Standard (Sales prospecting)
Price on request through sales.
API included
Plan details
5 seats included, each with a credit allocation. MCP and API access, list building with firmographic, technographic and signal filters, CSV export and enrichment.
Comparison
Cognism vs UpLead
Cognism sells Standard and Pro packages through sales with no public price; both include its API and an official MCP server, and its data leans on phone-verified mobiles screened against do-not-call lists. UpLead publishes self-serve plans from US$74 a month billed annually, charges 1 credit per contact and only for valid or accept-all emails, but lists its API on the sales-led Professional plan. UpLead has no MCP server.
Pick Cognism if
- You call prospects and want phone-verified mobiles screened against do-not-call lists
- You want API and MCP access included in the package rather than gated to a top tier
Pick UpLead if
- You want to buy without a sales call, from US$74 a month billed annually
- You only want to pay for usable emails: credits are charged on Valid or Accept All results
Cognism
Sourcing, Enrichment
UpLead
Sourcing, Enrichment
At a glance
Cognism
- From
- Not published; bought through sales
- Free plan
- NoNo self-serve account or trial
- Cost per unit
- 1 credit per revealed contact
- MCP server
- Official
UpLead
- From
- US$99/moEssentials monthly, US$74 annual
- Free plan
- Yes7-day trial, 5 credits, card required
- Cost per unit
- US$0.581 credit per contact, about
- MCP server
- NoNo
Where they differ
15 points side by side. Open a value for the full detail.
| What | Cognism | UpLead |
|---|---|---|
| B2B database with phone-verified mobilesA B2B sales-intelligence database with emails, direct dials and phone-verified mobiles, company events and intent data, sold as prospecting packages with an API and MCP. | Self-serve B2B contact databaseA self-serve B2B contact and company database with real-time email verification and a simple REST API (v2) for company, person and combined lookups and prospecting at a domain. | |
| Not published; bought through salesNo public price. Standard and Pro each include 5 seats and are bought through sales. Verified 2026-10-25. | Essentials US$99/mo monthly, US$74 annualEssentials is US$74 a month billed annually (2,040 credits a year), or US$99 billed monthly (170 credits a month). Verified 2026-10-25. | |
| 1 credit per revealed contact1 credit per revealed contact. A revealed contact stays usable for the contract and costs a credit again only if the person changes jobs. API search also spends 1 search token per row returned. Credit prices are not published. | 1 credit per contact, about US$0.581 credit per contact unlocked (email and mobile direct dial) or per API record returned. Extra credits cost US$0.60 on Essentials and US$0.50 on Plus. Before extras, Essentials works out at about US$0.44 a contact billed annually and US$0.58 billed monthly. | |
| Credits per seat, buy more anytimeEach seat includes a credit allocation, and the same credits work across the platform, Enrich and the API. Additional credits can be bought at any time. | Charged on Valid or Accept AllCredits are charged only when the email status is Valid or Accept All, so invalid emails cost nothing; catch-all addresses still cost a credit. The same record is not charged twice. Plans auto-renew. | |
| No self-serve account or trialNo self-serve account or free trial. The free-trial URL returns a 404 page; the free option is a data sample requested through sales. | 7-day trial, 5 credits, card requiredA 7-day free trial with 5 credits for 1 user. After email confirmation, the trial asks for a card before it starts and bills the Essentials annual plan (US$890) on day 7 unless cancelled. | |
| Standard and Pro packagesAPI and MCP access are listed on Standard and Pro. Customers on older packages upgrade through their account team. | Enrichment API from Plus; full API on ProfessionalThe pricing page's comparison table ticks the Enrichment API on Plus and Professional, and the Prospector Pro API and Full API Access on Professional only (annual, custom quote). The docs also link a form to request a free API key. | |
| OAuth client credentials, 20-minute tokensOAuth 2.0 client credentials: generate a client ID and secret under Settings > M2M Connect, exchange them for a Bearer token that lasts 20 minutes. | Raw key in Authorization headerThe raw API key in the Authorization header, with no Bearer prefix. | |
| 500 requests/min per call typePer account, per operation class: search, count and dictionary calls 500 a minute each. A 429 carries Retry-After; running out of search tokens returns 402 instead. | 500 requests/min500 requests a minute, with X-RateLimit headers and Retry-After on a 429. | |
| No bulk endpoint; beta webhooksNo bulk job endpoint: pages of up to 100 records, up to 100,000 per cursor journey. Webhooks (beta) report job and contact changes for people revealed in the last 12 months, and funding, acquisition, IPO and hiring events for up to 1,000 tracked companies. | No bulk endpoint, no webhooksNo bulk endpoint: search pages hold up to 100 records. No webhooks. | |
YesOfficial remote MCP at https://mcp.cognism.com/mcp with company and people search, counts and dictionaries. OAuth sign-in as your own user. Data from the MCP may not be used to train AI models. | NoNone. No MCP server is mentioned in UpLead's docs or site. | |
| Ranked mobiles with DNC flags, intentPeople with titles, seniority, skills, career history, emails, direct dials and ranked mobiles with do-not-call flags. Companies with firmographics, technologies, funding, M&A, IPO and hiring events, and intent topics. | Email with status, mobile direct dialPeople with title, function, management level, email with a verification status, phone and mobile direct dial. Companies with domain, size and revenue ranges, industry codes, description, social links and logo. Technographics search over 16,000 technologies in the app. | |
| Screens 15 do-not-call and TPS listsScreens its phone data against 15 major do-not-call and TPS lists. Phones in your account's do-not-call countries are masked by the API. | No do-not-call screening describedMobile direct dials on every paid plan. No do-not-call screening is described on its pages. | |
| Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Bullhorn, DynamicsSalesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Bullhorn, Microsoft Dynamics, Salesloft, Outreach and Zapier. | CRMs, sales tools, ZapierSalesforce, HubSpot, Zoho, Pipedrive, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Outreach, Salesloft, Reply.io, Woodpecker, Copper, Nimble, Mailshake, lemlist, Close and Insightly, plus Zapier. | |
| ISO 27001, ISO 27701, SOC 2 Type 2ISO 27001, ISO 27701 and SOC 2 Type 2, and data handling aligned with GDPR and CCPA, per its compliance page. | GDPR and CCPA notices, no SOC 2GDPR and CCPA notices in its privacy policy. No SOC 2 or ISO claim on its pages. | |
| Europe and UK phone prospectingTeams prospecting in Europe and the UK that call mobiles, need do-not-call screening, and want API or MCP access in the same contract. | Published prices, pay per contactSmall teams that want published prices, pay-per-contact credits and verified emails without a sales call. |
No row matches in this view.
