Best Lead Intelligence Software Shortlist
Here’s the shortlist of the tools I’ll cover in this article, with detailed summaries below.
- 6sense - Best for predictive insights
- Zoom info - Best for contact information sourcing
- Apollo - Best lead intelligence software for B2B companies
- Clearbit - Best for activating your lead data
- HubSpot - Best for lead intelligence within a CMS
- Salesforce Pardot - Best for real-time customer data
- Sisense - Best for deep lead data integration
- Metadata - Best for audience targeting and campaign experimentation
- Bombora - Best for exclusive intent data from B2B companies
- Hunter - Best for free, straightforward email sourcing
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These days, customers not only appreciate personalized brand experiences, but they’ve also come to expect them. Sending out the same generic email to a long list of addresses you think fit your target persona or industry just won’t get you results. Lead intelligence software helps you pinpoint the most qualified leads, understand their context, and connect with them effectively.
Whether your company is starting from scratch with little to no data operations or already well into your data-driven era, you want to get the right tools in place to support your efforts. This software can make a real difference in your sales, marketing, and customer success teams’ productivity — not to mention their performance and results!
I’ve rounded up the best lead intelligence tools available to help you find the perfect one to power your revenue operations. Want more information about what lead intelligence is and how it can benefit your business? Jump to the Frequently Asked Questions section below. For more information on how I prepared this list, see How I Selected the Best Lead Intelligence Software.
What Is Lead Intelligence Software?
Lead intelligence software gets you reliable insights about the people who visit your website, view your ads, and interact with your brand out in the wild. These intelligence tools can gather contact data for outreach like phone numbers, email addresses, and social media accounts. The main reason to use lead intelligence software is to reduce the manual workload of your revenue operations teams.
Overviews Of The 10 Best Lead Intelligence Software
Here’s a brief description of each lead intelligence software that showcases each tool’s best use case, noteworthy features, and some pros and cons. I’ve also included screenshots to give you a peek at the user interface.
1. 6sense - Best for predictive insights
6sense is an account-based marketing tool for revenue teams that offers significant lead intelligence insights. It helps companies capture and target higher-quality leads and boost their marketing and sales efforts with better customer and lead data.
Why I picked 6sense: One of the standout features of this product is its predictive analytics. The software uses AI to determine buyer intent and what stage of the buyer’s journey leads are at. Beyond lead intelligence, users can also use the software to monitor the performance of their existing go-to-market strategy and purchasing funnel.
This tool is suitable for customers in the SaaS, technology, finance, manufacturing, and business services industries. Marketing and sales teams can use the information they collect through the software to inform their strategies and tactics.
6sense Standout Features and Integrations
Features include third-party intent data, market insights, segmentation, predictive analytics and scoring, sales intelligence, and pipeline intelligence.
Integrations include Bombora, Clari, Drift, Eloqua, Folloze, G2, HubSpot, Integrate, LeanData, Marketo, Microsoft Dynamics, Outreach, People.ai, Salesforce, Salesloft, Sendoso, and Trustradius.
Price: Pricing available upon request
Free Trial: No free trial is currently available
Pros
- Long list of inputs for segmentation
- Responsive sales, onboarding, and support team
- Intuitive interface for setting up user segments
Cons
- Occasional lags; data can be slow to refresh
- Setup can be cumbersome and time-consuming
2. Zoominfo - Best for contact information sourcing
Zoominfo is a product suite that helps users understand buyer intent, search contact information from over 30,000 businesses, and track website visitors. It also offers lead enrichment, predictive modeling, and data management features.
Why I picked Zoominfo: Contact and company search are the main features of this tool. The platform hosts a large data bank of contact information, such as email addresses, phone numbers, and social media profiles. Users can search and use filters to find contact information for people in relevant roles, industries, and companies for outreach.
Contact information available in the platform helps users pinpoint decision makers and relevant contacts at various organizations and can even give insights into a company’s org chart. The tool meets high standards for privacy and security and is SOC II, ISO 27701, and ISO 27001 certified.
Zoominfo Standout Features and Integrations
Features include contact and company search, website visitor tracking, buyer intent insights, sales automation, conversation intelligence, digital advertising, workflows, predictive modeling, and data management.
