Best ABM & lead generation platforms for B2B marketers in 2025

In the UK’s 2025 B2B marketing landscape, account-based marketing (ABM) and intelligent lead generation have become essential strategies to drive high-quality pipeline. Rather than casting wide nets, B2B teams are zeroing in on the best-fit accounts and prospects – a focus that studies show can dramatically boost results.

Effective ABM programmes can increase pipeline conversion rates by up to 14%, and one analysis found ABM initiatives driving as much as a 208% uplift in revenue. Such impressive ROI explains why 93% of SaaS marketers rate ABM as very or extremely successful.

At the same time, 2025’s macro environment demands doing more with less. UK marketers face strict GDPR privacy rules and high buyer expectations, so tools are evolving to personalise experiences, predict demand, and automate outreach – all while staying compliant with UK/EU data laws. The result is a new class of “smart” ABM and lead gen platforms infused with AI to boost efficiency and lead quality. But with many vendors touting AI capabilities and global reach, it’s challenging to identify which platforms truly move the needle.

This report provides a comparative review of five top platforms shaping ABM and B2B lead generation in the UK: Terminus, Demandbase, Cognism, Apollo, and 6sense

Terminus

Terminus is a leading ABM platform known for enabling marketers to run coordinated, multi-channel campaigns targeting specific accounts. If 6sense is the detective finding which accounts to pursue, Terminus is the tactical toolkit to engage those accounts everywhere. The Terminus platform allows B2B marketing teams to orchestrate outreach across display advertising, LinkedIn, email, website personalisation, and even conversational chat – all from one integrated interface.

Key features include a B2B-optimised ad network for serving ads to target accounts, personalisation tools to tailor your website or landing pages for key accounts, email signature marketing (via their Sigstr acquisition) to insert targeted banner content in employees’ email footers, and a native chat solution that can greet known account visitors by name. These channels feed into a unified account timeline and analytics dashboard.

Terminus leverages AI primarily behind the scenes: it uses machine learning in its account analytics to score account engagement and intent, and to trigger alerts to sales (or “push” hot accounts to CRM) when certain thresholds are met. A newer Account Scorecard feature uses AI to benchmark and visualise an account’s engagement across marketing and sales touchpoints, giving marketers an assisted way to measure ABM success. Terminus also integrates third-party intent data (e.g. Bombora), so users can detect if target accounts are researching relevant topics externally.

Strengths: Terminus is praised for making practical ABM execution easier. Users appreciate having one platform to manage ads, email, web personalisation and more, rather than stitching together separate point tools. This cohesive approach means marketing efforts across channels feel more unified for the target account, and all interaction data is captured centrally. Terminus includes pre-built “campaign play” templates for common ABM scenarios (e.g. re-engaging dormant accounts or running a multi-channel blitz around a product launch), which can be helpful for teams new to ABM tactics.

Another strength is how Terminus has expanded its data capabilities: a recent merger with DemandScience (a B2B data provider) has given Terminus users access to a richer global contact database and intent signals as part of the platform. This is a boon for those targeting UK and European accounts under stricter data laws, as Terminus can now provide verified contact data and intent insights in-platform while prioritising GDPR compliance.

In short, Terminus excels at executing ABM across multiple channels at scale, making it a top choice for mid-sized and enterprise companies that want a scalable, all-in-one ABM solution.

Pricing: Terminus does not publish fixed pricing; packages are custom-quoted based on modules and database size. It is generally positioned for mid-market to enterprise customers. In practice, companies can start with a narrower scope (for example, just the advertising module or just the web personalisation) but Terminus primarily sells a unified platform. Budget ranges reported by users vary widely – from mid-five-figure sums (in GBP) annually for a mid-sized deployment, up to six-figure investments for large enterprises with full functionality. As a reference, industry analysts note Terminus pricing “scales from mid-market to enterprise” with custom quotes. UK marketers should expect to engage with Terminus for a tailored demo and proposal; there’s no self-service plan or public rate card.

Limitations: While Terminus offers breadth, it isn’t as specialised in certain areas as some point solutions. For instance, its AI-driven intent and predictive analytics are useful but are sometimes described as “basic” compared to a dedicated predictive platform like 6sense. Terminus might identify accounts with high web engagement, for example, but it may not distinguish subtle intent nuances as deeply as 6sense’s algorithm could. In practice, this means Terminus is fantastic for orchestrating engagement, but if pinpoint predictive insight is the goal, some marketers augment it with an intent analytics tool.

