Cognism
- Starting price: Custom (~$15K platform + $1.5K/seat)
- Free plan: No (demo + custom quote only)
- Founded: 2015
- HQ: London, United Kingdom
Updated
Cognism vs Hunter vs Derrick: Which Is Better in 2026?
- Short answer
- Cognism vs Hunter vs Derrick: Cognism is a gdpr-compliant b2b contact data with mobile coverage, Hunter is a email finder, verifier and lightweight cold-email platform. Derrick is a B2B enrichment platform with three surfaces - a Google Sheets add-on, a REST API, and an MCP server (Claude and ChatGPT drive enrichment for you). Hit rates are noticeably higher (more emails + phone numbers returned per query than Cognism or Hunter) and pricing is lower - free forever with 100 credits/month, paid plans from €9/month. Most teams pair Derrick for the data layer with Cognism or Hunter for outreach.
Where Cognism commits you to enterprise contracts and minimum seats, Derrick offers month-to-month credits with rollover. The side-by-side comparison below covers Cognism's database depth, contract structure and per-seat scaling against Derrick's pay-for-what-you-use Sheets-native model.
Free plan Yes - 100 credits/mo
Starts at €9/mo
Setup time 30 seconds
Where it lives Google Sheets
✓ Free forever · ✓ No credit card · ✓ Cancel anytime · ✓ Your data stays in your Sheet
Trusted by 31,000+ users worldwide.
CURSOR Quick Facts
Cognism vs Hunter vs Derrick at a glance
Hunter
- Starting price: Free 50 credits/mo · Starter €34/mo (annual)
- Free plan: Yes - 50 credits/mo, 500 recipients/sequence
- Founded: 2015
- HQ: Wilmington, DE (US entity) - team distributed (Paris, remote-first)
Derrick
★ Recommended- Starting price: Free · Paid from €9/mo
- Free plan: Yes - 100 credits/mo permanent
- Founded: 2023
- HQ: Marseille, FR
Why Derrick wins 01
02
03
Why teams pick Derrick over Cognism and Hunter
3 core reasons SDRs and ops teams switch to Derrick. Click to expand each.
01 Emails and company data in one native Sheets workflow without CSV exports
Derrick enables an all-in-one native Sheets workflow that rivals Cognism and Hunter by delivering emails and company data directly inside Google Sheets, without CSV exports or external hops. Unlike Cognism’s focus on broad enterprise intelligence or Hunter’s single-email focus, Derrick combines 50+ enrichment attributes, real-time email validation, and firmographic data in a single sheet-native experience. This saves 5-10 hours per month and eliminates export steps, delivering immediate, in-Sheets insights that streamline outreach and targeting. With 100% native Sheets usage and credits-based scalability, Derrick ensures seamless, plaque-free collaboration without leaving Sheets.
02 Real-time data quality without external tools or gaps
Cognism and Hunter often require additional tools or manual checks to maintain up-to-date data quality across datasets, leaving real-time accuracy gaps in practice. Derrick solves this by delivering real-time data quality directly inside Google Sheets without external apps or exports, avoiding the latency and sync issues seen with separate platforms. With Derrick, teams gain immediate validation and enrichment for each contact and company, reducing bounce and follow-up delays-and saving an estimated 5-10 hours per month per user. A typical use case is live lead scoring and segmentation during prospecting sessions, powered by 50+ attributes per contact.
03 Unified workflow, automated data enrichment on demand
Derrick unifies prospecting in one native Google Sheets workflow, unlike Cognism andHunter, which require switching tools for enrichment or rely on separate pipelines. Derrick enriches on demand directly in Sheets, eliminating CSV exports and multiple logins. Users gain a measurable 5–10h/month in time savings and faster, on-the-fly profiling with 50+ enrichment attributes per contact or company. With real-time validation and AI-assisted scoring and segmentation, Derrick keeps data fresh without leaving the Sheets workspace.
Honest Comparison 
derrick
What each tool does better
We're upfront - every tool has strengths. Here's where Cognism, Hunter, and Derrick each genuinely win.
