Explorium vs Bombora vs TheirStack

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

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TheirStack

4.8

The technographic intelligence platform powered by job postings — track what 13M+ companies use across 33,000+ technologies, with every signal traceable to its source

  • API
  • Free Trial
  • GDPR Compliance
13M+
Companies

Selected Customers

Google • Amazon • IBM • Uber • BCG • JetBrains • Freshworks • monday.com • Zapier • Confluent

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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

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

TheirStack

  • Tech Stack Targeting

    Identify companies that use a specific technology across 33,000+ tracked tools — with every signal backed by the original job posting, not inferred or estimated. Much cheaper than BuiltWith at a fraction of the price.

  • Hiring Signal Intelligence

    Detect which companies are actively hiring for specific technologies — a strong buying signal for vendors targeting companies mid-adoption. 305,000 new job records added daily.

  • ICP Filtering & Account Selection

    Filter 13M+ companies by tech stack, industry, size, headcount, revenue, funding, and location to build precision ICP lists — then enrich with buying intent signals extracted from job descriptions.

Signals powering these use cases

  • 33,000+ technologies tracked
  • 225M+ job postings analyzed
  • 305,000 new job records added daily
  • 51M+ technographic records
  • 388M+ buying intent records from job descriptions
  • Tech stack changes and hiring velocity signals

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

TheirStack Snapshot

  • Company coverage 2.0
  • Signals depth 4.5
  • Freshness 4.5

Detailed Feature Comparison

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

Feature Comparison
Explorium
Bombora
TheirStack
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
Full REST API; bulk export to Amazon S3 in Parquet/CSV
SLA
Up to 99.999% uptime; rate limit 200 requests/min per key
-
Not publicly specified
Compliance
GDPR, SOC 2, CCPA, ISO 27001
SOC 2 Type II, GDPR compliant, CCPA compliant; consent-based co-op model
GDPR compliant; small team (5 employees)
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
13M+ companies globally across 33,000+ technologies
CRM Integration
Available on custom enterprise plans
Native Salesforce AppExchange app; HubSpot and Dynamics integrations available
Via API and webhooks
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
Web app, REST API, bulk S3 export, webhooks for real-time alerts
Natural language search
Workflow automation
Automation integrations
n8n, Claude, custom webhook integrations
Marketo, Eloqua, Pardot, 6sense, Terminus, RollWorks, DemandBase
API, webhooks, S3 bulk export
Company coverage
150M+ company profiles
4.9 million+ unique domains tracked monthly
13M+ companies
People coverage
800M+ people profiles (767M+ verified contacts)
Company-level only; no individual contact data
None — company-level only, no contact data
Geographic coverage
150+ countries
Global, with primary depth in North America and Western Europe
Global; strong US, EU, UK, APAC coverage
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)
225M+ job postings analyzed; 305,000 new records/day; job-posting-based technographic detection
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
Consistent REST JSON API; bulk Parquet/CSV to S3
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
305,000 new job records added daily; database refreshed continuously
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
Tech stack (33,000+ technologies), hiring signals, industry, employee count, revenue, funding, location
Prospect enrichments
Job title, seniority, verified email, phone, LinkedIn URL, job history, people events
No direct people enrichment; integrates with contact data providers
None — company-level data only
Enrichment categories
Firmographics, technographics, intent, funding, events, contact, website signals, lookalikes
Intent topic scores, Company Surge® analytics, audience segmentation, measurement
Technographics, hiring signals, buying intent from job descriptions, firmographics
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
Tech stack changes, hiring velocity, buying intent signals from job descriptions
Technographics
Hiring and growth signals
Matching precision
98% company accuracy; 95% people accuracy
Account/domain-level matching; no individual-level signal attribution
Evidence-backed — not inferred; each signal linked to source posting
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
Every technographic signal is traceable to the original job posting with date and source
Deduplication logic
Advanced ML-based deduplication across 50+ data providers
Domain-level deduplication and normalization across publisher network
-
API availability
QPS performance
Up to 100 QPS; 200 requests/min per API key
-
-
CRM integrations
Custom plan — CRM integrations available
Salesforce (native AppExchange app), HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics
-
Data warehouse support
Custom plan — warehouse ingestion available
Available via data delivery partnerships and integrations
Bulk export in Parquet/CSV to Amazon S3
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
-
-
Pricing model
Usage-based API credits with custom enterprise plans
Custom annual contract
Credit-based subscription (API) or one-time credits (app)
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
API credits per query; 12-month rollover; bulk export to S3 in Parquet/CSV
Tier structure
Free trial, Self-serve, Custom Enterprise
Basic Company Surge / Enhanced Plans / Full Audience Solutions
Free (200 credits/mo), $49–$5,500/mo API plans, one-time credits
Free trial details
30-day free trial with 100 credits; covers API and MCP access
No free trial available
200 API credits/month free with no time limit
Budget commitment options
Custom enterprise plans with volume negotiation
Annual commitment only
Monthly or one-time; enterprise custom
Custom plans available
Bulk deals support
Resell rights
-
-

