Bombora Review: Pricing, Features & What the Data Shows
B2B intent data provider that tracks which companies are actively researching topics related to your product.
What Bombora Does
Bombora is the largest B2B intent data cooperative, aggregating content consumption signals from 5,000+ B2B media publisher websites to identify which companies are actively researching specific topics. The flagship Company Surge product detects when a company's research activity on a topic exceeds its historical baseline — if a company that normally reads 2 articles about 'marketing automation' suddenly reads 12 in a week, Bombora flags that surge as a buying signal. Founded in 2014 in New York, Bombora has become the de facto intent data layer that feeds into most major ABM platforms, CRMs, and marketing automation tools.
Bombora's cooperative model is its structural moat. Over 5,000 B2B publishers share content consumption data with Bombora in exchange for revenue sharing. This breadth of publisher participation means Bombora captures research activity across a wider swath of the B2B content landscape than any proprietary intent data provider can match. When a VP of Marketing at a target account reads articles across multiple publisher sites about a topic relevant to your product, Bombora aggregates those signals into a company-level intent score.
Critically, Bombora is a data provider, not an activation platform. It tells you which companies are showing intent but doesn't help you act on that information directly. Most Bombora customers access intent data through their ABM platform (6sense, Demandbase, Terminus), CRM (Salesforce), or marketing automation (HubSpot, Marketo) rather than using Bombora's own interface. Bombora has made its data available through integrations with virtually every major go-to-market tool, making it the standard intent data source that other platforms incorporate.
The practical buyer consideration is whether you're getting Bombora data through another platform already. 6sense and Demandbase both incorporate Bombora's data (alongside other sources) into their platforms. If you're already paying for one of those ABM platforms, you may be getting Bombora's intent signals without a direct subscription. Buying Bombora directly makes sense when you want intent data without the full ABM platform cost, or when you want to feed intent signals into tools that don't have native ABM capabilities.
Bombora Key Features
Company Surge
Bombora's core product. Detects when a company's content consumption on a specific topic exceeds its historical baseline, indicating active research. Surge scores are calculated weekly by comparing current-period consumption to the company's rolling average. High surge scores suggest the company is actively evaluating solutions in your category. The algorithm reduces false positives from habitual content consumption — a company that always reads about CRM won't trigger a surge, but one that suddenly starts will.
5,000+ Publisher Cooperative
The largest B2B intent data network, with content consumption data from over 5,000 business media websites, research firms, and industry publications. The cooperative model means Bombora captures research activity across a broader content landscape than any single-source provider. Publishers include industry-specific media, general business publications, analyst firms, and product review sites. The breadth creates a more complete picture of company-level research behavior than alternatives with fewer data sources.
Topic Taxonomy
Over 12,000 B2B topics organized in a hierarchical taxonomy. You select the topics relevant to your product category, and Bombora monitors company research activity on those topics. Topic granularity varies — broad categories like 'CRM software' have strong signal coverage, while highly specific or emerging topics may have thinner data. Proper topic selection is critical for signal quality: too broad leads to false positives, too narrow leads to insufficient data.
Platform Integrations
Bombora data integrates with virtually every major go-to-market platform: Salesforce, HubSpot, Marketo, 6sense, Demandbase, RollWorks, Terminus, LinkedIn, and more. Intent scores and topic-level surge data can be pushed to CRM records, used for advertising audience creation, or fed into lead scoring models. The integration breadth is a core advantage — Bombora's data can activate across your existing tech stack without requiring a platform change.
Account-Level Identification
Intent signals are identified at the company level — Bombora can tell you that 'Acme Corp' is researching CRM software, but it cannot identify which specific individual at Acme Corp is conducting the research. This company-level granularity is useful for account-based prioritization and targeting but requires a contact data provider (ZoomInfo, Apollo, Cognism) to turn account-level intent into individual outreach targets.
