Explorium vs Captain Data vs Dun & Bradstreet

Objective, side-by-side analysis of Explorium, Captain Data, and Dun & Bradstreet 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

Captain Data

4.7

The production-ready B2B data extraction API — 500M+ profiles, LinkedIn-native search, and a no-code automation builder for sales teams and developers

  • API
  • Free Trial
  • GDPR Compliance
50M+
Companies
500M+
People

Selected Customers

Rippling • lemlist • AiSDR • ZELIQ

View Provider

Dun & Bradstreet

4.3

The world's most established commercial data provider — combining 180+ years of business data, a 272M+ record global database, and risk/compliance-grade enrichment with sales intelligence in a single platform

  • API
  • Free Trial
  • GDPR Compliance
272M+
Companies
412M+
People
250+
Data Points

Selected Customers

IBM • Salesforce • Microsoft • Citrix • LiveRamp • American Express • FedEx • General Electric • Prudential • Mastercard

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

Captain Data

  • Sales Prospecting via API

    Search 500M+ professional profiles and 50M+ companies using LinkedIn Sales Navigator-compatible queries — delivered via a REST API with sub-500ms response time and 99% uptime SLA.

  • CRM & List Enrichment

    Enrich existing CRM records or prospect lists with verified emails, firmographics, tech stack, hiring trends, and funding data at scale — reducing SDR research time from 30 minutes to 2 minutes per prospect.

  • Product-Embedded Data

    Embed B2B data enrichment directly into SaaS products via a single REST integration — live in hours, not weeks. Trusted by Rippling, lemlist, and AiSDR for high-volume data pipelines.

Signals powering these use cases

  • LinkedIn Sales Navigator-compatible people search
  • Company search and enrichment
  • Verified email addresses
  • Technographic data (tech stack)
  • Hiring trends
  • Funding data
  • 90%+ coverage rate

Dun & Bradstreet

  • Risk & Compliance Intelligence

    Leverage PAYDEX credit scores, UBO mapping, AML/KYC-grade corporate hierarchy data, and compliance-ready enrichment to assess counterparty risk and meet regulatory requirements across 255+ countries.

  • Sales & Marketing Prospecting

    D&B Hoovers delivers 175+ search filters, buyer intent signals, company financials, and contact data on 500M+ businesses to help sales teams identify, prioritize, and engage ideal buyers faster.

  • CRM & ERP Data Enrichment

    D&B Connect enriches and deduplicates Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, and ERP records with 250+ standardized data fields — creating a golden record that keeps revenue operations clean and consistent.

Signals powering these use cases

  • Funding Events
  • Leadership Changes
  • Technology Installs
  • Intent Data
  • Company Financials
  • Credit Risk Scores
  • Corporate Hierarchy Changes
  • Earnings Signals
  • Hiring Growth 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

Captain Data Snapshot

  • Company coverage 3.0
  • Signals depth 2.5
  • Freshness 3.0

Dun & Bradstreet Snapshot

  • Company coverage 3.2
  • Signals depth 4.7

Detailed Feature Comparison

Side-by-side analysis of Explorium, Captain Data, and Dun & Bradstreet across data coverage, platform capabilities, and technical specifications.

