Bombora tells you which companies are researching a topic right now, from reading activity across publisher sites. Ocean uses contextual intelligence to find your next deal, with the reason on every account.
Used by teams at
BomboraKnowing which accounts are researching your topics right now. A fit for teams that want third-party intent in their tools.
Bombora is a data company, not a platform. Its Company Surge score comes from a Data Co-op of publishers and brand sites that run Bombora’s tag and share what their visitors read: billions of monthly events across 25,300+ topics and millions of company domains.
Learning which companies fit from your own won and lost deals, then ranking the whole market with the reason on each account.
Ocean is contextual intelligence for go-to-market. It reads what every company actually does from its own website, learns what good looks like from your closed-won and closed-lost deals, and ranks your whole market against it, with the reason behind each score. The ranked accounts arrive in your CRM, your rep queue or your AI agents.
What buyers weigh, grouped by the job each part does. A light blue background marks the stronger side.
| Topic | Ocean | Bombora |
|---|---|---|
| Finding the right accounts | ||
| Lookalikes | Ocean is stronger here. Core of the product. Segments and models learned from your won and lost CRM deals. | Not its job. It scores companies researching a topic, and can turn an account list into ad audiences. It doesn’t find companies that resemble your customers. |
| Learns your ICP from won and lost deals | Ocean is stronger here. Learned automatically from your won and lost deals. | Topic selection can be informed by a historical closed-won analysis, but the score measures topic research, not whether a company fits you. |
| The reason behind each account | Ocean is stronger here. Segment, score, tier and matched signals on every account and every export. | The topics each account is researching, and whether it’s in early, mid or late-stage research. That shows interest, not why the company fits. |
| Ranks every company in your market | Ocean is stronger here. Segments your whole market and shows win rate, deal size and cycle time for each segment. | It scores companies that show research activity on your topics. Companies that fit but aren’t reading publisher content this period don’t surface. |
| Contacts and data | ||
| Topic-level research intent | Ocean’s timing signals are funding, new leadership and sales-team growth, not topic research. | Bombora is stronger here. Its core strength: 25,300+ topics, 86% of Co-op data shared exclusively with Bombora, and a proprietary tag that captures gated and open content. |
| Contacts | Verified emails and direct phones from a waterfall across 16+ data sources. Charged only when a contact is found, and exports are free. | It sells company-level intent. Visitor Insights identifies and enriches traffic to your own site, and contacts come through partner tools. |
| Buying signals | Up-to-date signals built in-house from each company’s own teams, leaders, hiring and website. | Company Surge, plus audiences, measurement and trend dashboards on the same data. |
| Workflow and pricing | ||
| CRM sync | Two-way with HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive and Attio. Reads your deals to learn, then writes scores, segments and signals back. | Delivered by API or flat file to a data lake or CDP, and through 100+ integrations across ad tech, martech and sales tech. |
| AI agents and MCP | MCP server, public API and a chat agent on the same data and lookalike engine. | It says its data can flow into your tools and agents, and is available through partners. We didn’t find an MCP server documented. |
| Privacy and data collection | SOC 2 Type II and GDPR, per Ocean’s own site. | Describes its collection as consent-driven and built to meet GDPR and CCPA standards, with a data-subject request and opt-out process. We found no public trust page. |
| Pricing | Two ways to buy: a flat-rate plan with credits included, or a custom plan built around your deals and credit volume. | Not published. Its pricing page redirects to a Data Co-op page. Buyer data on Vendr puts the median at about $25,000 a year. |
Bombora doesn’t publish prices, and its pricing page redirects to a page about its Data Co-op. Everything below comes from third parties, not Bombora.
Third-party figures vary widely by source and are not confirmed by Bombora, so treat them as a starting point. Ask which topics, how many accounts and which integrations a quote covers, and whether API access and onboarding are included.
A flat-rate plan with credits included, or a custom plan built around your deals.
