The honest B2B contact database guide
The B2B contact database that maps the SMB grain the other tools skip.
Orbital is the category leader for sub-50-employee company coverage. ZoomInfo wins enterprise. Apollo wins mid-market outbound. Lusha wins contact lookup. This page matches the tool to the job.
What each tool actually is
Different shapes for different sales motions.
A B2B contact database is not one product. The four tools below solve four different jobs. Pick by the shape of your buyer, not by which logo your RevOps lead saw on G2 first.
The SMB-grain database.
We start with the full US small-business population, 13,549,104 companies, and attach contacts plus custom agent signals to each one. We will not match ZoomInfo on Fortune 500 org charts. That is not the market we serve.
The wedge: single-location operators that other tools render as a thin row, or a row that does not exist in their database at all.
Each named tool has its own lane.
ZoomInfo is the enterprise firmographics platform. Built around the Fortune-rated company set, with org charts and intent data on large companies. The category brand for procurement comfort.
Apollo is data plus sequencing in one seat. Strong for mid-market outbound where the same rep wants prospect, send, and reply tracking without a second tool.
Lusha is contact lookup. The browser extension that finds a phone or email for the LinkedIn profile in front of you. Rep-by-rep, not list-shaped.
The honest comparison
Where each tool wins, in plain rows.
Eight dimensions a B2B buyer evaluates a contact database on. Winner is by job-to-be-done, not by feeling. Rows where Orbital loses sit in the top half so you can see the page is honest before you scroll.
| Dimension | Orbital | ZoomInfo / Apollo / Lusha | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enterprise firmographics & org charts | Large companies are in the database, but org charts and headcount-tier depth are not the Orbital wedge. | ZoomInfo is the category leader for Fortune 1000 org charts, hierarchies, and intent topics on enterprise buyers. | ZoomInfo |
| Sequencing in the same seat | Orbital is a data platform; sequencing happens in your existing tool (Outreach, Salesloft, HubSpot, Apollo, Smartlead). | Apollo bundles data and sequencing for one seat fee, which is the right shape for a mid-market outbound team running one workflow. | Apollo |
| SMB coverage (sub-50-employee, single-location) | 13,549,104 US small businesses at the company grain. The long-tail single-shop operator is the core dataset. | ZoomInfo thins out fast below the headcount tiers it was built for. Apollo and Lusha are LinkedIn-shaped, so SMB owners who never built a profile are missing. | Orbital |
| Browser-extension contact lookup on LinkedIn | Not the Orbital motion. We deliver lists and scored account sets, not click-by-click reveals. | Lusha is the cleanest single-contact reveal tool inside the LinkedIn UI for a rep working a profile in front of them. | Lusha |
| Per-account custom research signals | Orbital agents research each account for the signals you score on: hiring, opening a location, software in use, recently incorporated, ownership change. | ZoomInfo offers aggregated intent topics, not per-account research. Apollo and Lusha do not run per-account research. | Orbital |
| Pricing model | Per-record platform engagement scoped to the universe and signals you want. No public price table; we quote against scope. | ZoomInfo: platform contract with seat and credit minimums. Apollo: per-seat with usage tiers. Lusha: per-credit on contact reveals. | Tie (different shapes) |
| CRM integration breadth | Clean push into Salesforce, HubSpot, and Attio plus CSV. The common surface, not the long tail of niche tools. | ZoomInfo and Apollo have deeper one-click integration menus across the long tail of revenue tools. | ZoomInfo / Apollo |
| Brand recognition with procurement | Newer brand in the buyer category. We show up where the buyer cares about SMB grain, not where they care about a known logo. | ZoomInfo is the comfort pick for enterprise procurement. The brand alone reduces friction in a six-figure deal cycle. | ZoomInfo |
Source: Orbital data (curated company-grain pull), April 2026. Competitor figures cited from each vendor's published documentation as of 2026-04; see source links in the comparison table.
How to choose
Pick the tool that matches your buyer.
Three short decision cards. If your buyer fits the bullets under one card, that is the right tool. If it sits between two, most teams run two.
Pick Orbital if...
- You sell to single-shop owners on Main Street, sub-50-employee operators, or trade and healthcare verticals.
- You need per-account research signals (hiring, software in use, recently incorporated) more than aggregated intent topics.
- You want the long-tail SMB universe, not a Fortune 500 org-chart database.
Pick the others if...
- ZoomInfo if you sell to Fortune 500 IT teams, your ICP is enterprise security buyers, and you need org-chart depth on 50,000-employee companies. Orbital does not cover that market at parity.
- Apollo if you want data and sequencing in one seat for a mid-market outbound motion, and you do not need SMB long-tail coverage.
