Demandbase vs. Clearbit: Which should you choose?

About Demandbase

Demandbase combines account intelligence from multiple sources to power your B2B marketing strategies. It merges your first-party data (website engagement, CRM) with third-party intelligence (firmographics, intent signals) to reveal which companies are in-market — and at what stage. The platform delivers account identification, advertising, website personalization, and sales intelligence capabilities, all integrated with your existing CRM and marketing automation stack.

It works best for enterprise B2B teams targeting large accounts with multiple stakeholders. Following acquisitions of InsideView and Engagio, Demandbase now offers comprehensive data coverage for millions of companies — particularly strong in North America and Europe. Its IP identification unmasks anonymous website visitors, and it includes native advertising capabilities for your campaigns. The platform uses enterprise pricing models that require significant investment, making it less practical for small teams despite its robust technical capabilities.

About Clearbit

Clearbit takes minimal inputs (email or domain) and returns comprehensive firmographic and contact data about companies and individuals. It scrapes information from public web sources and proprietary datasets to deliver details like industry classifications, employee counts, business emails, titles, and technology stacks. The service works through APIs and integrations with platforms like HubSpot (where it's now native as "Breeze"), Salesforce, and Marketo — allowing real-time enrichment of leads and form shortening to boost your conversion rates.

The service covers tens of millions of companies globally, with particular strength in organizations with strong web presences. Pricing tiers based on volume of enrichments, with each record consuming credits from your plan. Originally developer-friendly with a flexible API approach, Clearbit now operates as part of HubSpot's ecosystem following acquisition. It's primarily focused on data enrichment rather than offering outreach or nurturing capabilities, making it ideal for growth-oriented teams looking to enhance lead quality and personalize marketing efforts.

Comparison

Demandbase

• Demandbase combines account intelligence with intent data for B2B marketing teams. It lacks individual lead focus compared to lead-based tools.
• The platform integrates with major CRMs and ad networks, creating a comprehensive ABM layer. Pricing follows an enterprise model with custom quotes.

Clearbit

• Clearbit enriches lead and account data with firmographics and technographics. It processes minimal inputs to return comprehensive business information.
• The platform offers APIs and native integrations with multiple CRMs, especially HubSpot. Pricing scales with usage, potentially becoming expensive at high volumes.

Demandbase works best for enterprise teams running account-based marketing programs across multiple channels. Its comprehensive ABM features make it ideal for companies targeting large accounts with complex buying committees, especially in industries with high-value deals.

Clearbit serves growth-oriented teams needing quality data enrichment with minimal integration work. While neither tool fully supports contact-based marketing on its own, this capability remains essential for organizations targeting individual decision-makers rather than accounts. Marketers need both account intelligence and individual contact insights to execute comprehensive campaigns that balance personalization with scale.

Do you need account-based marketing, or something else?

Here's the revelation that's flipping ABM on its head: your funnel isn't about anonymous accounts. It's about the decision-makers and influencers within those accounts.

That's what makes contact-based marketing (CBM) a breakthrough. Instead of focusing on broad account intent signals, contact-based marketing pinpoints the EXACT people engaging with your content in real-time — even when they don't convert.

How does this solve the traditional tension of intent-based marketing? It clears up the ambiguity.

With contact-level data, you can reveal high-priority leads by identifying the individuals behind key touch points. Deliver hyper-targeted ads based on specific contact behaviors. And bridge the gap between marketing and sales alignment with actionable, lead-level insights.