Integrations include Eloqua, HubSpot, Lever, Marketo, Neverbounce, Outreach, Pipedrive, Salesforce, Salesloft, Slack, and Zoho CRM.
Price: Pricing available upon request
Free Trial: Free trial available
Pros
- The platform hosts demographic, contact, and web activity data
- User-friendly interface that’s easy to navigate
- Helpful and knowledgeable support team
Cons
- The sales and marketing data sources are separate
- Some users report lower-quality data than anticipated
3. Apollo - Best lead intelligence software for B2B companies
Apollo hosts a database of over 250 million contacts in the B2B industry with robust search and filtering capabilities for advanced segmentation and targeting. It also offers analytics, reporting, and automation functionalities for revenue teams.
Why I picked Apollo: Unlike some competitors, the various software functions are centralized in a single platform. This makes it easier to navigate across sales and marketing operations and keep data and processes together in one place.
This software was also developed with B2B teams in mind. Not only is the data bank filled with B2B contacts, but it also has features like CRM integration and customizable reporting that make it easier to personalize the tool to your team’s needs.
Apollo Standout Features and Integrations
Features include intelligent segmentation, agile integration, strategic sequencing, A/B testing, safeguard detections, and update alerts.
Integrations include Gmail, HubSpot, LinkedIn, Mailgun, Marketo, Outlook, Outreach, Salesforce, Salesloft, and SendGrid. 5000+ additional integrations are available through Zapier.
Price: Plans start at $39/user/month
Free Trial: Free plan available
Pros
- Ability to develop personas for searching and prospecting
- The LinkedIn integration and Chrome extension reduce app-switching
- Buying intent data offers over 1600 intent topics to search from
Cons
- Data exporting can be time consuming
- Intent data only syncs weekly
4. Clearbit - Best for activating your lead data
Clearbit is a data activation platform that helps users shorten customer forms for a smoother purchasing experience. With a large dataset of over 350 million contacts, the tool helps users enrich their data and capture higher quality leads.
Why I picked Clearbit: This tool is best known for shortening user forms. The software draws from your connected data sources as well as its existing data bank to auto-populate and dynamically hide user form fields. This creates a quicker process with less chance of drop-off as your users move through your self-serve sales or lead capture funnels.
For products that offer self-serve and freemium accounts, this software can be a really helpful tool. Not only can it contribute to a smoother sales funnel, it can also support lead nurturing and conversion. Once users capture leads, they can use the platform for proper attribution and personalized outreach and onboarding.
Clearbit Standout Features and Integrations
Features include form shortening, data bank with 100+ attributes and automatic refresh, lead scoring, web traffic insights, reporting and analytics, custom APIs, audience creation, and CRM integration.
Integrations include G2, HubSpot, Marketo, Pardot, Salesforce, Segment, and Slack. 5000+ additional integrations are available through Zapier.
Price: Pricing available upon request
Free Trial: Free plan available
Pros
- Users can connect their own data sources to the platform
- Ability to create custom APIs within the platform
- Straightforward UI makes navigating the tool easy
Cons
- Data is for B2B businesses; B2C businesses may not find relevant data
- Lacking in multi-user capabilities for teams
5. HubSpot - Best for lead intelligence within a CMS
HubSpot is a full CMS platform that covers all aspects of revenue operations, from lead management to sales and marketing automation, a customer service portal, reporting and analytics, and content management.
Why I picked HubSpot: This lead intelligence software is one piece of a much larger system that can manage the bulk of your revenue operations. Your lead intelligence can be handled in the same place as your sales hub, helpdesk, marketing campaigns, paid media, and content production.
For lean companies looking to centralize their operations, this tool can be a great fit. Whether you’re a scrappy startup or a large enterprise, there can be benefits to housing everything under one roof. There are also several pricing tiers and options to suit your company’s needs.
HubSpot Standout Features and Integrations
Features include activity logs, automatic and custom scoring and prioritization, unlimited custom fields, automated data enrichment, segmentation, pipeline management, email tracking, email templates, Facebook and Instagram lead ads, and live chat and bots.
