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September 2026 Edition, expanded tier · The six flagship models on every category, as published . The public index runs on the standard tier; this record is what the Expanded Edition Pack delivers on one category. The category page →
Index › GTM › Sales › Sales intel · September 2026 Edition

Sales intelligence and contact data

Asked as “B2B contact data and sales intelligence platform”, and as “B2B prospecting database”, on behalf of a mid-market B2B software company. 21 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, six models each.
Standing · first-choice share
86%
Apollo.io
Clear leader
86Apollo.io10ZoomInfo SalesOS05Cognism

86% of first choices, clear leader.

ShowinginAll 112 categories in the September 2026 Edition →

The standing

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all six models, for a mid-market B2B software company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrantSince September 2026
01Apollo.io86%14%35endorsed leadernewNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 86% now.
02ZoomInfo SalesOS10%29%31criticized challengernewNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 10% now.
03Cognism5%10%31accepted challengernewNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 5% now.
Show the four products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
07Seamless.AI0%64%11criticized challengernewNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 0% now.
04Lusha0%17%23accepted challengernewNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 0% now.
06LinkedIn Sales Navigator0%9%11accepted challengernewNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 0% now.
05Clay0%0%10accepted challengernewNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 0% now.

The floor is 12 points of share, measured: how far the models move a leader on their own when the same questions are asked twice with nothing changed. A larger change is movement; a smaller one can't be told apart from repeat variation, and both are shown. Each index measures its own floor from its own repeat, over its own categories, so the floor differs from one index to the next. How the floor is measured

Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its product page.
Head to head
Apollo.io vs ZoomInfo SalesOSApollo.io vs CognismZoomInfo SalesOS vs Cognism

One product takes 86% of first choices here, so the chart would put six markers in one corner and one at the far edge. The two measurements it plots are columns in the standing above: share, and the negative label rate. Two products carry a negative rate above 25% in this category.

What they warned about

Five of six models held their first choice under the paraphrase. GPT-6 Astra changed. A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.
ZoomInfo SalesOS
29%
9 of 31 labels negative · 6 of 6 models · 2 hard negative
“platforms you should approach with heavy caution ... multiple class-action lawsuits ... "coercive auto-renew policies"” Gemini 3.1 Pro, negative prompt
Seamless.AI
64%
7 of 11 labels negative · 5 of 6 models · 3 hard negative
“Recommendation: Don’t sign unless the order form expressly provides... My strongest named cautions are Seamless.AI for contract risk” GPT-5.6 Sol, negative prompt
Apollo.io
14%
5 of 35 labels negative · 5 of 6 models
“in 2018, Apollo.io left an unprotected database containing billions of records and 125M unique email addresses” Claude Opus 5, negative prompt
Lusha
17%
4 of 23 labels negative · 4 of 6 models · 2 hard negative
“Avoid using Lusha for Italian contacts unless and until your privacy counsel confirms the enforcement order has been addressed.” GPT-5.6 Sol, negative prompt

What they cite

Six of the six models returned a source list in this edition: six return the pages they cited.

Sites the answers cite

31 of 36 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 6 of 6 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 551 links across 212 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page. None of the 36 answers across every segment cited this index's own page for the category.

cognism.com
vendor site · Cognism21 answers · 39 citations · 6 models
pipeline.zoominfo.com
vendor site · ZoomInfo15 answers · 44 citations · 3 models
apollo.io
vendor site · Apollo.io15 answers · 23 citations · 5 models
salesmotion.io
vendor site · Salesmotion12 answers · 22 citations · 3 models
g2.com
12 answers · 14 citations · 6 models
cleanlist.ai
vendor site · Cleanlist9 answers · 14 citations · 3 models
lusha.com
vendor site · Lusha Systems9 answers · 11 citations · 5 models
amplemarket.com
vendor site · Amplemarket9 answers · 10 citations · 3 models
salesgenie.com
vendor site · Salesgenie8 answers · 8 citations · 2 models
autobound.ai
vendor site · Autobound7 answers · 8 citations · 3 models
demandbase.com
vendor site · Demandbase6 answers · 8 citations · 4 models
marketsandmarkets.com
vendor site · MarketsandMarkets6 answers · 8 citations · 2 models

Pages the answers cite

The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.

autobound.ai/blog/best-b2b-contact-database-providers
6 answers · 3 models
salesgenie.com/blog/top-b2b-contact-database-providers
6 answers · 2 models
cognism.com/
5 answers · 2 models
moderninbound.com/blog/best-apollo-io-alternatives
5 answers · 2 models
monday.com/blog/crm-and-sales/sales-intelligence-tools
5 answers · 3 models
pipeline.zoominfo.com/sales/top-cognism-alternatives
5 answers · 2 models
salesmotion.io/blog/best-b2b-contact-data-providers
5 answers · 3 models
amplemarket.com/blog/best-b2b-contact-databases
4 answers · 2 models
amplemarket.com/blog/best-sales-intelligence-platforms-2026
4 answers · 3 models
apollo.io/insights/apollo-vs-zoominfo
4 answers · 2 models

