# B2B intent data providers for small business buyers: what AI models recommend, October 2026

Gane Index, October 2026 Edition. Asked as "B2B intent data provider" and as "B2B buyer intent data vendor", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of a small B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/sales/b2b-intent-data/2026-10/smb

This is the permanent record of the October 2026 Edition, published October 1, 2026 and superseded since. The current standing: https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/sales/b2b-intent-data/smb/index.md

**Standing:** Apollo.io leads with 65% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 55 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Apollo.io](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/apollo-io/index.md) | 65% | 3% | 61 |
| 2 | [Dealfront](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/dealfront/index.md) | 5% | 0% | 46 |
| 3 | [Lusha](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/lusha/index.md) | 5% | 0% | 25 |
| 4 | [G2 Buyer Intent](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/g2-buyer-intent/index.md) | 4% | 3% | 36 |
| 5 | [RB2B](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/rb2b/index.md) | 4% | 0% | 27 |
| 6 | [Saleshandy Lead Finder](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/saleshandy-lead-finder/index.md) | 4% | 0% | 13 |
| 7 | [Lead Onion](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/lead-onion/index.md) | 2% | 4% | 25 |
| 8 | [Warmly](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/warmly/index.md) | 2% | 8% | 13 |
| 13 | [Bombora](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/bombora/index.md) | 2% | 57% | 60 |
| 14 | [HubSpot Breeze Intelligence](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/hubspot-breeze-intelligence/index.md) | 0% | 0% | 10 |
| 29 | [Cognism](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/cognism/index.md) | 0% | 33% | 12 |
| 65 | [ZoomInfo](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/zoominfo/index.md) | 0% | 73% | 37 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 67 products named; products with the same share are tied, and the order among them carries no meaning. The table lists those with at least 10 labels.

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: Apollo.io, Saleshandy Lead Finder; alternatives Cognism, Dealfront, HubSpot Breeze Intelligence, RB2B
- GPT-5.4 mini: G2 Buyer Intent; alternatives Bombora
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Apollo.io; alternatives AdRoll ABM, Dealfront, Lusha, RB2B
- Perplexity Sonar: Apollo.io; alternatives Bombora, Dealfront
- Grok 4.20: Apollo.io; alternatives Lead Onion, RB2B, Saleshandy Lead Finder
- Mistral Small: Apollo.io, Dealfront; alternatives Lead Onion
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Apollo.io; alternatives Lead Onion, Lemlist, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Saleshandy Lead Finder
- Llama 4 Maverick: no first choice
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Apollo.io; alternatives Lead Onion, Lusha
- Kimi K2: Apollo.io; alternatives G2 Buyer Intent, HubSpot's Native Intent Tracking, Lead Onion, Lusha
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Apollo.io; alternatives Dealfront, MarketBetter
- MiniMax M2.5: Lead Onion; alternatives HubSpot Native Intent Tracking, Lusha, revAlign.io
- GPT-6 Luna: Factors.ai; alternatives G2 Buyer Intent
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Apollo.io; alternatives Lead Onion, Leadfeeder, Dealfront, Lusha, RB2B

## Sources the answers cite

78 of 84 answers came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- demandbase.com: 61 answers, 83 citations
- rb2b.com: 43 answers, 48 citations
- saleshandy.com: 38 answers, 43 citations
- pipeline.zoominfo.com: 33 answers, 40 citations
- percepture.com: 32 answers, 32 citations
- warmly.ai: 24 answers, 29 citations
- delveant.com: 24 answers, 24 citations
- cleverly.co: 22 answers, 24 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://demandbase.com/blog/b2b-intent-data-providers (55 answers)
- https://rb2b.com/learn/intent-data-providers (40 answers)
- https://saleshandy.com/blog/b2b-intent-data-providers (37 answers)
- https://percepture.com/sales-intelligence/best-b2b-intent-data-providers (32 answers)
- https://delveant.com/blog/intent-data-providers-b2b-marketing (24 answers)
- https://pipeline.zoominfo.com/sales/intent-data-platform (24 answers)
- https://lusha.com/blog/best-buyer-intent-data-providers (21 answers)
- https://zenabm.com/blog/b2b-intent-data-providers (21 answers)
- https://cognism.com/blog/intent-data-providers (18 answers)
- https://salesmotion.io/blog/intent-data-providers (17 answers)

## Warned against

- 6sense: 48 of 61 labels negative. "Bombora for data, skip 6sense until you're enterprise. … 6sense bundles intent with a $100K+ platform you probably don't need."| "It is very expensive, not for SMB" (Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt)
- Demandbase: 34 of 42 labels negative. "These are world-class Account-Based Marketing (ABM) platforms, but they are generally a poor fit—and often a massive waste of capital—for small businesses." (Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt)
- Bombora: 34 of 60 labels negative. "Avoid first if budget is very tight: Bombora / 6sense / Demandbase — typically too expensive and operationally heavy for small teams." (GPT-5.4 mini, budget prompt)
- ZoomInfo: 27 of 37 labels negative. "aggressive auto-renewals, outdated records, and pricing complexity. Lite tier exists but limits full intent value." (Grok 4.20, negative prompt)

## Movement since September 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Apollo.io at 65%.

- Apollo.io: 56% to 65%, +9. Inside the floor by 2 points · rank 1 of 62, unchanged.
- Dealfront: 13% to 4%, −9. Inside the floor by 2 points · rank 2 of 62, unchanged.
- G2 Buyer Intent: 6% to 4%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 3 of 62, unchanged.
- RB2B: 2% to 4%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 8 → 4 of 62.
- Lusha: 2% to 4%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 7 → 5 of 62.
- Saleshandy Lead Finder: 6% to 4%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 4 → 6 of 62.
- Lead Onion: 4% to 2%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 5 → 7 of 62.
- Bombora: 4% to 2%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 6 → 12 of 62.
- 6sense: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 13 → 62 of 62.
- Warmly: 2% to 2%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 9 → 8 of 62.
- HubSpot Breeze Intelligence: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 15 → 13 of 62.
- Cognism: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 14 → 18 of 62.

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, October 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/gtm.