Cognism vs Salutary Data: Which B2B Data Provider Fits Your Team?
These two aren't really comparable databases. Cognism is a rep-facing sales intelligence platform. Salutary Data is a US-centric data curation company that ships feeds and APIs. The right pick depends less on feature checklists and more on how your team actually sources, enriches, and activates contact data - so let's break it down.
30-Second Verdict
Pick Cognism if you're an enterprise team selling into EMEA, you need Diamond Data phone-verified mobiles, and you've got $15K+ in annual budget for a platform your SDRs will live in daily.
Pick Salutary Data if you're US-only, you need bulk curated data feeds or OEM-style API access, and you're comfortable with quarterly refresh cycles.
Head-to-Head Comparison
| Cognism | Salutary Data | |
|---|---|---|
| Database | Global (size not publicly disclosed) | 156M US contacts |
| Pricing | ~$15K+/yr | ~$5K+ |
| Data Refresh | Continuously updated in-app | Quarterly (feeds) |
| G2 Rating | 4.5/5 (1,318 reviews) | 5.0/5 (1 review) |
| Delivery | Sales Companion UI | Feeds / API / Web UI |
| Coverage | Global (EMEA-strong) | US-only |
| Compliance | GDPR + CCPA | US-focused |
Salutary's perfect G2 score looks impressive until you notice it's based on a single review. Cognism's 4.5 across 1,318 reviews carries far more weight.
What Each Tool Actually Does
Cognism
Cognism is a full prospecting platform, not just a database. Its Sales Companion UI gives reps a personalized workflow with recommended contacts, AI-powered summaries, and CRM integrations for Salesforce and HubSpot. The Chrome extension lets reps pull contact data from across the web without leaving their browser.
The real differentiator is Diamond Data - phone-verified mobiles. That matters if your reps are dialing into EMEA, where mobile accuracy from most providers is terrible. Cognism also bundles Bombora intent data for identifying in-market accounts.
Where it falls short: G2 reviewers consistently flag inaccurate data and outdated contacts outside the Diamond-verified subset. We've seen this pattern across dozens of reviews - the gap between Diamond numbers and the rest of the database is real, and it's the single biggest complaint from paying customers.
Salutary Data
Salutary Data isn't a prospecting tool. It's a data curation company. They evaluate 500M+ contact records every quarter, apply a strict quality filter, and deliver 156M US contact records through three channels: full/custom data feeds (CSV), an API suite for embedding into your own apps, and a web UI for ad hoc searches. You can grab free sample previews through Datarade before committing.
The OEM positioning is key - Salutary is built for teams that want to ingest curated data into their own systems, not for individual SDRs running searches. Founded in 2015 with an 11-person team, Salutary was acquired by Intentsify in January 2026. The product roadmap is now tied to Intentsify's identity resolution strategy, so if you're evaluating today, ask hard questions about long-term direction before signing anything longer than six months.
Cognism charges $15K+ before you add seats. Salutary refreshes quarterly. Prospeo gives you 300M+ profiles, 98% email accuracy, and 125M+ verified mobiles - all on a 7-day refresh cycle at ~$0.01/email. No contracts, no sales calls.
Get enterprise-grade data without the enterprise pricing or the stale records.
Pricing Compared
Neither tool publishes a clean rate card, but here's what we've pieced together from public sources and user reports.
| Entry Point | Mid-Market | Enterprise | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cognism Grow | ~$15K/yr + ~$1.5K/user | ~$22K/yr (5 seats) | Custom |
| Cognism Elevate | ~$25K/yr + ~$2.5K/user | ~$37K/yr (5 seats) | $30K-$100K+ |
| Salutary Data | ~$5K | ~$10K-$50K/yr (est.) | $50K-$100K+ (est.) |
Cognism's pricing adds up fast. The platform fee is just the start - add per-user costs, Bombora intent topics at $75-$400 per additional topic, and onboarding/pro services that can run $500-$5,000 depending on scope. A 10-seat Elevate setup can land around $50K/year before add-ons.
Salutary offers more flexible structures: flat-fee subscriptions, usage-based pay-per-match, success-based models tied to conversions, and pilot programs. That flexibility is genuinely useful if you're testing a new data source before committing.
Here's the thing: if you're spending under $15K/year on data, neither of these tools is built for you. You'll get better ROI from a self-serve platform with transparent per-credit pricing.