Integrations include Facebook Ads and Messenger, G2, Gmail, Hotjar, LinkedIn, Stitch, MadKudu, Mailchimp, Mixpanel, N.Rich, Outlook, Slack, Typeform, Zoho Analytics, and many more. 5000+ additional integrations are available through Zapier.
Price: Plans start at $50/month (2 users)
Free Trial: Free plan available
Pros
- Centralizes all revenue operations under a single platform
- Freemium plan offers many impactful features
- Intuitive UI and easy navigation
Cons
- Can be a steep learning curve to get familiar with the entire platform
- Wide range of features, but not all have the depth or functionality needed
6. Salesforce Marketing Cloud - Best for real-time customer data
Salesforce Marketing Cloud (formerly Pardot) is a tool for gathering and analyzing real-time customer data. The software collects user data from all of your data sources to centralize it in a single location for analysis and application.
Why I picked Salesforce Marketing Cloud: What makes this software unique is its ability to pull lead and customer data from nearly any source your teams are already using, whether it’s first-party data from your website or data from your other SaaS tools. By combining your data from various sources in one place, the tool provides trustworthy lead intelligence analytics and reports. These insights are easily accessible with the ‘marketer-friendly’ design suite that hosts over 60 ready-made charts and lead scoring calculations.
Lead intelligence is just one piece of the bigger Salesforce pie. The platform also offers customer relationship management and marketing automation features as a complete CRM software. High Tech, Financial Services, and Communications and Media are among the use cases put forward by the company. Generally, this tool is best suited to larger businesses and enterprises.
Salesforce Marketing Cloud Standout Features and Integrations
Features include real-time data collection from various sources, lead scoring, audience building for segmentation and personalization, AI-powered intelligence and analytics, ready-to-use reporting charts, and individual customer profiles.
Integrations can be accessed through Mulesoft, which offers 100s of APIs. Additional integrations can be accessed through Zapier.
Price: Plans start at $9000/month (billed annually)
Free Trial: Free trial available
Pros
- Robust feature set within the broader Salesforce ecosystem
- Ready-made lead scoring and reports make for a quick time to value
- Support is readily available both from the customer support team and a large user community
Cons
- Price point can be high for SMBs
- Steep learning curve to get familiar with all features
7. Sisense - Best for deep lead data integration
Sisense is a three-part cloud-based platform with data collection, analytics, and integration capabilities. The software helps companies bring lead and customer data into their operations with robust reporting and integrations with popular workplace tools.
Why I picked Sisense: Beyond lead intelligence, this software helps users leverage data insights in their day-to-day business operations. The tool uses artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data sharing to keep up with the continually expanding capabilities of business intelligence. The analytics function pulls data from multiple sources to create pre-built or customized reports, dashboards, and predictive models.
In addition to analytics and reporting, the software also connects with several other sources to embed data in users’ workplace tools. Security is at the forefront of the product, which meets GDPR, CCPA, and HIPAA compliance standards. The platform is friendly for non-technical users and data analytics experts alike, with code-first, no-code, and low-code features.
Sisense Standout Features and Integrations
Features include pre-built data modeling, visualization, and embedding, low- and no-code data transformation and investigation, platform scalability, and Git integration.
Integrations include Adobe Photoshop and XD, Fivetran, Kraken, Naveego, OvalEdge, Salesforce, Stitch, and Talend Data Fabric.
Price: Pricing available upon request
Free Trial: Free demo available
Pros
- Fast time to value with pre-built analytics dashboards
- Built for multiple users of various technical abilities
- Complex data visualization and modeling functionalities
Cons
- Some features require custom coding
- Loading times can be long for large datasets
8. Metadata - Best for audience targeting and campaign experimentation
Metadata offers a complete marketing OS that enables audience targeting, web personalization, and campaign automation and experimentation based on lead intelligence. The software aims to reduce manual workloads for marketing teams.
Why I picked Metadata: The unique thing about this software is that it’s built specifically for marketing teams, particularly those in the B2B industry. The features and functionalities are narrowed down to best meet the needs of marketing professionals. Users can connect over 10 data sources to build custom audiences for more pinpointed targeting and nurturing.
The campaign experimentation and automation features help marketing teams execute more quickly on their strategies and run more tests. Web personalization helps create a unique experience for visitors based on their customer journey stage, industry, demographics, and other relevant lead data.
