# Intent data for startups: what each budget buys

Intent data is a sign that someone is looking into a topic you sell into.
For a startup with one to five people selling, the useful kind names a
person. It says what they looked at, and when. A signal that names
only a company still leaves you to find who to write to.

Under $500 a month, you mostly get the visitors to your own website. Tools
that join many signals start at about $2,500 a month, billed by the year.

## Four kinds of signal, in plain words

| Kind of signal | What it tells you | What it leaves to you |
|---|---|---|
| Visits to your own website | A company, sometimes a person, that opened your pages | Only people who already found you. A small site gives few names |
| Job changes and hiring | A buyer moved to a new company, or a team is hiring | Whether they care about your topic at all |
| Topic research by companies | A company reads more than usual about a topic, across many sites | Who at the company is reading. Usually a score, not a name |
| A person engaged with content | One named person engaged with a report or guide on your topic, on a date | Writing to them. They may not remember the content |

The last kind is what we sell: leads. Each lead is a person who engaged
with content on your topic, with the date. Each one was checked online,
with a proof link you can open. See one on
[the sample leads page](https://intentchart.com/sample-leads).

## What each budget buys

We read each vendor's own pricing page on 2026-10-30. Prices change, so
treat the table as a snapshot of that day. A yearly price is shown per
month, rounded.

| Budget a month | What you can buy | Example, from its own page | What the signal names |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under $500 | Visitors to your own site | RB2B: free plan, then $79 to $199 a month | A company; on paid plans, some US people |
| Under $500 | Visitors to your own site | Leadfeeder: free plan, then from €79 a month, billed yearly | A company |
| Under $500 | Job-change and hiring signals | Unify: $20 to $60 per seat a month | A person who moved, or a company that hires |
| Under $500 | A contact database with topic data | Lead411: $490 a year, about $41 a month, with intent on the yearly plan only | A company reading about a topic |
| $500 to $3,000 | Visitors to your site, with contacts | Warmly: from $10,000 a year, about $833 a month | A company and its people |
| $500 to $3,000 | Community, website and topic signals | Common Room: $2,500 a month, billed yearly | A company, sometimes a person |
| $500 to $3,000 | A pack of leads, paid once | Us: $2,000 for 50 leads, no contract | A person, with the content and its date |
| $3,000 or more | Many signals in one tool | Vector: from $36,000 a year, about $3,000 a month | Companies and people, from many signals |

Three things the table shows. Under $500, you mostly learn about people
who already visit you. Topic research across many sites is sold by the
year. A pack of leads is the one row you pay for once.

What a lead costs elsewhere, and what each check adds to the price:
[B2B lead cost in 2026](https://intentchart.com/benchmarks/b2b-lead-cost-2026). All our prices are
on [the pricing page](https://intentchart.com/pricing).

## How to check if a signal is fresh

A signal loses value with every week. Run these four checks on any sample,
ours included.

1. **Ask for a date on every row.** No date means you cannot tell a
   signal from last week from one from last year
2. **Ask what the date means.** It should be the day the person or company
   acted. A date the vendor scored or exported the row says less
3. **Count the rows under 30 days old.** In our packs,
   90% engaged in the last
   30 days. None did so more than
   90 days ago
4. **Write within days, not weeks.** A fresh signal you act on next month
   is an old one

## When you do not need intent data

- **You can name your buyers already.** If you sell to 40 companies you
  can list, research them by hand. Team pages and job posts are free
- **Your website gets little traffic.** A visitor tool can only name people
  who come. Fix the traffic first
- **Your buyers work at very small companies.** Few of them read B2B
  reports and guides, so every kind of signal is thin. Ask any vendor for
  sample rows at your company size before you pay
- **Nobody can write to the people this week.** A signal is worth most in
  the first days. Without time to write, buy later
- **You want meetings booked for you.** Intent data and leads give you people
  to write to. Someone still has to write and follow up

To work out the most you can pay for one lead, use the
[CPL calculator](https://intentchart.com/tools/cpl-calculator). CPL means cost per lead. It starts
from your deal size and two rates.

We have [special offers for startups](https://intentchart.com/startups) with a fresh funding round and for
accelerator founders.

## Questions

### What is intent data?

A sign that a company or a person is looking into a topic. It comes from
website visits, content they engaged with, or research across many sites.
It is one fact, not a promise to buy.

### How much does intent data cost for a startup?

From free to $36,000 a year and more. On 2026-10-30, tools that name the
visitors to your own site started at $0 to $79 a month. One contact
database added company topic data for $490 a year. Tools that join many
signals started at about $2,500 a month, billed yearly.

### Is company-level intent useful for a small team?

Less than it sounds. It tells you a company reads about a topic. It does
not tell you who to write to, and finding that person is the slow part.

### How fresh should intent data be?

As fresh as the vendor can prove with a date on each row. We aim for
30 days. In our packs, 90%
engaged in that time, and none more than 90 days ago.

### Do you sell intent data?

We sell leads. Each one is a person who engaged with content on your topic,
with the date. Each one was checked online, with a proof link. You get a
work email, so you can write the same day. Most leads also have the
company phone line. How we check: [how we find and check
each lead](https://intentchart.com/how-we-check).

## See it on your own buyers

Give us your work email, then tell us who you sell to. We send
10 leads that fit, with contacts, free. If fewer fit, we
tell you how many and why.

[Get 10 free leads](https://intentchart.com/#start)

## Sources

- [RB2B: pricing (checked 2026-10-30)](https://www.rb2b.com/pricing)
- [Leadfeeder: pricing (checked 2026-10-30)](https://www.leadfeeder.com/pricing/)
- [Unify: pricing (checked 2026-10-30)](https://www.unifygtm.com/pricing)
- [Lead411: pricing (checked 2026-10-30)](https://www.lead411.com/pricing/)
- [Warmly: pricing (checked 2026-10-30)](https://www.warmly.ai/pricing)
- [Common Room: pricing (checked 2026-10-30)](https://www.commonroom.io/pricing/)
- [Vector: pricing (checked 2026-10-30)](https://www.vector.co/pricing)
- [INTENTchart: B2B content syndication cost per lead in 2026](https://intentchart.com/benchmarks/b2b-lead-cost-2026)
- [INTENTchart: how we find and check each lead](https://intentchart.com/how-we-check)