Another consideration is that to fully leverage Terminus’s multi-channel approach, your team needs to produce the content and creative for those campaigns. Running personalised ads, custom web experiences, and tailored emails requires a pipeline of messaging and design assets – work that falls on your marketing team. Smaller teams may struggle to supply enough content to take advantage of every channel.

Additionally, Terminus’s bundle approach (it sells an integrated platform) means it’s less flexible if you only want one component. It isn’t the kind of tool you’d buy just for account ads or just for chat – it’s best used when you plan to use most pieces of the puzzle.

Finally, as a sophisticated platform, Terminus carries a learning curve. New users benefit from training to master all features and to set up segmentation, integrations (with CRM/marketing automation), and analytics correctly. Terminus does provide customer success support, but a dedicated internal admin or “ABM champion” is often needed to get the most value.

For UK B2B firms with a few hundred or more target accounts, a multi-channel strategy, and a desire to have marketing and sales working from one playbook, Terminus is a compelling solution. Its focus on execution and recent enrichment of data capabilities make it a strong contender for companies seeking an “all-in-one ABM workhorse” that plays nicely with UK/EU compliance requirements.

Demandbase One

Demandbase is often regarded as a pioneer in ABM software and remains a leader in sophisticated, AI-driven ABM for enterprises. Over the years, Demandbase has evolved its platform into a broad “smarter go-to-market” suite called Demandbase One, which brings together data from multiple sources and applies AI to every step of the sales and marketing cycle. If Terminus is the hands-on ABM execution workhorse, Demandbase is like the enterprise command centre for ABM, with robust analytics, data integration, and automation depth.

Key Features: Demandbase One spans several modules including account identification & intelligence, account-based advertising, website personalisation, sales intelligence (after its Engagio acquisition), and a Data Cloud that provides firmographic and intent data. One of its hallmark capabilities is AI-powered intent analysis: Demandbase aggregates intent signals from across the web – including search keywords, visits to B2B content sites, and engagement on third-party networks – and uses machine learning to highlight when an account is actively researching relevant topics. This goes beyond first-party data; Demandbase has its own proprietary intent data and also integrates leading third-party intent feeds like Bombora.

Another notable feature is AI-driven account selection and tiering. Given a broad universe of companies, Demandbase can use firmographic and technographic models to score which accounts are a high fit for your product, then cross-reference that with intent and engagement signals to recommend tier 1 vs. tier 2 target accounts. This helps answer “who should we target?” with data-backed insights.

Demandbase has been investing heavily in workflow automation via AI as well. They introduced “Connected AI” initiatives, including a set of intelligent agents dubbed Agentbase, aimed at automating many go-to-market tasks. For example, Agentbase can automatically create a campaign audience of accounts that surge in intent or trigger an alert and route a new inbound lead to the correct account owner in your CRM without human intervention. These AI agents essentially take on tasks marketers or salesops used to do manually, making the platform proactive.

On the engagement side, Demandbase provides personalisation tools similar to Terminus or Mutiny – you can dynamically change website content or recommend content based on industry or account attributes. Its integrated advertising module allows targeting specific accounts across ad networks, and an analytics module uses machine learning to do multi-touch attribution (connecting account activities to pipeline and revenue outcomes).

For sales alignment, the platform (boosted by the Engagio merger) offers a 360° account view for BDRs and sellers, where AI surfaces important changes (like funding news or key personnel moves) and suggests talking points or next steps for each account.

Importantly, Demandbase has a significant data component: they acquired InsideView and Datafox in past years, so Demandbase One includes a robust company and contact database feeding the platform’s AI. This means users get a lot of built-in firmographic data on accounts worldwide, including many UK/EU companies, which strengthens its insights for European campaigns.

Strengths: Demandbase is widely seen as one of the most comprehensive and advanced ABM solutions available. If fully implemented, it can potentially replace a stack of point solutions – it covers intent data, account selection, ads, website personalisation, sales alerts, and analytics in one package. This unified approach means the AI can draw correlations across all your channels more effectively than separate tools could. For example, Demandbase can notice that one of your target accounts not only interacted with an ad but also had two employees visit your site and your sales rep engaged them – all of those signals combine into an account engagement score automatically. Such holistic visibility is a big advantage.

