{
 "schema_version": "1.0",
 "id": "cognism",
 "name": "Cognism",
 "research_status": "researched",
 "vendor_domain": "cognism.com",
 "category": "Sales & CRM",
 "task": "Sales outreach, leads & CRM",
 "summary": "B2B contact data with a GDPR focus — phone-verified mobile numbers and intent signals.",
 "best_for": "outbound sales teams in Europe who need mobile numbers that are actually verified and care about GDPR provenance — that is the specific thing this is better at",
 "skip_if": "you are one or two people prospecting, because both named plans include five seats; also skip it if your market is US-only, where the data advantage is smaller and cheaper options exist",
 "honest_knock": "No price, no credit allowance, and a five-seat minimum on both named plans. That combination means the smallest deal is five seats of something you cannot price, so budget conversations start with a sales call rather than a number. The credit model is the part to nail down: one credit reveals one contact, so your real cost per usable lead is the credit price divided by your connect rate, and neither figure is published. Before the call, work out how many contacts a month you actually reveal — that is the only number that lets you judge the quote you get. And it is worth asking whether unused credits roll over, because nothing on the page says.",
 "pricing": {
  "status": "quote_only",
  "entry_price": null,
  "entry_price_terms": null,
  "from_price_usd_month": null,
  "plans": null,
  "plans_source": null,
  "notes": "(2026-10-19, re-read on their own pricing page) No prices are shown, and the packages and the credit model are as we read them on 17 September 2026. Sales prospecting comes in two named packages, Standard and Pro, both stated to include 5 seats, with everything routed to 'Talk to sales', 'Book a demo' or 'Get a personalised quote'. The model is credit-based — their own wording is that 1 credit equals 1 revealed contact, and that credits are used to reveal, enrich or export a contact — with an allocation included per seat, but no allowance is published. Their FAQ adds that a redeemed contact stays usable for the length of the contract and only costs a second credit if that person changes jobs, and that additional credits can be purchased at any point; the same credits work across the prospecting platform, Enrich and the API. MCP & API access, marked New, is ticked for both Standard and Pro in the comparison table. CRM Enrichment is sold standalone or as an add-on to either package. Data-as-a-Service no longer has its own section: the FAQ now says only that CRM Enrichment and Data-as-a-Service are priced on subscription structure, usage and delivery requirements. The older wording, priced by volume, delivery method and the fields required with an API route that needs a prospecting seat, is from our 17 September 2026 reading and is no longer on the page.",
  "verified_at": "2026-10-19",
  "source_url": null,
  "schema_offer": null,
  "source_quotes": null,
  "recent_change": null,
  "price_history": null
 },
 "free_plan": false,
 "free_plan_evidence": null,
 "cost_traps": [
  {
   "id": "quote_only",
   "label": "Quote-only pricing",
   "evidence": "No published price: Standard and Pro both route to Talk to sales / a personalised quote, with no credit allowance or amount stated (read 17 Sep and 19 Oct 2026)",
   "verified_at": "2026-10-19",
   "source_url": null
  },
  {
   "id": "per_seat",
   "label": "Per-seat pricing",
   "evidence": "The model is credit-based — their own wording is that 1 credit equals 1 revealed contact, and that credits are used to reveal, enrich or export a contact — with an allocation included per seat, but no allowance is published.",
   "verified_at": "2026-10-19",
   "source_url": null
  },
  {
   "id": "usage_metered",
   "label": "Usage-metered",
   "evidence": "(2026-10-19, re-read on their own pricing page) No prices are shown, and the packages and the credit model are as we read them on 17 September 2026.",
   "verified_at": "2026-10-19",
   "source_url": null
  },
  {
   "id": "addons_extra",
   "label": "Key features are paid add-ons",
   "evidence": "CRM Enrichment is sold standalone or as an add-on to either package.",
   "verified_at": "2026-10-19",
   "source_url": null
  }
 ],
 "compare_with": {
  "name": "Apollo or ZoomInfo",
  "why": "the standing comparison in B2B data — Apollo publishes its prices, which makes it the honest starting benchmark for whatever Cognism quotes you"
 },
 "links": {
  "record": "https://aibuildermarketplace.com/api/v1/products/cognism.json",
  "review": "https://marketingandsalessoftware.com/cognism-review.html",
  "marketplace": "https://aibuildermarketplace.com/marketplace/cognism/",
  "vendor_site": "https://cognism.com"
 },
 "purchase": {
  "seller": "the vendor",
  "how": "AIBuilder Marketplace does not sell this software. Sign up, start a trial or buy on the vendor's site.",
  "handoff_url": "https://get.cognism.com/a9b3igp648j0",
  "affiliate": false,
  "disclosure": "Where purchase.affiliate is true, purchase.handoff_url is an affiliate link: AIBuilder Marketplace may earn a commission at no extra cost to the buyer. Commission never changes what a record says, and products are not ranked by commission. Where it is false the link is the vendor's plain site."
