The honest Cognism alternative
Cognism is built for Europe and the 50+ employee company. Orbital is built for the US small business with 1.
Cognism is the strongest phone-verified data play for selling into Europe. Their mobiles go through extra verification, they refresh Director-level contacts every 30 days, and they check every record against 15 do-not-call lists. If your buyers sit at companies with 50 or more employees and your motion runs through EMEA, Cognism is a serious tool and we will not pretend otherwise.
We do something Cognism does not. Cognism's own coverage line describes its data as Director-level and above in Europe and the US, plus revenue and headcount for companies with 50+ employees. The single-location US small business, the 4-person HVAC shop with no LinkedIn page, sits below that line. If your buyers are those owners, Cognism's graph thins out right where your list begins.
Two different jobs
Cognism is the European phone data. Orbital is the US SMB row.
Cognism and Orbital both sell B2B data, but they are pointed at different buyers. One is a phone-verified intelligence layer for Europe-facing teams; the other is a company-grain map of every US small business. Read this before the table.
What Cognism is
A premium, compliance-first sales intelligence platform built around Europe.
Phone-verified mobiles drive up to 3x connect rates versus the industry average, Director-level data refreshes every 30 days, and Bombora intent, technographics across 20,000+ technologies, and hiring and funding signals layer context on top. Pricing is package-based, Standard and Pro, with 5 seats included and no public per-seat number.
Best for: mid-market and enterprise revenue teams prospecting into Europe who need GDPR-compliant, phone-verified mobiles for buyers at companies of 50+ employees.
What Orbital is
A map of every US small business at the company grain.
We start from Google Maps, Yelp, and Yellow Pages to build the company set, then run a 51-source agent (Better Business Bureau, corporate directories, legal filings, Dun & Bradstreet, Secretary of State, the business website, news) to find the owner. We find one about 80% of the time, then attach the custom signals you score on, per account. Emails are validated across providers; phones are validated against Twilio.
Best for: teams selling software to single-location US SMBs in field-service verticals, where the buyer is an owner with no LinkedIn page and no corporate directory entry.
The honest comparison
Eight rows. Cognism wins three. We win four. One tie.
We name a winner in every row, and concede the ones Cognism wins outright, up top. The rows we win sit lower, where the long-tail US SMB decides the deal.
| Dimension | Orbital | Cognism | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phone-verified mobile accuracy | Phones validated via Twilio | Premium phone-verified mobiles, up to 3x connect rates, 15 DNC lists | Cognism |
| EMEA and GDPR-compliant coverage | US-only | Europe-first, ISO 27001, SOC2, GDPR and CCPA | Cognism |
| Intent and buying signals | Custom per-account signals only | Bombora Company Surge, hiring, funding, technographics | Cognism |
| Long-tail US SMB at the company grain | 13,549,104 mapped from Maps, Yelp, Yellow Pages | Coverage starts at 50+ employee companies | Orbital |
| Decision-maker contacts at single-location SMB | Owner found ~80% via 51-source agent | Director-level and above, profile-anchored | Orbital |
| Local-business signals (no website, no GBP, no LinkedIn) | Mapped per business | Not a covered data type | Orbital |
| Custom per-account research signals | Built per account on request | Fixed signal set (intent, hiring, funding) | Orbital |
| Data on the shared mid-market and enterprise set | On par where both cover it | On par where both cover it | Tie |
Methodology: Orbital figures from a curated company-grain pull, April 2026, US sourced. Cognism facts re-verified on cognism.com pricing, home, and our-data pages as of 2026-06.
When to pick each
Two reads. Pick the job your pipeline depends on.
Pick the tool whose limits you can live with. Many teams run both: Cognism for the 50+ employee European accounts, Orbital for the long-tail US SMB.
Pick Cognism if
- Your buyers sit at companies with 50 or more employees.
- Your motion runs into Europe and you need GDPR-compliant, phone-verified mobiles.
- You score accounts on third-party intent and want Bombora baked in.
Pick Orbital if
- Your buyers are single-location US small businesses in field service.
- The owner is the decision-maker and has no LinkedIn page or corporate directory entry.
- You score accounts on signals nobody sells off the shelf, attached per account.
Where the long-tail row sits
Coverage Cognism thins out on. The numbers, with sources.
companies across 5 live SMB verticals
Aggregate of the dental, HVAC, med spa, restaurant, and roofing pages. A subset of the 13,549,104 total Cognism thins out on.
of US dental practices we track are single-location
54% run without a website. 74% have no decision-maker on LinkedIn. The shape of the long-tail SMB row a profile-built database does not have. See the dental TAM report.
of US restaurants we track are single-location
82% have no LinkedIn company page. Owner-operators reachable through direct sourcing, not the LinkedIn anchor Cognism is built around.
Source: Orbital data, April 2026. The 1,366,523 figure aggregates small-business coverage across the live email-list verticals, a subset of the 13,549,104 total US small businesses Orbital maps. Vertical breakdowns also published in the Dental TAM report and the HVAC TAM report.
The argument
A row that does not exist in their database is not a row you can buy.
Cognism is built top-down. It starts from the director, refreshes that profile every 30 days, verifies the mobile, and checks it against do-not-call lists. That is hard work and it is why Europe-facing teams trust the connect rate. The method assumes the person you want has a profile worth refreshing. At a 200-person company, they do.
At a single-shop dental practice, they do not. 74% of dental decision-makers have no LinkedIn presence at all. 54% of those practices have no website. There is no director profile to refresh, no corporate footprint to verify against. A platform built to refresh profiles cannot refresh a profile that was never there. That is not a coverage gap a bigger Cognism package closes; the row does not exist to be revealed.
Orbital builds the other way. We map the business first from Google Maps, Yelp, and Yellow Pages, then send a 51-source agent to find the owner behind it. We find that owner about 80% of the time. We do not have Cognism's European mobile depth or its Bombora intent feed, and if those are your buying criteria you should stay with Cognism. We have the 13 million US small businesses their coverage line stops short of.
Questions
Before you switch from Cognism
Is Orbital a Cognism alternative?
For US small-business prospecting, yes. For EMEA mid-market and enterprise prospecting, no, Cognism is stronger there and you should keep it. Many teams run both: Cognism for the 50+ employee European accounts, Orbital for the long-tail US SMB.
Where does Cognism win, honestly?
Phone-verified European mobiles, GDPR compliance, and third-party intent. If your buyers are at companies of 50+ employees in Europe, Cognism's connect rate and refresh cadence are hard to beat, and we do not try to.
Where does Orbital win?
The single-location US small business at the company grain. We map 13,549,104 of them and find the owner about 80% of the time, including the 74% of dental decision-makers with no LinkedIn profile for a profile-built tool to reveal.
How does pricing compare?
Cognism is package-based, Standard and Pro, 5 seats included, credits to reveal contacts, with no public per-seat price. Orbital prices per the verticals and signals you need. Both quote on a call, so the honest comparison is which coverage matches your buyers, not which number is lower.
Can I use both?
Yes, and many teams do. Point Cognism at your European mid-market and enterprise accounts and Orbital at your US small-business segment. They cover different halves of the market.
Can I get a sample?
Yes. We will pull about 100 records in your vertical so you can check them against your own coverage before you commit.
See the data Cognism does not have.
Pick a vertical and a US metro. We will pull roughly 100 single-location small businesses with the owner attached, and you can check them against whatever you have in Cognism today. No seat, no contract, no commitment.
Get a free sample