CompanyData.com (BoldData) vs Ocean.io: Registry Data vs AI Lookalike Search
Comparing CompanyData.com (BoldData) vs Ocean.io is like comparing a census bureau to a recommendation engine. CompanyData.com pulls structured records from official trade registers across 200 countries. Ocean.io uses AI to find companies that look like your best customers. Different philosophies, different strengths, different failure modes - and no existing head-to-head comparison covers both, so we built one from scratch.
CompanyData.com wins if you need bulk, registry-verified company data for compliance, KYC/KYB, or corporate hierarchy mapping.
Ocean.io wins if you want AI-powered lookalike audience discovery and ICP modeling - and can tolerate inconsistent data accuracy.
Skip both if your primary need is verified emails and direct dials for accounts you've already identified. That's a different job entirely.
What Each Platform Does
CompanyData.com (BoldData)
CompanyData.com - formerly BoldData, rebranded on September 11, 2025 - is a structured data warehouse. Its 400M company records across 200 countries come from trusted local sources like national trade registers and chambers of commerce. No scraping.
The database includes 607M contacts, 48M email addresses, and 175M phone numbers, with 2M new companies added monthly. Their Bold Hierarchies product maps corporate ownership structures, which is genuinely hard to find elsewhere. The 9.2/10 rating on Kiyoh from 85 reviews reflects a customer base that values data provenance over flashy AI features.
Ocean.io
Ocean.io calls itself "the only Lookalike Search Engine" for GTM teams. Upload your best customers, and its ML/NLP engine - trained over 6 years - finds companies that match the same profile. It indexes hundreds of millions of websites and categorizes companies based on how they describe themselves, rather than relying on traditional industry codes. The platform also offers a people-lookalike API, verified emails, phone numbers, and a Chrome extension.
Here's the thing: Ocean.io's own website claims 55M company profiles on the homepage and 350M on its data/features page. That's a massive discrepancy nobody at Ocean.io has publicly explained, and it should be the first question you ask during a trial.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | CompanyData.com | Ocean.io |
|---|---|---|
| Data sourcing | Official trade registers | Web-indexed + ML/NLP |
| Company coverage | 400M, 200 countries | 55M-350M (conflicting claims) |
| Contact data | 607M contacts, 48M emails | 250M+ employee profiles |
| Hierarchies | Yes (Bold Hierarchies) | Not a core feature |
| API | Yes (100+ data points) | Yes, 40+ attributes |
| Entry price | Bold Lists: starting at EUR 425 | From $79/mo |
| Review scores | 9.2/10 Kiyoh (85 reviews) | 4.4/5 Capterra, 3.1/5 G2 |
| Best for | Compliance, KYB, bulk data | Lookalike search, ICP modeling |
Ocean.io also claims a 98% CRM match rate - a bold number worth testing against your actual data during the 14-day trial. And many of those Capterra reviews are vendor-referred with incentives, which skews the picture.
CompanyData.com finds companies. Ocean.io finds lookalikes. Neither specializes in getting you verified contact data for the people who sign checks. Prospeo delivers 143M+ verified emails at 98% accuracy and 125M+ mobile numbers - refreshed every 7 days, not pulled from a static registry dump.
Stop debating company databases. Start reaching decision-makers directly.
Pricing Breakdown
CompanyData.com is built for enterprise buyers. Bold Lists start at EUR 425 for 1,000 contacts. The Bulk Database starts at EUR 3,000 for around 100,000 addresses. Bold Bulk datasets typically begin at 1M company records with pricing from EUR 10,000+ depending on use case, fields, and countries. Data licensing comes with a 12-month minimum contract. This isn't self-serve pricing for individual SDRs - it's procurement-level spend. If you're evaluating broader B2B company data options, this is the "data warehouse" end of the spectrum.