- Lusha if your motion is rep-by-rep contact lookup inside a LinkedIn browser extension, not list-shaped account work.
The SMB grain in numbers
Where Orbital is deeper than the enterprise databases.
US small businesses at the company grain
The full population, not a sample. Built bottom-up from the small-business universe rather than top-down from the Fortune set.
companies across our five live vertical lists
Dental, HVAC, med spa, restaurant, and roofing combined. A subset of the 13.5M total, showing the depth at the vertical grain.
single-location, owner-run operators (dental sample)
Of US dental practices Orbital tracks, 82% are single-location. The shape of the SMB market in one number, the part enterprise databases thin out on.
Source: Orbital data, 2026-04. Aggregate small-business coverage across the five live email-list verticals sums to 1,366,523 companies, a subset of the 13.5M total US small-business universe Orbital maps.
Why the database shape matters
A row that does not exist is not a row you can buy.
Most B2B contact databases are built from the top down. They start with the companies that are easy to find, the large groups with marketing teams, public filings, and well-staffed LinkedIn pages, and they thin out fast below that. That is the right shape if your buyer is a Fortune 1000 IT director. It is the wrong shape if your buyer is the owner of a single-location practice with no website and no LinkedIn profile.
We build the database the other direction. We start with the full population of US small businesses, then attach contacts two ways: decision-makers matched from professional profiles, and company-level emails sourced directly from the business itself. That second path is the one that matters for the long tail, because an operator who never built a profile still has a front desk and a domain.
The honest trade is this: we will not give you a million enterprise org charts, because that is not the database we built. You get the SMB universe with verified contacts and the per-account signals your team scores on. If you need ZoomInfo's enterprise depth, run both. Most of our customers do.
You can see the shape in the live vertical lists: the dentist email list, the HVAC email list, the med spa email list, the restaurant email list, and the roofing email list. Each is a slice of the 13.5M small-business universe with verified contacts and custom signals attached.
Questions
Before you ask sales.
Is Orbital a ZoomInfo alternative?
It depends on what you sell. ZoomInfo wins for Fortune 1000 firmographics, org charts, and intent data on enterprise IT and security buyers. Orbital wins for the long-tail SMB universe, the 13,549,104 US small businesses that sit below ZoomInfo's primary set. If your ICP is sub-50-employee operators, Orbital is the match. If your ICP is a 20,000-person company, stay on ZoomInfo.
How does Orbital compare to Apollo?
Apollo wins for sequencing built into the same tool and for mid-market outbound, where a single seat covers data plus send. Orbital wins for company-grain coverage of single-location SMBs and for custom signals an agent researches per account. Teams running Apollo for mid-market often add Orbital for the SMB slice rather than swap.
How does Orbital compare to Lusha?
Lusha wins for one-click contact discovery inside the LinkedIn browser extension. Orbital is a different shape: we start from the company population and attach contacts, including the SMB owners who do not maintain a LinkedIn profile. If your motion is rep-by-rep contact lookup, Lusha is fine. If you want a scored account set, that is the Orbital lane.
Do you cover Fortune 500 enterprise companies?
Not at parity with ZoomInfo. We hold large-company rows, but the depth, org charts, and intent signals on enterprise buyers are not our wedge. If you sell to Fortune 500 IT teams or 50k-employee org charts, pick ZoomInfo. We will tell you that on a call.
Can I import Orbital data into Salesforce or HubSpot?
Yes, the standard delivery is a CRM-shaped export (CSV or direct push into Salesforce, HubSpot, or Attio) with the company, contact, and signal fields mapped. ZoomInfo and Apollo have deeper one-click integration breadth across niche tools; Orbital covers the common ones cleanly.
Does Orbital have intent data?
Not in the third-party-cookie sense ZoomInfo or 6sense sell. Orbital runs custom agent signals per account instead, such as hiring, recently incorporated, opening a location, or practice software in use. It is a different model: per-account research rather than aggregated intent topics.
How does pricing compare?
Pricing models differ. ZoomInfo is a platform contract with seat and credit minimums. Apollo is per-seat with usage tiers. Lusha is per-credit on contact lookups. Orbital is a per-record platform engagement scoped to the universe and signals you want. We do not publish a public price table; we quote against the scope.
When should I not pick Orbital?
Three cases. You sell to Fortune 500 IT or security buyers and need 50k-employee org charts: pick ZoomInfo. You want sequencing and data in one seat for a mid-market motion: pick Apollo. You want a browser extension for rep-by-rep contact lookup on LinkedIn: pick Lusha. We will not match those tools on those jobs.
See the data the enterprise databases miss.
Tell us the verticals, states, and signals you care about. We will send a free sample of around 100 verified records so you can check the SMB-grain coverage against your own before anything changes hands.
Get a free sample