Clay’s report

Cognism

Domain
cognism.com
Scanned
Oct 5, 2026
Stage
Series C
Raised
$87.5M
Funding date
Jan 13, 2022

This page reads Cognism against Clay, factor by factor, with a source on every claim. Beats Clay on “Owns the data”; trails on “Price, no call” and “Vendors stacked”.

What Cognism is

“Prospecting or CRM enrichment — powered by verified, compliance-first data that drives higher ROI”

Jobs Cognism serves

  1. Reps want mobile numbers that actually connect instead of dead dials — the page sells “phone-verified contact numbers designed to help sales teams connect with the right decision-makers more reliably” (https://www.cognism.com/pricing).
  2. Ops wants the CRM to stay accurate without hand-cleaning records: “Keep your CRM accurate and ready to act on” (https://www.cognism.com/pricing).
  3. Teams want to know which accounts are in-market before they dial — intent data “helps teams prioritise accounts that may be in-market and time outreach more effectively” (https://www.cognism.com/pricing).
1 more
  1. Buyers want contact data they can use without a compliance fight: “verified, compliance-first data” (https://www.cognism.com/pricing).

Cognism against Clay

Beats Clay on “Owns the data”; trails on “Price, no call” and “Vendors stacked”.

Factors where Cognism is farthest ahead come first. Scroll to step through all 8; tap one for its definition and both levels.

Square: CognismLine: ClayRing: low evidence

  1. Ahead of Clay by 3, 1 of 8Owns the data

    Whether contact data comes from the vendor’s own verified database, so one company stands behind a dead number.

    Clay stands at low, on high evidence.

    Cognism stands at full, on high evidence.

  2. Level with Clay, 2 of 8Runs itself

    Whether the tool works outreach end to end on its own, or hands over a canvas to wire up first.

    Clay stands at low, on high evidence.

    Cognism stands at low, on medium evidence.

  3. Level with Clay, 3 of 8It’s the CRM

    Whether the deal data lives here, or the tool writes into a CRM somebody else owns.

    Clay stands at low, on high evidence.

    Cognism stands at low, on low evidence.

  4. Behind Clay by 1, 4 of 8Public signals

    Whether the tool watches public activity — GitHub, web visits, job changes — and names the person behind it.

    Clay stands at mid, on high evidence.

    Cognism stands at low, on low evidence.

  5. Behind Clay by 2, 5 of 8Usage, not seats

    Whether the bill tracks actions and credits consumed, or multiplies by every seat the team adds.

    Clay stands at full, on high evidence.

    Cognism stands at mid, on high evidence.

  6. Behind Clay by 2, 6 of 8Agents included

    Whether AI agents switch on inside the current contract, or arrive as a second line on the invoice.

    Clay stands at high, on medium evidence.

    Cognism stands at low, on low evidence.

  7. Behind Clay by 3, 7 of 8Vendors stacked

    Whether one subscription routes a lookup through several providers until the field fills, or ships a single source.

    Clay stands at full, on high evidence.

    Cognism stands at low, on medium evidence.

  8. Behind Clay by 4, 8 of 8Price, no call

    Whether the entry price sits on the public pricing page, or only arrives after a sales conversation.

    Clay stands at full, on high evidence.

    Cognism stands at none, on high evidence.

Cognism’s candidate moves for Clay: four, sorted into eliminate, reduce, raise and create.

Eliminate
1
Reduce
1
Raise
1
Create
1

Create items are hypotheses. Scroll to step through all 4 candidate moves, one summary at a time; tap one for its full text, its rival and its sources.

  1. Eliminate, 1 of 1Seat minimums

    Seat minimums. Cognism bundles ‘5 seats included’ on both prospecting tiers, so small ops teams pay for chairs nobody fills.

    1 source 2026-10-05

  2. Reduce, 1 of 1Sales-gated pricing

    Sales-gated pricing. Cognism routes both prospecting tiers to ‘Talk to sales’ and publishes no amount, so buyers can’t size spend alone.

    1 source 2026-10-05

  3. Raise, 1 of 1Published coverage proof

    Published coverage proof. Cognism sells ‘verified, compliance-first data’ with no hit rate on the page; buyers want numbers they can check pre-purchase.

    1 source 2026-10-05

  4. Create, 1 of 1A per-record receipt

    A per-record receipt: where each phone number came from, which provider, what consent basis — so compliance review doesn’t stall the list.

    Hypothesis

    no sources recorded

Cognism’s moves: three dated, oldest first.

Three dated moves, oldest first, dots evenly spaced and not to scale. Scroll to step through them; tap one for the full text.

  1. 2022-01-13, Cognism“$87.5m (£64m)” Series C led by Viking Global Investors
    Established player
    Cognism
    Date
    2022-01-13
    Kind
    funding
    After
    “$87.5m (£64m)” Series C led by Viking Global Investors
    Source
    uktech.news
  2. 2025-09-09, CognismDominic Allon as CEO and Chris Evans as CRO
    Established player
    Cognism
    Date
    2025-09-09
    Kind
    leadership
    Before
    Pete Daffern, Interim CEO
    After
    Dominic Allon as CEO and Chris Evans as CRO
    Source
    gzconsulting.substack.com
  3. 2026-09-29, Cognism“MCP & API access” listed on both Standard and Pro, marked “New”
    Established player
    Cognism
    Date
    2026-09-29
    Kind
    changelog
    After
    “MCP & API access” listed on both Standard and Pro, marked “New”
    Source
    cognism.com

Cognism’s facts: six, each with its source.