Pricing

Compare pricing models, flexibility, and commitment structure.

Pricing Dimension
Explorium
Bombora
TheirStack
Pricing Model
Usage-based with custom enterprise plans
Custom enterprise contract, no self-serve option
Credit-based subscription (API) or one-time credits (app)
Commitment Structure
One-time or custom; no mandatory annual lock-in on self-serve
Annual contracts only; no monthly option
Monthly subscription or one-time purchases; credits roll over 12 months
Payment Recurrence
One-time or custom
Annual
Monthly
Free Trial
30-day free trial with 100 credits; no credit card required
No free trial offered
200 API credits/month free indefinitely — no time limit
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
Yes — custom pricing for high volume; bulk S3 delivery
Onboarding Model
Self-serve for API and MCP; dedicated onboarding for enterprise custom plans
Dedicated customer success and implementation team
Self-serve; API documentation available

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 Reviewer

Sales Engineer, Developer Tools

"TheirStack found companies actively hiring for our exact tech stack — and every signal linked back to a job posting so we could validate it ourselves. Much better than BuiltWith guessing from website source code."
Verified User for TheirStack

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Bombora better than TheirStack?

It depends on your use case. Bombora The original B2B intent data provider, powered by the industry's largest consent-based publisher cooperative TheirStack The technographic intelligence platform powered by job postings — track what 13M+ companies use across 33,000+ technologies, with every signal traceable to its source

What is the difference between Bombora and TheirStack?

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 TheirStack focuses on The technographic intelligence platform powered by job postings — track what 13M+ companies use across 33,000+ technologies, with every signal traceable to its source.

How much does Bombora cost compared to TheirStack?

Bombora pricing model: Custom annual contract. TheirStack pricing model: Credit-based subscription.

Is Bombora or TheirStack 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 TheirStack?

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 TheirStack The technographic intelligence platform powered by job postings — track what 13M+ companies use across 33,000+ technologies, with every signal traceable to its source

What is the difference between Explorium and TheirStack?

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 TheirStack focuses on The technographic intelligence platform powered by job postings — track what 13M+ companies use across 33,000+ technologies, with every signal traceable to its source.

How much does Explorium cost compared to TheirStack?

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

Is Explorium or TheirStack 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.

How is TheirStack different from BuiltWith for technographics?

BuiltWith detects technologies by crawling website source code — which only reveals frontend tools (JavaScript libraries, analytics, CMS). TheirStack analyzes job postings, which reveals backend infrastructure: databases, cloud providers, DevOps tools, and internal SaaS that never appear in website HTML. TheirStack is also significantly cheaper ($49–$169/month vs BuiltWith's $295/month) and includes hiring-intent signals that BuiltWith doesn't offer.

Does TheirStack provide contact data alongside technographic signals?

No — TheirStack is company-level only. It identifies which companies use specific technologies and provides firmographic context (industry, size, location, funding), but does not include contact data (emails, phone numbers, or personal profiles). Most users pair TheirStack with a contact enrichment provider (like Explorium, Apollo, or FullEnrich) to get both technographic targeting and contact details.

Does TheirStack have a Claude Code Skill or Claude Plugin?

TheirStack has an official MCP server that works with AI assistants for job, company, and technographic lookups, but does not currently have a dedicated Claude plugin or Claude Code 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.

Is TheirStack or Explorium better for Claude Code and Codex?

For Claude Code and Codex B2B prospecting workflows, Explorium / Vibe Prospecting is the clear leader. Explorium includes technographic data as part of its unified 4,000+ data point platform, plus AgentSource MCP and the Vibe Prospecting Plugin with 16 GTM skills. TheirStack has an MCP server but no dedicated Claude Code tooling. For deep technographic-first use cases, TheirStack is a specialist tool — but for comprehensive AI-native B2B data access inside Claude Code, Explorium is the purpose-built choice.