Search against answers

Each company's standing in the answers beside its site's footprint in Google search, one row a site: the products the models named on it with their shares, and the share they add up to; monthly searches on Google, and DataForSEO's estimate of AI search demand (modeled from search signals, directional, not a count of queries to any assistant), for the most-searched of the company's and its products' names (the name is in each row's hover text); estimated monthly organic visits to the site; and its best position in Google's top ten for “b2b contact data and sales intelligence platform”, “best b2b contact data and sales intelligence platform”. US estimates from DataForSEO and Google's Ads Transparency Center. A small company's site, or a mid-sized company's site for its flagship, is marked company; a product on a large parent's site (Google, Microsoft) has no site figures. A column with no figures for this category is left out, and an empty cell means none were seen, not none exist. Two measurements side by side: neither is read as the cause of the other.
Company and productsShareOwn site citedName searches, GoogleAI search demand, est.Organic visitsPaid search a month, est.Google ads, last 30 daysBest Google position
Apollo.io apollo.io86%101033,100396111,608943
ZoomInfo parent site
ZoomInfo SalesOS 10%		10%193135,0001,810
Cognism cognism.com5%3493,6006848,68515
Lusha lusha.com0%28012,10089352,570$1157
Clay clay.com0%287135,000168,089294,05611
LinkedIn linkedin.com
LinkedIn Sales Navigator 0%		0%14711,100,00077,031331,033,472 company$1,032113
UpLead uplead.com0%833,6005715,3397
HubSpot parent site
HubSpot Breeze Intelligence 0%, HubSpot Sales Hub 0%		0%687368,0009,776
6sense Sales Intelligence 6sense.com0%64108,788$1,209120
RocketReach rocketreach.co0%1949,5003813,971,30525

Google's top ten for the two searches hold 11 sites; 6 of them are among the sites the models cited here (apollo.io, autobound.ai, demandbase.com, g2.com, pipeline.zoominfo.com, salesgenie.com). The first result for “b2b contact data and sales intelligence platform” is autobound.ai.

How they answered

Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.
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ModelDirect“What is the best B2B contact data and sales intelligence platform for a mid-market B2B software company?”Paraphrase“Which B2B prospecting database would you recommend to a mid-sized B2B software company?”Comparative“What are the top sales intelligence and contact data platforms and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best B2B contact data and sales intelligence platform for a company with a limited budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 500 person company evaluating a B2B contact data and sales intelligence platform. What should we look at?”Negative“Which sales intelligence and contact data platforms should I avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Opus 5Apollo.io
Two alternativesCognism, ZoomInfo SalesOS
Apollo.ioHeld
Three alternativesClay, Cognism, ZoomInfo SalesOS
Apollo.io, ZoomInfo SalesOS
Six alternatives6sense Sales Intelligence, Clay, Cognism, Demandbase, Lusha, UpLead
Apollo.io
Seven alternativesClay, Cognism, Kaspr, Lead411, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Lusha, RocketReach
against: Seamless.AI, ZoomInfo SalesOSno first choiceagainst: Apollo.io, LocateSmarter LLC, People Data Labs, SalesIntel, Seamless.AI, ZoomInfo SalesOS
Claude Opus 4.8Apollo.io
Two alternativesCognism, ZoomInfo SalesOS
against: LushaApollo.ioHeld
Four alternativesCognism, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Lusha, ZoomInfo SalesOS
ZoomInfo SalesOS
Six alternativesApollo.io, Cognism, HubSpot Breeze Intelligence, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Lusha, RocketReach
against: Seamless.AIApollo.io
One alternativeLusha
against: Cognism, ZoomInfo SalesOSno first choicenothing named
GPT-6 AstraZoomInfo SalesOS
Two alternativesApollo.io, Cognism
Apollo.ioChanged
Two alternativesCognism, UpLead
Apollo.io, ZoomInfo SalesOS
Four alternatives6sense Sales Intelligence, Clay, Cognism, LinkedIn Sales Navigator
Apollo.io
Two alternativesLusha, UpLead
Apollo.io, Cognism, ZoomInfo SalesOS
Three alternatives6sense Sales Intelligence, Clay, LinkedIn Sales Navigator
against: Apollo.io, Kaspr, Lusha, Seamless.AI, ZoomInfo SalesOS
GPT-5.6 SolApollo.io
Four alternatives6sense Sales Intelligence, Cognism, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, ZoomInfo SalesOS
Apollo.ioHeld
Three alternativesCognism, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, ZoomInfo SalesOS
Apollo.io
Seven alternatives6sense Sales Intelligence, Clay, Cognism, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Lusha, SalesIntel, ZoomInfo SalesOS
Apollo.io
Two alternativesLusha, UpLead
against: ZoomInfo SalesOSno first choiceagainst: Apollo.io, Lusha, Seamless.AI, ZoomInfo SalesOS
Gemini 3.1 ProApollo.io
Three alternativesClay, Cognism, ZoomInfo SalesOS
Apollo.ioHeld
Two alternativesCognism, ZoomInfo SalesOS
no first choice
Five alternativesApollo.io, Cognism, HubSpot Breeze Intelligence, Lusha, ZoomInfo SalesOS
against: Seamless.AIApollo.io
Four alternativesHunter, Lusha, Snov.io, UpLead
against: 6sense Sales Intelligence, Cognism, ZoomInfo SalesOSno first choice
Five alternativesApollo.io, Cognism, Echobot, Lusha, ZoomInfo SalesOS
against: Apollo.io, Kaspr, Lusha, Seamless.AI, ZoomInfo SalesOS
Perplexity Sonar ProApollo.io
Three alternativesAmplemarket, Cognism, ZoomInfo SalesOS
Apollo.ioHeld
Four alternativesCognism, Lusha, UpLead, ZoomInfo SalesOS
ZoomInfo SalesOS
Four alternatives6sense Sales Intelligence, Apollo.io, Clay, Cognism
Apollo.io
Two alternativesSaleshandy Lead Finder, UpLead
against: Cognism, Dealfrontno first choiceagainst: 6sense Sales Intelligence, Apollo.io, Demandbase, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, ZoomInfo SalesOS
Bold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against