Demandbase’s AI insights are also quite mature: users often mention the helpfulness of things like next-best-action recommendations (e.g. suggesting which persona at the account you should reach out to next based on past engagement patterns). The platform’s continual improvement through aggregated learning (they have many enterprise users training the models) means the recommendations keep getting smarter.

For UK B2B marketers, a major strength is Demandbase’s global applicability. Unlike some US-centric tools, Demandbase has strong data on European companies – thanks to the integrated databases (InsideView, etc.) and a local presence in Europe. They understand regional nuances like country-specific firmographics or privacy requirements.

Speaking of privacy, Demandbase places a high emphasis on security/compliance, which large UK enterprises require. They have a Trust Centre and comply with certifications (like ISO standards), and they allow European data to be handled in line with GDPR (for instance, you can choose to filter out personal identifiers if needed to be privacy-safe).

Another strength often cited is Demandbase’s customer success and community. Because they’ve been a pioneer in ABM, they’ve built a rich knowledge base and offer strategic guidance – essentially acting as a partner in helping your team succeed with ABM, not just a software vendor.

Lastly, Demandbase is known for ongoing innovation. In recent industry awards, they’ve been recognised for things like AI-driven ad optimisation (where the system auto-adjusts campaigns based on downstream revenue impact, not just clicks). Being on a platform that is at the forefront of ABM technology can give marketers an edge if they leverage those cutting-edge features.

Pricing: Demandbase One is firmly an enterprise solution. They typically do custom pricing based on the modules you need (advertising, data, personalisation, etc.), number of accounts, and any add-ons. While no public price list exists, deals commonly land in the £30,000 to £100,000+ per year range for mid-to-large enterprises. For example, a mid-size firm might invest £30–£50k for a narrower implementation, whereas a large enterprise with full capabilities across thousands of accounts can easily exceed six figures annually.

Demandbase has introduced some lighter packages to attract the mid-market, but it remains a significant investment that needs justification via ABM as a top priority. There’s generally no free trial (aside from perhaps intent data samples) – engaging with Demandbase will involve a sales process and a tailored demo for your use case.

Given the cost, UK marketers should ensure they have the organisational readiness (team, data, and strategy) to make full use of it. Otherwise, one could under-utilise an expensive platform.

Limitations: With great power comes complexity. Implementing Demandbase is not a trivial project. Companies often undergo multi-month onboarding and must train admins or power-users to manage it. To really get value, your marketing operations and sales operations need to be fairly mature – for instance, you should have solid CRM data hygiene and clearly defined account ownership rules. Without that, an advanced tool like Demandbase could overwhelm your team or produce muddled results.

Some users note that if misconfigured or if marketing and sales aren’t aligned on using the insights, it’s possible to under-utilise the platform while still paying a premium. In short, Demandbase is best for organisations that are ready to operationalise ABM deeply; smaller or less mature teams might struggle.

Integration and data flow can also be a challenge. Demandbase integrates with CRM (Salesforce, MS Dynamics), marketing automation (Marketo, HubSpot), etc., but making sure leads match to accounts correctly and data syncs bi-directionally often requires careful setup and troubleshooting. Issues like duplicate records or mismatched lead-to-account mapping have been reported – Demandbase provides tools to handle these (such as algorithms to auto-associate leads to the right account) but it needs oversight.

Another consideration is stack overlap. Because Demandbase does so much, companies adopting it often need to decide which existing tools to keep. For example, you might drop a separate intent data subscription, or an ad retargeting tool, or even parts of your marketing automation, in favour of Demandbase. This consolidation can be positive (fewer vendors), but it’s an internal change management exercise. Stakeholders from different teams (marketing, sales, SDR, IT) will need to agree on new workflows centred on Demandbase. If a sales team is not willing to use the Demandbase Sales app or doesn’t trust the AI scores, some value could be lost.

Finally, cost is an obvious limitation – Demandbase is among the pricier ABM solutions, so it tends to be out-of-reach for start-ups or those with limited budget. It truly shines in an environment where ABM is a board-level priority with allocated budget and team resources.

