Cognism vs Lusha: Which Is Better for Your Team?

Lusha vs Cognism comes down to where your buyers are and how you want to buy. Pick Cognism if your reps call decision-makers in Europe and need phone-verified mobiles, with numbers on 16 Do Not Call lists screened out, and you're happy to buy through a sales conversation. Pick Lusha if you want to start on a free plan, buy online at published prices and begin with a single seat. Cognism sells its prospecting platform in two quote-only packages, Standard and Pro, with five seats in each. Lusha's paid plans start at $37.45 a month billed yearly.

ZoomInfo publishes this guide and competes with both tools. So every Cognism and Lusha figure in this guide comes from the vendors' own sites or G2, checked on October 27, 2026, and ZoomInfo gets one section of its own toward the end.

Cognism vs Lusha at a glance

Cognism in brief

Cognism is a sales intelligence platform built around European contact data. Reps work in its web app or its browser extension on LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, CRMs and company websites. It says it has 400M+ verified business contacts and more than 10M mobiles it has verified by calling the contact.

Cognism sells by quote. Its Standard and Pro packages each include five seats, and Pro adds intent data, a premium mobile filter, on-demand mobile verification and enhanced dashboards.

Lusha in brief

Lusha is a B2B contact-data and buying-signals platform sold online. Reps find people in its Chrome extension or web Workspace, reveal emails and phone numbers, and send the records to their CRM or sequencer. It says it covers 515M+ verified contacts and 29M+ companies and tracks 26 types of buying signal.

Lusha's free plan gives 40 credits a month with no card, and its own email sequencer, Lusha Engage, comes on every plan. For Lusha against another self-serve tool, see our Lusha vs Apollo comparison.

Data coverage and accuracy

Lusha publishes the bigger contact count: 515M+ against Cognism's 400M+. Lusha also breaks the count down by region on its data page, with 132M+ contacts in the US, 162.5M+ across North America and 103.1M+ in Europe. Cognism publishes coverage rates instead. It says it covers 90% of director-level and above contacts in Europe and the US, has revenue and headcount data for 90% of companies with 50+ employees, and refreshes 95% of its director-level and above contacts every 30 days. Lusha says its sources are checked daily and its contact fields refresh weekly.

The accuracy claims cover different things. Lusha states 98% email accuracy (97% in EMEA) and phone accuracy of 85% in the US and 86% globally. Cognism states 98% accuracy on its phone-verified European mobile numbers, a subset of its data. Both sets of percentages are the vendors' own. Cognism also says phone-verified numbers are three times more likely to connect, citing a study in which an independent organization called 1,000 mobiles.

The sourcing differs too. Cognism says its data engine pulls from press releases, company websites, news, earnings releases, public registries and validated third-party sources, and that research teams in Europe and the US validate records. Lusha says its data comes from a community that shares business email headers and signatures, licensed partners, public sources and its own models, which fill in details such as email addresses from company email patterns. It says every email, phone and company record is checked across multiple independent sources, and adds, "We never scrape professional networks or social platforms."

One gap to check before you buy: Lusha's data page says Italian contact data isn't currently available.

The fair test is your own list. Lusha's free plan covers up to 40 email reveals or 8 phone reveals a month. Cognism offers a free data sample instead: you describe your ideal customer, and Cognism says it tries to send mobiles and emails for decision-makers at your target accounts within 72 hours.

Phone numbers and Do Not Call screening

This is where Cognism puts its effort. It says its AI checks the mobile numbers and emails in its data, and that it phone-verifies mobiles by calling them to confirm the right person answers. Pro customers can submit priority contacts for on-demand verification, and Pro also adds a premium mobile filter.

Cognism screens numbers against 16 Do Not Call lists, including the UK's TPS and CTPS and registers in the US, Australia, Germany, France and Spain. Where a number is restricted, Cognism hides it from search and export results by default, and the rest of the contact record can stay visible. An admin can let a country's restricted numbers show with a DNC label, but numbers on the UK's TPS and CTPS are never shown. Cognism added Slovakia's register in July 2026, and some of its older pages still say 15.

Lusha returns direct dials and mobiles as separate fields, verified at reveal, and every phone record carries a Do Not Call flag, so a rep or a dialer can skip flagged numbers. Hiding registered numbers outright is a Scale feature, and Lusha's help docs say it currently covers the UK's TPS and CTPS and the US register.

If your reps dial European mobiles every day, weigh this section most.

Prospecting, the extension and AI tools

Each has a browser extension. Cognism's runs on LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, Recruiter, Salesforce, HubSpot, Outreach and company websites. Lusha's runs on LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, company websites, CRMs and Gmail, and on LinkedIn Recruiter once access is approved.