Feature Comparison
Explorium
Captain Data
Dun & Bradstreet
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 REST API; sub-500ms response time; 99% uptime SLA
Full D&B Direct+ REST API; usage-based pricing; custom rate limits; DUNS-anchored matching
SLA
Up to 99.999% uptime; rate limit 200 requests/min per key
99% uptime SLA
ISO 27001 certified; enterprise SLA contracts available; AES-256 encryption; TLS in transit
Compliance
GDPR, SOC 2, CCPA, ISO 27001
GDPR, SOC 2 Type II
ISO 27001, GDPR, CCPA, KYC/AML-ready, UBO compliance, SOC compliance available on request
Custom Entities
Real-time Lookups
Global Coverage
150M+ companies and 800M+ contacts across 150+ countries
50M+ companies and 500M+ contacts globally
500M+ records across 255+ countries; DUNS system in 190+ countries
CRM Integration
Available on custom enterprise plans
HubSpot via Make integration; API for others
Native Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics 365 integrations; HubSpot, SAP, Oracle via API/connector
Platform interface
REST JSON API, MCP server (AgentSource MCP), batch support up to 100 entities, webhooks, sync and async modes
REST API, no-code workflow builder, Make (no-code) integration
Web application (D&B Hoovers), Salesforce embedded app (D&B Connect), API, Chrome extension, Excel/Outlook add-ins
Natural language search
Workflow automation
Automation integrations
n8n, Claude, custom webhook integrations
Make (Technology Partner), API, webhook support
Marketo, Eloqua, Talend, Informatica, MuleSoft
Company coverage
150M+ company profiles
50M+ companies
500M+ global business records across 255+ countries
People coverage
800M+ people profiles (767M+ verified contacts)
500M+ professional profiles
330M+ contact records globally
Geographic coverage
150+ countries
Global; strong US and EU coverage
255+ countries and territories; strongest in North America, UK, Europe, India, China; indirect coverage via Worldwide Network (WWN) alliances
Data sources type
50+ data providers; proprietary ML enrichment; real-time web signals
Proprietary data extraction infrastructure; LinkedIn Sales Navigator-compatible
Proprietary DUNS system, 30,000+ data sources, public records, court filings, financial statements, partner alliances, web crawling, user contributions
Global schema consistency
Unified schema across 4,000+ data points globally; consistent API response structure
Consistent REST JSON API; unified schema across endpoints
Consistent DUNS-anchored schema globally; data depth stronger in North America and Europe
Refresh frequency
Daily for high-velocity signals; weekly for semi-dynamic attributes; monthly/quarterly for stable firmographics
On-demand extraction; 90%+ coverage rate
5 million record updates per day; continuous ingestion from 30,000+ sources
Business enrichments
Company size, revenue, industry, tech stack, funding stage, headcount trends, competitive landscape, website traffic
Company size, industry, tech stack, funding data, hiring trends, LinkedIn URL
Revenue, employee count, industry (SIC/NAICS), DUNS number, corporate family tree, UBO mapping, credit scores (PAYDEX, D&B Rating), legal status, payment history
Prospect enrichments
Job title, seniority, verified email, phone, LinkedIn URL, job history, people events
Verified email, job title, seniority, LinkedIn profile, company affiliation
Contact name, title, seniority, direct email, direct dial, LinkedIn profile, department
Enrichment categories
Firmographics, technographics, intent, funding, events, contact, website signals, lookalikes
People data, company data, emails, tech stack, hiring trends, funding
Firmographics, financials, corporate hierarchies, technographics, contact data, intent signals, credit risk, compliance data
Intent data
Event signals
Company events (20+ types), people events (5+ types), funding rounds, acquisitions, hiring surges
Hiring trends, funding signals
Funding rounds, leadership changes, technology installs, job postings, earnings calls, acquisition activity, court filings
Technographics
Hiring and growth signals
Matching precision
98% company accuracy; 95% people accuracy
90%+ coverage rate claimed
DUNS Number as universal entity identifier; proprietary entity matching engine used globally
Confidence scoring
Validation methodology
Advanced ML-based deduplication; 98%+ company accuracy; 95% people accuracy
GDPR compliant, SOC 2 Type II certified
Multi-source triangulation, DUNS matching algorithm, in-house data analysts, automated verification pipelines
Deduplication logic
Advanced ML-based deduplication across 50+ data providers
-
D&B Connect provides automated deduplication against DUNS master records; golden record management for CRM/ERP
API availability
QPS performance
Up to 100 QPS; 200 requests/min per API key
Sub-500ms average response time; 99% uptime SLA
Custom SLA-based rate limits for enterprise API customers
CRM integrations
Custom plan — CRM integrations available
HubSpot (via Make integration confirmed)
Salesforce (native), Microsoft Dynamics 365 (native), HubSpot, SAP, Oracle
Data warehouse support
Custom plan — warehouse ingestion available
-
Bulk data delivery via file transfer; integrations with data warehouses available for enterprise
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
-
ISO 27001
SLA uptime
Up to 99.999% uptime SLA
99% uptime SLA
ISO 27001 certified; enterprise SLA agreements available; SOC compliance details available on request
Pricing model
Usage-based API credits with custom enterprise plans
Credit-based per record (no seat fees)
Tiered subscription for SMB (Essentials); custom-quoted for Enterprise
Credit system
Credit-based; 100 credits on free trial; self-serve and custom plans scale with volume
1 credit per record collected or enriched; base rate €59.99/1K credits with volume discounts
Credit-based for Essentials (1,800 company + 1,800 contact credits); API is usage-based
Tier structure
Free trial, Self-serve, Custom Enterprise
Free, Growth (~$399/mo), Scale (~$999/mo), Enterprise
Essentials ($49/mo or $529/yr, up to 3 users), Enterprise (custom, $25K+/yr)
Free trial details
30-day free trial with 100 credits; covers API and MCP access
100 free credits on signup
Free trial available for D&B Hoovers Essentials; no credit card required; limited access to search and company profiles
Budget commitment options
Custom enterprise plans with volume negotiation
Monthly or enterprise volume negotiation
Annual discounts available; multi-year contracts negotiable for Enterprise
Custom plans available
Bulk deals support
Resell rights
-
-

