When it comes to your business, few things can boost growth like a list of high-quality leads. Rather than building a subscriber base over time, you can cut your time down by simply purchasing an email list from a quality provider.

Of course, the quality of this list is going to determine whether you’re successful or not. Poor lists will provide few results and damage your email reputation, while the best lists will get your email directly in the inbox of an interested decision-maker.

So, where should you buy email lists from? How do you identify quality data providers?

Determining the Quality of an Email List

Companies that provide lead lists should be evaluated by:

  • Accurate data - The data accuracy on your list should be 95%+.
  • Who’s data you get - The best lead lists will give you direct contact info for decision-makers—like CEOs—rather than generic office inboxes.
  • Freshness of data - Is the data pulled and validated after requested, or is it an old file that isn’t maintained? Most databases are quite stale.
  • Completeness of data - Are you getting just a first name and email, or do you get full names,  job titles, technographic information, and more?
  • Data exclusivity - Great lead vendors will send you a unique list, meaning leads that haven’t been targeted over and over again.

12 Best Email List Providers for Any Industry

Here’s our list of the very best email list providers, based on accuracy of data, user reviews, additional features, customer service, and more.

1. Coldlytics

Coldlytics

Capterra Rating: 5/5

G2 Rating: 5/5

With an emphasis on using a combination of AI and human research, no other lead provider boasts the quality and laser-targeting of Coldlytics. With the ability to select advanced parameters such as tech insights, page speed, and whether they advertise online, you’ll get the exact leads you need to grow and more data than you’re used to seeing.

Coldlytics doesn’t put together a lead list until requested, meaning the data is as valid and fresh as possible. This human researched list gets turned around in 24 hours, with the accuracy 100% guaranteed. We even refund your credits for any emails that bounce too, which should be fewer than 3%.

Pros

  • Collaboration with Zerobounce ensures that email addresses are valid.
  • Credits are returned to your account for any bounced or inaccurate emails.
  • Data is sourced and verified manually by a human researcher.
  • Lead lists are always unique.
  • Contact data for decision-makers, not general office emails or low-level employees.
  • Highest possible user reviews on both Capterra and G2.
  • All features are available at all pricing levels.

Cons

  • Leads can take up to 24 hours to be delivered.
  • Leads are provided for primarily English-speaking countries only (US, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa).

Pricing

In the Lite Plan, you’ll pay $99/mo for 100 leads. As you scale up, leads become progressively cheaper. You’ll pay around $0.59 per lead on the highest level plan, with a monthly minimum commitment of $599. Any unused credits roll over to the next month, and you get bonus credits (1 credit = 1 lead) upon subscription as a first time user.

2. UpLead

UpLead

Capterra Rating: 4.6/5

G2 Rating: 4.7/5

UpLead stands out with their strong international database that allows you to access up-to-date leads in real time. With over 160 million leads available in over 200 countries, businesses can easily find the right type of contacts to grow their business.

While they boast a 95%+ accuracy rate, there are still occasional issues with lead quality as lists aren’t manually reviewed before delivery.

Pros

  • Precise filtering allows for over 50 search criteria.
  • Chrome extension allows you to scrape LinkedIn or other websites.
  • All emails are verified.
  • Integration with over 1,500 platforms means your leads can be instantly added to your CRM, ESP, or pipeline software.

Cons

  • To get more data enrichment and other features, you have to pay for higher tiers.
  • Their database, while large, still doesn’t compare to some of the biggest on the market.

Pricing

Their 7-day free trial allows you to download 5 leads in order to see what their search parameters and data look like. From there, your options include $99 for 170 leads, or $199/mo for 400 leads. You must purchase the $199/mo level to get data enrichment, technographic data, advanced filters, and other features.

3. LeadIQ

LeadIQ

Capterra Rating: 4.4

G2 Rating: 4.2

LeadIQ is designed to simplify B2B prospecting. In addition to providing high-quality leads, its AI-powered software generates highly effective prospecting emails. Its ability to track sales triggers can help you know when to reach out to leads.

While their pricing gives you an incredible number of emails per month, they do severely limit the number of phone numbers given. For example, their Pro plan ($79) gives you 2,000 work emails per month, but only 100 mobile numbers. 

Pros

  • Tracks job changes, allowing you to stay more in-the-know with your leads and target them effectively.
  • AI-written prospecting messages.
  • Simple CRM workflow integrations.
  • Completely free plan with no time limit.

Cons

  • They only provide phone numbers for a small percentage of your purchase leads.
  • Many advanced features are available for enterprise-level clients only.