Both add AI on top. Cognism's packages include AI search, which finds accounts and contacts from natural-language queries, plus AI company research and an AI persona builder. Lusha's AI assistant, listed on every plan, finds contacts and companies from a plain-language request, at 1 credit per 5 prompts in Workspace. AI recommendations come from Pro up, and Lusha Engage includes an AI email assistant at no extra charge.

Both also run MCP servers, so Claude, ChatGPT and other AI assistants can query their data. Cognism's went live for all Standard and Pro customers in September 2026. Lusha's works on every plan, including Free.

Intent and buying signals

Bombora supplies the intent data for each. Cognism's intent data is a Pro feature: admins pick up to 12 topics from a library Cognism puts at more than 11,000. Lusha's pricing page gives 5 buying intent topics on Starter to Premium, with unlimited intent results from Premium, and 25 topics on Scale. Beyond those, any of Bombora's 18.5K topics can be tracked as a signal in Workspace tables or queried through its API and MCP, at 1 credit per topic for each company where a signal is found.

Cognism's hiring, funding and M&A, and job-change signals come in both packages, alongside technographics covering more than 20,000 technologies and sales event triggers from CB Insights. Lusha tracks 26 signal types, including job changes, promotions, funding and hiring surges, and its technology filter covers more than 25,000 technologies. Lusha says signals are included on every plan, and it charges credits only when a signal is found, whether in a Workspace table or through its API or MCP.

Outreach and CRM integrations

Lusha Engage, Lusha's own email sequencer, sends through a Gmail or Outlook account, with limits of 1,000 emails per user a day and 10 active sequences per user. Its AI Notetaker records and summarizes Zoom, Google Meet and Teams meetings for 8 credits a recording. Lusha has no dialer and hands phone numbers to your own dialer or CRM.

Cognism's product menu lists sales intelligence, MCP and API access, CRM enrichment and integrations, with no sequencer, dialer or meeting recorder of its own. It adds verified contacts to Outreach sequences and Salesloft cadences instead.

Cognism includes its core CRM and engagement integrations in both packages: Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics, Pipedrive, Salesloft, Outreach, Bullhorn and Zapier. Its CRM Enrichment product, generally available for Salesforce since July 2026 and now for HubSpot too, is sold as an add-on or on its own.

Lusha connects natively to Salesforce, HubSpot, Bullhorn, Pipedrive, Outreach, Salesloft, Zoho, Microsoft Dynamics, Capsule and monday, and to Zapier, Make and n8n for automation. Its pricing table lists Salesforce, HubSpot, Dynamics, Zoho, Bullhorn, Outreach, Salesloft, Zapier, Make and n8n on every plan, Free included, and its automated CRM enrichment for Salesforce and HubSpot is in beta on Premium and above.

Pricing and credits

Cognism doesn't publish prices. Its Standard and Pro packages each include five seats, and each seat comes with a credit allocation. One credit reveals one contact record. Once revealed, the record stays available for the rest of the contract, and a credit is used again only if that contact changes jobs. Extra credits can be bought at any time. For a fuller breakdown, see our Cognism pricing guide.

Lusha prices per plan, with seats included. Starter costs $37.45 a month billed yearly, or $49.90 monthly, for one seat and 4,800 credits a year. Pro starts at $52.45 a month billed yearly, or $69.90 monthly, with two seats and 7,200 credits a year. Premium starts at $299.95 a month billed yearly, or $399.90 monthly, with five seats and 40,800 credits a year. Extra seats and a credit slider raise the Pro and Premium prices, up to 10 seats on Pro and 25 on Premium, and Scale is custom-priced. Our Lusha pricing guide has the plan-by-plan detail.

Lusha's credits work differently: 1 credit for an email and 5 for a phone number. Like Cognism, Lusha doesn't charge to view a contact you've already revealed, within the same billing cycle, and extra credits can be added at any time without changing plans. Some Lusha actions cost credits on top of the reveal: a CSV export from a Workspace table costs 1 credit per 25 rows, pushing changed rows from a table to the CRM costs 1 credit a row, AI data enrichment costs 1 credit a cell, and API and MCP searches cost 1 credit per 25 results. Its Data Waterfall, on Pro and above, looks up missing emails and phones from outside vendors for 2 credits per confirmed email and 8 per confirmed phone. Cognism says its credits work across its platform, Enrich and API without extra cost. Without Cognism's price per credit, there's no way to compare cost per contact until you have a quote.

