What Cognism sells is European contact data with a reveal meter
Cognism is a B2B sales intelligence platform: company records (revenue, headcount, HQ, technologies, funding, hiring and job-change events, Bombora intent) joined to people records (job title, seniority, department, work history) and business contact details including emails and phone-verified mobile numbers. Reps work in a web app, in a browser extension that runs over LinkedIn and company websites, and through AI search and AI company research features inside the platform.
The commercial unit is the reveal, not the search. One credit is used each time a contact record is revealed, and a revealed record stays usable for the rest of the contract unless that person changes job, when it costs a credit again. Intent data is Bombora Company Surge, and an administrator picks up to 12 intent topics from a library of over 11,000.
Two packages, no published price, and a credit model underneath
Sales Prospecting comes as Standard and Pro, each with five seats included, and CRM Enrichment is sold either as an add-on or standalone. Nothing carries a number: both cards end in a sales button and the FAQ states that pricing is tailored based on the product you need, your team setup and how you plan to use the platform. Data-as-a-Service is quoted the same way.
The gap between the tiers is specific and worth reading before accepting Standard. The comparison table marks the premium mobile filter, on-demand mobile verification and intent data as Pro only, while MCP and API access, SSO, AI search, the AI persona builder and CSV enrichment are ticked for both.
Usage has two meters rather than one. Credits count revealed contacts; search tokens charge one per row returned, and count calls cost one token each. When tokens run out the API answers 402 insufficient_budget, and the docs note the retry window can be days. Neither a credit rate nor an overage rate is published.
The MCP server is a real product surface, not a label
Cognism runs a remote MCP server at mcp.cognism.com with Streamable HTTP transport and OAuth 2.0 sign-in, documented with setup steps for Claude, Claude Code, ChatGPT, Codex, Cursor and VS Code. Sixteen tools map onto the API endpoints: company and people search, free counts, dictionaries for industries, countries, departments and technologies, and read-outs of the account's compliance and personalisation settings.
Access is read-only and bounded by the signed-in user: territories, exclusions, per-rep credit limits and permissions carry over, and the vendor states an agent can't reach data the user couldn't already see in the platform. Do-not-call masking and geo-restriction are enforced server side, so rephrasing a prompt does not widen the result.
Two cautions sit in the docs themselves. The server warns that data retrieved through MCP may not be used to train AI models and that revealed contact details are stored in the assistant's conversation. And programmatic access is new capabilities available on our new packages: customers on an older package are told to contact their account team about upgrading, which the pricing table's two ticks do not mention.
Compliance is the pitch, and most of it is documented
Cognism publishes ISO 27001, ISO 27701 and SOC 2 Type II (Security and Availability), with encryption at rest under AES-256, annual third-party penetration testing and a public status page. A data processing addendum is incorporated into the general terms, and deletion or return of customer data happens within thirty days of termination on written request.
The data itself is collected under legitimate interest, contacts are notified of their inclusion, and phone numbers are screened against national do-not-call registers. The number of registers is stated two ways: the compliance page says data is scrubbed against 15 major Do Not Call and TPS lists, while the FAQ names the US, Australia, UK, France, Germany and says the full list of countries we check DNC lists in is available upon request. The MCP page advertises screening against global lists without a count.
Not published: any uptime commitment or service credit, a customer-facing audit log, a choice of hosting region, and any ISO 42001 or HIPAA position.
Buying it means a committed term and a sales call
There is no self-serve route. Evaluation runs under separate Proof of Concept terms on a non-production instance, for a term set in the Order, with liability capped at US $100 and a duty to delete all profile data when the POC ends.
The subscription is not month to month. An Order runs for its Subscription Term and automatically renews for a period equal to the length of the Initial Term or one year, whichever is longer, unless either side gives sixty days written notice. Fees are non-cancellable and non-refundable, and Cognism reserves a renewal uplift of up to ten percent. Leaving is contractually easy in one respect: there are no switching charges and the vendor promises reasonable migration assistance, but the remaining fees still fall due.
Where it fits, and where it does not
The fit is an outbound team selling into Europe that keeps missing mobile numbers, and a RevOps function that wants the same records in the CRM, in a warehouse and in an assistant without maintaining three permission models. Agent builders get a usefully predictable shape: dictionaries resolve wording to exact filter values, counts are free, and only the contacts segment spends credits, so cost can be estimated before an action.
It fits badly if the budget needs a number before a meeting, if the team is one or two people (five seats are included in each package whether used or not), or if the plan was to run a one-month test and stop. US-heavy buyers should also test coverage directly: the marketing is built around European depth and the FAQ declines to make a global coverage claim, pointing instead to a tailored estimate on a call.
Cognism price and terms
Terms
- Free to start
- PartlyPartlyNo standing free plan
The terms in full
Evaluation happens under separate Proof of Concept terms on a non-production instance, for a POC Term set in the Order agreed with sales, after which all profile data obtained must be deleted.
- Sign up without sales
- NoNo
For AI agents
- MCP server
- Yes
- API
- Yes
Pricing page, captured
cognism.com/pricing, checked
What we checked on Cognism
What the price counts
Priced only on a quote: packages are sized to the team and metered with credits, with five seats included in each prospecting package.
Cognism pricing is tailored based on the product you need, your team setup and how you plan to use the platform.
cognism.com/pricingChecked
Free tier
The pricing page enumerates its paid lines in full and none of them is a standing free plan; every card routes to sales.
Sales Prospecting is offered in Standard and Pro packages. CRM Enrichment and Data-as-a-Service are priced based on subscription structure, usage and…
cognism.com/pricingChecked
Self-serve signup
Every plan card ends in 'Talk to sales' and the page closes by asking buyers to speak to a Cognism expert for setup and pricing.