In summary, Demandbase is a top choice for UK enterprises and high-growth scale-ups that want a comprehensive, data-driven ABM platform and have the resources to support it. Its strengths in AI, rich data (including UK/EU coverage), and full-funnel alignment can deliver great results – provided the complexity is managed and fully embraced by the organisation.

Cognism

Cognism is a UK-founded B2B sales intelligence platform that has rapidly become known as a compliant, high-quality alternative to ZoomInfo for business contact data. For B2B marketers and SDR teams in the UK and Europe, Cognism’s value proposition is very compelling: it provides a large database of prospects (contacts and companies) with deep coverage in EMEA, and it layers on AI tools to find and prioritise the best leads – all while strictly adhering to GDPR and local privacy laws. In an era where data privacy is paramount, Cognism positions itself as the safe choice to fuel outbound marketing and ABM without the “grey areas” that some US-based data providers face in Europe.

Key Features: At its core, Cognism maintains a database of millions of B2B contacts globally, including emails, mobile numbers, direct dials, job titles, company info, industry, revenue, and more. A standout feature is Cognism’s AI-powered search interface, often described as a ChatGPT-style persona builder. Instead of manually applying dozens of filters, users can simply type a natural language query like “Find CTOs or IT Directors at fintech companies in the UK with 50–200 employees”. The AI will interpret that and return a list of contacts matching the criteria. This makes building an ideal account or contact list much more user-friendly, especially for marketers who might not know all the database filtering options.

Cognism also integrates intent data via a partnership with Bombora. This means you can filter or prioritise contacts at companies which are currently researching certain topics (for example, showing intent for “cybersecurity” if you sell a security product). By combining intent with contact data, a marketer can focus outreach on prospects who work at in-market accounts.

Another unique aspect is Cognism’s emphasis on data verification, particularly phone data. They brand their top-tier phone contacts as “Diamond Data®,” which are phone numbers verified by humans for accuracy. These are continually validated (using a mix of human call-testing and AI monitoring) to ensure higher connect rates. For teams that do a lot of calling, having reliable direct dials – especially in Europe where such data is harder to source – is a big advantage.

Cognism provides a Sales Companion browser extension as well. This allows users to get Cognism data on the fly while viewing LinkedIn profiles or company websites. For example, a marketer or SDR on a LinkedIn profile can click the Cognism extension to instantly see that person’s email, phone, and even an “intent score” if available, without switching tools. From there, contacts can be pushed directly into CRM or an outreach sequence with one click. This tight workflow integration means less time copying data between systems.

Additionally, Cognism’s platform offers some analytics around your Total Addressable Market (TAM). Using AI, it can estimate how many companies and contacts fit your ideal customer profile in a given region, and highlight gaps in your current database. This helps marketers understand market coverage and where to focus prospecting efforts.

Strengths: For UK and EU users, Cognism’s biggest strength is data compliance and regional focus. The company built its processes with GDPR in mind from the start. They only collect business data (no sensitive personal data), and they establish lawful bases for processing (e.g. legitimate interest) while honouring things like do-not-call lists and individual opt-outs. They even tout certifications like ISO 27701 for privacy information management. In practical terms, this means when you pull a list of contacts from, say, Germany or the UK, those individuals should have been informed that their data may be in Cognism’s database and given a way to opt out. This significantly reduces legal risk for marketing outreach compared to scraping data or using less compliant vendors. Many UK marketers feel more confident using Cognism knowing it’s aligned with EU/UK data laws.

Data quality is another strength, especially for direct phone numbers. Users often report that Cognism’s mobile numbers and direct dials have a higher connection rate than other databases. This “Diamond Data” verification pays off when your sales team can actually reach prospects live. Email quality is also high (Cognism verifies emails and provides confidence scores), leading to lower bounce rates.

From a marketing perspective, Cognism helps keep the funnel fed with fresh contacts. You can continuously top up campaigns with new, high-fit prospects or update old lists – the AI will even flag if some contacts have changed jobs so you can refresh data accordingly. The AI search and filters are tailored to common B2B scenarios, which makes finding lookalike audiences or specific segments intuitive. For example, you can ask for contacts “who look like” your best customers, and the system will use your criteria to suggest similar leads.