Scroll to step through all 6; tap one for its full text and its source. A fact nobody states says why.

  1. Funding, 1 of 6“$87.5m (£64m)” Series C led by Viking Global Investors, reported 2022-01-13

    ““$87.5m (£64m)” Series C led by Viking Global Investors, reported 2022-01-13”

    Source Jan 13, 2022 Confidence medium.

  2. Headcount, 2 of 6Unknown: no reason recorded

    Unknown: no reason recorded

    Source Sep 29, 2026 Confidence low.

  3. Pricing, 3 of 6Unknown: Reported pricing string “”Cognism pricing is tailored based on the product you need, your team setup and how you plan to use the platform.” Both prospecting tiers read “5 seats included” and route to “Talk to sales”

    Unknown: Reported pricing string “”Cognism pricing is tailored based on the product you need, your team setup and how you plan to use the platform.” Both prospecting tiers read “5 seats included” and route to “Talk to sales”; no amount appears on the page.” was not found verbatim in this run’s fetched text.

    Source Sep 29, 2026 Confidence low.

  4. Leadership, 4 of 6Dominic Allon is CEO and Chris Evans is CRO

    “Dominic Allon is CEO and Chris Evans is CRO; Allon succeeded interim CEO Pete Daffern, announced 2025-09-09”

    Source Sep 9, 2025 Confidence medium.

  5. Launch, 5 of 6Unknown: no reason recorded

    Unknown: no reason recorded

    Source Sep 29, 2026 Confidence low.

  6. Positioning, 6 of 6“Prospecting or CRM enrichment

    ““Prospecting or CRM enrichment — powered by verified, compliance-first data that drives higher ROI””

    Source Sep 29, 2026 Confidence medium.

Cognism’s craft read: seven observations on how it is built and sold.

Positive
3
Negative
3
Neutral
1

Scroll to step through all 7 observations, one summary at a time; tap one for its full text and its source.

  1. Positive, 1 of 3Credits only burn again when a contact changes jobs, per the pricing FAQ

    Credits only burn again when a contact changes jobs, per the pricing FAQ.

    Source cognism.com

  2. Positive, 2 of 3An MCP endpoint ships on both tiers, so agents can query the data directly

    An MCP endpoint ships on both tiers, so agents can query the data directly.

    Source cognism.com

  3. Positive, 3 of 3Only Cognism and D&B Hoover’s publish European registered filings, says one independent analyst

    Only Cognism and D&B Hoover’s publish European registered filings, says one independent analyst.

    Source gzconsulting.substack.com

  4. Negative, 1 of 3No price appears anywhere

    No price appears anywhere; both tiers just say “5 seats included” and route to “Talk to sales”.

    Source cognism.com

  5. Negative, 2 of 3Each plan bundles five seats, which is more than a one-person ops team needs

    Each plan bundles five seats, which is more than a one-person ops team needs.

    Source cognism.com

  6. Negative, 3 of 3CRM Enrichment sits outside both tiers as an add-on, so cleaning records costs extra

    CRM Enrichment sits outside both tiers as an add-on, so cleaning records costs extra.

    Source cognism.com

  7. Neutral, 1 of 1Intent data is Bombora’s Company Surge, and admins pick up to 12 topics

    Intent data is Bombora’s Company Surge, and admins pick up to 12 topics.

    Source cognism.com

Cognism’s confidence: multiple independent sources, fetched live, agree.

Sources, confirmedIndependent, confirmedRecent, confirmedAgreement, confirmed

A square is a confirmed signal, a ring is one not confirmed.

Citations: 5 sources

  • Oct 5, 2026 entailed

    Two tiers, Standard and Pro, each “5 seats included”, with segment language naming “SMBs”, “Mid-Market” and “Enterprise”. No amounts published; the page routes to “Talk to sales”. Pro adds “intent data” and “on-demand mobile verification”.

  • Sep 29, 2026 entailed

    Same page on the apex host, fetched this run; text identical to the www copy. Not an independent second source.

  • Jan 13, 2022 entailed

    Independent trade press, fetched this run. Confirms “$87.5m (£64m)” Series C led by Viking Global Investors with Blue Cloud Ventures, AXA Venture Partners, Swisscom Ventures and Volution, and that Cognism “provides tools to sales teams for generating data on sales leads” for “over 1,000 customers in over 40 countries”. Stale by four years.

  • Sep 9, 2025 entailed

    Independent analyst newsletter (RevTech Intelligence), fetched this run. Confirms Dominic Allon as CEO and Chris Evans as CRO, Allon succeeding interim CEO Pete Daffern; states “a database of 440 million contacts and 100 million mobile numbers” and that “only Cognism and D&B Hoover’s provide European registered filings” among top sales-intelligence vendors.

  • Oct 5, 2026 not entailed

    Attempted marketplace listing returned HTTP 404; no listing evidence gathered. Not retried.