Metadata Standout Features and Integrations
Features include lead intelligence with up to 20 attributes; first-party, third-party, and intent data activation; customized attribution and metrics; multi-channel campaign publishing and testing; and form shortening.
Integrations include Bombora, Drift, Eloqua, Facebook, G2, HubSpot, LinkedIn, Marketo, Salesforce, Quora, and 6sense. Additional integrations can be accessed with a paid Zapier account.
Price: Plans start at $5,000/month
Free Trial: Free demo available
Pros
- Customer service and support is readily available as part of a paid plan
- Capacity to run large-scale marketing operations with a large tech stack
- Centralizes advertising operations for simplified management
Cons
- Price point can be out of reach for smaller teams
- Sales and support functions are less robust than some competitors
9. Bombora - Best for exclusive intent data from B2B companies
Bombora is an intent data platform for sales, marketing, and support teams to better understand their target audiences and cater to their needs. The software uses lead data, customer data, and market insights to identify demand and predict churn risk.
Why I picked Bombora: This software offers intent data by analyzing lead and customer activity across over 5,000 B2B websites. Companies can opt-in to contribute to the company’s proprietary data source, and 70% of the websites that opt-in are exclusive to the platform. With this data, users can get a broader view of how prospects are navigating the market and what types of solutions they’re looking for.
Sales teams can leverage the data provided by this tool to better pitch their product and offer relevant competitor comparison information to prospects. Marketing teams can optimize campaigns and craft more personalized messaging to better address their segmented leads.
Bombora Standout Features and Integrations
Features include exclusive B2B intent data, advanced machine learning analytics, CRM integrations, market insights, and predictive scoring.
Integrations include Adobe, G2, HubSpot, LinkedIn, Lusha, Marketo, Outreach, Salesforce, Terminus, and 6sense.
Price: Pricing available upon request
Free Trial: Free demo available
Pros
- Data is exclusive to the platform and collected on an opt-in basis
- Customer support team is responsive and knowledgeable
- Churn risk indicators help users be proactive with customer retention
Cons
- It may take time to get familiar with the product as not all features are intuitive
- Exported data is challenging to use outside of the platform
10. Hunter - Best for free, straightforward email sourcing
Hunter is email sourcing software that helps users find professional email addresses for and connect with the most relevant leads.
Why I picked Hunter: This tool works first through its domain search feature, which sources emails connected with any particular domain. The email finder tool allows users to search specific names and filter emails by types, departments, and other data. The email verifier then checks whether the email address exists and can receive emails.
For teams who want to focus on email sourcing, this is a straightforward tool to get you the lead data you’re looking for. It’s a great platform to combine with other tools or use on the fly, because signing up for a free plan is quick and easy.
Hunter Standout Features and Integrations
Features include a Chrome extension, bulk task execution, TechLookup to search websites using specific technologies, and an API for developers.
Integrations include Airtable, Close CRM, Copper CRM, Gmail, Google Sheets, HubSpot, Microsoft Excel, Outlook, Pipedrive, Salesforce, and Zoho CRM. Additional integrations are accessible with a paid Zapier account.
Price: Plans start at $49/month
Free Trial: Free plan available
Pros
- Simple and straightforward functionality and user interface
- Completely free version provides real, immediate user value
- A good starting point for finding contact information
Cons
- Less robust feature set and functionality compared to some alternatives
- Can’t always access contact information for smaller companies
Other Lead Intelligence Software Options
Here are a few more worthwhile options that didn’t make the best lead intelligence software list:
- Cognism - Best for contextual lead data and contact information
- Seamless.ai - Best for lead intelligence software with pitch intelligence
- UpLead - Best for lead intelligence across multiple countries
- Albacross - Best for tracking website visitors
- LeanData - Best for actioning account-based engagement
- LeadIQ - Best for integrating with Salesforce
- Sparklane - Best for prospecting intelligence in Europe
- Terminus - Best for complete customer journey management
How I Selected The Best Lead Intelligence Software
If you’re wondering how I selected the best lead intelligence software for this list, here’s a peek behind the curtain at my methodology. I started out by compiling a long list of software with positive user ratings and then evaluating and comparing them based on overall user reviews and feedback.