Security and compliance

Both hold SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 and 27701, both say they comply with GDPR and CCPA, and both are registered as data brokers in California. Lusha adds ISO 27017, 31700 and 42001, and has its GDPR compliance certified by ePrivacyseal and its CCPA compliance validated by TrustArc. Cognism says it notifies contacts of their inclusion in its database within GDPR timeframes and is regulated by the UK Information Commissioner's Office. Lusha says it notifies individuals where the law requires. Cognism includes SSO in both packages, while Lusha offers it on Scale.

What G2 reviewers say

Cognism rates 4.5 out of 5 from 1,377 reviews on G2, and Lusha 4.3 from 1,671. On G2's comparison page, reviewers score Lusha higher for ease of use (9.2 to 9.0) and rate the two level on ease of setup (9.0 each). They score Cognism higher on the other five ratings, including quality of support (9.1 to 8.1), product direction (9.1 to 8.3), "good partner in doing business" (9.2 to 8.5) and "meets requirements" (8.7 to 8.5).

Which should you choose?

Choose Cognism if

• Your reps call decision-makers in Europe and need phone-verified mobiles.

• You want numbers screened against 16 Do Not Call lists before they reach your reps.

• You'd rather buy a five-seat package through a sales conversation, with one credit per revealed contact instead of separate charges for emails and phone numbers.

Choose Lusha if

• You want to test the data on a free plan and buy online at published prices.

• Most of your prospects are in the US, where Lusha counts 132M+ contacts by location.

• You want a one-seat plan with an email sequencer included and a meeting recorder at 8 credits a recording.

Where ZoomInfo fits

Teams that need sales, marketing and RevOps working from the same records may also want to look at ZoomInfo.

ZoomInfo covers 500 million contacts and more than 100 million companies, offers verified direct dials, detects 15 to 20 million job changes a month, and tracks intent across 4,500+ topics. Sellers work the data in GTM Workspace, marketers and RevOps teams build audiences and workflows in GTM Studio, and native integrations cover Salesforce, HubSpot and Microsoft Dynamics. ZoomInfo holds ISO 27001 and 27701 certifications and a SOC 2 Type II report. ZoomInfo Lite is free, with 10 monthly credits and no credit card, and paid plans are custom-quoted.

For the head-to-heads, see Cognism vs ZoomInfo and Lusha vs ZoomInfo. For wider shortlists, see our guides to Cognism alternatives and Lusha alternatives.

"We use it to find mobile numbers, direct emails, job change signals, anything that helps us break through the noise."

Kevin Neely, VP of Brand Partnerships, Levanta

More than10xROI with ZoomInfo

Read case study

Frequently asked questions

Is Cognism better than Lusha?

Neither wins outright. Cognism fits teams that call European decision-makers and need phone-verified mobiles screened against 16 Do Not Call lists. Lusha fits teams that want to start free, buy online and begin with a single seat.

Which is cheaper, Cognism or Lusha?

Only Lusha publishes prices: a free plan with 40 credits a month, then paid plans from $37.45 a month billed yearly for one seat. Cognism sells its Standard and Pro packages by quote, each with five seats, so you need a quote to compare. Cognism charges 1 credit per revealed contact, and Lusha charges 1 for an email and 5 for a phone number.

Which has better European data, Cognism or Lusha?

Cognism is built around Europe. It states 98% accuracy on its phone-verified European mobiles and 90% coverage of director-level and above contacts in Europe and the US. Lusha publishes 103.1M+ contacts in Europe and 97% email accuracy in EMEA, but its data page says Italian contact data isn't currently available. Run your own European accounts through Lusha's free plan and a Cognism data sample to check.

Does Cognism have a free plan?

No. Cognism sells by quote and offers a free data sample instead: you describe your ideal customer, and it says it tries to send mobiles and emails for decision-makers at your target accounts within 72 hours. Lusha has a free plan with 40 credits a month and no card.

Do Cognism and Lusha screen Do Not Call lists?

Yes, in different ways. Cognism screens numbers against 16 Do Not Call lists, including the UK's TPS and CTPS, and hides restricted numbers from search and export results by default. Lusha flags the Do Not Call status of every phone number, and hiding numbers on the UK and US registers outright is a Scale plan feature.

Do Cognism and Lusha work with Claude and ChatGPT?

Yes. Both run MCP servers. Cognism's is included in its Standard and Pro packages and went fully live in September 2026. Lusha's works on every plan, including Free.

Can you use Cognism and Lusha together?

Yes. Both export to Salesforce, HubSpot and other CRMs, so one can fill gaps the other misses. But that means two contracts and two credit balances, so test how many gaps the second tool fills before buying both.

Is there anything better than Cognism or Lusha?

For teams where sales, marketing and RevOps need to work from the same contact and intent data, ZoomInfo is the third option to compare. Our guides to Cognism alternatives and Lusha alternatives cover the wider field.