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)
Updated
Hunter vs Cognism vs Derrick: Which Is Better in 2026?
- Short answer
- Hunter vs Cognism vs Derrick: Hunter is a email finder, verifier and lightweight cold-email platform, Cognism is a gdpr-compliant b2b contact data with mobile coverage. 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 Hunter or Cognism) and pricing is lower - free forever with 100 credits/month, paid plans from €9/month. Most teams pair Derrick for the data layer with Hunter or Cognism for outreach.
Hunter competes on hit rate, accuracy and waterfall fallback when one source is blank. The side-by-side comparison below isolates Hunter's per-find cost (email vs mobile vs direct-dial), real-world deliverability of what comes back, and how it fits into Derrick's 10-source waterfall enrichment workflow.
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
Hunter vs Cognism vs Derrick at a glance
Cognism
- Starting price: Custom (~$15K platform + $1.5K/seat)
- Free plan: No (demo + custom quote only)
- Founded: 2015
- HQ: London, United Kingdom
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 Hunter and Cognism
3 core reasons SDRs and ops teams switch to Derrick. Click to expand each.
01 Enrich leads with real-time validation, without manual overhead
Hunter and Cognism provide real-time validation in isolation, but neither delivers a 100% native Google Sheets enrichment experience with real-time validation across 50+ attributes at the source. Derrick performs real-time email validation and enrichment directly inside Sheets, eliminating manual overhead and CSV exports. Teams save 5-10 hours per month and reduce bounce risk with instant, in-sheet updates to lead records. A quick use case: validate and enrich a list of leads on a live prospecting sheet without leaving Sheets or adding extra steps.
02 Cost-effective, scalable enrichment with effortless setup
Hunter and Cognism often require separate tools to achieve scalable data enrichment, and both can fall short on cost-efficiency or end-to-end setup. Derrick delivers cost-effective, scalable enrichment directly inside 100% native Google Sheets, eliminating CSV exports and complex configurations. Users typically save 5-10 hours per month and reduce annual costs versus using LinkedIn Sales Navigator or competing stacks, with a credits-based model that preserves unused capacity. A practical use case: enrich 50 contacts per week across 3 accounts with over 50 attributes per contact, while maintaining simple, repeatable setup.
03 Unified data quality and real-time insight for every prospect segment
Hunter and Cognism excel at individual data points, but neither provides unified, real-time insight across every prospect segment. Derrick differentiates by delivering 100% native Google Sheets enrichment with real-time validation and multi-attribute context, all within a single workspace. This enables consistent data quality and immediate segment-specific insights, reducing errors and churn risk while boosting targeting accuracy by up to 15-25% in segmented campaigns. With AI-powered scoring and auto-summaries, Derrick surfaces actionable intelligence for every segment without leaving Sheets.
Honest Comparison 
derrick
What each tool does better
We're upfront - every tool has strengths. Here's where Hunter, Cognism, and Derrick each genuinely win.
What Hunter does better
- Outstanding email accuracy + verification
- No charge if Hunter can't find it
- Strong free tier + simple onboarding
What Cognism does better
- Best EU mobile-phone coverage
- GDPR-compliant by design
- Strong intent + technographic data
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.
| Hunter | Cognism | Derrick | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price (monthly) | Free 50 credits/mo · Starter €34/mo (annual) | Custom (~$15K platform + $1.5K/seat) | €0 (free) · €9/mo paid |
| Annual cost (base) | ~€600/yr | ~€180/yr | €0/yr free · ~€108/yr paid |
| Free plan? | Yes - 50 credits/mo, 500 recipients/sequence | No (demo + custom quote only) | ✓ 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
Hunter vs Cognism vs Derrick: full feature comparison
| hunter | Derrick App | Cognism | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Works natively in Google Sheets | ✕ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Requires LinkedIn Sales Navigator ($100/month) | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
| Sales Navigator 1-click import | ✕ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Email finder with real-time validation | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Phone finder from LinkedIn | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Company tech stack lookup | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| SimilarWeb & G2 insights integrated | ✕ | ✓ | ✕ |
| AI integration (Claude & ChatGPT) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Automatic AI Lead Scoring | ✕ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Data cleaning & normalization | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Multi-platform scraping (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook) | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
| Zapier, Make, n8n integrations | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Public API available | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Native CRM integrations (HubSpot, Salesforce) | ✓ | ✕ | ✓ |
| Entry price (paid plan) | 49$/mois | 9€/mois | 1000$/mois |
| Permanent free plan | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Rollover credits to next month | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Simple and transparent credit system | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Simple setup & onboarding | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Complete documentation | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Pricing in a nutshell Email Finder + Light Outreach derrick
best value for money
Results first.
Discover Derrick →
Sales Intelligence (EU/EMEA)
Hunter vs Cognism vs Derrick pricing breakdown
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 a competitive entry point with a free tier for basic email discovery, plus paid plans that scale with monthly credits; see full pricing breakdown for all details and tiers.
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.