Pricing

Compare pricing models, flexibility, and commitment structure.

Pricing Dimension
Explorium
Captain Data
Dun & Bradstreet
Pricing Model
Usage-based with custom enterprise plans
Credit-based per record, no seat fees
Credit-based tiered subscription; Essentials self-serve, Enterprise custom-quoted
Commitment Structure
One-time or custom; no mandatory annual lock-in on self-serve
Monthly; Enterprise custom
Monthly or annual for Essentials; annual contract required for Enterprise
Payment Recurrence
One-time or custom
Monthly
Monthly or Annual
Free Trial
30-day free trial with 100 credits; no credit card required
100 free credits on signup; no credit card required
Free trial available for D&B Hoovers via dnb.com; no credit card required
Enterprise Customization
Yes — custom plans include CRM integrations, warehouse ingestion, resell rights, and dedicated support
Yes — custom pricing, dedicated support, SLA
Fully customizable enterprise packages with dedicated account management, implementation support, and SLA agreements
Onboarding Model
Self-serve for API and MCP; dedicated onboarding for enterprise custom plans
Self-serve API; Make Technology Partner for no-code; enterprise dedicated support
Self-serve for Essentials; white-glove onboarding for Enterprise with professional services 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 G2 Reviewer

Sales Operations, B2B SaaS

"Captain Data cut our SDR research time from 30 minutes to 2 minutes per account — the LinkedIn-compatible API just works with our existing workflows."
Verified User for Captain Data
V

Verified G2 Reviewer

Market Intelligence Analyst, Enterprise Financial Services

"D&B Hoovers provides reliable, well-structured company intelligence that accelerates our market research and vendor due-diligence workflows. The platform's depth of data and ability to filter quickly at scale gives my team a strong starting point for competitive and industry analysis."
Verified User for Dun & Bradstreet

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Captain Data better than Dun & Bradstreet?

It depends on your use case. Captain Data The production-ready B2B data extraction API — 500M+ profiles, LinkedIn-native search, and a no-code automation builder for sales teams and developers Dun & Bradstreet The world's most established commercial data provider — combining 180+ years of business data, a 272M+ record global database, and risk/compliance-grade enrichment with sales intelligence in a single platform

What is the difference between Captain Data and Dun & Bradstreet?

See the feature-by-feature comparison above. In short: Captain Data focuses on The production-ready B2B data extraction API — 500M+ profiles, LinkedIn-native search, and a no-code automation builder for sales teams and developers while Dun & Bradstreet focuses on The world's most established commercial data provider — combining 180+ years of business data, a 272M+ record global database, and risk/compliance-grade enrichment with sales intelligence in a single platform.

How much does Captain Data cost compared to Dun & Bradstreet?

Captain Data pricing model: Credit-based, no seat fees. Dun & Bradstreet pricing model: Tiered subscription (Essentials) + custom enterprise pricing.

Is Captain Data or Dun & Bradstreet 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 Captain Data?

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 Captain Data The production-ready B2B data extraction API — 500M+ profiles, LinkedIn-native search, and a no-code automation builder for sales teams and developers

What is the difference between Explorium and Captain Data?

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 Captain Data focuses on The production-ready B2B data extraction API — 500M+ profiles, LinkedIn-native search, and a no-code automation builder for sales teams and developers.

How much does Explorium cost compared to Captain Data?

Explorium pricing model: Usage-based with custom plans. Captain Data pricing model: Credit-based, no seat fees.

