Compare / UpLead vs ZoomInfo
UpLead vs ZoomInfo for a small business buying B2B contacts
Updated November 12, 2026. Every UpLead and ZoomInfo page cited here was read that day.
For a small business buying up to 5,000 contacts a year, UpLead costs less on every published number. UpLead prints its prices and ZoomInfo does not. UpLead Essentials is $99 a month for 170 credits, and one credit is one contact with its email and mobile direct dial. ZoomInfo sells custom annual contracts; third-party guides report about $15,000 a year for 5,000 credits, a starting figure ZoomInfo disputes.
Neither UpLead nor ZoomInfo is ours; we sell one-time industry email lists, which come up once in the box below. UpLead also sells a done-for-you cold email service, as Sales.co does; this page compares the two databases only. Every figure below comes from each company's own pages, read November 12, 2026. The one number ZoomInfo does not publish, a paid price, is labeled as a third-party report wherever it appears.
| UpLead | ZoomInfo | |
|---|---|---|
| How you buy | Self-serve checkout on the pricing page for Essentials and Plus; Professional by demo | Form, then a sales conversation; Lite and the trial need no card |
| What it is | A contact database you search and export from, with a Chrome extension, enrichment and an API | A contact and company database sold with intent signals, outreach and AI tools for sales and marketing teams |
| Database size, own counts | 200M+ leads | 500M+ contacts, 100M+ companies, 200M+ business emails, 120M+ direct dials |
| Published paid price | Yes: Essentials $99 a month (170 credits), Plus $199 (400); billed yearly, $74 and $149 a month | No: custom packages through sales |
| Free option | Free trial: 7 days, 5 credits | ZoomInfo Lite: 10 credits a month (25 with Community Edition), no card, no end date |
| Trial of the paid product | The same 7-day, 5-credit trial | Free trial, typically 7 days, no card |
| Billing | Monthly, or yearly at the lower rate; Professional is annual only | Paid plans billed annually; monthly billing is not standard |
| Seats | Essentials and Plus are one user each; Professional is a team account at a custom price | Seat-based; paid plans include a minimum number of seats |
| What a credit buys | One contact, with its email and mobile direct dial, for download or CRM export | Credits are consumed when you download verified contact records |
| Price per credit | 58 cents (Essentials) or 50 cents (Plus) monthly; 44 or 37 cents billed yearly | Not published. About $3 on one reported figure ($14,995 for 5,000 credits, Factors.ai), which ZoomInfo's FAQ disputes as a starting price |
| Extra credits | 60 cents each on Essentials, 50 cents on Plus | Not published |
| Unused credits | Not stated on the pricing page | ZoomInfo tells buyers to ask whether they roll over or expire |
| Accuracy, own claim | A 95% data accuracy rate on verified emails | Verified by machine learning, third-party partners and 300+ human researchers; no rate stated |
What ZoomInfo costs, and who says so
ZoomInfo's pricing page lists its sales and marketing plans with no dollar figure and a form to get pricing. Its FAQ answers the question directly: "Does ZoomInfo's price start at $15,000? No, despite claims from Cognism, Demandbase, Lusha, Apollo, and others, ZoomInfo's pricing does not start at $15,000." It says pricing is seat-based and set by team size, data needs and features.
The figure comes from third parties. Factors.ai reports the Professional plan at about $14,995 a year with 5,000 credits and 3 seats in one package. UpLead, the other company on this page, publishes its own estimate of its rival: $14,995 to $39,995 or more a year. Neither is a ZoomInfo price, and either could differ from the quote you get. Factors.ai also notes an AWS Marketplace listing of ZoomInfo Sales Basic at $3,000 for 12 months with one user and 2,000 bulk credits, which is the lowest paid figure we found and would be about $1.50 a credit. So expect an annual contract with a seat minimum, and get a written quote before you compare.
What 100, 1,000 and 5,000 contacts cost
Each UpLead line is the cheapest route its pricing page lists for that many contacts, one credit a contact. Each ZoomInfo line uses what ZoomInfo publishes, or the reported figure where it publishes none.
| Contacts | UpLead, lowest listed route | ZoomInfo |
|---|---|---|
| 100 in one month | $99: Essentials, 170 credits | $0 over 10 months on Lite's 10 credits a month (4 months with Community Edition's 25), or a paid quote |
| 1,000 in one month | $499: Plus at $199 for 400 credits, plus 600 extra credits at 50 cents | A paid quote; Lite would take 100 months |
| 5,000 in one year | $1,888: Plus billed yearly, $1,788 for 4,800 credits, plus 200 extra credits at 50 cents, assuming the listed Plus add-on rate applies on yearly billing (about 38 cents a contact) | About $14,995 for 5,000 credits as reported by Factors.ai (about $3 a credit; not a ZoomInfo price) |
A credit is not one unit across the two. At UpLead one credit is one contact with its email and mobile number. ZoomInfo describes a credit as spent on a downloaded contact record and says use varies with the data you pull, so the 38 cents and the $3 above are not the same thing bought. Ask ZoomInfo to quote the number of contacts you need.