Because Cognism has a strong focus on EMEA, it accounts for nuances like regional languages, formats, and even unique firmographics. This means if you’re targeting, say, the DACH region or the Nordics, Cognism might have better local data coverage or understand local industry classifications better than a US-centric provider. Their interface is also relatively easy to use for both marketers and sales development reps – it’s designed with both audiences in mind (marketing can do big list pulls, while SDRs can do one-off research or small targeted searches).

The company offers robust customer support out of their London office, which UK customers appreciate (no timezone issues, and support reps who understand the market). Many UK scale-ups in tech, SaaS, recruitment, and other industries use Cognism to scale outbound sales and lead generation quickly, since it combines the data source and basic outreach tools (like the browser push-to-sequence) in one platform. Essentially, it’s a fast track to build pipeline without needing to purchase data lists or worry about violating GDPR.

Pricing: Cognism does not publish pricing on its website. They offer two main package tiers – often called Grow (a core package) and Elevate (which includes everything in Grow plus extras like intent data and advanced features). The cost typically depends on the number of seats (user licences) you need and any add-ons (such as Bombora intent or additional data volume). While every deal is custom, industry feedback suggests Cognism often starts in the low five figures (GBP) per year for a basic package and scales up from there based on team size and options. For instance, a small team might invest around £10k–£20k annually, whereas a larger team with many users and the full feature set could be significantly higher.

Cognism aims to be competitive with similar solutions; it’s sometimes noted as slightly more affordable than ZoomInfo for comparable use cases, though exact pricing is negotiable. They notably do not restrict data via credits in the way some competitors (like Apollo or Lusha) do – instead, Cognism tends to offer more unlimited access within a licence (fair usage policies apply). This predictable pricing model is a selling point, as teams aren’t worried about consuming credits and incurring surprise costs.

UK marketers evaluating Cognism can request a tailored quote and often a free data sample (Cognism will provide 25 sample leads matching your ICP so you can gauge data quality). It’s worth noting that while Cognism’s pricing is reasonable for the mid-market and up, very small start-ups might still find even £10k/year steep if they only need occasional data – those companies might start with the free trials of other services or smaller databases until they’re ready to invest.

Limitations: While Cognism’s strength is EMEA, it may be less comprehensive in some regions outside Europe. If a UK company has a very heavy focus on, say, North America, Cognism’s data might not be as exhaustive in niche US verticals compared to ZoomInfo (which has massive US coverage). However, for many mainstream industries it’s sufficient in the US too – just something to keep in mind if your TAM is global.

Another limitation is that Cognism is primarily a data and intelligence platform, not an execution platform. It doesn’t send emails for you (beyond pushing to your connected sales engagement tool) and it doesn’t manage ad campaigns or content – so you’ll still use a CRM, an email marketing tool, an ad platform, etc. in conjunction with Cognism. In an ABM context, Cognism can tell you who to reach and provide their info, but it’s up to you to actually execute the multi-channel outreach (often via an ABM tool like those above, or via your sales automation). This means Cognism is often one piece of a larger tech stack.

Regarding data, while Cognism is known for quality, no database is perfect. Users might still encounter some out-of-date contacts (people change jobs frequently) or occasional incorrect details. Cognism’s continual verification mitigates this, and they encourage customers to report bounces or bad data so they can improve it. But marketers should always budget a little time for list cleaning or validation when using any data source.

Another possible drawback is cost for very small teams – Cognism’s value really shows when you’re doing ongoing prospecting at some scale. If you only need a few dozen contacts as a one-off, a full Cognism subscription could be overkill. That said, most growing B2B companies find that having a reliable stream of leads is worth the investment.

Lastly, Cognism’s platform, while user-friendly, may require training for those unfamiliar with sales intelligence tools. Features like the AI search are straightforward, but making the most of intent data or the CRM integrations might require some onboarding guidance (which Cognism provides).

In summary, Cognism is a top choice for UK B2B marketers and sales teams who need a rich, GDPR-compliant data source to power their ABM and outbound efforts. It fills your pipeline with high-quality contacts and uses AI to take the legwork out of prospecting. The platform pairs especially well with an ABM execution tool (like an email sequencer or an ad platform) to ensure you’re reaching the right people in your target accounts. For companies concerned with privacy and data laws – a very real concern in 2025 – Cognism offers peace of mind along with actionable data, which is a combination that stands out in the lead generation space.