Custom Segments & Alerts
Create custom segments based on topic combinations, company attributes, and surge thresholds. Alerts notify your team when target accounts begin surging on relevant topics. Segments can be synced to advertising platforms for targeted campaigns or to CRM for sales prioritization. The segmentation is most valuable when combined with your ICP definition — filtering intent signals to only companies that match your target profile.
Who Uses Bombora
ABM Account Prioritization
The most common Bombora use case. Marketing and sales teams use Company Surge data to prioritize outreach to accounts showing active research intent. Instead of working through a static target account list based on firmographic fit, reps focus on accounts that are actively researching relevant topics right now. The workflow: Bombora identifies 50 accounts surging on 'sales engagement platform' → data pushes to Salesforce → SDR team prioritizes these accounts for outbound this week. Teams using intent-based prioritization typically report 15-25% improvement in meeting rates compared to cold outreach.
Advertising Audience Targeting
Marketing teams use Bombora's intent data to create advertising audiences of in-market companies. The workflow: Bombora identifies companies surging on topics relevant to your product → the company list is pushed to LinkedIn Matched Audiences or a programmatic DSP → display ads serve to employees at those companies. This intent-based targeting reduces wasted ad spend by concentrating budget on accounts that are actively evaluating solutions. Most effective when combined with LinkedIn's professional targeting for decision-maker-level ad delivery.
Lead Scoring Enhancement
Marketing operations teams incorporate Bombora intent data into their lead scoring models. When an inbound lead comes from a company that's also showing Bombora intent surge, the lead score gets a boost — reflecting both explicit interest (form fill) and implicit interest (active research). This composite scoring improves lead quality prioritization and helps route high-intent leads to sales faster. The intent signal adds a dimension that traditional lead scoring (demographic + behavioral) can't capture.
Bombora Pricing
Standard
Company Surge data, topic selection, CRM integration
Enterprise
Full topic taxonomy, advanced analytics, multiple integrations
Bombora doesn't publish pricing, and contracts are customized based on topic selection, data volume, integrations, and contract length. Based on buyer reports, the Standard tier — covering Company Surge data with a selected set of topics and CRM integration — typically costs $25,000-40,000/year. Enterprise pricing with the full topic taxonomy, advanced analytics, and multiple integrations runs $50,000-75,000+/year.
Many companies access Bombora data through their ABM platform rather than purchasing directly. 6sense, Demandbase, and other ABM platforms incorporate Bombora data (among other sources) into their intent signals. If you're already paying for one of these platforms, you may be getting Bombora-sourced intent data as part of that subscription. Check with your ABM platform provider before purchasing Bombora directly.
For companies that want intent data without a full ABM platform, Bombora direct is the most cost-effective option. At $25K-40K/year, it's significantly cheaper than 6sense ($50K-100K+) or Demandbase ($40K-100K+), which include intent alongside advertising, sales intelligence, and orchestration features you may not need.
Annual contracts are standard. Implementation is relatively straightforward — most integrations can be configured in 1-2 weeks, with initial data flowing within the first month.
Job Market Demand for Bombora
Bombora appears in 1 job postings across 1 companies in our database of 23,338+ analyzed job postings.
Department
- Head of Performance Media
- iron horse (1)
Bombora Data Quality & Coverage
Bombora's intent data quality depends on three factors: the relevance of your selected topics, the size of the companies you're targeting, and the volume of content consumption in your category.
For well-defined B2B categories (CRM, marketing automation, cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure), Company Surge signals are reasonably reliable indicators of active research. The 5,000+ publisher cooperative provides broad coverage of content consumption, making it more likely to capture research activity than single-source providers. Signal quality is strongest for mid-market and enterprise companies where multiple employees are researching simultaneously — creating stronger composite signals.
For niche categories, emerging technologies, or very specific product types, the topic taxonomy may be too broad or the content volume too thin for reliable signals. A company surging on 'data analytics' could be researching Snowflake, Databricks, Tableau, or a dozen other products — the signal is directional but not specific. Topic selection and threshold tuning are critical for reducing false positives.
