--- title: "Cognism API: pricing, rate limits & MCP | ONEGTMLAB" description: "Cognism API: B2B sales-intelligence database (strong in Europe/UK) with phone-verified mobiles, DNC screening, Bombora intent and…" canonical: https://www.onegtmlab.dev/tool-directory/sourcing/cognism --- # Cognism API: pricing, rate limits & MCP | ONEGTMLAB [](/) [ Book a call ](/book) ![](/_astro/cognism.BVFvKHsp_Z28pU4u.webp) API review # Cognism API review B2B sales-intelligence database (strong in Europe/UK) with phone-verified mobiles, DNC screening, Bombora intent and job-change/funding/hiring events, exposed through a new OAuth REST 'Connect API' and a remote MCP server. Best for EMEA/UK prospecting where phone-verified mobile numbers and DNC masking matter. Verified 25 Oct 2026 · 13 endpoints listed · Official MCP server [ See pricing ](#pricing)[ Cognism API docs ](https://docs.cognism.com/reference/searchpersons) At a glance Category Sourcing, Enrichment, Signals Pricing model Credits Free tier None. No self-serve account, trial or pay-as-you-go… Auth OAuth Official MCP Yes Best for EMEA/UK prospecting where phone-verified mobile numbers and DNC masking matter [cognism.com ↗](https://www.cognism.com)[Pricing page ↗](https://www.cognism.com/pricing) ## What a call costs The actions you pay for, as Cognism prices them in credits. Action Cost Per Reveal, enrich or export a contact (platform, Enrich, API, MCP, browser extension share one pool) 1 credit per revealed contact; re-viewing a revealed contact is free for the contract; re-charged only if the contact changes jobs API search row returned 1 search token per record in data\[\] (empty page free) API count call 0 credits; search tokens: 1 per call per the credits page, free per endpoints/MCP pages (the count reference lists a 402 insufficient\_budget response, which supports the token charge) per call ## Pricing, plan by plan US dollars, as Cognism's pricing page shows them on 25 Oct 2026. Monthly and annual billing are shown apart. Free tier None. No self-serve account, trial or pay-as-you-go: cognism.com/free-trial returns 404, app sign-in is for existing customers only, and the only free offer is a sales-led 'Free data sample' form. ### Standard (Sales prospecting) [Price not verified](https://www.cognism.com/pricing) 5 seats included; each seat includes a credit allocation (amount not published); search-token allotment set by subscription API includedPlan details Additional credits can be purchased at any point (price not published) ### Pro (Sales prospecting) [Price not verified](https://www.cognism.com/pricing) 5 seats included; adds premium mobile filter, on-demand mobile verification, intent data API includedPlan details Additional credits can be purchased at any point (price not published) ### CRM Enrichment (add-on or standalone) [Price not verified](https://www.cognism.com/pricing) Credits included in the subscription to enrich new records; maintenance included; credits used again only when key details change (e.g. job move). Plan details Shown as an add-on on Standard and Pro and also sold standalone. Additional credits can be added ## Rate limits Per account, per operation class, fixed 60-second window: search 500/min, count 500/min, dictionary 500/min; /health unlimited. Limits are set per subscription package; above 500 req/min per operation needs the account team More on limitsLess IETF RateLimit-\* headers; 429 rate\_limit\_exceeded with Retry-After (never over 60s). Separate from search-token budget, which returns 402 insufficient\_budget (retryAfter can be days). ## How to get an API key Cognism uses OAuth. The steps below follow Cognism's own docs. 1. Create a Cognism account. API access starts on the Standard (Sales prospecting) plan. 2. In the Cognism platform open Settings -> M2M Connect (platform.cognism.com/settings/connect-api-m2m) and generate client\_id + client\_secret (secret shown once). Account must be on a package that includes API access. 3. Send it with every request: header Authorization: Bearer ; token from POST `https://cognism-production.eu.auth0.com/oauth/token` (grant\_type client\_credentials, audience `https://api.cognism.com`); tokens live 1,200 seconds (20 min). 