# Lusha vs Cognism: which do AI models recommend for sales intel, October 2026

GTM AI Recommendation Index, October 2026 Edition, Sales intelligence and contact data. One of fourteen models named Lusha first on the direct prompt; zero named Cognism. Page: https://gtm-ai-index.com/sales/sales-intelligence-and-contact-data/lusha-vs-cognism/

| | First-choice share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels | Models naming it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lusha | 4% | #3 of 9 | 13% | 52 | 13 of 14 |
| Cognism | 2% | #5 of 9 | 13% | 52 | 14 of 14 |

## The direct prompt, model by model

- Kimi K2: lusha first (first choices: Apollo.io, Lusha) (alternatives: Cognism, ZoomInfo)
- Claude Haiku 4.5: neither first, one named (first choices: Apollo.io) (alternatives: Cognism, Lusha, ZoomInfo)
- GPT-5.4 mini: neither first, one named (first choices: Apollo.io) (alternatives: Cognism, Lusha, ZoomInfo)
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: neither first, one named (first choices: Apollo.io) (alternatives: Clay, Cognism, ZoomInfo)
- Perplexity Sonar: neither first, one named (first choices: ZoomInfo) (alternatives: Cognism, Lusha)
- Grok 4.1 Fast: neither first, one named (first choices: Apollo.io) (alternatives: Cognism, Lusha, UpLead)
- Mistral Small: neither first, one named (first choices: Apollo.io) (alternatives: Cognism, ZoomInfo)
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: neither first, one named (first choices: Apollo.io) (alternatives: Cognism, UpLead, ZoomInfo)
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: neither first, one named (first choices: Apollo.io, ZoomInfo) (alternatives: Clay, Cognism)
- MiniMax M2.5: neither first, one named (first choices: Apollo.io) (alternatives: Clay, Cognism, Lusha, ZoomInfo)
- GPT-6 Luna: neither first, one named (first choices: Apollo.io) (alternatives: Cognism, ZoomInfo)
- Muse Glimmer 30B: neither first, one named (first choices: Apollo.io, ZoomInfo) (alternatives: Cognism, Lead411)
- Llama 4 Maverick: neither named (first choices: ZoomInfo)
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: neither named (first choices: Apollo.io) (alternatives: Dealfront, HubSpot Sales Hub, ZoomInfo)

## What the models said about Lusha

- "The credit model can feel like a trap... Users report accuracy has declined, particularly for phone numbers" (Claude Haiku 4.5, negative prompt, hard negative)
- "For most SMB and mid-market teams, Lusha is the strongest overall pick" (Claude Haiku 4.5, paraphrase prompt, first choice)

## What the models said about Cognism

- "and Cognism (expensive, EU-focused) if budget is your primary constraint" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, budget prompt, hard negative)
- "Avoid ZoomInfo and Cognism for now" (Kimi K2, budget prompt, hard negative)
- "Cognism is particularly known for GDPR/CCPA compliance-first design and Diamond Data phone verification, making it a strong candidate if European markets are a priority." (DeepSeek V4 Flash, scale prompt, first choice)
- "Cognism: Highly rated for EMEA/UK mobile data (GDPR-compliant, human-verified "Diamond Data")" (Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt, first choice)

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category. Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category. Published under CC BY 4.0; the output is the models' output, and nothing here is a recommendation by the index.