Where UpLead wins
- A price you can read. Essentials and Plus are on the page with their credits, and you can buy without talking to sales.
- A small first payment. $99 for one month of Essentials, against an annual contract at ZoomInfo.
- A plain unit. One credit is one contact, email and mobile direct dial included.
- Extra credits at a listed price. 60 or 50 cents each when you run out; ZoomInfo publishes no credit price.
- Month-to-month billing. Essentials and Plus can be paid monthly.
Where ZoomInfo wins
- A larger database by its own count. 500M+ contacts and 120M+ direct dials, against UpLead's 200M+ leads. These are each company's own numbers.
- A free tier that does not end. Lite keeps 10 credits a month (25 with Community Edition) with no end date; UpLead's free option is a 7-day trial with 5 credits.
- More tools around the data. Its pricing page lists account prioritization, website visitors, champion tracking and job-change signals on its Copilot plans, and marketing plans with 75K included credits and intent topics. UpLead's buyer intent data, full API and team management start at its custom-priced Professional plan.
By need
| If you | Pick | Why, on November 12 pages |
|---|---|---|
| Need up to 400 contacts this month | UpLead | Essentials is $99 for 170, Plus $199 for 400, by card |
| Need about 5,000 contacts a year on a budget under $2,000 | UpLead | $1,888 on Plus billed yearly with 200 extra credits |
| Want a phone number with every contact at one credit | UpLead | Each credit includes the mobile direct dial |
| Need to know the price before you talk to anyone | UpLead | Its plan prices are on the page; ZoomInfo asks for a form |
| Want a few free contacts a month for good | ZoomInfo Lite | 10 credits a month with no end date, against a 7-day trial |
| Run sales and marketing on intent, website visitors and account scores with a contract budget | Quote ZoomInfo | Those tools are on its Copilot and marketing plans, and only a quote settles the price |
One industry, once
If you need one industry's emails once (dentists or roofers, for example), a one-time list has no seat or contract. Sales.co, the publisher of this page, sells one-time industry email lists at $295 each, paid once, delivered as a CSV. If you need one person's address, our free email format finder ranks every format by its share of 125,187 company addresses in a random sample of Sales.co's contact database, counted November 4, 2026; first@ leads at 31.3%, and 64.5% of the 2,987 companies with three or more name-format addresses use one format for all of them. Nine list providers compared on price cover the rest.
Comparing more than these two? See ZoomInfo alternatives for options when you only need one email list, and Apollo alternatives for seven databases with a cost per email.
Sources
- UpLead: uplead.com/pricing, monthly and yearly plan cards and plan comparison, and the home page (its 200M+ leads count and its stated email accuracy rate), read November 12, 2026.
- ZoomInfo: pricing page, pricing FAQ, pricing guide (updated July 7, 2026) and free trial page, read November 12, 2026.
- Third-party estimates of ZoomInfo's price: Factors.ai and UpLead, read November 12, 2026.
- Sales.co: email format shares from the email format finder data (125,187 addresses; 2,987 companies with three or more name-format addresses), counted November 4, 2026.
Per-credit figures, worked out November 12, 2026, are the plan price divided by its credits (yearly plans: twelve months over the year's credits), rounded to the cent. This page compares prices and terms. To check accuracy and coverage in your market, run both free options on a sample of your own target accounts. More side-by-side pages are on the compare hub, including Apollo vs ZoomInfo and Apollo vs UpLead.
FAQ
Is UpLead cheaper than ZoomInfo?
On every published number, yes. UpLead is $99 a month for 170 contacts, or 37 to 58 cents a credit, and 5,000 contacts in a year come to $1,888 on Plus billed yearly. ZoomInfo publishes no paid price; Factors.ai reports about $14,995 a year for 5,000 credits, and ZoomInfo disputes that starting figure (read November 12, 2026). Ask for a quote before you compare final totals.
How much does ZoomInfo cost?
ZoomInfo does not publish a paid price. Its pricing page offers custom packages, and its FAQ says the price does not start at $15,000. Paid plans are billed annually with a minimum number of seats. Factors.ai reports about $14,995 a year for its Professional plan and UpLead reports $14,995 to $39,995 or more. ZoomInfo Lite is free.
What does one UpLead credit get you?
One contact: its email and mobile direct dial, unlocked for download or CRM export. Extra credits cost 60 cents on Essentials and 50 cents on Plus (November 12, 2026).
Does UpLead or ZoomInfo have a free plan?
ZoomInfo does. Lite is free with no card and no end date, with 10 credits a month (25 with Community Edition). UpLead has a 7-day free trial with 5 credits. ZoomInfo also offers a free trial of its paid product, typically 7 days.
Does ZoomInfo have monthly billing?
No standard monthly option. ZoomInfo says paid plans are billed annually and that monthly billing is not standard. UpLead Essentials and Plus can be paid monthly at $99 and $199, or yearly at $74 and $149 a month.
How current is this page?
UpLead's pricing and home pages, ZoomInfo's pricing page, FAQ, pricing guide and trial page, and the two third-party estimates were read on November 12, 2026. Prices change, so check each source before you buy.