Data Quality and Coverage
Salutary publishes something most providers won't: field-level fill rates. Mobile phone coverage hits 71.21%, work email 62.43%, job title 99.47%, and LinkedIn URLs 84.01%. Direct dial coverage is only 21.54%. These are completeness metrics, not accuracy metrics - but the transparency is refreshing in an industry where most vendors hide behind vague claims.
Cognism doesn't publish fill rates. Its Diamond Data mobiles are genuinely strong in EMEA, but the gap between Diamond-verified numbers and the rest of the database shows up in G2 reviews repeatedly.
In our experience, weekly data refresh cycles catch job changes and role updates that quarterly feeds miss entirely. Someone changes jobs, and a quarterly feed won't reflect that for weeks or months - which means your reps are emailing the wrong person at the wrong company. That's not just a data quality problem; it's a email deliverability problem.
Best Fit by Workflow
Choose Cognism for rep-led prospecting
Cognism makes the most sense when your SDRs and AEs need a daily-driver UI rather than a data pipeline, you care about EMEA coverage and GDPR posture, phone outreach is central to your motion and verified mobiles materially change connect rates, and you can support platform-plus-seat pricing along with onboarding costs. For teams that fit this profile, the Diamond Data advantage is worth the premium.
Choose Salutary for feeds and embedded data
Salutary is a better fit when you want to ingest a curated US dataset into your warehouse, CRM, or product. It works well for teams buying data like a component rather than a rep tool, where quarterly refresh is acceptable for analytics, enrichment batches, or identity workflows. The flexible commercial models - pilot programs, usage-based, success-based - make it easier to test before going all-in.
Skip Salutary if you need global coverage or real-time data. It's US-only, and quarterly refresh cycles aren't fast enough for active outbound campaigns.
A Third Option Worth Considering
For teams that want self-serve B2B data with high accuracy and fast refresh cycles - without the "talk to sales" gate - Prospeo is worth a serious look. It covers 300M+ professional profiles with 143M+ verified emails and 125M+ verified mobile numbers, all refreshed every 7 days. Email accuracy sits at 98%, mobile pickup rate is 30% globally, and enrichment returns 50+ data points per contact.
You also get 30+ search filters including buyer intent powered by Bombora across 15,000 topics, technographics, job changes, headcount growth, and funding signals. Native integrations cover Salesforce, HubSpot, Smartlead, Instantly, Lemlist, Clay, Zapier, and Make. There's a free tier with 75 verified emails and 100 Chrome extension credits per month, and paid plans run about $0.01 per email with no contracts.
Quarterly refresh means your reps email the wrong person at the wrong company for months. Prospeo refreshes every 7 days - 6x faster than the industry average - so your outbound actually lands. 143M+ verified emails, 30% mobile pickup rate, global coverage.
Stop choosing between EMEA coverage and fresh US data - get both.
FAQ
Is Salutary Data still independent after the Intentsify acquisition?
No. Intentsify acquired Salutary Data in January 2026, so the roadmap and packaging now roll up into Intentsify's identity resolution strategy. Expect continuity short-term, but ask for a 6-12 month product plan and refresh/verification commitments before signing a 12-month deal.
Does Cognism offer a free trial?
It doesn't. Cognism typically requires a demo-led sales process and an annual contract, with pricing starting around $15K/year before per-seat costs. If you need self-serve onboarding to test data quality fast, you'll want a credit-based tool instead.
Which tool has better mobile phone data?
For EMEA dialing, Cognism's Diamond Data phone-verified mobiles are the standout. For US-only completeness, Salutary reports a 71.21% mobile fill rate, while Prospeo offers 125M+ verified mobiles globally with a 30% pickup rate and weekly refresh.
What's a good self-serve alternative to both?
If you want accuracy and freshness without an annual contract, look at credit-based platforms with transparent pricing. Prospeo's 98% verified email accuracy, 7-day refresh cycle, and ~$0.01/email pricing with a free tier make it a practical starting point - especially for teams that can't justify $15K+ before seeing results.
The Bottom Line
The Cognism vs Salutary Data decision is really about activation model. Pick Cognism when reps need an EMEA-ready prospecting platform with phone-verified mobiles. Pick Salutary when you're buying US contact data as a feed or API input for your own systems. And if you want fast testing, transparent pricing, and weekly freshness without a contract, there's a practical third path that doesn't require a sales call to get started.