Email Data Benchmark
Given a known person and employer, can the provider return a work email, and is it valid? Every returned address is checked by two independent verifiers, so this suite is graded against objective truth rather than a judge.
Leaderboard
| Provider | Match rate | Valid email rate | Latency p50 | Cost / valid email | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1Surfe | 90.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 66.7%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | - | - | 3.9A (top fifth of the field on this metric) |
| #2Findymail | 86.7%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 67.3%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 1,727msB (upper half of the field on this metric) | $0.020B (upper half of the field on this metric) | 3.6A (top fifth of the field on this metric) |
| #3Apollo.io | 90.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 64.8%B (upper half of the field on this metric) | 1,302msB (upper half of the field on this metric) | $0.043B (upper half of the field on this metric) | 3.4B (upper half of the field on this metric) |
| #4FullEnrich | 96.2%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 66.0%B (upper half of the field on this metric) | 40,638msD (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | $0.077C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 3.3B (upper half of the field on this metric) |
| #5Reverse Contact live | 98.3%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 66.1%B (upper half of the field on this metric) | 12,854msD (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | $0.041B (upper half of the field on this metric) | 3.2B (upper half of the field on this metric) |
| #6BetterContact | 90.9%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 66.0%B (upper half of the field on this metric) | 35,589msD (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | $0.060C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 3.2B (upper half of the field on this metric) |
| #7Icypeas | 68.3%C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 68.3%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 6,284msC (lower half of the field on this metric) | $0.013A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 3.0B (upper half of the field on this metric) |
| #8Wiza | 81.6%B (upper half of the field on this metric) | 65.0%B (upper half of the field on this metric) | - | $0.077C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 2.9B (upper half of the field on this metric) |
| #9Hunter.io | 75.0%B (upper half of the field on this metric) | 62.2%C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 2,252msB (upper half of the field on this metric) | $0.024B (upper half of the field on this metric) | 2.9B (upper half of the field on this metric) |
| #10AI Ark | 69.4%B (upper half of the field on this metric) | 64.7%C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 3,315msC (lower half of the field on this metric) | $0.0045A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 2.9B (upper half of the field on this metric) |
| #11Enrich.so | 68.3%C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 75.6%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 3,302msC (lower half of the field on this metric) | $0.0040A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 2.9B (upper half of the field on this metric) |
| #12LeadMagic | 60.0%C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 66.7%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 6,502msC (lower half of the field on this metric) | $0.015A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 2.8B (upper half of the field on this metric) |
| #13Datagma | 70.0%B (upper half of the field on this metric) | 61.9%C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 7,321msD (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | $0.021B (upper half of the field on this metric) | 2.7B (upper half of the field on this metric) |
| #14ContactOut | 69.4%B (upper half of the field on this metric) | 64.7%C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 1,024msB (upper half of the field on this metric) | - | 2.7B (upper half of the field on this metric) |
| #15Blitz API | 57.1%C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 67.9%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 297msA (top fifth of the field on this metric) | $0.154C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 2.7B (upper half of the field on this metric) |
| #16Fiber AI live | 77.6%B (upper half of the field on this metric) | 63.2%C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 17,360msD (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | $0.057C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 2.6B (upper half of the field on this metric) |
| #17LeadIQ | 78.3%B (upper half of the field on this metric) | 61.7%C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 682msA (top fifth of the field on this metric) | $0.074C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 2.5B (upper half of the field on this metric) |
| #18Lusha | 71.7%B (upper half of the field on this metric) | 62.8%C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 847msA (top fifth of the field on this metric) | $0.486D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 2.5B (upper half of the field on this metric) |
| #19Aviato live | 75.5%B (upper half of the field on this metric) | 35.1%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 964msB (upper half of the field on this metric) | - | 2.4C (lower half of the field on this metric) |
| #20People Data Labs | 69.4%B (upper half of the field on this metric) | 52.9%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 672msA (top fifth of the field on this metric) | $0.654D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 2.3C (lower half of the field on this metric) |
| #21RocketReach | 63.3%C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 65.8%B (upper half of the field on this metric) | 6,516msC (lower half of the field on this metric) | $0.480D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 2.3C (lower half of the field on this metric) |
| #22GetLeads | 46.7%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 67.9%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 3,441msC (lower half of the field on this metric) | $0.157C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 2.2C (lower half of the field on this metric) |
| #23Prospeo | 61.7%C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 54.1%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 1,231msB (upper half of the field on this metric) | $0.037B (upper half of the field on this metric) | 2.1C (lower half of the field on this metric) |
| #24Cognism | 66.1%C (lower half of the field on this metric) | - | - | - | 2.0C (lower half of the field on this metric) |
| #25QuickEnrich | 53.3%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 53.1%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 2,641msB (upper half of the field on this metric) | $0.0075A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 1.9C (lower half of the field on this metric) |
| #26Snov.io | 43.3%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 61.5%C (lower half of the field on this metric) | - | $0.015B (upper half of the field on this metric) | 1.8C (lower half of the field on this metric) |
| #27Coresignal live | 55.1%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 37.0%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 928msA (top fifth of the field on this metric) | $0.654D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 1.4D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) |
| #28Forager | 4.1%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 50.0%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | - | $0.190D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 1.4D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) |
| #29ZoomInfo | 52.3%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | - | - | - | 1.0D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) |
Grade, against the field on this metric:A (top fifth of the field on this metric)top fifthB (upper half of the field on this metric)upper halfC (lower half of the field on this metric)lower halfD (bottom fifth of the field on this metric)bottom fifth
Ranked by overall grade, the weighted mean of each provider's grades on every metric of the suite, core and specific; ties are broken on Match rate. Click any column to re-sort; # is the default rank.