Contacts are charged only when one is found. Exports are free.
See Ocean pricingBombora shows who is researching a topic now. Ocean shows which of those companies, and which that aren’t, are worth a rep’s time.
Choose Bombora if Use both ifFive steps. Most teams keep Bombora as the timing layer and add Ocean to decide which accounts the timing matters for.
Export the accounts Company Surge flagged last quarter, then run them through Ocean to see how many fit your closed-won pattern.
Find which topics and integrations your contract covers and when it renews. Topic selection can be tuned from a closed-won analysis.
Connect HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive or Attio. Ocean reads your closed-won and closed-lost deals to learn what a good account looks like.
Ocean proposes segments and scores, with the reason on each. Correct anything that doesn’t match how you sell.
Scores, segments and matched signals go back to your CRM, or into Apollo, Instantly or Lemlist sequences.
Expect rules, filters and signals you set, because a model of your own deals is not what it leads with; ask for a test on your accounts.
Expect a polished demo on sample data, because that is where it looks best; ask for a test on your own accounts.
Expect a quote that grows with seats, credits and add-ons, because the entry price is the smallest line; price your real volume.
Expect rules, filters and signals you set, because a model of your own deals is not what it leads with; ask for a test on your accounts.
Ocean is better because it tells it like it is: contextual intelligence to find your next deal, with the reason on every account.
Start using OceanThe right alternative depends on what you use Bombora for. Here’s what each is built for and where Ocean starts.
6sense
Demandbase
ZoomInfo
Common Room
SimilarwebShort answers on what Bombora sells, what it costs, how Ocean compares and what to check before you buy.
A B2B data company that sells Company Surge, topic-level intent data from a Data Co-op of publishers and brand sites. It also sells identity and enrichment, digital audiences and campaign measurement. It delivers data into the tools you already use rather than offering its own platform.
Which companies are researching topics relevant to you, how that compares with their own baseline, and whether they’re in early, mid or late-stage research. It doesn’t say whether a company fits your business. Ocean answers that by learning from your won and lost deals.
Bombora doesn’t publish prices, and its pricing page redirects to a Data Co-op page. Buyer data on Vendr puts the median annual contract at about $25,000, with a reported range of $13,000 to $80,450. These are third-party figures.
Topic selection can be informed by a historical closed-won analysis, but the score measures research activity, not fit. Ocean reads your CRM deals, learns the ICP and ranks the whole market against it.
It delivers Company Surge by API or flat file, and through 100+ partner integrations. We didn’t find an MCP server documented. Ocean has an MCP server and a public API on the same data and lookalike engine.
Yes, through partner integrations, API and flat files. Ocean has native two-way sync with HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive and Attio, so you can sort Ocean’s best-fit accounts by Bombora surge.
It’s built for teams with a data or RevOps function, and entry contracts reported on Vendr start around $13,000 a year on an annual term. Teams that want to start without a quote can begin with fit first and add intent later.
Ocean reads what each company does from its own website, learns from your closed-won and closed-lost deals, and returns ranked matches with the reason on each one.
Today we can more confidently say we're reaching out to all the companies that could potentially buy from us.
Josh Pudnos,
Director of Commercial Operations, Brandwatch
With Ocean.io we can focus our ad spend on the right companies.
Martin Nørgaard Klausen,
Co-Founder, Lead Motor, Zen Media
Working with a trusted partner saves a ton of engineering time and ongoing AI costs. Speed and quality are higher out of the gate.
Stefan Kollenberg,
Data Partnerships, Clay
Ocean.io reduced our average cost per Marketing Qualified Lead by 23%.
Garrett Butler,
Digital Engagement, CBC
Ocean.io expands the sea into an ocean, and Scalestack is great at fishing in this vast ocean.
Ezequiel,
Head of Product Operations, Scalestack
Ocean.io allows us to identify lookalike companies with incredible accuracy.
Maged,
Head of Product, Surfe
