Best B2B Lead Generation Software for Finding and Converting Leads
B2B lead generation software helps you find prospects, gather contact information, and turn cold contacts into sales opportunities. The market is flooded with tools that promise to fill your pipeline, but most companies need a combination of tools rather than a single solution.
I've tested dozens of these platforms. Here's what actually works, what you'll pay, and how to pick the right stack for your business.
What B2B Lead Generation Software Actually Does
Lead generation tools fall into several categories, and you'll likely need more than one:
- Contact data providers: Find email addresses and phone numbers for your target prospects
- Sales intelligence platforms: Discover companies that match your ideal customer profile
- Outreach automation: Send personalized cold emails and LinkedIn messages at scale
- Lead capture tools: Convert website visitors into contacts through landing pages and forms
- CRM systems: Manage and track leads through your sales pipeline
The best setups combine tools from multiple categories. For example, you might use Clay to find prospects, Findymail to verify emails, and Smartlead to send cold emails.
Top B2B Lead Generation Tools by Category
Contact Data and Email Verification
Findymail
Findymail specializes in finding verified B2B email addresses. The platform guarantees accuracy above 90%, which is higher than most competitors. If an email bounces, you get the credit back.
Pricing starts at $49/month for 1,000 credits (one credit = one email). The real advantage is the verification quality—you're not wasting your email domain reputation on bad addresses. The interface is straightforward: upload a list of names and companies, and Findymail returns verified emails.
What sucks: No phone numbers or company data. It's purely an email tool, so you'll need additional software for prospecting.
RocketReach
RocketReach provides email addresses, phone numbers, and social profiles for over 700 million professionals. The browser extension makes it easy to find contact info while browsing LinkedIn or company websites.
Pricing starts at $53/month for 170 lookups (their Essentials plan). The Professional plan costs $105/month for 375 lookups. Lookups include email, phone, and social data combined.
The accuracy is decent but not perfect—expect around 70-75% accuracy on emails. You'll want to verify emails before sending cold campaigns.
Lusha
Lusha offers contact and company data with a focus on direct dials. The Chrome extension integrates with LinkedIn Sales Navigator, making it easy to build prospect lists.
They don't publish pricing publicly, but expect to pay around $500-1,000/month for team plans with meaningful credit volumes. The free plan includes 5 credits per month, which is enough to test quality but not enough for actual prospecting.
The phone number quality is better than most competitors, but email accuracy is average. Good if you're doing phone outreach.
Sales Intelligence and Prospecting
Clay
Clay is a data enrichment platform that combines multiple data providers into one interface. You can build complex lead lists by pulling data from 50+ sources, then enrich contacts with emails, phone numbers, and firmographic data.
Pricing starts at $149/month for the Starter plan with 2,000 credits. Credits are consumed based on which data providers you use—some lookups cost 1 credit, others cost 5-10 credits. The Pro plan is $349/month with 10,000 credits.
Clay is powerful but has a learning curve. You're essentially building data workflows, which takes time to master. Once you figure it out, you can create highly targeted lead lists that would be impossible with single-source tools.
What sucks: The credit system is confusing at first, and you can burn through credits quickly if you're not careful about which enrichments you run.
Dealfront (formerly Leadfeeder)
Dealfront identifies companies visiting your website, showing you which businesses are checking out your site and which pages they viewed. This is intent data—companies actively researching your type of solution.
Pricing starts around $159/month. The platform requires your website to have decent traffic to be useful. If you're getting less than 1,000 visits per month, you won't capture enough leads to justify the cost.
The quality of leads is high because these companies are already interested. The downside is you're limited to companies that find you—it's not a prospecting tool for cold outreach.
Amplemarket
Amplemarket combines prospecting, email verification, and outreach in one platform. You can search for prospects by job title, company size, industry, and technology use, then launch email campaigns directly from the platform.
Pricing starts around $500/month per user. It's expensive but comprehensive—you're getting data, verification, and automation in one tool. The AI-powered features help personalize emails at scale.