Once I had my long list, I narrowed it down using the selection criteria outlined below to see how each platform measured up against the next one. My years of revenue operations experience also informed my evaluation and helped me pinpoint the features that add the most value.
Selection Criteria
Here are the main selection and evaluation criteria I used to develop my list of the best lead intelligence software for this article, with a little context on why each is important.
Pricing
Cost and ROI are essential factors to consider any time you’re investing in new software for your team, and it’s no different with lead intelligence software. These tools can be quite pricey, especially as they offer more features, deeper data, and greater functionality. But don’t feel like you have to break the budget — there are a few options on the list that have completely free versions to get you started with lead intelligence, and many providers offer custom packages to meet your needs.
Functionality
I took into account the capabilities of each software and the features backing up those capabilities. Lead intelligence means different things depending on your team’s size, goals, industry, and target market. For some, simple contact information sourcing is all you need, but for others, you might want email automation, context data, or predictive analytics. I made my list well-rounded enough to have options for every use case.
Usability
Because lead intelligence software is often accessed by sales teams, marketing teams, and customer success teams, it has to be user-friendly to a wide array of users, regardless of technical skills like coding. Not only that, the whole point of this software is to save your team's time and improve efficiency. So ease of use and an intuitive user interface were definitely important factors.
Data Hygiene
Nothing’s more frustrating than investing in data-driven software, only to discover that the information it hosts or sources is inaccurate, outdated, irrelevant, or insufficient. The tools on this list all offer useful data, but it’s important to be clear on what data you’re looking for. That’s the best way to find software that meets your team’s needs.
Integrations
Your team’s tech stack is like a transit system — you want the lines between your tools to be direct and any connections to run smoothly. In other words, you probably want software that integrates well with your CRM, helpdesk, communication tools, and any other relevant software your team uses day to day. This can help reduce wasted time through app-switching and eliminate silos between your teams.
Frequently Asked Questions About Lead Intelligence
Not totally sure what kind of lead intelligence software you’re looking for or where to start? Here are some straightforward answers to a few common questions about lead intelligence and its benefits.
What is lead intelligence?
Lead intelligence is the data and information you collect about your leads, prospects, and customers that inform your lead generation, marketing strategies, and customer relationship management. Data points might include:
- Contact information
- Demographics
- Page views
- Company information
- Brand interactions
How does lead intelligence improve lead generation?
Getting more data on the people who seek out and discover your product and brand helps you better understand your market and improve your targeting. When you know where people are coming from, what their context is, and how to reach them, you can narrow your efforts to generate higher-quality leads. Lead intelligence can inform decisions like which ad platforms to invest in and your content and campaign strategies.
How does lead intelligence software support account-based marketing?
Account-based marketing means crafting personalized experiences for individual prospects instead of casting a wide net and contacting leads with generic messaging. This can be an effective strategy for targeting large, high-value clients — but it can require a lot of time and effort.
Using lead intelligence software helps your team gather the information they need to create those customized outreach messages and sales conversations. Rather than spending time trying to track down information about a potential client, that data is collected, enriched, and presented in informative dashboards and reports through the software.
How does lead intelligence software streamline Revenue Operations?
Using a SaaS tool for lead intelligence can help you automate your sales, marketing, and support processes. The software offers features like automatic lead scoring, marketing automation, segmentation, and list-building, reducing manual workloads and allowing teams to focus on their most impactful work. This means shifting the focus from lead quantity to lead quality and delivering more delightful customer experiences that drive not just acquisition but also retention.
Become More Data-Driven With Lead Intelligence Software
Whether you’re just getting started using lead data to fuel your revenue operations or simply seeking a solution to help automate your team’s manual workload, the best lead intelligence software can be an impactful addition to your tech stack. The best software solution for your team will be the one that has the features that align most closely with your goals and the integrations to connect with your existing tools.
Here are some additional resources to keep reading about lead intelligence, revenue operations, and business intelligence:
- Lead Generation Marketing: The What, Why And How
- 8 Insightful Tips For Building Customer Relationships That Last
- When It Pays to Be an Enabler: Increase Revenue With a Sales Enablement Strategy
- What Is Business Intelligence? The RevOps Ultimate Guide
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