The record

One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency.
Thirty-six rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.
PromptModelVersion stringTime (UTC)SearchedSourcesLatency
Direct recommendationClaude Opus 5claude-opus-52026-09-09 17:31yes2463 s
Direct recommendationClaude Opus 4.8claude-opus-4-82026-09-09 17:33yes2962 s
Direct recommendationGPT-6 Astragpt-6-astra2026-09-09 19:27yes527 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.6 Solgpt-5.6-sol2026-09-09 19:29yes442 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.1 Progemini-3.1-pro-preview2026-09-10 17:04yes738 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonar Prosonar-pro2026-09-09 17:33yes206 s
ParaphraseClaude Opus 5claude-opus-52026-09-09 17:36yes2349 s
ParaphraseClaude Opus 4.8claude-opus-4-82026-09-09 17:37no020 s
ParaphraseGPT-6 Astragpt-6-astra2026-09-09 19:30yes337 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.6 Solgpt-5.6-sol2026-09-09 19:31yes527 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.1 Progemini-3.1-pro-preview2026-09-10 17:06no019 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonar Prosonar-pro2026-09-09 17:37yes205 s
ComparativeClaude Opus 5claude-opus-52026-09-09 17:40yes4165 s
ComparativeClaude Opus 4.8claude-opus-4-82026-09-09 17:54yes41437 s
ComparativeGPT-6 Astragpt-6-astra2026-09-09 19:33yes1145 s
ComparativeGPT-5.6 Solgpt-5.6-sol2026-09-09 19:36yes859 s
ComparativeGemini 3.1 Progemini-3.1-pro-preview2026-09-10 17:07no027 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonar Prosonar-pro2026-09-09 17:54yes208 s
Budget constrainedClaude Opus 5claude-opus-52026-09-09 17:58yes28141 s
Budget constrainedClaude Opus 4.8claude-opus-4-82026-09-09 18:00yes3450 s
Budget constrainedGPT-6 Astragpt-6-astra2026-09-09 19:37yes420 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.6 Solgpt-5.6-sol2026-09-09 19:38yes319 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.1 Progemini-3.1-pro-preview2026-09-10 17:08yes646 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonar Prosonar-pro2026-09-09 18:01yes205 s
Scale constrainedClaude Opus 5claude-opus-52026-09-09 18:04yes3167 s
Scale constrainedClaude Opus 4.8claude-opus-4-82026-09-09 18:05no027 s
Scale constrainedGPT-6 Astragpt-6-astra2026-09-09 19:39yes642 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.6 Solgpt-5.6-sol2026-09-09 19:42yes672 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.1 Progemini-3.1-pro-preview2026-09-10 17:10no029 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonar Prosonar-pro2026-09-09 18:06yes2010 s
Negative framingClaude Opus 5claude-opus-52026-09-09 18:10yes4592 s
Negative framingClaude Opus 4.8claude-opus-4-82026-09-09 18:17yes44368 s
Negative framingGPT-6 Astragpt-6-astra2026-09-09 19:44yes646 s
Negative framingGPT-5.6 Solgpt-5.6-sol2026-09-09 19:46yes454 s
Negative framingGemini 3.1 Progemini-3.1-pro-preview2026-09-10 17:11yes1335 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonar Prosonar-pro2026-09-09 18:18yes209 s

Noise floor in this category

Flips between the edition run and its calibration repeat. Six prompts per model is a small sample; the index-wide floor is the number to trust.

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Claude Opus 5
1 of 4 flipped
Claude Opus 4.8
0 of 4 flipped
GPT-6 Astra
1 of 5 flipped
GPT-5.6 Sol
2 of 5 flipped
Gemini 3.1 Pro
4 of 6 flipped
Perplexity Sonar Pro
2 of 4 flipped

Normalization in this category

Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.

ShowHide
Category-scoped readings
6sense read as 6sense Sales Intelligence
Saleshandy read as Saleshandy Lead Finder
ZoomInfo read as ZoomInfo SalesOS
ZoomInfo (SalesOS) read as ZoomInfo SalesOS
Unresolved, counted raw
None awaiting human review.
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.

Also in sales

The other categories of this function, with the leader in each.
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