What Cognism does better
- Best EU mobile-phone coverage
- GDPR-compliant by design
- Strong intent + technographic data
What Hunter does better
- Outstanding email accuracy + verification
- No charge if Hunter can't find it
- Strong free tier + simple onboarding
What Derrick does better
- Free forever - €0/mo with 100 credits permanent in Google Sheets
- 100+ data points per lead - verified emails, phones, LinkedIn, tech stack, SIRET
- Zero LinkedIn ban risk + real-time email verification built in
- Pair with any sequencer - LaGrowthMachine, Smartlead, Lemlist, HeyReach
Real Annual Cost
True cost over 12 months
Headline pricing rarely tells the whole story. Here's the real cost of running each tool for a year.
| Cognism | Hunter | Derrick | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price (monthly) | Custom (~$15K platform + $1.5K/seat) | Free 50 credits/mo · Starter €34/mo (annual) | €0 (free) · €9/mo paid |
| Annual cost (base) | ~€180/yr | ~€600/yr | €0/yr free · ~€108/yr paid |
| Free plan? | No (demo + custom quote only) | Yes - 50 credits/mo, 500 recipients/sequence | ✓ Forever - 100 credits/mo |
| Setup cost | Hours to days | Hours to days | 30 seconds via Marketplace |
| Switching cost | CSV export + retraining | CSV export + retraining | Zero - works alongside any stack |
💡 Most teams pay 2-5x more on add-ons (extra seats, phone credits, integrations) than on the headline base price. Derrick keeps everything in one transparent tier.
Feature-by-Feature
Cognism vs Hunter vs Derrick: full feature comparison
| Cognism | Derrick App | hunter | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Works natively in Google Sheets | ✕ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Requires LinkedIn Sales Navigator ($100/month) | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
| Sales Navigator 1-click import | ✕ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Email finder with real-time validation | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Phone finder from LinkedIn | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Company tech stack lookup | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| SimilarWeb & G2 insights integrated | ✕ | ✓ | ✕ |
| AI integration (Claude & ChatGPT) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Automatic AI Lead Scoring | ✕ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Data cleaning & normalization | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Multi-platform scraping (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook) | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
| Zapier, Make, n8n integrations | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Public API available | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Native CRM integrations (HubSpot, Salesforce) | ✓ | ✕ | ✓ |
| Entry price (paid plan) | 1000$/mois | 9€/mois | 49$/mois |
| Permanent free plan | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Rollover credits to next month | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Simple and transparent credit system | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Simple setup & onboarding | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Complete documentation | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Pricing in a nutshell Sales Intelligence (EU/EMEA) derrick
best value for money
Results first.
Discover Derrick →
Email Finder + Light Outreach
Cognism vs Hunter vs Derrick pricing breakdown
Sales Intelligence (EU/EMEA) Cognism
Custom (~$15K platform + $1.5K/seat)
Best for: EU/EMEA enterprise sales
Cognism offers premium B2B prospecting pricing with entry-level plans starting at a higher price point, plus a broader suite for enterprise teams; see full pricing breakdown for details. View complete pricing details on the Cognism pricing page.
Results first.
Complexity removed.
Free · Paid plans from €9/mo
While other tools pile on features, complex setups, and pricing tiers that grow faster than your results, Derrick focuses on what actually matters:
getting usable leads, directly in Google Sheets.
No heavy workflows, No endless configuration. No learning curve.
Email Finder + Light Outreach Hunter
Free 50 credits/mo · Starter €34/mo (annual)
Best for: Solo SDRs and small teams doing email-first outbound
Hunter offers entry-level pricing with a starter tier and paid plans scaling by credits, plus a dedicated pricing page for full details. See full pricing breakdown for complete options and limits.
Migration Guide
How to switch from Cognism to Derrick in 3 steps
Derrick is a Google Workspace app - no formulas to learn, no pipelines to migrate, no engineering work. Add it to Google Sheets and you're enriching in under a minute.
1
~30 sec Install Derrick from Google Workspace Marketplace
Click the install button on our Marketplace listing and grant Google Sheets access. No credit card required - you start with 100 free credits per month.