Suite-specific metrics
What only this data type needs measured. Same providers, same run, same rank as the leaderboard. Wider than the page: scroll the table sideways for the remaining columns.
| Provider | Invalid rate | Catch-all share | Business email | Right-person rate | Decoy hit rate | Catch-all detection | Confidence-score quality | Geographic coverage | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1Surfe | 1.9%B (upper half of the field on this metric) | 29.6%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 98.1%C (lower half of the field on this metric) | - | - | - | 10A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 3.9A (top fifth of the field on this metric) |
| #2Findymail | 1.9%B (upper half of the field on this metric) | 28.8%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 98.1%C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 20.0%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | - | - | 9B (upper half of the field on this metric) | 3.6A (top fifth of the field on this metric) |
| #3Apollo.io | 1.9%B (upper half of the field on this metric) | 31.5%B (upper half of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 94.4%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 0.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | - | 9B (upper half of the field on this metric) | 3.4B (upper half of the field on this metric) |
| #4FullEnrich | 0.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 32.0%B (upper half of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 20.0%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | +94.4 ptsA (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 8C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 3.3B (upper half of the field on this metric) |
| #5Reverse Contact live | 1.7%B (upper half of the field on this metric) | 30.5%B (upper half of the field on this metric) | 97.4%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 98.3%C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 20.0%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | - | - | 11A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 3.2B (upper half of the field on this metric) |
| #6BetterContact | 2.0%C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 32.0%B (upper half of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 98.0%C (lower half of the field on this metric) | - | 81.3%B (upper half of the field on this metric) | +78.7 ptsB (upper half of the field on this metric) | 9B (upper half of the field on this metric) | 3.2B (upper half of the field on this metric) |
| #7Icypeas | 0.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 31.7%B (upper half of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 10.0%C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 46.2%B (upper half of the field on this metric) | +53.8 ptsD (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 10A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 3.0B (upper half of the field on this metric) |
| #8Wiza | 0.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 32.5%C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 0.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 0.0%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | - | 9B (upper half of the field on this metric) | 2.9B (upper half of the field on this metric) |
| #9Hunter.io | 13.3%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 24.4%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 10.0%C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | +100.0 ptsA (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 10A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 2.9B (upper half of the field on this metric) |
| #10AI Ark | 0.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 35.3%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 0.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 16.7%C (lower half of the field on this metric) | +68.8 ptsB (upper half of the field on this metric) | 8C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 2.9B (upper half of the field on this metric) |
| #11Enrich.so | 0.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 24.4%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 95.1%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 20.0%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | +62.5 ptsC (lower half of the field on this metric) | 10A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 2.9B (upper half of the field on this metric) |
| #12LeadMagic | 0.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 33.3%C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 97.2%C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 20.0%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 0.0%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | - | 9B (upper half of the field on this metric) | 2.8B (upper half of the field on this metric) |
| #13Datagma | 2.4%C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 35.7%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 0.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 0.0%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | - | 8C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 2.7B (upper half of the field on this metric) |
| #14ContactOut | 11.8%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 20.6%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 94.1%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 0.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 71.4%B (upper half of the field on this metric) | +63.5 ptsB (upper half of the field on this metric) | 9B (upper half of the field on this metric) | 2.7B (upper half of the field on this metric) |