Ocean.io starts at $79/month. The Premium plan includes roughly 120 phones/month and 300 emails/month. Professional runs $475/month for 5 users with higher quotas. On Ocean.io's credit model, a verified email costs 1 credit and a direct phone number costs 10 credits - at $0.064/credit with a minimum of 9,000 credits valid for 12 months, that works out to about $0.064 per verified email and $0.64 per direct phone number. If you're building an outbound stack, compare this against other sales prospecting databases and data enrichment services.
The catch: most customers exceed plan limits within 90 days, and real spend climbs as you buy more credits.
What Real Users Say
CompanyData.com's 9.2/10 Kiyoh rating across 85 reviews is strong, reflecting enterprise buyers who prioritize registry-sourced accuracy. For a similar "different tools, different jobs" breakdown, see our CompanyData.com (BoldData) vs Seamless.AI comparison.
Ocean.io's reviews tell a more complicated story. The lookalike search feature gets genuine praise - one Capterra reviewer from Tele2 IoT called the "sibling search" a standout for finding similar companies across countries. But a non-incentivized reviewer reported a roughly 5% success rate matching ideal customer profiles, while alternatives delivered 40-50% ICP match rates. On G2, complaint themes are blunt: data inaccuracy, export limitations, and expensive/not worth it. One March 2026 reviewer went further, alleging illegal data sourcing and calling the platform a scam - a single review, but consistent with the broader accuracy complaints.
We've seen this pattern before. A tool with a clever core feature that can't deliver consistent data quality underneath it. Ocean.io's lookalike concept is brilliant. The execution isn't there yet. If your average deal size sits below $15k, you'll burn more money debugging Ocean.io's data than you'll close from its recommendations. Use it for discovery inspiration, not as your source of truth. If you're formalizing your targeting, an Ideal Customer Profile template helps you score matches consistently.
When You Already Know Your Targets
Look - if you already know which companies to target and just need verified emails and direct dials for decision-makers, neither CompanyData.com nor Ocean.io is built for that job. One is a company-data warehouse, the other is a lookalike discovery engine. This is where lead enrichment and verification matter more than discovery.
The workflow we recommend: use either platform to identify target companies, then run those accounts through Prospeo to get 143M+ verified emails and 125M+ verified mobile numbers for the people who actually make buying decisions. At roughly $0.01 per email with a 7-day data refresh cycle, you're not torching your sender reputation with stale data from a registry dump or an AI-generated list. That 98% email accuracy rate, backed by a 5-step verification process, is the difference between a campaign that books meetings and one that lands in spam. If deliverability is a priority, pair this with an email deliverability guide and a plan to improve sender reputation.
At EUR 425 for 1,000 contacts or $0.64 per phone number, neither platform is built for cost-efficient outbound. Prospeo gives you verified emails at ~$0.01 each with 98% accuracy and a 5-step verification process that protects your sender reputation - no 12-month contracts required.
75 free verified emails per month. No credit card, no procurement headaches.
FAQ
Is Ocean.io worth it in 2026?
The lookalike search is genuinely useful for discovering net-new accounts, but G2 reviewers rate it 3.1/5 and data accuracy issues are well-documented. Run the 14-day free trial and test match rates against your actual ICP - not Ocean.io's demo data - before committing any budget.
What happened to BoldData?
BoldData rebranded to CompanyData.com on September 11, 2025. Same company, same registry-sourced database covering 400M companies across 200 countries. The product lines (Bold API, Bold Bulk, Bold Hierarchies) kept their names.
Can I pair a contact-data tool with either platform?
Yes, and it's the recommended workflow. CompanyData.com or Ocean.io identifies target companies; a contact-data platform then finds verified emails and direct dials for decision-makers at those accounts. We've found this two-step approach - discovery tool plus verification tool - consistently outperforms trying to get everything from a single provider.
Which platform has better international coverage?
CompanyData.com covers 200 countries with registry-verified records, making it stronger for global compliance use cases. Ocean.io indexes websites globally but doesn't disclose country-level coverage breakdowns. For teams targeting EMEA or APAC specifically, CompanyData.com's trade-register sourcing provides more reliable firmographic data.