The platform works well for teams that want an all-in-one solution, but smaller companies might find better value using separate tools for each function.
Cold Email Automation
Smartlead
Smartlead handles cold email campaigns with unlimited email accounts. The main advantage is deliverability—you can connect dozens of sending accounts to spread volume and protect domain reputation.
Pricing starts at $39/month for 6,000 leads. You can add unlimited email accounts at any plan level. The Basic plan ($49/month) includes 12,000 leads, and the Pro plan ($94/month) includes 100,000 leads.
The platform includes email warmup, campaign management, and inbox rotation. Setup takes some technical knowledge—you need to configure DNS records properly for good deliverability.
What's good: Unlimited sending accounts and strong deliverability features. What sucks: The interface is clunky, and you'll need separate tools for finding and verifying emails.
Instantly
Instantly offers cold email automation with unlimited sending accounts. The pricing is similar to Smartlead but the interface is cleaner.
Plans start at $37/month for 1,000 leads. The Growth plan is $97/month for unlimited leads with unlimited email accounts. They also offer email warmup and a deliverability network.
Instantly recently added a lead finder tool, but it's not as comprehensive as dedicated data providers. You're better off using it for email sending and getting your leads elsewhere.
Lemlist
Lemlist focuses on personalization at scale. You can add custom images, videos, and dynamic content to emails. The platform includes its own prospecting database, though data quality varies.
Pricing starts at $59/month per user for the Email Starter plan. The Email Pro plan is $99/month per user and includes advanced personalization features. The Multichannel Expert plan is $159/month and adds LinkedIn automation.
The personalization features are impressive, but they take time to set up properly. If you're sending thousands of emails per day, the extra personalization might not be worth the effort.
Reply.io
Reply.io combines email, LinkedIn, calls, and SMS into multichannel sequences. You can build complex workflows that touch prospects across multiple channels based on their engagement.
Pricing starts at $59/month per user for 1,000 active contacts. The Professional plan is $89/month per user for 5,000 active contacts. They also include a prospecting database, though you'll pay extra for credits.
The multichannel approach works well if you have the resources to manage multiple channels. For most B2B companies, focusing on email first makes more sense.
LinkedIn Automation
Expandi
Expandi automates LinkedIn outreach with connection requests, messages, and InMail. It's a cloud-based tool, which means it's safer than browser extensions that LinkedIn can detect more easily.
Pricing is $99/month per account. You can run multiple campaigns, create sophisticated workflows, and track response rates. The platform includes image and GIF personalization for LinkedIn messages.
LinkedIn is cracking down on automation, so no tool is 100% safe. Expandi is among the safer options because it mimics human behavior and runs in the cloud, but you still risk account restrictions if you're too aggressive.
Drippi
Drippi focuses on Twitter/X outreach automation. If your B2B prospects are active on X, Drippi can automate DMs, replies, and engagement.
Pricing starts at $49/month. The platform is niche—it only makes sense if your target audience is on X and responsive to DMs. For most B2B companies, email and LinkedIn are better channels.
Lead Capture and Landing Pages
Leadpages
Leadpages builds landing pages optimized for lead capture. The drag-and-drop builder makes it easy to create pages without coding, and the templates are tested for conversion.
Pricing starts at $37/month for the Standard plan (billed annually). The Pro plan is $74/month and includes A/B testing and online sales features. The Conversion plan is custom pricing for enterprises.
The platform includes pop-ups, alert bars, and opt-in forms you can embed on your website. Integration with email marketing tools is straightforward.
What's good: Easy to use, fast page load times, and decent templates. What sucks: Limited design flexibility compared to full website builders.
CRM and Pipeline Management
Close
Close is a CRM built for outbound sales teams. It includes built-in calling, email, and SMS, so you can manage all outreach from one platform.
Pricing starts at $49/month per user for the Startup plan. The Professional plan is $99/month per user and includes reporting and automation features. The Enterprise plan is $149/month per user.