Pricing

Their free plan gives you 50 emails/mo, allowing you try out their plan with no time limit. You can upgrade to get 1,000 emails/mo for $36 (50 phone numbers) and 2,000 emails for $79 (100 phone numbers). The Enterprise package fully unlocks all features, such as prospecting analytics and dashboards. 

4. Book Your Data

Book Your Data

Capterra Rating: 4.9/5

G2 Rating: 4.9/5

Boasting a 97% accuracy guarantee with leads in over 200 countries, Bookyourdata can help you reach decision-makers in almost any part of the world. Their 250 million+ contacts are easily divided up by industry, meaning searching their database and finding the right lists for you is simple.

Their highly enriched data provides information about technographics, business funding, job posting data, and more. With credits that never expire and volume discounts, Bookyourdata was built with B2B business owners in mind.

Pros

  • Pay-as-you-go business model allows maximum flexibility for users.
  • Get 100+ data points for each contact.
  • Seamless integrations.
  • Low cost per contact 

Cons

  • Lacks sophisticated AI features.
  • Some users would rather have credits auto-delivered each month.
  • Limited customer support.

Pricing

Bookyourdata operates on a pay-as-you-go model rather than through subscriptions. Upon sign-up, you’ll get 10 contacts for free, allowing you to get a feel for the quality and enrichment of the leads. From there, packages start at $0.40 per lead for 250 leads. You can scale up to 250,000 credits at just $0.03 per contact.

5. Saleshandy

Saleshandy‍

Saleshandy is a cold email platform that helps you prospect, automate marketing, and manage your replies from one place. In addition, their B2B Lead Finder allows you to search through their robust database of 700 million contacts from 60 million companies.

This all-in-one tool is useful for salespeople who want to keep all their tools on one platform. Rather than integrate with another CRM and ESP, you can purchase leads and then begin emailing them from the same platform. 

Capterra Rating: 4.5/5

G2 Rating: 4.6/5

Pros

  • Massive database of over 700 million contacts.
  • Buy and email leads from the same platform.
  • Many users commented on how user-friendly the software is.
  • Unclear what a credit gets you.

Cons

  • Must pay extra to get phone numbers included.
  • Lack of integrations with 3rd parties.

Pricing

All of their pricing includes for with and without phone numbers. Without email, you can get started with their $24/plan and scale up to their $159/mo plan. Adding phone numbers increases the price around 50% per month. They have separate plans to use their cold email platform.

6. Lusha

Lusha

As one of the more popular solutions on this list (1,400+ reviews on G2), Lusha has served over 1 million customers. With its feature-rich platform, Lusha provides an easy-to-use solution for sales teams and marketers to find and begin sending emails.

A few things set Lusha apart, including its extension that allows you to gather data from LinkedIn or a company’s website. With job change alerts and advanced buying intent signals, you can stay on top of who on your list is ready to buy. However, while their packages appear inexpensive, unlocking their best features is cost-intensive.

Capterra Rating: 4.0/5

G2 Rating: 4.3/5

Pros

  • Strong API allows for easy connecting and automating the lead process.
  • Intent signals track behavioral signals to determine a company’s likelihood to buy.
  • Chrome extension allows you to get contact and company data from any website (such as LinkedIn or a company’s website).
  • Send emails directly from Lusha’s platform.
  • Enrich data for existing contacts in your database.

Cons

  • Top package provides less than 1,000 phone numbers per year. Any sort of volume requires working with sales team.
  • Some users mention that the packages become pricey in order to access all features.
  • Credits don’t roll over month to month.

Pricing

Their free program offers 50 emails and five phone numbers to get you started. Lusha then offers inexpensive packages after that, scaling up to $59/mo per user, giving you 3,840 emails and 960 phone numbers. Anything more than that requires a custom price.

7. ZoomInfo

ZoomInfo

Capterra Rating: 4.1/5

G2 Rating: 4.4/5

ZoomInfo is one of the leading companies in the data provider space. Touted for their massive database, accuracy of lead information, and buyer intent data, ZoomInfo will help you market and grow your business. 

Included in their suite of services are SalesOS, MarketingOS, OperationsOS, and Talent OS—all of which combine to provide the most full-service data platform on the market. However, their lack of transparency with pricing (and reported high prices) and difficult setup make ZoomInfo a better option for larger companies with greater resources.

Pros

  • Incorporates AI to analyze data and identify what your prospects want and when to engage them.
  • Incredible depth of data, including firmographics, technographics, and more.
  • Excellent intent data to help identify leads ready to buy.
  • Data accuracy is considered one of the best in the industry.

Cons

  • Especially low customer service ratings online (including a 3.8 on Capterra).
  • Generally a better solution for larger companies as the cost is prohibitive.
  • Not as out-of-the-box with its setup as other solutions.