4. Make a first call: Search people (also the lookup/enrich path: filter person.contact.email or person.contact.linkedInUrl, or person.id). Keep the key in an environment variable, never in the command. ``` curl -X POST "https://api.cognism.com/persons/filter" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $COGNISM_ACCESS_TOKEN" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{}' ``` ## Where the docs live What Where Documentation [docs.cognism.com/docs/getting-started](https://docs.cognism.com/docs/getting-started) API reference [docs.cognism.com/reference/searchpersons](https://docs.cognism.com/reference/searchpersons) llms.txt [docs.cognism.com/llms.txt](https://docs.cognism.com/llms.txt) Base URL `https://api.cognism.com` MCP server `https://mcp.cognism.com/mcp` ## Strengths and limits ### Where it fits - EMEA/UK prospecting where phone-verified mobile numbers and DNC masking matter - Agent workflows: declarative filters, free-ish count endpoint, dictionaries to resolve exact values, MCP server at `https://mcp.cognism.com/mcp` - Job-change and email/phone-change tracking on contacts you already revealed (contact webhooks, beta) - Company signal filters: funding, acquisition, IPO, hiring events, technologies, Bombora intent topics ### Where it falls short - Self-serve or pay-as-you-go buyers: no public price, API and MCP only on the new Standard/Pro packages via sales - Bulk async enrichment of large CRM files through the API (no bulk/async endpoint; max 100 records per page; CRM Enrichment is a separate add-on product) - Watching more than 1,000 companies for company webhooks ### Worth knowing - API and MCP are only on the new packages; existing-package customers must upgrade through their account team (getting-started callout). - Two meters: search tokens per row returned (402 when out, retryAfter can be days) and credits per contact revealed (view=contacts). A view=contacts call with limit=100 can spend 100 credits at once. - Docs disagree on count cost: credits page says 1 search token per count call; endpoints, getting-started and MCP pages say counts are free. - Credit balance is NOT in response headers (only search tokens via X-Rate-Results-\*); /settings/billing shows credit allotment and reset but not credits remaining. - limit is a spend control: tokens are charged per row, so limit=100 when you show 20 wastes 80 tokens. Out-of-range limit/offset is rejected with 400, not clamped. 7 moreShow fewer - Cursor is bound to the request body (400 cursor\_filter\_mismatch); sortFields ignored in cursor mode; offset mode recomputes totals each page. - Filters need exact dictionary values ('United Kingdom', not 'UK'); intent-topics dictionary returns an empty list in v1. - Phones in the account's DNC countries are masked and geo-restricted records excluded server-side; check /settings/compliance. - Webhooks only tell you who/what changed; you re-query (spending tokens) to get the new values. Contact tracking expires 12 months after the last reveal. - Access tokens last 20 minutes; cache and refresh, retry once on 401. - Data pulled via MCP may not be used to train AI models (MCP page warning). - Count endpoints are documented both as free and as 1 search token per call; the count reference lists a 402 insufficient\_budget response, so budget a token per count until tested (docs credits-and-search-tokens vs endpoints, reference/countpersons). ## Who should use it Use Cognism for EMEA/UK prospecting where phone-verified mobile numbers and DNC masking matter Look elsewhere for Self-serve or pay-as-you-go buyers: no public price, API and MCP only on the new Standard/Pro packages via sales ## If Cognism is not the answer Other Sourcing tools in this directory, each with its own review. [ ![](/_astro/ai-ark.BE60pifs_Z1HkjgQ.webp) AI Ark Sourcing Free planOfficial MCP Best for sizing an ICP for almost nothing: People Preview costs 1 credit per page of up to 100. AI Ark API review →](/tool-directory/sourcing/ai-ark)[ ![](/_astro/apollo.DNg6-7d3.svg) Apollo Sourcing Free planOfficial MCP Best for people search at 0 credits on paid plans to size and pull prospect lists. Apollo API review →](/tool-directory/sourcing/apollo-io)[ ![](/_astro/blitz-api.Bf9EP17n_qoQcx.webp) BlitzAPI Sourcing From $99/moOfficial MCP Best for high-volume list building at a flat monthly price. BlitzAPI API review →](/tool-directory/sourcing/blitz-api) ## Before you build Four things to settle first, each read off Cognism's own pages. - **Confirm the API is on your plan**API