between Bombora and Clearbit?

See the feature-by-feature comparison above. In short: Bombora focuses on The original B2B intent data provider, powered by the industry's largest consent-based publisher cooperative while Clearbit focuses on The data foundation for B2B go-to-market teams, combining 250+ data sources with ML processing to deliver firmographic, technographic, and contact-level enrichment natively inside HubSpot CRM.

How much does Bombora cost compared to Clearbit?

Bombora pricing model: Custom annual contract. Clearbit pricing model: Credit-based (HubSpot Credits), requires paid HubSpot subscription.

Is Bombora or Clearbit 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 Bombora?

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 Bombora The original B2B intent data provider, powered by the industry's largest consent-based publisher cooperative

What is the difference between Explorium and Bombora?

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 Bombora focuses on The original B2B intent data provider, powered by the industry's largest consent-based publisher cooperative.

How much does Explorium cost compared to Bombora?

Explorium pricing model: Usage-based with custom plans. Bombora pricing model: Custom annual contract.

Is Explorium or Bombora 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 Clearbit?

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 Clearbit The data foundation for B2B go-to-market teams, combining 250+ data sources with ML processing to deliver firmographic, technographic, and contact-level enrichment natively inside HubSpot CRM

What is the difference between Explorium and Clearbit?

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 Clearbit focuses on The data foundation for B2B go-to-market teams, combining 250+ data sources with ML processing to deliver firmographic, technographic, and contact-level enrichment natively inside HubSpot CRM.

How much does Explorium cost compared to Clearbit?

Explorium pricing model: Usage-based with custom plans. Clearbit pricing model: Credit-based (HubSpot Credits), requires paid HubSpot subscription.

Is Explorium or Clearbit 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.

How does Bombora's Data Co-op differ from other intent data providers?

Bombora operates a consent-based cooperative of 5,000+ B2B publisher sites, 86% of which share data exclusively with Bombora. Unlike providers that scrape publicly available web data or rely on third-party data brokers, Bombora's publishers actively contribute first-party content consumption data under direct data agreements. This means the signals are higher quality, fully consent-based, and not available to competitors — a structural moat that's difficult to replicate.

Does Bombora provide individual-level (person-level) intent data?

No. Bombora's Company Surge® data is aggregated at the company/domain level to protect individual privacy. It tells you that a company is researching a topic but does not identify which specific employee is doing the research. Many customers pair Bombora with a contact data provider like ZoomInfo, Cognism, or Apollo to map intent signals to specific buying committee members.

What is Company Surge® and how are scores calculated?

Company Surge® is Bombora's core product. It uses BERT-based machine learning and natural language processing to analyze billions of monthly content consumption events across its publisher network, then calculates a surge score (0–100) for each company and topic combination. A high surge score means a company's research activity on that topic is significantly above its historical baseline — indicating active in-market behavior.

Can Bombora intent data be used without a dedicated ABM platform?

Yes. Bombora integrates natively with Salesforce (via AppExchange), HubSpot, Marketo, and Eloqua, so teams can receive surge alerts and scores directly inside their existing CRM and MAP without needing a separate ABM platform. However, pairing it with an ABM platform like 6sense, Terminus, or Demandbase unlocks more sophisticated audience activation and cross-channel orchestration.

Is Bombora intent data compliant with GDPR and CCPA?

Yes. Because Bombora signals are aggregated at the company level and contain no personally identifiable information, they fall outside the scope of individual privacy regulations. Publisher sites in the co-op maintain proper consent mechanisms, and Bombora is SOC 2 Type II certified. Bombora also publishes formal Data Processing Agreements for EU customers requiring GDPR documentation.

How long does it take to see value after signing a Bombora contract?

Most customers begin receiving surge data within 2–4 weeks of contract signing, following a setup period for topic selection and CRM/MAP integration. Customers with existing Salesforce or HubSpot setups using Bombora's native apps typically go live fastest. Seeing measurable pipeline impact generally requires 60–90 days of active use as teams calibrate topic selection and activation playbooks.

Does Bombora have a Claude Code Skill or Claude Plugin?

Bombora 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.

Do I need a HubSpot subscription to use Clearbit in 2025?

Yes. Since HubSpot acquired Clearbit and rebranded it as Breeze Intelligence, all functionality requires a paid HubSpot subscription. Standalone access for new customers is no longer offered, and all legacy free tools were discontinued on April 30, 2025.

How does Clearbit's credit system work?

Clearbit operates on HubSpot Credits. Each contact or company enrichment consumes one credit. Credits reset monthly with no rollover. Re-enriching a previously enriched record within the same billing period does not consume additional credits.

How does Clearbit Reveal identify anonymous website visitors?

Reveal matches incoming website traffic against 4.5 billion mapped IP addresses to identify the company behind an anonymous visit, surfacing company name, industry, size, and location without requiring a form fill.

Is Clearbit GDPR compliant?

Yes. Clearbit is GDPR and CCPA compliant and SOC 2 certified. It offers EU suppression settings that prevent person-level enrichment for EU contacts. Individuals can submit data requests through Clearbit's Privacy Request Form.

How large is Clearbit's database?

50 million company records and 389 million contact profiles from 250+ data sources, refreshed every 30 days. 94% email deliverability reported across contact records.

Does Clearbit have a Claude Code Skill or Claude Plugin?

Clearbit 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.