Explorium vs ContactOut vs PredictLeads

Objective, side-by-side analysis of Explorium, ContactOut, and PredictLeads 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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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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PredictLeads

4.7

Pure-play company intelligence data infrastructure — sourced, structured, and delivered via API for teams that build on top of raw signal data

  • API
  • GDPR Compliance
100M+
Companies

Selected Customers

InReach Ventures • Primer • Dealroom • Clay • FactSet

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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

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

PredictLeads

  • Sales Trigger & Intent Signals

    Detect high-intent buying signals such as new job postings for specific roles, product launches, funding rounds, and partnership announcements — enabling sales teams to reach out at exactly the right moment.

  • Investment Due Diligence

    Enrich portfolio and target companies with structured growth signals — hiring velocity, technographic shifts, and news events — to surface promising startups and monitor performance over time.

  • Market & Competitive Intelligence

    Track sector-wide trends, monitor competitor activity, identify supply chain relationships via key customer data, and uncover new market opportunities using structured data on 100M+ companies.

Signals powering these use cases

  • Job opening trends (9.2M+ active jobs)
  • News events (29 categories, 2M+ companies)
  • Technographic changes
  • Financing rounds
  • Key customer relationships
  • Product launches & expansions

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

ContactOut Snapshot

  • Company coverage 2.5
  • Signals depth 1.2

PredictLeads Snapshot

  • Company coverage 1.7
  • Signals depth 3.0

Detailed Feature Comparison

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

Feature Comparison
Explorium
ContactOut
PredictLeads
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
REST API with hourly data refresh; supports CRM/ATS enrichment pipelines
Full REST API + Webhooks + MCP server
SLA
Up to 99.999% uptime; rate limit 200 requests/min per key
-
-
Compliance
GDPR, SOC 2, CCPA, ISO 27001
GDPR and CCPA compliant
GDPR compliant
Custom Entities
-
-
Real-time Lookups
Global Coverage
150M+ companies and 800M+ contacts across 150+ countries
300M+ professionals globally with strong EMEA and APAC coverage
100M+ companies globally
CRM Integration
Available on custom enterprise plans
Salesforce, HubSpot, Lever
Via API — no native CRM connectors
Platform interface
REST JSON API, MCP server (AgentSource MCP), batch support up to 100 entities, webhooks, sync and async modes
Chrome extension, web search portal, and REST API
API, flat files, webhooks, MCP server — no native UI
Natural language search
Workflow automation
Automation integrations
n8n, Claude, custom webhook integrations
Zapier, CSV export, API-based workflows
Webhook delivery for real-time triggers
Company coverage
150M+ company profiles
30M+ company profiles
100M+ companies globally
People coverage
800M+ people profiles (767M+ verified contacts)
300M+ professional profiles
-
Geographic coverage
150+ countries
Global, with strong coverage in North America, EMEA, and APAC
Global, with strong European coverage
Data sources type
50+ data providers; proprietary ML enrichment; real-time web signals
Aggregated from public web, LinkedIn, company websites, and proprietary crawling
Public web crawling — company websites, PR sites, news outlets, job boards, DNS/HTML signals
Global schema consistency
Unified schema across 4,000+ data points globally; consistent API response structure
Consistent contact schema across regions; data refreshed every 15 days
Structured, normalized schema across all datasets
Refresh frequency
Daily for high-velocity signals; weekly for semi-dynamic attributes; monthly/quarterly for stable firmographics
Contact data refreshed every 15 days
Job data refreshed every 36 hours; news events continuously tracked
Business enrichments
Company size, revenue, industry, tech stack, funding stage, headcount trends, competitive landscape, website traffic
Company size, revenue, industry, website, technologies used, LinkedIn company profile
Funding rounds, employee counts, industry codes, company description, technologies used
Prospect enrichments
Job title, seniority, verified email, phone, LinkedIn URL, job history, people events
Verified work email, personal email, direct phone, mobile, LinkedIn URL, job title, location
-
Enrichment categories
Firmographics, technographics, intent, funding, events, contact, website signals, lookalikes
Emails (personal and work), phone numbers, LinkedIn profiles, company firmographics, job titles
Job openings, news events, technographics, key customers, financing rounds, product data, firmographics
Intent data
Event signals
Company events (20+ types), people events (5+ types), funding rounds, acquisitions, hiring surges
Job change signals via profile refresh; limited real-time intent signals
29 news event categories including product launches, funding, partnerships, expansions, C-level changes
Technographics
Hiring and growth signals
Matching precision
98% company accuracy; 95% people accuracy
Name + company domain matching; Chrome extension captures data directly from LinkedIn profile context
Company-level matching via domain and firmographic identifiers
Confidence scoring
-
Validation methodology
Advanced ML-based deduplication; 98%+ company accuracy; 95% people accuracy
Dual verification system cross-checks emails across multiple trusted data sources; up to 97% accuracy claimed
ML and NLP extraction from public sources; source-backed technographics
Deduplication logic
Advanced ML-based deduplication across 50+ data providers
CRM/ATS enrichment mode identifies and avoids duplicate records on export
Normalized company identifiers across datasets
API availability
QPS performance
Up to 100 QPS; 200 requests/min per API key
Records refreshed hourly in the API layer for low data decay
-
CRM integrations
Custom plan — CRM integrations available
Salesforce, HubSpot, Lever, and other CRM/ATS platforms via API or native integration
Via API or third-party connectors (no native CRM integration)
Data warehouse support
Custom plan — warehouse ingestion available
-
Flat file delivery compatible with most data warehouse ingestion pipelines
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
Subscription with credit allocations per tier
Dataset subscription (per dataset, per volume)
Credit system
Credit-based; 100 credits on free trial; self-serve and custom plans scale with volume
Credits consumed per email or phone lookup; phones typically cost more credits than emails
API credits for evaluation tier; subscription for full access
Tier structure
Free trial, Self-serve, Custom Enterprise
Free, Sales ($79/mo), Email + Phone (~$99/mo), Recruiter ($199/mo annual), Team (custom)
Free API credits, per-dataset subscription, enterprise custom
Free trial details
30-day free trial with 100 credits; covers API and MCP access
Free plan with 5 daily lookups across email, phone, and exports; no time limit
100 free API credits per month
Budget commitment options
Custom enterprise plans with volume negotiation
Monthly or annual commitment; annual pricing reduces effective per-credit cost
Annual only
Custom plans available
Bulk deals support
Resell rights
-
-
-