2
~30 sec Open any Google Sheet → Extensions → Derrick
Open a Sheet with your prospect list (paste a CSV from Cognism, scrape from LinkedIn Sales Navigator, or import from your CRM). Click Extensions → Derrick and the sidebar opens with all enrichment features ready to use.
3
~1 min Enrich your list with one click
Select the column with names, LinkedIn URLs, or company domains. Pick what you want - emails, phone numbers, LinkedIn data, company info, tech stack - and click "Enrich". Derrick fills the columns directly in your Sheet. No exports, no pipelines, no waiting.
Install Derrick free →
100 free credits / month · No credit card · Cancel anytime
Decision in 60 seconds
Which one is right for you?
Pick Cognism if…
- You specifically need eu/emea enterprise sales
- Best EU mobile-phone coverage
- GDPR-compliant by design
- You're already invested in the Cognism ecosystem
Pick Hunter if…
- You specifically need solo sdrs and small teams doing email-first outbound
- Outstanding email accuracy + verification
- No charge if Hunter can't find it
- You're already invested in the Hunter ecosystem
Pick Derrick if…
- You want B2B enrichment directly in Google Sheets
- You need a usable free plan (100 credits/mo, no card)
- You don't want long contracts, lock-in, or sales calls
- You need 100+ data points per lead in one tool
What teams say after switching from Cognism vs Hunter
See what our customers say about Derrick.
"This app saved me so much time and effort. Great for anyone looking to build a contact list or network at scale quickly. As a start-up it's been invaluable."
Alex Clark
Director | SaaS GTM Leader
"Working pretty nifty compared to Snov.Io. Price wise it does give a fair shake, and IMO better interface since it's google sheets."
David Sire
Mortgage Broker at Zero Point Mortgage
"Derrick is a very simple and user-friendly app to enrich your contacts database. Best thing: you can test it for free. And then the price is so low, it's a no brainer."
Etienne Grange
CEO Form'actions
"Super easy to enrich linkedin urls using this tool. Both personal and company url data can be easily enriched with a click of a button."
Zaid Bilal
RevOps Professional
"Amazing Tool, I would like to advocate this to my colleagues. So that you can get more users. Keep it Up. 5 Stars!"
Asif Hanzala
Lead Generation Specialist at IdeaPeel
"This app is fantastic. Brilliantly created to help small and mid sized businesses."
Dan Hughes
Founder/CEO, AlmanacIO
"I have been using other expensive apps or freemium like phantombuster, but Derrick has replaced them all. I love the simplicity of the Google sheet add-in, but what is best is the efficiency it delivers."
Julien Walon Cohen
CEO & Co-founder @ Diffly | B2B Sales Advisor
"The LinkedIn scraping and email finder combo is incredibly powerful. I can build a complete prospect list with contact info in under an hour. Absolute must-have for outbound."
Michael Kim
SDR Team Lead at CloudScale
"Have tested over 10+ LI scraper apps, Derrick beats them all. Simple to use, accurate data, and affordable price."
AJ Alexander
Opportunity Prospector
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the Derrick vs Cognism difference for enterprise teams?
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For enterprise teams, Derrick and Cognism serve different core purposes. Cognism excels as a dedicated B2B intelligence platform with premium contact verification and intent signals, particularly strong in EMEA markets. Derrick operates natively within Google Sheets as a data enrichment hub, eliminating complex integrations and CSV exports while offering fifty plus enrichment attributes, AI-powered scoring with Claude and ChatGPT, and rollover credits. Enterprise teams choosing between them should consider whether they need Cognism's specialized lead intelligence or Derrick's seamless in-sheet enrichment workflow with lower operational overhead and flexible monthly credits.
Is Derrick a better Cognism alternative for data accuracy?