| #15Blitz API | 0.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 32.1%C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | - | - | - | 7C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 2.7B (upper half of the field on this metric) |
| #16Fiber AI live | 2.6%C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 31.6%B (upper half of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 97.4%C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 0.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | - | - | 8C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 2.6B (upper half of the field on this metric) |
| #17LeadIQ | 2.1%C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 34.0%C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 95.7%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 0.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 0.0%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | +63.0 ptsC (lower half of the field on this metric) | 8C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 2.5B (upper half of the field on this metric) |
| #18Lusha | 4.7%C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 30.2%B (upper half of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 97.7%C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 0.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | - | - | 6D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 2.5B (upper half of the field on this metric) |
| #19Aviato live | 24.3%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 35.1%C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 0.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | - | - | 6D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 2.4C (lower half of the field on this metric) |
| #20People Data Labs | 11.8%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 35.3%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 0.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | - | - | 9B (upper half of the field on this metric) | 2.3C (lower half of the field on this metric) |
| #21RocketReach | 0.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 31.6%B (upper half of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 94.7%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 0.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 0.0%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | - | 7C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 2.3C (lower half of the field on this metric) |
| #22GetLeads | 0.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 32.1%C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 0.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 0.0%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | - | 6D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 2.2C (lower half of the field on this metric) |
| #23Prospeo | 2.7%C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 40.5%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 0.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 60.0%B (upper half of the field on this metric) | - | 5D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 2.1C (lower half of the field on this metric) |
| #24Cognism | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2.0C (lower half of the field on this metric) |
| #25QuickEnrich | 0.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 43.8%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 0.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | - | - | 7C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 1.9C (lower half of the field on this metric) |
| #26Snov.io | 11.5%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 23.1%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 92.3%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | - | 66.7%B (upper half of the field on this metric) | - | 8C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 1.8C (lower half of the field on this metric) |
| #27Coresignal live | 25.9%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 33.3%C (lower half of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 0.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 11.1%C (lower half of the field on this metric) | -16.7 ptsD (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 3D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 1.4D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) |
| #28Forager | 0.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 50.0%D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | 100.0%A (top fifth of the field on this metric) | - | - | - | 1D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) | 1.4D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) |
| #29ZoomInfo | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0D (bottom fifth of the field on this metric) |
Grade, against the field on this metric:A (top fifth of the field on this metric)top fifthB (upper half of the field on this metric)upper halfC (lower half of the field on this metric)lower halfD (bottom fifth of the field on this metric)bottom fifth
Overall grade
Weighted mean of each provider's grades on every metric of the suite, A = 4 to D = 1, in leaderboard order.
Verdict
29 providers ranked. On match rate, the field runs from 98.3% (Reverse Contact) to 4.1% (Forager): the gap is the reason to benchmark on the data you actually buy.
Price basis
The pack behind Cost / valid email, per provider: the central tier of its self-serve price ladder (on the public pricing page or after a free signup, never through sales) (the upper middle one when the count is even), in list price, monthly billing where offered, euro prices converted at 1 EUR = 1.1551 USD. Per request is the pack price divided by the requests it covers; Cost / valid email then divides it by the measured yield.
