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LCognism vs Lusha
Lusha wins on self-serve pricing, free entry, and small-team economics. Cognism wins on verified mobiles and enterprise EMEA depth. Here's the European data decision.
CLCognism — for enterprise EMEA teams where connect rate is the business case
Phone-verified mobiles with up to 3× higher connect rates, 30-day refresh, Bombora intent, and an account manager on every tier. The trade-off: five-figure quote-only pricing, a 5-seat minimum, and no self-serve anything.
Lusha — for self-serve EMEA data without the enterprise contract
GDPR, CCPA, SOC 2, and ISO 27701 in a self-serve product with a real free plan, 5-credit phone numbers, and 3 seats for $52.45. The trade-off: credit caps bite at volume, and database depth trails Cognism's verified set.
Cfor enterprise EMEA teams where connect rate is the business case
Phone-verified mobiles with up to 3× higher connect rates, 30-day refresh, Bombora intent, and an account manager on every tier. The trade-off: five-figure quote-only pricing, a 5-seat minimum, and no self-serve anything.
Lfor self-serve EMEA data without the enterprise contract
GDPR, CCPA, SOC 2, and ISO 27701 in a self-serve product with a real free plan, 5-credit phone numbers, and 3 seats for $52.45. The trade-off: credit caps bite at volume, and database depth trails Cognism's verified set.
Side-by-side, 6 axes.
Every tool gets the same criteria rubric. Each axis is scored 0–5 under our fixed research protocol — and the bar shows how they stack up directly.
CLCLCLCLCLCLCLCLWhich one is right for you?
Skip the rest of the page — if you fit one of these profiles cleanly, the answer is already obvious.
CChoose Cognism if…
You're a fit when:
- Enterprise EMEA outbound where phone connect rate carries the business case — verified mobiles deliver up to 3× more conversations
- Teams of 5+ with a named data budget line — the seat minimum and quote process assume an org, not a card
- Compliance-audited organizations: GDPR-first sourcing, Do-Not-Call coverage across European markets
- Intent-led ABM on Bombora — up to 12 topics from 11,000+ signals on Pro
- Teams that want an account manager from day one without an enterprise tier
- You're under 5 people — the seat minimum makes Cognism structurally wrong; Lusha's 3-seat Pro is built for you
- You need to start this week — Cognism implementation averages a month; Lusha is live in an afternoon
LChoose Lusha if…
You're a fit when:
- Small and mid-size teams that want EMEA-grade compliance — ISO 27701 + GDPR — at self-serve prices
- Teams of 2–3: the Pro plan's 3 included seats at ~$17.48/person are the category's best multi-seat entry
- Phone-inclusive prospecting on a budget — 5 credits per number
- Try-before-buy evaluations — the free plan's 40 monthly credits include sequences and call recordings
- Card-payment procurement — published prices through Premium, no sales cycle to start
- Connect rate is your bottleneck at enterprise scale — Cognism's phone verification is the stronger guarantee
- You need 30-day refresh cycles and account management — that's Cognism's service tier, not Lusha's
Every feature, side by side.
Grouped by what you actually use day-to-day.
CLCLCLCLCLWhat you'll actually pay.
Listed at full price — both vendors run discount cycles that knock 30–50% off for the first 3 months. Numbers verified June 2026.
CCognism
LLusha
What we loved & hated.
From hundreds of verified user reviews and real-world usage reports. The good, the bad, and the deal-breakers.
CCognism
Pros
- Phone-verified mobiles — up to 3× higher connect rates than standard database numbers.
- 30-day decision-maker data refresh — among the fastest in the category.
- Account manager on Standard and Pro — service without an enterprise tier.
- Bombora Company Surge® intent on Pro — 12 topics from an 11,000+ library.
- GDPR-first architecture with European Do-Not-Call coverage.
- Data-as-a-Service for API and bulk delivery into custom pipelines.
Cons
- Quote-only pricing reported at $15,000–20,000+/year.
- 5-seat minimum on both packages.
- US match rates of 55–65% in independent testing.
- No built-in outreach — requires a separate engagement platform.
- ~1 month average implementation; credits reset on job changes.
LLusha
Pros
- Deepest self-serve compliance stack: GDPR, CCPA, SOC 2, ISO 27701.
- Free plan with 40 credits/month including sequences and call recordings.
- Phone numbers at 5 credits — cheap dials at every tier.
- 3 seats for $52.45/month on Pro — unmatched small-team economics.
- EMEA coverage validated by enterprise case studies.
- Live the same afternoon — no implementation cycle.
Cons
- Credits run out fast at volume — 400/month equals 80 phone numbers.
- Phone accuracy mixed in some European regions.
- Sequences lack branching and A/B testing.
- SSO and credit controls require the quote-only Scale tier.
- Intent capped at 5 topics below Scale.
The same European promise sold to two different company sizes — your headcount basically decides this one.
Lusha wins this comparison for the majority of teams that will ever read it, because the majority of teams are not enterprises. Self-serve signup, a free plan that proves data quality on your own ICP, ISO 27701 compliance that clears European legal review, and the 3-seat Pro plan at $52.45 — that package simply has no answer at Cognism, where the conversation starts at five seats, five figures, and a month of implementation. For SMB and mid-market EMEA prospecting, Lusha is the rational default.
Cognism is what you graduate to when the math changes. At enterprise scale, a 3× connect-rate improvement on verified mobiles converts directly into pipeline that dwarfs the contract cost, the 30-day refresh keeps decision-maker churn from rotting your lists, and the account manager plus Bombora intent turn the tool into a service. The two products barely compete in practice — they pass the same customer between them at around the 10–20 seat mark. Buy the one shaped like your org today, not the one you hope to need.
Decision rule: under ~10 seats or no enterprise data budget → Lusha. Enterprise EMEA outbound with phone as the primary channel → Cognism. If you're mid-transition, run Lusha while you negotiate the Cognism pilot.
- Official documentation & pricing pages
- Verified user reviews from major review platforms
- Real user discussions in public communities
- Pricing re-verified against the official pricing page
Findings are synthesized into our fixed 6-axis rubric — sources inform the score, never the other way around. How we score →
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