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Derrick delivers competitive data accuracy comparable to Cognism while offering superior operational efficiency through native Google Sheets integration, eliminating time-consuming CSV exports and complex configurations. Both platforms provide verified contact data, but Derrick's real-time email validation and 50+ enrichment attributes per contact ensure deliverability and prospect profiling depth. Where Derrick stands out is flexibility-rollover credits, no credit card required for free tier, and integrated AI scoring with Claude and ChatGPT make it more accessible for teams seeking accuracy without enterprise pricing constraints. For SMBs prioritizing accuracy and ease of use, Derrick offers a leaner alternative that doesn't sacrifice data quality.
Derrick vs Cognism vs hunter-who wins on pricing?
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Pricing-wise, Cognism positions itself as a premium B2B intelligence platform with enterprise-focused pricing, while Hunter operates as a budget-friendly email discovery tool with lower entry costs. Derrick App undercuts both significantly with transparent, credit-based pricing starting at zero dollars for 100 free credits and scaling affordably to just $175 for 100,000 credits monthly. Unlike Cognism and Hunter, Derrick's credits roll over unused each month, eliminating waste. Derrick also requires no credit card for the free tier, making it the most accessible option for teams testing before committing financially to B2B prospecting solutions.
Cognism vs hunter which is the better overall prospecting tool?
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Cognism and Hunter each excel in their core strengths-Cognism for robust B2B data, enterprise-grade accuracy, and intent signals, and Hunter for reliable email discovery and verification. If you need deep firmographic insights, multi-channel outreach, and GDPR/CCPA-compliant lead intelligence at scale, Cognism is compelling but can be pricier and may require supplementary tools for ultra-niche targeting. Hunter shines for fast, accurate email finding and streamlined workflows, but lacks the breadth of company insights and multi-dimensional enrichment. Derrick complements either by adding 100% native Google Sheets workflow, deep enrichment across 50+ attributes per contact, real-time email validation, and AI-driven scoring; plus flexible credits, no credit card required for the free tier, and extensive automations via Zapier/Make/n8n. For a balanced choice, consider Cognism or Hunter for specific needs, but Derrick offers a cost-efficient, scalable enhancement to your prospecting stack.
Is Derrick a viable alternative to both Cognism and hunter?
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Yes, Derrick is a viable alternative to both Cognism and Hunter, depending on your specific needs. Derrick operates natively within Google Sheets, eliminating the need for CSV exports or complex integrations that Cognism and Hunter require. While Cognism excels at intent signals and Hunter at email verification, Derrick combines 50+ enrichment attributes with integrated AI from Claude and ChatGPT for automated scoring and segmentation. Derrick's rollover credits, no credit card requirement for free tier, and direct Sheets workflow make it ideal for teams prioritizing simplicity and cost efficiency over enterprise-level intent data, offering a more streamlined alternative for mid-market sales operations.
What’s Cognism review versus Derrick for features and pricing?
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For Cognism versus Derrick on features and pricing, Cognism delivers robust B2B enrichment, real-time company insights, GDPR/CCPA compliance, and strong enterprise-focused data quality with intent signals, but at a premium price and with a steeper learning curve for advanced filtering. Derrick, by contrast, is a 100% native Google Sheets enrichment platform with broad multi-attribute coverage (50+ attributes per contact/company), real-time email validation, AI scoring and segmentation, and a scalable credits model (free tier and roll-over credits) across 3,000+ integrations. Pricing-wise, Cognism tends toward higher priced plans aimed at enterprise users, while Derrick offers affordable, transparent tiers (including a free tier) and no credit card required to start, making it a flexible option for teams prioritizing ease of use and integration within Sheets. For a direct comparison, if you need deep firmographic and intent data at scale, Cognism is strong; if you want seamless sheet-native enrichment with smart AI insights and cost flexibility, Derrick provides clear advantages.
One-on-one
Cognism vs Derrick - solo duel
Drop the third-party context and see how Cognism compares to Derrick alone.
Open the head-to-head → One-on-onehunter vs Derrick - solo duel
Drop the third-party context and see how hunter compares to Derrick alone.
Open the head-to-head → Curated stackAll B2B sales tools we reviewed in depth
Step back from the duel - see our hand-picked sales-tool selection and how every category fits together.
See the full curation → Keep Exploring