access starts on the Standard (Sales prospecting) plan. Free tier: None. No self-serve account, trial or pay-as-you-go: cognism.com/free-trial returns 404, app sign-in is for existing customers…. - **Keep the key out of your code**OAuth. It is sent as: header Authorization: Bearer ; token from POST `https://cognism-production.eu.auth0.com/oauth/token` (grant\_type client\_credentials, audience `https://api.cognism.com`); tokens live 1,200 seconds (20 min). - **Design around the rate limit**Per account, per operation class, fixed 60-second window: search 500/min, count 500/min, dictionary 500/min; /health unlimited. - **Know the catch before you scale**API and MCP are only on the new packages; existing-package customers must upgrade through their account team (getting-started callout). ## Want us to build it for you? Tell us what you want Cognism to do in your stack. We will show you how we would wire it into your data, outbound or CRM, and what we would check first. [ Book a call ](/book)[ See case studies ](/case-studies) Read from [cognism.com/pricing](https://www.cognism.com/pricing), [docs.cognism.com/reference/searchpersons](https://docs.cognism.com/reference/searchpersons) and [docs.cognism.com/docs/rate-limits](https://docs.cognism.com/docs/rate-limits). Verified 25 Oct 2026. All 13 endpointsFor developers: method, path, what it does and what it costs. **Base URL:** `https://api.cognism.com` **Bulk and async:** No bulk/async job endpoint. Cursor pagination up to 100 records per page and 100,000 records per journey; offset pagination capped at offset 10,000. Source: [docs.cognism.com/docs/pagination](https://docs.cognism.com/docs/pagination) **Webhooks:** Beta. Registered in platform Settings -> Webhooks. Contact events (person.job.join/leave/transition, person.location/email/phone.change) for people revealed with credits in the last 12 months; company events (company.funding/acquisition/ipo/hiring) for up to 1,000 tracked companies. Svix-signed (svix-id/timestamp/signature), at-least-once, 5-second timeout, retries over about a day. Payload carries only UUID + event type, not the changed values. Source: [docs.cognism.com/docs/webhooks](https://docs.cognism.com/docs/webhooks) Filter endpoints 13 endpoints Method Path What it does Cost POST `/persons/filter` Search people (also the lookup/enrich path: filter person.contact.email or person.contact.linkedInUrl, or person.id) 1 search token per record returned; plus 1 credit per record when view includes contacts POST `/persons/filter/count` Count people matching a filter No credits. Search tokens: docs conflict (credits page: 1 token per count call; endpoints, getting-started and MCP pages: free). The count reference lists 402 insufficient\_budget, so assume 1 token. POST `/companies/filter` Search companies (also lookup by company.domain, website, linkedInUrl or id) 1 search token per record returned; never consumes credits POST `/companies/filter/count` Count companies matching a filter No credits. Search tokens: docs conflict (credits page: 1 token per count call; endpoints, getting-started and MCP pages: free). The count reference lists 402 insufficient\_budget, so assume 1 token. GET `/dictionaries/{industries|industry_codes|regions|countries|departments|seniorities|technologies|intent-topics}` Resolve exact filter values (industry taxonomy, SIC/NAICS/ISIC codes, regions, countries, departments, seniorities, technologies, Bombora topic catalogue) Free (no tokens, no credits) GET `/intent/topics` Intent topic IDs selected for the account and the max the account may configure Free GET `/settings/compliance` Countries where phones are masked (do-not-call) and geo-restrictions excluded from results Free GET `/settings/personalization` Selected intent topics and watched technologies Free GET `/settings/billing` Search tokens remaining/allotment/reset and credit allotment/reset Free GET `/tracked-companies` List the account's tracked company UUIDs (company webhooks) Free (adding companies does not consume credits) POST `/tracked-companies` Add companies to the tracked list (max 1,000; overflow rejected in full with 409) Free DELETE `/tracked-companies/{companyUuid}` Remove one tracked company (idempotent, 204) Free GET `/health` Service health probe Free [](/) © 2026 ONEGTMLAB Private Limited. 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