Sales Intelligence (EU/EMEA) Cognism
Custom (~$15K platform + $1.5K/seat)
Best for: EU/EMEA enterprise sales
Cognism offers enterprise-focused pricing with higher entry-level costs and a premium positioning, including real-time verification and multi-channel outreach features; full pricing details are available on the dedicated Pricing page. See full pricing breakdown for all plans and add-ons.
Migration Guide
How to switch from Hunter 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 Hunter, 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 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 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 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 Hunter vs Cognism
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
Derrick vs hunter: which is the better choice for email discovery?
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For email discovery specifically, Hunter excels as a focused email-finding tool with strong accuracy and simplicity, making it ideal if you need reliable email addresses fast. However, Hunter lacks broader enrichment data beyond basic contact info. Derrick App offers a more comprehensive alternative by combining real-time email validation with 50+ enrichment attributes per contact, AI-powered scoring and segmentation, and native Google Sheets integration-eliminating manual CSV exports and saving 5-10 hours monthly. If you're building targeted prospect lists with enriched company intelligence alongside verified emails, Derrick provides superior depth and workflow efficiency, while Hunter remains the better choice for pure email discovery at scale with minimal complexity.
Does Derrick offer a better pricing model than Cognism?
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Derrick offers more flexibility in pricing compared to Cognism. While Cognism positions itself as a premium solution with fixed monthly costs, Derrick provides rollover credits that don't expire, meaning you only pay for what you use. Derrick's pricing starts at just nine dollars monthly for four thousand credits, with no credit card required for the free tier, whereas Cognism typically requires higher minimum commitments. For teams with variable prospecting volumes, Derrick's credit-based model provides better cost predictability and eliminates waste from unused monthly allocations.
Derrick vs Cognism: which has stronger features?
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Cognism excels at verified contact data and intent-based prospecting, particularly for EMEA markets, while Derrick offers superior workflow efficiency through native Google Sheets integration without complex exports or setup. Cognism provides stronger real-time verification and account-based marketing features, but Derrick differentiates with AI-powered enrichment using both Claude and ChatGPT, rollover credits, and fifty-plus enrichment attributes per contact. For teams prioritizing seamless spreadsheet workflows and cost efficiency, Derrick eliminates the need for external platforms, while Cognism remains stronger for enterprise-level intelligence and multi-touch prospecting at scale.
How does Derrick compare to hunter for onboarding?
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Derrick outshines Hunter for onboarding in several practical ways. Derrick is 100% native to Google Sheets, so teams can start without complex integrations or CSV exports, saving 5-10 hours per month and avoiding LinkedIn Sales Navigator costs. Onboarding is quick and frictionless due to familiar Sheets workflows, real-time email validation for better deliverability, and AI-powered scoring, segmentation, and summaries built-in. In contrast, Hunter focuses on email discovery and verification with a straightforward interface but lacks the multi-attribute onboarding context and deep firmographic enrichment Derrick provides. Derrick’s flexible credits model (monthly rollovers) and extensive integrations via Zapier/Make/n8n also streamline initial setup and scale, making onboarding smoother for teams starting from Google Sheets.
Which is the pricing difference among Derrick, hunter, Cognism?
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Derrick offers the most flexible pricing model with rollover credits and no credit card required for the free tier, starting at 100 free credits. Hunter operates on a subscription-based model focused on email discovery, with plans scaling by monthly search volume. Cognism positions itself as a premium solution with higher enterprise pricing for comprehensive B2B intelligence. Derrick's native Google Sheets integration eliminates costly external tools and subscriptions like LinkedIn Sales Navigator, saving teams over 1200 dollars annually while providing 50+ enrichment attributes, real-time email validation, and integrated AI capabilities that competitors charge separately for.
Can Derrick replace both hunter and Cognism for enrichment?
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Derrick cannot fully replace both Hunter and Cognism for enrichment, but it can cover essential needs in a more streamlined way. Hunter specializes in precise email discovery and verification, with limited enrichment depth; Derrick adds 50+ enrichment attributes per contact and real-time email validation, all native in Google Sheets, and AI-driven scoring and segmentation. Cognism offers deep B2B intelligence, intent signals, and multi-channel outreach; Derrick provides robust enrichment, real-time validation, and seamless Google Sheets workflows, plus extensive integrations via Zapier/Make/n8n, but it may lack Cognism’s enterprise-grade intent analytics and dedicated multi-channel automation out of the box. For teams needing pure enrichment breadth and advanced intent at scale, Cognism remains stronger; for those prioritizing a native, cost-efficient, flexible enrichment layer within Sheets with AI insights, Derrick adds substantial value and can reduce tooling complexity. If your focus is simply email discovery (Hunter) or enterprise-grade intent and compliance (Cognism), Derrick should be considered as a complementary enrichment layer rather than a complete one-to-one replacement.
One-on-one
hunter vs Derrick - solo duel
Drop the third-party context and see how hunter compares to Derrick alone.
Open the head-to-head → One-on-oneCognism vs Derrick - solo duel
Drop the third-party context and see how Cognism 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