 },
 "provenance": {
  "research": "hand-researched dossier, read on the vendor's own pages",
  "researched_since": "2026-07",
  "method": "https://aibuildermarketplace.com/how-we-review/",
  "license": "CC BY 4.0. Credit 'AIBuilder Marketplace' with a link to https://aibuildermarketplace.com/atlas/.",
  "note": "A rebuild is not a new measurement: pricing.verified_at is the date that matters."
 },
 "cost": {
  "status": "not_yet",
  "engine": "https://aibuildermarketplace.com/agents/#cost",
  "rules": null,
  "growth": null
 },
 "unknowns": [
  "Pricing status is 'quote_only': no single public entry price.",
  "Plan-by-plan prices are not structured in this record yet; pricing.notes has the full text.",
  "Contract terms (cancellation, data export, data location, minimum seats) are not researched as separate fields; pricing.notes mentions them only where the vendor's pricing page does.",
  "Being verified: free trial and refund terms are not yet matched to a verbatim line on the vendor's own pages. Not matched does not mean there is none.",
  "No computable price rules yet: cost at a given team size cannot be calculated for this product.",
  "Not tested hands-on by us: what the product does comes from the vendor's pages and our reading of them."
 ],
 "verification": {
  "price": "read",
  "free_trial": "being_verified",
  "refund": "being_verified"
 },
 "status_page": null,
 "task_evidence": null,
 "open_questions": [
  {
   "question_id": "cognism:public_price",
   "key": "public_price",
   "question": "Can you publish a price, or a starting price, for the plans that are quote-only?",
   "status": "open"
  },
  {
   "question_id": "cognism:cancellation_terms",
   "key": "cancellation_terms",
   "question": "Can a customer cancel at any time, and what happens to an annual plan that is cancelled mid-term?",
   "status": "open"
  },
  {
   "question_id": "cognism:data_export",
   "key": "data_export",
   "question": "Which data can a customer export, in which formats, on which plans?",
   "status": "open"
  },
  {
   "question_id": "cognism:data_location",
   "key": "data_location",
   "question": "Where is customer data stored, and can a customer choose the region?",
   "status": "open"
  },
  {
   "question_id": "cognism:minimum_seats",
   "key": "minimum_seats",
   "question": "Is there a minimum number of seats or users on any plan?",
   "status": "open"
  }
 ],
 "vendor_answers": [],
 "agent_channels": {
  "vendor_mcp": null,
  "agent_checkout": {
   "status": "not_found",
   "detail": "No explicit support for purchases by AI agents on the vendor's own pages.",
   "checked_at": "2026-10-07",
   "method": "homepage, /pricing and the pricing page we cite, read as plain HTML (no JavaScript) and searched for explicit support of purchases by AI agents: Agentic Commerce Protocol, Instant Checkout, Agent Payments Protocol, buy in ChatGPT, agentic checkout"
  }
 },
 "task_scope": {
  "scope": "b2b_contact_data",
  "label": "B2B contact data and enrichment",
  "why": "B2B contact data with a GDPR focus — phone-verified mobile numbers and intent signals.",
  "source": "our dossier",
  "phrases": [
   "contact data",
   "b2b data",
   "b2b contact data",
   "lead database",
   "contact database",
   "email finder",
   "find emails",
   "prospect list",
   "prospect lists",
   "lead lists",
   "data enrichment",
   "contact enrichment",
   "sales intelligence"
  ]
 }
}