Pricing

Their pricing tiers are only available through their sales team, but many reviews lament the high cost of using their software.

8. Cognism

Cognism

Capterra Rating: 4.6/5

G2 Rating: 4.6/5

Cognism is one of the leading international lead data providers known for data quality and compliance. Thousands of teams rely on Cognism for their data, with many of them reporting they provide the best data for contacts outside the United States. With their firmographics, technographics, intent data, and sales trigger events included with their leads, you’ll be able to effectively prospect to the right people at the right time.

While Cognism does provide mobile numbers for each contact, they don’t provide email or phone verification unless you purchase their more expensive package. Pricing isn’t available online either, making price comparison shopping more difficult.

Pros

  • Integrations are available in every package, rather than just the top ones.
  • Large global database provides businesses with best-in-class worldwide contacts.
  • Browser extension allows for individual prospecting.
  • Easy to set up and use.
  • All leads come with phone numbers.

Cons 

  • Can only save 25 prospects to a list at a time.
  • Pricing not available on the website.
  • Phone and email verification are available on the Diamond Tier but not on Platinum.

Pricing

Cognism offers 25 free contacts so you can try out the system without having to pay. Beyond that, you must book a demo with their sales team before getting custom pricing that fits your needs.

9. Apollo.io

Apollo.io‍

Capterra Rating: 4.8/5

G2 Rating: 4.6/5

Touted as a full-service sales platform, Apollo.io is a one-stop shop for your go-to-market strategy. With a full-service CRM, email automation capabilities, pipeline tracking, and more, Apollo.io allows users to purchase and market to leads with one seamless process. 

Their plethora of features can be a pro and a con, with Apollo.io having a steep learning curve. If you want a simpler solution, you’ll probably want to look elsewhere. If you want an all-in-one marketing and prospecting tool, you’ve probably found the platform for you.

Pros

  • 97.5% accuracy promise is one of the highest in the industry.
  • 275 million contacts from over 73 million companies.
  • Chrome extension instantly finds email addresses.
  • Feature-rich platform allows for finding and prospecting from one place.
  • All of their marketing and sales capabilities are included in their pricing.

Cons

  • Many users report a poor customer service experience.
  • Data for smaller companies may be lacking.
  • Higher learning curve because of the wealth of features.

Pricing

Their free level has no time constraints, giving you 120 export credits per year and access to filters, automation sequences, and even their Chrome extensions. Their Basic tier costs $49/mo, but gives a high level of data enrichment and access to features. As you increase up to their $119 tier, you’ll get access to more capabilities of their platform, as well as up to 12 buying intent filters for each contact.

10. RocketReach

 RocketReach‍

Capterra Rating: 4.1/5

G2 Rating: 4.5/5

RocketReach has one of the largest databases of contact data, boasting a network of 700 million across the world that you can access. Their AI-powered data verification and enrichment means accurate leads as well as the ability to fill out information for your existing database.

By adding both quality and quantity of leads to your pipeline, RocketReach can help your sales team close more leads. However, with some complaints around unwanted auto-renewals and difficulty of reversing charges, RocketReach takes a hit on customer service.

Pros

  • Auto-updated lists means fresher data.
  • Chrome and Edge extension for instantly finding lead data.
  • Intent data finds buyers currently exploring your space.
  • Email sending capabilities with a 500 daily send limit.

Cons

  • Complaints about incomplete data were common among users.
  • Many users were auto-renewed and then weren’t able to reverse charges.
  • Phone data only available on the Pro plan and above.
  • No free trial

Pricing

RocketReach doesn’t offer a free trial. Their lowest pricing tier comes in at $48/mo and gives 1,200 exports per year (only email addresses). Their next plans are $108/mo and $249/mo, maxing out at 10k exports per year.

11. Lead411

Lead411

As a truly unlimited provider of B2B leads, Lead411 boasts a database of over 450 million contacts worldwide. Their growth intent data allows you to target companies that are likely to purchase services that will help them continue to scale. 

Lead411 also includes phone numbers with every lead they provide, a rarity for data providers. Its robust free trial provides 50 free leads, giving you enough time to discover its data accuracy for yourself.  

Capterra Rating: 4.1/5

G2 Rating: 4.6/5

Pros

  • Custom triggers allows you to find the most targeted leads.
  • Lead scoring helps you identify the warmest leads.
  • Company updates for organizations you’re targeting.
  • Data enrichment of your current leads in your CRM.
  • Chrome extension for lead data lookup across the web.

Cons

  • More expensive than other options.
  • User interface, especially filtering, isn’t always user-friendly 
  • Some features are only available on annual plans, such as buyer intent signals.

