Cognism
Cognism · Ranked #17 of 19 in Data Enrichment APIs
EMEA-focused sales-intelligence platform with a well-structured OAuth 2.0 API and MCP server, but API access requires an enterprise-style subscription entitlement and there is no public free tier or price list.
GDPR-compliant EMEA contact data for sales teams
Overview
Cognism is a B2B contact-data and sales-intelligence platform known for European coverage and phone-verified mobiles. It exposes a Connect API with company and person search and count endpoints, dictionary endpoints (technologies, regions, countries, departments, seniorities, industries, intent topics) and account-settings endpoints, plus an MCP server for Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor. Usage is metered in two units: search tokens for records returned and credits for contact details revealed, with balances in response headers.
The docs are mature: Introduction, Authentication (OAuth 2.0 client credentials, 20-minute tokens), Pagination, Endpoints, Credits and Search tokens, Rate Limits (500 requests/minute per operation for search, count and dictionary with RateLimit headers and Retry-After), Errors and MCP guides. Missing from what was reviewed: official SDKs and a changelog, and the reference lists no dedicated enrichment-by-identifier endpoint beyond search.
Accessibility is the binding constraint. Credentials are generated inside the platform (Settings, M2M Connect), but the help centre states the subscription must include API access and the org must have it enabled and entitlements configured. Pricing is not public; third-party estimates put entry packages at roughly $15k-$25k/yr with a Vendr-reported median near $36k/yr, and API access is described as an enterprise-tier feature. There is no free tier. Reputation is split: G2 about 4.5/5 (1,303 reviews) versus Trustpilot 2.8/5 (393 reviews), where complaints concern personal data being shared, opt-outs and GDPR allegations, and one G2 reviewer cited no transparency on renewals. A status page is referenced by the vendor but could not be retrieved during research, and no uptime SLA or incident history was found, so reliability is scored conservatively.
How this score is derived
The APIbenchmarks Index is a weighted sum of four dimensions, each scored on an absolute 0–100 reference scale. See the methodology for every mapping.
| Dimension | Score | Weight | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Documentation & DXdocs.cognism.com has separate guides for authentication, pagination, endpoints, credits and search tokens, rate limits, errors and the MCP server plus an API reference with search/count/dictionary endpoints; no SDK docs or changelog were found, so below PDL's level. | 72 | 30% | 21.6 |
| ReliabilityThin evidence: a status page exists (status.cognism.com) but returned HTTP 500 when fetched, no incident history, uptime figures or published SLA were found, and the 500 req/min per-operation limit is documented; scored conservatively at the evidence level. | 66 | 25% | 16.5 |
| Ecosystem & SDKsAn official MCP server for Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor and a documented REST/OAuth API exist, but no official SDKs were found and the sources reviewed did not verify native integration breadth. | 62 | 25% | 15.5 |
| AccessibilityAPI access requires a subscription that includes it, org-level enablement and configured entitlements; there is no public pricing or free tier, and third-party sources describe contracts starting around $15k per year, so scored at the sales-gated end, comparable to ZoomInfo. | 32 | 20% | 6.4 |
| APIbenchmarks Index (ABI) | 60.0 | ||
Table 1. Derivation of the ABI for Cognism. Contribution = score × weight; the index is their sum.
At a glance
- Vendor
- Cognism
- Pricing model
- Annual platform contract + search tokens/credits
- Free tier
- No
- Official SDKs
- 3 languages
Pricing
| Free | None | No public free tier or self-serve API. |
| Platform plans | Custom (third-party: about $15k-$25k/yr entry) | Annual contract; API access must be included and enabled; Vendr median about $36k/yr. |
| Enterprise / Diamond data | Custom (third-party: $40k-$100k+/yr) | Higher volume and Diamond-verified phones add 30-50% per third-party estimates. |
Key features
- •Search persons / count persons
- •Search companies / count companies
- •Dictionary endpoints (technologies, regions, countries, departments, seniorities, industries, industry codes)
- •Intent topic catalogue and account-selected intent topics
- •Compliance, personalization and billing settings endpoints
- •Cursor and offset pagination
- •OAuth 2.0 client credentials
- •Search tokens plus credits metering
- •MCP server
Official SDKs
Strengths & trade-offs
- +Clear OAuth 2.0 client-credentials auth with documented 20-minute tokens
- +Published rate limits (500 req/min per operation) with standard RateLimit headers
- +Separate search-token and credit metering visible in response headers
- +Official MCP server for Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor
- +Strong reputation for European and phone-verified data (G2 about 4.5/5)
- +Dictionary endpoints for filter discovery
- –API requires a subscription entitlement and org-level enablement
- –No public pricing or free tier; contracts commonly $15k-$100k+/yr per third-party estimates
- –No official SDKs or changelog found
- –Trustpilot 2.8/5 with privacy, opt-out and GDPR complaints
- –Status page and SLA could not be verified
- –Renewal-transparency complaint on G2
What developers say
G2 about 4.5/5 (1,303 reviews); Trustpilot 2.8/5 (393 reviews)
Users like the interface, European data coverage and browser extension; criticism concerns data-subject privacy complaints, renewal transparency and cost.
“One G2 reviewer reported no transparency on renewals.”
Key figures
| Rate limit | 500 requests/min per operation (search, count, dictionary) | Cognism docs: Rate Limits ↗ |
| Access token lifetime | 1,200 seconds | Cognism docs: Authentication ↗ |
| Median contract value | About $36,000/yr (Vendr data) | Zeliq pricing analysis ↗ |
| G2 rating | ~4.5/5 (1,303 reviews) | Cleanlist / G2 pricing page ↗ |
| Trustpilot rating | 2.8/5 (393 reviews) | Trustpilot ↗ |
Compare Cognism head to head
Sources
- https://docs.cognism.com
- https://docs.cognism.com/docs/authentication
- https://docs.cognism.com/docs/rate-limits
- https://docs.cognism.com/llms.txt
- https://help.cognism.com/hc/en-gb/articles/34195245226258-How-to-Generate-an-API-Token
- https://www.zeliq.com/blog/cognism-pricing
- https://g2.com/products/cognism/pricing
- https://www.trustpilot.com/review/cognism.com
- https://status.cognism.com
Figures last verified 2026-10-07. Spotted an error? corrections@apibenchmarks.com