Head to head
Cognism vs Lusha
As a data enrichment API, Lusha rates higher on the APIbenchmarks Index, 73.7 to 60, a 13.7-point gap. Here is how they compare on each criterion.
Criterion by criterion
| Criterion | Cognism | Lusha |
|---|---|---|
| Documentation & DX | ||
| Reliability | ||
| Ecosystem & SDKs | ||
| Accessibility | ||
| APIbenchmarks Index | 60.0 | 73.7 |
Specifications
| Cognism | Lusha | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | GDPR-compliant EMEA contact data for sales teams | Contact reveal inside sales workflows |
| Free tier | No | 40 credits/mo (API key on every plan, 100 req/day cap) |
| Pricing | Annual platform contract + search tokens/credits | Per credit (email 1, phone 5) |
| Official SDKs | 3 languages | 5 languages |
Is Cognism better than Lusha?
On the APIbenchmarks Index, Lusha rates higher (73.7 vs 60). It leads on the four weighted criteria, but price is reported separately, so the best choice still depends on your budget.
Verdict in one line
Lusha leads by 13.7 points (73.7 vs 60) and wins 4 of 4 criteria.
Winner by criterion
| Criterion | Winner | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Documentation & DX | 72 | 76 | |
| Reliability | 66 | 78 | |
| Ecosystem & SDKs | 62 | 68 | |
| Accessibility | 32 | 72 |
Choose Cognism if… / choose Lusha if…
- →your use case matches its focus: gdpr-compliant emea contact data for sales teams
- →documentation & dx matters most to you (76 vs 72)
- →reliability matters most to you (78 vs 66)
- →ecosystem & sdks matters most to you (68 vs 62)
- →accessibility matters most to you (72 vs 32)
- →you want a free tier to start (40 credits/mo (API key on every plan, 100 req/day cap))
- →you need broad SDK coverage (5 official SDKs vs 3)
- →your use case matches its focus: contact reveal inside sales workflows
Pricing side by side
- Model
- Annual platform contract + search tokens/credits
- Free tier
- No
- FreeNone
- Platform plansCustom (third-party: about $15k-$25k/yr entry)
- Enterprise / Diamond dataCustom (third-party: $40k-$100k+/yr)
- Model
- Per credit (email 1, phone 5)
- Free tier
- 40 credits/mo (API key on every plan, 100 req/day cap)
- Free$0/mo
- Starter$49.90/mo ($37.45/mo annual)
- Professional$69.90/mo ($52.45/mo annual)
- Premium$399.90/mo ($299.95/mo annual)
- Scale / customCustom
Vendor-published pricing, verified 2026-10-07 (Cognism) and 2026-10-07 (Lusha).
SDK and language coverage
Both · 1
MCP server
Only Cognism · 2
REST API (OAuth 2.0)No official SDKs found
Only Lusha · 4
REST API v3 (HTTPS/JSON)Native connectors: HubSpot, Salesforce, n8nBrowser extensionNo official language SDKs found
Strengths and weaknesses
- +Clear OAuth 2.0 client-credentials auth with documented 20-minute tokens
- +Published rate limits (500 req/min per operation) with standard RateLimit headers
- +Separate search-token and credit metering visible in response headers
- –API requires a subscription entitlement and org-level enablement
- –No public pricing or free tier; contracts commonly $15k-$100k+/yr per third-party estimates
- –No official SDKs or changelog found
- +API key on every plan including Free per official docs
- +Published per-plan rate limits and credit costs
- +Broad endpoint set: person, company, prospecting, signals, lookalike
- –Free and Starter plans capped at 100 API requests/day
- –No official language SDKs found
- –Phone reveals cost 5 credits and phone accuracy is a frequent complaint
Cognism vs Lusha: questions
- Which has better documentation, Cognism or Lusha?
- Lusha scores higher on documentation and developer experience: 76 vs 72 out of 100.
- Which is more reliable, Cognism or Lusha?
- Lusha scores higher on reliability: 78 vs 66 out of 100.
- Do Cognism and Lusha have a free tier?
- Cognism: no free tier. Lusha: yes (40 credits/mo (API key on every plan, 100 req/day cap)).
- How are Cognism and Lusha priced?
- Cognism: Annual platform contract + search tokens/credits. Lusha: Per credit (email 1, phone 5).
- Which has more official SDKs?
- Lusha lists 5 official SDKs, Cognism lists 3.