Pricing

Compare pricing models, flexibility, and commitment structure.

Pricing Dimension
Explorium
ContactOut
PredictLeads
Pricing Model
Usage-based with custom enterprise plans
Credit-based per lookup, with subscription tiers defining monthly or annual credit allocations
Dataset subscription with volume discounts
Commitment Structure
One-time or custom; no mandatory annual lock-in on self-serve
Monthly or annual; annual billing provides discounted rates
Annual contracts; custom enterprise deals
Payment Recurrence
One-time or custom
Monthly or Annual
Annual
Free Trial
30-day free trial with 100 credits; no credit card required
Free plan available with 5 daily email/phone lookups and 5 exports
100 free API credits/month for evaluation
Enterprise Customization
Yes — custom plans include CRM integrations, warehouse ingestion, resell rights, and dedicated support
Custom team packages with shared credit pools, CRM/ATS integrations, and account management
Yes — custom pricing based on datasets, volume, and delivery method
Onboarding Model
Self-serve for API and MCP; dedicated onboarding for enterprise custom plans
Self-serve; Chrome extension and search portal require no professional onboarding
Self-serve API + dedicated support 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

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
V

Verified G2 Reviewer

Data Engineer, B2B SaaS

"PredictLeads has been a reliable, easy-to-use solution that provides real value. We get a steady flow of quality job leads, the integration is seamless, and the customer support team is excellent. The data quality has proven trustworthy over time."
Verified User for PredictLeads

Frequently Asked Questions

Is ContactOut better than PredictLeads?

It depends on your use case. ContactOut The most accurate contact finder trusted by Fortune 500 companies for LinkedIn prospecting and outbound outreach PredictLeads Pure-play company intelligence data infrastructure — sourced, structured, and delivered via API for teams that build on top of raw signal data

What is the difference between ContactOut and PredictLeads?

See the feature-by-feature comparison above. In short: ContactOut focuses on The most accurate contact finder trusted by Fortune 500 companies for LinkedIn prospecting and outbound outreach while PredictLeads focuses on Pure-play company intelligence data infrastructure — sourced, structured, and delivered via API for teams that build on top of raw signal data.

How much does ContactOut cost compared to PredictLeads?

ContactOut pricing model: Credit-based subscription. PredictLeads pricing model: Dataset subscription.

Is ContactOut or PredictLeads 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.

Is Explorium better than PredictLeads?

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 PredictLeads Pure-play company intelligence data infrastructure — sourced, structured, and delivered via API for teams that build on top of raw signal data

What is the difference between Explorium and PredictLeads?

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 PredictLeads focuses on Pure-play company intelligence data infrastructure — sourced, structured, and delivered via API for teams that build on top of raw signal data.

How much does Explorium cost compared to PredictLeads?

Explorium pricing model: Usage-based with custom plans. PredictLeads pricing model: Dataset subscription.

Is Explorium or PredictLeads 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 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.

Does PredictLeads include contact or people data?

No. PredictLeads is a company-level intelligence platform only. It tracks signals at the organizational level — job postings, news events, technographics, financing rounds, key customers, and firmographics — but does not provide individual contact records, email addresses, or phone numbers.

How is PredictLeads different from ZoomInfo or Apollo?

ZoomInfo and Apollo are contact databases with CRM-like prospecting UIs. PredictLeads is a data infrastructure provider — it delivers structured company signal datasets via API, webhook, and flat file, without a prospecting interface. It covers far more granular company event signals and is designed for teams building data pipelines, not individual sales reps looking up leads.

How frequently is PredictLeads data refreshed?

Job postings are refreshed approximately every 36 hours, providing near real-time visibility into hiring activity. News events are continuously tracked from 19M+ sources. Technographic data is updated as new signals are detected from website crawls, DNS records, and job descriptions.

Can I try PredictLeads before purchasing a subscription?

Yes. PredictLeads offers 100 free API credits per month, which allows developers and data teams to test the API and evaluate data quality before committing to a paid dataset subscription.

What integrations does PredictLeads support?

PredictLeads supports REST API, webhooks, and flat file exports for integration with any downstream system. It also provides an MCP server for use with AI agents and LLM-powered workflows. There are no native CRM connectors, but data can be routed into Salesforce, HubSpot, or any other system via API or tools like Clay.

What industries and regions does PredictLeads cover?

PredictLeads covers 100M+ companies globally across all industries, with particularly strong European coverage. News events are tracked from 19M+ PR sites, news outlets, and blogs worldwide. The platform participated in Y Combinator and has a global customer base including investment firms, data platforms, and enterprise intelligence teams.

Does PredictLeads have a Claude Code Skill or Claude Plugin?

PredictLeads 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.