| Provider | Pack used | Pack price | Per request | Billed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surfe | No public price | - | - | - |
| Findymail | Business Plustier 4 of 6 | $399 / month30,000 credits | $0.0131 credit | Only when found |
| Apollo.io | Professional (1 seat)tier 2 of 3priced as the person enrichment the email is read from | $99 / month4,000 credits | $0.0251 credit | Every request |
| FullEnrich | Pro 5Ktier 6 of 11 | $255 / month5,000 credits | $0.0511 credit | Only when found |
| Reverse Contact live | Pay-as-you-go 200,000 creditstier 8 of 14 | $1,800, one-time200,000 credits | $0.0273 credits | Only when found |
| BetterContact | Pro 10,000tier 5 of 8 | $399 / month10,000 credits | $0.0401 credit | Only when found |
| Icypeas | Hypergrowth 50Ktier 6 of 11 | $445 / month50,000 credits | $0.0091 credit | Only when found |
| Wiza | API credits 101,000tier 2 of 3 | $2,525, one-time101,000 credits | $0.0502 credits | Only when found |
| Hunter.io | Growthtier 2 of 3 | $149 / month10,000 credits | $0.0151 credit | Only when found |
| AI Ark | Usage Based 300,000 creditstier 7 of 12 | $879 / month300,000 credits | $0.0031 credit | Only when found |
| Enrich.so | Scaletier 2 of 3 | $149 / month500,000 credits | $0.00310 credits | Only when found |
| LeadMagic | Professionaltier 3 of 4 | $499 / month50,000 credits | $0.0101 credit | Only when found |
| Datagma | Populartier 2 of 3 | $99 / month7,500 credits | $0.0131 credit | Only when found |
| ContactOut | No public price | - | - | - |
| Blitz API | Fulltier 2 of 2 | $599 / monthflat rate, spread over 10,000 requests | $0.060 | Every request |
| Fiber AI live | Growthtier 2 of 3 | $900 / month50,000 credits | $0.0362 credits | Only when found |
| LeadIQ | Pro 2,800 creditstier 27 of 53 | $127.12 / month2,800 credits | $0.0451 credit | Only when found |
| Lusha | Premium 5,200 creditstier 25 of 49 | $568.65 / month5,200 credits | $0.2192 credits | Every request |
| Aviato live | No public price | - | - | - |
| People Data Labs | Published range $0.20-$0.28 per recordmidpoint, per-volume grid not readablepriced as the person enrichment the email is read from | Self-servepriced per record | $0.240 | Every request |
| RocketReach | Pro + Phonetier 2 of 3 | $79 / month250 credits | $0.3161 credit | Only when found |
| GetLeads | Unlimitedtier 2 of 2priced as the person enrichment the email is read from | $497 / monthflat rate, spread over 10,000 requests | $0.050 | Every request |
| Prospeo | Growthtier 2 of 3 | $99 / month5,000 credits | $0.0201 credit | Only when found |
| Cognism | No public price | - | - | - |
| QuickEnrich | Growthtier 2 of 3 | $99 / month25,000 credits | $0.0041 credit | Only when found |
| Snov.io | Pro Mtier 3 of 5 | $189 / month20,000 credits | $0.0091 credit | Only when found |
| Coresignal live | Growthtier 4 of 7priced as the person enrichment the email is read from | $1,000 / month150,000 credits | $0.13320 credits | Every request |
| Forager | Growthtier 2 of 3 | $100 / month5,250 credits | $0.0955 credits | Only when found |
| ZoomInfo | No public price | - | - | - |
Methodology
- 01Who is in the test set
60 professionals whose name, title and employer are published on their own employer's website, checked on 2026-09-25: 30 in North America, 18 in Europe and 12 elsewhere, 15 each at C-level, VP or head, director, and manager or senior IC. The set is frozen before any provider is called, so every provider answers the same 60 questions and we already know who each person is and where they work. On 2026-10-13, every provider still reachable was also asked about ten decoys: invented people at real employers (five in North America, three in Europe, two elsewhere), with a profile URL that does not exist, each checked by a web search for the name and employer. An address returned for a decoy belongs to nobody.
- 02How each provider is asked
Each provider's email finder receives the person's name and employer web domain, the way a customer would send them. Where the API decides otherwise, we follow it: ContactOut and Blitz API only take a LinkedIn URL, so they ran on the 49 people who have one; Apollo.io, GetLeads, Coresignal and People Data Labs sell the work email inside their person enrichment, so the address comes from that call (Coresignal and People Data Labs take a LinkedIn URL, so on the 49 people who have one). Lusha is its contact search with only the email revealed. FullEnrich (52 people) and BetterContact (55) stopped when their free credits ran out. Wiza ran on the 49 people with a LinkedIn URL through its web app (a list enriched from an uploaded file, the API having no capacity on the day), so its latency is not measured. Snov.io and Forager ran through Clay, on its own managed credits, one column per provider with no waterfall and the test set's own fields as inputs (Forager's work-email finder takes a LinkedIn URL, so on the 49 people who have one); latency is not measured for them. ZoomInfo and Cognism did not answer this set: their match rate comes from a separate test of 4,806 people across Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Americas that recorded only whether an address came back, so their other metrics show "-".
- 03How an address is judged
Nothing is sent to the people. Every returned address goes to two independent verifiers, MillionVerifier and ZeroBounce. It is valid only when both say valid, invalid when either says invalid, and otherwise catch-all (the domain accepts any address, so nobody can confirm it) or unknown. Match rate counts any address returned; valid email rate, invalid rate and catch-all share split the returned addresses between those verdicts. Business vs personal is read from the domain. A deliverable address can still belong to someone else, so each returned address is also checked against the person's name: it counts for the right person when its local part is built from their first or last name, with initials or a common short form.