Pricing

Lead411 offers a 7-day free trial with up to 50 contact exports available. After that, you can move to the $99/mo option where you’ll get 200 exports per month, Chrome extension, email automation, and more. To get full access to all features, you’ll have to get the Enterprise Limited package which requires custom pricing. You’ll have to get on the annual plan to access buyer intent signals. 

12. Contact Out

Contact Out‍

Capterra Rating: 4.5/5

G2 Rating: 4.5/5

Contact Out gives sales and marketing teams access to over 300 million leads and claims to have the world’s most accurate database. Used by over 76% of Fortune 500 companies, many industry pros use Contact Out for simple yet powerful lead searching.

Users can add their list of contacts directly to an email campaign with a single click for instant prospecting. The easy-to-use interface makes new users' adoption time only a few minutes. 

Pros

  • Chrome extension makes finding lead information on LinkedIn easy.
  • Incredibly user-friendly interface.
  • Ongoing free trial that continually gives you more leads.

Cons

  • Despite their claims, many users find the data to be inaccurate or incomplete.
  • Adding contact information for bulk data enrichment requires manual input.
  • Personal emails and phone numbers are often outdated.
  • 3rd-part integrations and API access is only available on their most expensive plan.

Pricing

ContactOut’s free plan gives you five emails and phone numbers per day. When you upgrade to the $49/mo plan, you’ll get 300 exports per month and get access to their email campaigns feature. At $99/mo, you’ll get unlimited phones and emails with the ability to export 600 per month. To get full access to their features (including API and integrations), you’ll need to contact them for a custom plan.

Pros & Cons of Buying Email Lists

When it comes to purchasing email lists, there are definitely two sides of the coin. Here are the reasons for and against purchasing lead lists.

Pros

  • Targeted Audience - Generating specific leads can be difficult, but you can purchase lists that perfectly target your ideal customer profile (ICP).
  • Time-saving - Building a large audience can take years. Purchasing a list and marketing to them takes a few days. 
  • Fairly Cheap - Compared to many other marketing strategies (especially quick ones like PPC) are much more expensive than purchasing qualified leads.

Cons

  • Less Qualified - On a per-lead basis, the ones you purchase will generally be less profitable than ones you generate specifically for your business.
  • Need Cold Email Software - Because these leads don’t know you, it’s best practice to send from software specializing in cold email. You’ll want to keep leads out of your primary ESP until you’ve qualified them.
  • Inaccurate Information - No lead list is 100% accurate, and sending emails to an outdated address can lead to low engagement and decreased deliverability.

FAQs for Buying Lead Lists

Here are some of the most common questions about purchasing leads.

Is Buying Lead Lists Legal?

Yes, purchasing lists of leads is completely legal, although there are a few guidelines that you must follow according to the CAN-SPAM Act:

  • Don’t mislead with your subject line.
  • Include the ability to opt out and ensure the request is fulfilled quickly.
  • Use accurate headers (e.g., don’t use another company’s logo to try to lend yourself credibility or scam the recipients).
  • Include your postal address.
  • Monitor what others do for you (e.g., if you hire an employee or a vendor to manage your email, you’re responsible for what they send out).

When you purchase a list with the intent of spamming the recipients, that’s a crime. Spam essentially means that you’re sending an unwanted message—so there’s a lot of leeway there.

This is why we recommend providing something of value in your cold email, such as a free website audit if you provide SEO services. 

Are Purchased Lists Ineffective?

Purchased email lists get a bad rap, but that’s not always the case. Many lead data providers don’t provide the best service, including:

  • Not verifying contact information
  • Providing outdated lead data
  • Providing generic email addresses, such as “support@company.com”

Also, many businesspeople who purchase leads don’t know how to do effective cold outreach. With an effective email template and good follow-up, cold email to purchased lists can be the best way to grow your business.

What is the Best Company to Buy Leads From?

We’re a little biased here, but we’ve built Coldlytics based on the idea that we’ll provide the freshest, most accurate data possible. 

Before starting Coldlytics, I sent over 3 million cold emails in the M&A (mergers and acquisitions) space. I added tens of millions in pipeline value and was a part of $20 million deals. 

However, consistent quality lead data was nearly impossible to find. That’s why I started Coldlytics—to be the go-to solution for people who just needed quality data.

So no, we don’t provide the cheapest leads because we go the extra mile to ensure they’re accurate and you’re getting direct email addresses to decisionmakers. After all, one email address to a CEO is better than ten that go to a secretary or general office inbox.

Book a call and I can show you exactly why our data is the best and how we can specifically target the right leads to grow your business.

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