Close excels at activity tracking—you can see every touchpoint with a prospect in one view. The power dialer makes it easy to burn through call lists. Email sequences are basic compared to dedicated cold email tools, but sufficient for follow-ups.
What's good: Excellent for teams doing high-volume outbound with calls and emails. What sucks: Not great for complex deal tracking or enterprise sales cycles.
For more CRM options, check out our guide to the best CRM software or best sales CRM software.
How to Build Your Lead Generation Stack
Here's how to combine these tools based on your sales motion:
Cold Email Stack ($200-300/month)
- Prospecting: Clay ($149/month) to build targeted lead lists
- Email verification: Findymail ($49/month) to verify addresses
- Outreach: Smartlead ($39/month) to send campaigns
- CRM: Close ($49/month per user) to manage pipeline
Total: ~$286/month for one user
LinkedIn + Email Stack ($250-400/month)
- Contact data: RocketReach ($53/month) for emails and phone numbers
- Email outreach: Instantly ($97/month) for unlimited email sending
- LinkedIn automation: Expandi ($99/month) for connection requests and DMs
- CRM: Close ($49/month per user) for tracking
Total: ~$298/month for one user
Inbound + Outbound Stack ($300-500/month)
- Website identification: Dealfront ($159/month) to capture intent data
- Landing pages: Leadpages ($37/month) for lead capture
- Outbound automation: Amplemarket ($500/month) for prospecting and outreach
Total: ~$696/month
For more outreach options, see our list of best cold email software and best LinkedIn automation tools.
What to Look for in B2B Lead Generation Software
Data Accuracy
Bad data wastes time and damages email deliverability. Look for platforms that guarantee accuracy above 90% or offer credit-back policies for bounced emails. Test data quality on a small sample before committing to annual plans.
Integration Capabilities
Your lead gen tools need to connect with your CRM and other systems. Check native integrations or API access. Tools like Clay and Amplemarket integrate with most CRMs out of the box.
Deliverability Features
For email outreach, deliverability determines success. Look for tools that include email warmup, domain health monitoring, and inbox rotation. Smartlead and Instantly both handle this well.
Scalability
Consider what happens when you scale. Some tools charge per user, others per lead or credit. Calculate costs at 2x and 5x your current volume to avoid surprises.
Compliance Features
GDPR, CAN-SPAM, and other regulations matter. Your tools should include unsubscribe management, data processing agreements, and consent tracking. Most major platforms handle this, but verify before sending campaigns to EU contacts.
Common Mistakes with Lead Generation Software
Using too many tools at once: Start with one or two tools and master them before adding more. A simple stack that you use well beats a complex stack you barely understand.
Skipping email verification: Sending to unverified lists tanks your domain reputation. Always verify emails before cold outreach, even if your data provider claims high accuracy.
Ignoring deliverability: Most people focus on quantity over deliverability. If your emails land in spam, volume doesn't matter. Warm up domains properly and monitor sender reputation.
Automating before testing messaging: Don't automate bad messages. Test your pitch manually first, refine based on responses, then scale with automation.
Not tracking ROI: Track cost per lead and cost per customer acquisition for each tool. Cut tools that don't pay for themselves within a reasonable timeframe.
Which Lead Generation Software Should You Choose?
It depends on your sales process and budget:
If you're just starting: Begin with Findymail for email finding and Smartlead for sending cold emails. Keep it simple until you validate your messaging and ideal customer profile.
If you're scaling cold email: Use Clay for sophisticated list building and Instantly for unlimited sending. Add Close to manage the pipeline.
If you need multichannel outreach: Consider Amplemarket or Reply.io for an all-in-one platform. Supplement with Expandi for LinkedIn.
If you have good inbound traffic: Start with Dealfront to identify website visitors, then follow up using your outbound tools.
No single tool solves all B2B lead generation problems. The key is choosing tools that work together and fit your specific sales motion. Start lean, measure results, and add complexity only when it drives measurable revenue.
For more guides on building your sales tech stack, check out our articles on B2B lead generation tools, sales intelligence tools, and sales engagement platforms.