The signal is company-level only and has inherent latency — you're seeing research activity from the previous week, not real-time behavior. For fast-moving buying cycles (especially in tech), this latency means the signal is useful for prioritization but not for real-time activation. First-party intent tools like Warmly (website visits) provide more immediate signals for currently-active prospects.
Signal accuracy improves with calibration. New Bombora deployments benefit from 1-2 months of baseline data collection before the Surge algorithm can reliably distinguish abnormal research activity from normal patterns.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Largest B2B intent data cooperative with signals from 5,000+ publisher sites
- Company Surge algorithm effectively identifies accounts with above-normal research activity
- Integrates with virtually every major ABM, MAP, and CRM platform
- Cooperative model provides broader coverage than single-source intent providers
- Helps prioritize outreach to accounts that are actively in-market
Cons
- Expensive enterprise pricing ($25K-$75K+/year) puts it out of reach for smaller teams
- Company-level signals only, no identification of individual researchers
- Requires an activation platform (CRM, ABM, SEP) to act on the data
- Topic taxonomy can be broad, leading to false positives on intent signals
- Signal latency means you're seeing research activity from days or weeks ago
Best for: Mid-market and enterprise B2B companies running ABM programs who want to prioritize outreach based on buyer research activity
Not ideal for: SMBs on tight budgets, teams without an ABM platform to activate intent data, or companies that need individual-level buyer identification
Bombora Alternatives
| Tool | Starting Price | Job Mentions | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6sense | $25,000+/yr | 22 | Mid-market to enterprise B2B companies with $50K+ ABM budgets and aligned sales/marketing teams |
| Demandbase | Custom | 8 | Mid-market to enterprise B2B companies with dedicated marketing ops running account-based programs |
| ZoomInfo | $15,000+/yr | 85 | Mid-market to enterprise sales teams targeting US-based B2B companies |
Frequently Asked Questions
How does Bombora collect intent data?
Bombora operates a data cooperative of 5,000+ B2B media publishers. When someone at a company reads articles on these publisher sites, Bombora captures that content consumption signal (with publisher consent). It then aggregates this data at the company level and compares current activity to historical baselines to identify surges.
Bombora vs 6sense: what's the difference?
Bombora is a data provider. It supplies intent signals. 6sense is a platform that uses intent data (including Bombora's) to orchestrate marketing and sales actions. Many 6sense customers use Bombora as one of their intent data sources. They're complementary, not competitors, though 6sense also has its own intent data.
Can Bombora tell me who at a company is researching my product?
No. Bombora identifies company-level intent only. It can tell you that Acme Corp is researching "CRM software" but can't identify the specific person doing the research. You need a contact data provider (ZoomInfo, Apollo, Cognism) to find the right people at that company.
Our Verdict on Bombora
Bombora is the right choice for B2B companies that want intent data to prioritize outbound and advertising without committing to a full ABM platform like 6sense or Demandbase. The cooperative model with 5,000+ publishers provides the broadest content consumption coverage in the market, and the Company Surge algorithm is the industry standard for identifying companies showing above-normal research activity. At $25K-40K/year, it's significantly more affordable than platform-level ABM tools.
The trade-off is activation and granularity. Bombora is a data layer, not an action layer — you need a CRM, marketing automation platform, or ABM tool to act on the intent signals. The data is company-level only (no individual identification), weekly (not real-time), and topic-based (not product-specific). For companies that need the full ABM stack — intent plus advertising plus orchestration — 6sense or Demandbase provide more integrated solutions, albeit at 2-3x the cost.
Bombora appears in only 1 job posting in our database, which understates its market presence significantly. Bombora's data is embedded in dozens of other platforms (6sense, Demandbase, HubSpot, Salesforce) and used by thousands of B2B companies — but because it's typically accessed through integrations rather than as a standalone tool, it rarely appears as a specific skill requirement in job postings.
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