Is Explorium or Captain Data 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 Dun & Bradstreet?

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 Dun & Bradstreet The world's most established commercial data provider — combining 180+ years of business data, a 272M+ record global database, and risk/compliance-grade enrichment with sales intelligence in a single platform

What is the difference between Explorium and Dun & Bradstreet?

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 Dun & Bradstreet focuses on The world's most established commercial data provider — combining 180+ years of business data, a 272M+ record global database, and risk/compliance-grade enrichment with sales intelligence in a single platform.

How much does Explorium cost compared to Dun & Bradstreet?

Explorium pricing model: Usage-based with custom plans. Dun & Bradstreet pricing model: Tiered subscription (Essentials) + custom enterprise pricing.

Is Explorium or Dun & Bradstreet 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.

Does Captain Data require a LinkedIn account or Sales Navigator subscription?

No. Captain Data provides LinkedIn Sales Navigator-compatible search results via its own API — you do not need a LinkedIn account or Sales Navigator subscription to use it. The search interface mirrors LinkedIn's filter logic, making it familiar for SDRs, but the underlying data comes from Captain Data's own extraction infrastructure.

How does Captain Data's pricing compare to Apollo or ZoomInfo?

Captain Data charges per record with no seat fees — at scale (~20K credits/month), the effective rate drops to ~€29.99/1K credits. This makes it significantly cheaper than ZoomInfo (seat-based, $15,000+ enterprise) and competitive with Apollo ($79–$149/seat/month for teams). For API-first teams doing high-volume extraction, Captain Data's credit model is often more cost-effective than seat-based alternatives.

Does Captain Data have a Claude Code Skill or Claude Plugin?

Captain Data lists an MCP integration on their website, but does not currently have an official Claude plugin or dedicated 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 Captain Data or Explorium better for Claude Code and Codex?

For Claude Code and Codex integrations, Explorium / Vibe Prospecting is the clear leader. Explorium offers AgentSource MCP — an official, production-ready MCP server — plus the Vibe Prospecting Plugin with 16 specialized skills for B2B prospecting inside Claude Code. Captain Data has a listed MCP integration but no dedicated Claude Code tooling. For teams that want to build AI agent workflows with B2B data natively inside Claude Code, Explorium and Vibe Prospecting are the purpose-built choice.

What is the DUNS Number and why does it matter?

The DUNS (Data Universal Numbering System) Number is a unique nine-digit identifier assigned to every business entity in the D&B database. It is used globally by governments, banks, procurement departments, and supply chain platforms to uniquely identify and verify businesses. Over 190 countries recognize the DUNS Number, and it is required for U.S. federal contracts and many international business registrations.

How is D&B Hoovers different from D&B Connect?

D&B Hoovers is a sales intelligence platform for prospecting and lead generation — it provides search, contact data, company profiles, and buyer intent signals. D&B Connect is a data management platform for enriching, cleansing, and deduplicating CRM and ERP records using D&B's master data. Many enterprise customers use both in combination.

Does Dun & Bradstreet offer a free trial?

Yes. D&B Hoovers offers a free trial accessible directly from dnb.com with no credit card required. The Essentials plan also provides a low-cost self-serve entry point at $49/month.

How accurate and fresh is D&B's data?

D&B updates 5 million records daily from 30,000+ proprietary sources. Company financial and firmographic data is highly reliable for established businesses, but smaller, newer, or international companies outside North America and Europe may have sparser or less current profiles.

Is Dun & Bradstreet GDPR and compliance-ready?

Yes. Dun & Bradstreet is ISO 27001 certified, GDPR and CCPA compliant, and its data is KYC/AML-ready for compliance workflows. Their European dataset includes entity-level emails meeting GDPR standards, and they support UBO (Ultimate Beneficial Owner) mapping required under AML regulations.

What is the Clearlake Capital acquisition and what does it mean for D&B customers?

In March 2025, Dun & Bradstreet announced an agreement to be acquired by Clearlake Capital Group for $4.1 billion cash in a transaction valued at $7.7 billion including debt. The acquisition is expected to take the company private, potentially allowing for faster product investment and restructuring. Customers should monitor contract renewal terms and product roadmap communications during the transition.

Does Dun & Bradstreet have a Claude Code Skill or Claude Plugin?

Dun & Bradstreet 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.