Speak to a Cognism expert to find the right setup and pricing for your team - if helpful, we can also walk you through the platform.
cognism.com/pricingChecked
Contract
Not month to month: an Order runs for a committed Subscription Term that auto-renews for the same length or a year, and each prospecting package includes five seats.
will remain in force for the Subscription Term ("Initial Term") and shall automatically renew for a period equal to the length of the Initial Term or…
Cancel any time
Fees are non-cancellable and non-refundable once committed, and avoiding renewal needs written notice sixty days before the term ends.
Payment obligations are non-cancellable, and Subscription Fees are non-refundable, unless this Agreement or an applicable Order is terminated…
Works with
Named CRM and sales engagement connectors cover Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Microsoft Dynamics, Bullhorn, Outreach, Salesloft and Zapier; the pages do not tie them to a plan.
Cognism integrates with the most widely used CRMs including Salesforce, Hubspot, Pipedrive, and Microsoft Dynamics.
cognism.com/faqChecked
Public API
A documented REST API with OAuth 2.0 client credentials, search, count and dictionary endpoints; the plan table ticks API access for both Standard and Pro.
It is a REST API over HTTPS with JSON request and response bodies, authenticated with OAuth 2.0 client credentials
MCP server
A remote MCP server at mcp.cognism.com over Streamable HTTP with OAuth sign-in, exposing sixteen read-only search, count and dictionary tools to Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor.
The Cognism server is a remote MCP server using Streamable HTTP transport and OAuth 2.0 sign-in, so it works with any client that supports those two…
Acts on its own
An assistant can search, count and reveal contacts on its own, but access is read-only and the docs expect a confirmation step before credits are spent.
Read-only access governed by existing Cognism settings
cognism.com/mcp-apiChecked
Limits on what it may do
Territories, exclusions, per-rep credit limits and user permissions carry into MCP and API calls, so an agent cannot reach records the signed-in user cannot see.
Territories, exclusions, per-rep credit limits, and user permissions all carry over automatically from your Cognism account settings. An agent can't…
cognism.com/mcp-apiChecked
No code needed
The platform is a web app with a browser extension, and the MCP route is a URL pasted into an assistant's settings; only the REST API needs a developer.
start with Cognism's MCP connector – it's a URL-based connection, so there's no engineering time needed
cognism.com/mcp-apiChecked
No training on your data
The general terms rule out using customer data or inputs to train or improve the AI features, and the MCP docs add that retrieved data may not train models.
Cognism will not use any Customer Data, or other input provided by Customer, or derived from Customer's use of the Services to train, fine-tune, or…
Retention you control
Deletion is contractual rather than a setting: customer data is deleted or returned within thirty days of termination on written request, with no published way to shorten retention while subscribed.
Within thirty (30) days following the termination or expiry of the Agreement, Cognism shall cease processing of the Customer Data and, at the…
Self-hosted
The contract defines the product as a Cognism-hosted service accessed under license, and no page offers an on-premise or private-cloud deployment.
"Service" means the Cognism-hosted service to which Customer may subscribe as set out in the relevant Order
Open source
Access is a revocable license to a proprietary platform, with reverse engineering and derivative works prohibited; no repository or license is published.
Cognism hereby grants Customer a non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sub-licensable, revocable license in accordance with the terms of this…
Take your data out
Records export to CSV or straight into a connected CRM, and the terms promise switching assistance with no switching charge, though fees stay payable.
Cognism also provides the option to export the data into a CSV format, to support manual uploads into different systems.
cognism.com/faqChecked
Security audits
Three named attestations are published, two of them ISO certifications through a UKAS-accredited body; no ISO 42001 and no HIPAA agreement is claimed.
Cognism holds the following certifications and attestations: ISO 27001 ISO 27701 SOC 2 Type II (Security and Availability)
cognism.com/securityChecked
Single sign-on
The in-depth comparison table ticks SSO for both Standard and Pro, and the MCP sign-in accepts an organization's SSO in the browser.
Authentication OAuth 2.0 — sign in with your Cognism credentials (or your organisation's SSO) in the browser when your client prompts you
Cognism alternatives
- This spot is openBe the first tool people see on Cognism's page.
- First on your rivals' pages
- Top of your category
- First in the home page list
- First in search results
- In comparisons and guides
- In the weekly newsletter
- Visits and AI reads each month
3 more alternatives
All 5 publish a price.
- SignadoFrom $29 a monthFinds LinkedIn posts and comments from your market, then scores and enriches the people behind them.
- LushaFree, then $49.90 a monthB2B contact, company and buying-signal data for GTM teams, reachable from an MCP server and a REST API.
- ZoomInfoFree, then $20 per top up packB2B contact and company data with AI research agents, reachable from the web app, an API, a CLI or MCP.
Questions about Cognism
- How much does Cognism cost?
- Cognism gives its price on request. From cognism.com/pricing, checked 25 October 2026.
- Does Cognism have an API or an MCP server?
- It has an API. It has an MCP server.
- Is Cognism open source, and can you host it yourself?
- It is not open source. You cannot host it yourself.
- What have we checked on Cognism?
- 18 facts, under these headings: What it costs to start, what it works with, what it does on its own, what happens to your data, whether a company can buy it.
- How do we check Cognism?
- We hold 18 facts on Cognism, quoted from 8 pages. Facts and price last checked 25 October 2026.
Is this yours?
AI assistants like ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity opened AgentsIndex pages 1,190 times from 17 October to 30 October. Claim it free, then see who reads this page and carry the verified owner mark. You confirm it with an email at cognism.com.
Report an error if a fact is wrong.