- 04What providers say about their own answers
Some providers flag catch-all domains or rate their confidence. Catch-all detection is the share of the verifiers' catch-all addresses the provider warned about, by a catch-all flag or a rating below its top level; LeadMagic, Datagma and GetLeads label every address valid, so they warn about none. Confidence-score quality is the valid-rate gap between the addresses a provider rates sure and the rest (Hunter, FullEnrich, BetterContact, Icypeas, Coresignal, ContactOut, LeadIQ, RocketReach); a negative gap means its confidence misleads. Findymail, Blitz API, People Data Labs and Reverse Contact return no status per address, so both show "-".
- 05What an email costs
The list price of one request on the central pack of the provider's self-serve price ladder (the middle tier, the upper one when the count is even; from the public pricing page or the billing page after a free signup, never a sales quote), divided by the valid emails that request yields. A provider that bills every request, a flat-rate plan (spread over 10,000 requests) and an email read off a person enrichment count every request as paid. The Price basis table shows the pack behind each number.
- 06What this does not tell you
There is no real send, so there is no bounce rate: the invalid rate is its closest proxy. Sixty people separate providers that differ clearly; a gap of a few points between two providers is within noise.
- 07Same conditions for everyone
Most provider calls go through the same API gateway, with a fresh answer forced on every call; providers it does not carry are called directly on their own API, or through Clay or their own web app where no API access was available, and the method above names them. Latency is measured from the same place for everyone, includes the gateway hop where there is one, and for asynchronous APIs runs until the job completes: comparable between providers, not a vendor's absolute latency.
- 08Grades and overall
Every value is graded against the other providers on the same metric: A for the top fifth, B the upper half, C the lower half, D the bottom fifth. Overall is the weighted mean of a provider's grades on every metric it was measured on, A = 4 to D = 1. Weights: Match rate 10×, Valid email rate 5×, Latency p50 0.25×, Cost / valid email 3×, every other metric 1×. A provider needs at least 20 attempted entries to be ranked; one that could not run is listed as not measured, never scored as zero, and "-" marks a metric not measured.
Raw responses hold personal data and are not published; the per-provider aggregates behind every number, with the counts they were computed from, are in the repository underruns/2026-09-25/scores/email.json. Inputs were checked before the run: people whose name, title and employer their own employer publishes, companies checked against registries and filings. Results on your own data will be lower: they include input errors we deliberately excluded so every provider was tested on the same, known-correct set.
What we measure
Every metric is defined once and applied the same way to every provider, so it compares across providers. The core metrics (coverage, accuracy, latency, pricing, and freshness and API quality where they apply) recur across suites; the rest are specific to this data type.
Questions about the Email Data benchmark
Which is the best email data provider?
Surfe ranks first on the Email Data benchmark, with an overall grade of 3.9 A, ahead of Findymail (3.6 A) and Apollo.io (3.4 B). 29 providers were ranked in the run of 2026-09-25. The overall grade covers every metric of the benchmark, so the leader on a single metric can rank lower.
Which email data provider has the highest match rate?
Reverse Contact leads on match rate, at 98.3%, ahead of FullEnrich at 96.2%. Across the 29 providers ranked, match rate runs from 98.3% to 4.1%. Share of test people for which any email is returned.
Which email data provider has the highest valid email rate?
Enrich.so leads on valid email rate, at 75.6%, ahead of Icypeas at 68.3%. Returned addresses both verifiers mark valid; catch-all and unknown count as not valid.
Which email data provider is fastest?
Blitz API leads on latency p50, at 297ms, ahead of People Data Labs at 672ms. Median time to an answer per request, from the same place for every provider (for asynchronous APIs, until the job completes).
Which email data provider has the lowest cost per valid email?
Enrich.so leads on cost per valid email, at $0.0040, ahead of AI Ark at $0.0045. List price per valid email, on the central pack of the self-serve price ladder.
How is the Email Data benchmark measured?
Every provider answers the same frozen, verified test set (60 people · 30 NA / 18 EU / 12 RoW · set v2026-09-25.1) in the same window, graded by two-verifier consensus (objective). Each value gets a letter grade against the rest of the field, A for the top fifth down to D for the bottom fifth, and the leaderboard ranks providers on the weighted mean of their grades on every metric, match rate weighing most; ties are broken on match rate.
Providers in this suite
Not measured in this run
In this suite, but not ranked this run: no self-serve access, no credits, or fewer than 20 entries run. Not measured is never scored as zero.