Pricing, plan by plan
US dollars as each vendor's page showed them on 25 Oct 2026. One panel per tool; switch each between monthly and annual billing (an annual price is the monthly rate when you pay for the year up front).
Cognism
3 plans · API reviewPro (Sales prospecting)
Price on request through sales.
API included
Plan details
Everything in Standard plus more mobile data, on-demand verification and intent data. 5 seats included.
CRM Enrichment (add-on or standalone)
Price on request.
Plan details
Credits enrich new CRM records with ongoing maintenance included; a credit is used again only when key details change.
UpLead
4 plans · API reviewFree Trial
$0
Free
US$0 for 7 days, 5 credits, 1 user.
No API
Plan details
A card is required to start, and the Essentials annual plan is billed on day 7. No API listed.
Essentials
$99/mo
billed monthly
$74/mo
billed annually
US$99 a month billed monthly (170 credits a month), or US$74 a month billed annually (2,040 credits).
No API
Plan details
Verified emails, mobile direct dials, CRM integrations. Extra credits US$0.60. API not listed on this plan.
Plus
$199/mo
billed monthly
$149/mo
billed annually
US$199 a month billed monthly (400 credits a month), or US$149 a month billed annually (4,800 credits).
No API
Plan details
Adds data enrichment, email pattern intel, technographics and suppression lists. Extra credits US$0.50. The plan card lists no API, but the comparison table ticks the Enrichment API on Plus.
Professional
Custom quote
Custom seats and credits, annual billing only, price on request.
API included
Plan details
Enrichment API, Prospector Pro API and Full API Access.
Which one to pick
Choose Cognism if
- You call prospects and want phone-verified mobiles screened against do-not-call lists.
- You want API and MCP access included in the package rather than gated to a top tier.
- You want change alerts: Cognism webhooks report job moves for revealed contacts and funding or hiring events for tracked companies.
- You need published security certifications: ISO 27001, ISO 27701 and SOC 2 Type 2.
Choose UpLead if
- You want to buy without a sales call, from US$74 a month billed annually.
- You only want to pay for usable emails: credits are charged on Valid or Accept All results.
- You push contacts into one of the 15 tools UpLead connects to, from Salesforce and HubSpot to Reply.io and lemlist.
- You need simple per-record lookups by domain, email or name and domain, at 1 credit each.
If neither fits: If you mainly need verified work emails for people you have already chosen, a pay-per-result email finder may fit better than a full database. See the email-finding guide.
How to find a person's work email addressWant us to build it for you?
Choosing between Cognism and UpLead, or moving from one to the other? Tell us your setup. We will show you how we would run it, and what we would check first.
Questions people ask
How much does Cognism cost compared with UpLead?
Cognism publishes no prices; Standard and Pro are quoted by sales and each includes 5 seats. UpLead publishes its self-serve plans: Essentials is US$74 a month billed annually or US$99 monthly, and Plus is US$149 billed annually or US$199 monthly. Prices verified 25 Oct 2026.
Does UpLead have an API on every plan?
Not on every plan: UpLead's pricing page ticks the Enrichment API on Plus and Professional, and the Prospector Pro API and Full API Access on Professional only, an annual plan priced on request. UpLead's docs also link a form to request a free API key, so ask sales which applies to you. Cognism lists API and MCP access on both of its packages.
Can I try Cognism or UpLead for free?
UpLead has a 7-day trial with 5 credits, but it asks for a card before it starts and bills the Essentials annual plan (US$890) on day 7 unless you cancel. Cognism has no self-serve trial; it offers a free data sample through its sales team.
Do Cognism or UpLead charge for bad emails?
UpLead charges a credit only when the email status is Valid or Accept All, so invalid emails cost nothing, though catch-all addresses still do. Cognism charges 1 credit per revealed contact and does not charge again for that contact unless the person changes jobs.
Do Cognism and UpLead work with AI agents?
Cognism runs an official MCP server at https://mcp.cognism.com/mcp that searches and counts people and companies after an OAuth sign-in; data pulled through it may not be used to train AI models. UpLead has no MCP server, so an agent would call its REST API directly.
Related
Read from cognism.com/pricing, uplead.com/pricing and each tool's API docs. Verified 25 Oct 2026.
