DATA & ANALYTICS

Bombora Review 2026

Bombora is the largest B2B intent data cooperative, tracking content consumption across 5,000+ B2B publisher sites to identify which companies are actively researching topics related to your product category. Unlike 6sense or Demandbase, Bombora doesn't try to be a platform. It sells intent data as a feed that plugs into whatever you're already using: Salesforce, HubSpot, 6sense, Demandbase, Outreach, LinkedIn Ads, or your own data warehouse. For RevOps teams, this is both the appeal and the limitation. Bombora gives you intent signals without forcing you onto another platform, but it also means you need your own orchestration layer to do anything with those signals. It's raw intelligence, not a turnkey solution.

⚡

The Verdict: Bombora is the right choice for RevOps teams that want intent data without platform lock-in. The Company Surge data is the industry's largest intent dataset and integrates with virtually every major B2B tool. But it's company-level only (no person-level intent), the cooperative model means your competitors see the same signals, and the $25-50K/year price tag requires your own orchestration to generate ROI. If you already have a sophisticated stack and just need the intent signal layer, Bombora delivers it cleanly. If you want a platform that tells you what to do with intent data, look at 6sense or Demandbase instead.

Company Overview

What Is Bombora, from a RevOps Seat?

Bombora tracks content consumption across a cooperative network of 5,000+ B2B publisher websites, media sites, and content platforms. When companies consume content about topics relevant to your business (reading articles about CRM migration, downloading whitepapers on sales automation, visiting comparison pages for your category), Bombora detects that research activity and assigns a Company Surge score. The Surge score indicates whether a company is researching a topic significantly more than its historical baseline. For RevOps, this signal identifies companies in active buying cycles before they hit your website or fill out a form.

The cooperative model is Bombora's defining characteristic. Publishers in the cooperative share their first-party content consumption data in exchange for aggregate insights. This creates the largest B2B intent dataset available, but it also means the data is available to any Bombora customer, including your competitors. You're all seeing the same Surge scores for the same companies researching the same topics. The competitive advantage comes from how you act on the data, not from having exclusive access to it.

For RevOps, Bombora's architecture is fundamentally different from 6sense or Demandbase. Those platforms are full ABM suites that include intent data, orchestration, advertising, and analytics. Bombora is just the data layer. It integrates with your CRM, your sales engagement platform, your ABM tool, or your ad platforms as a signal feed. You decide how to route, prioritize, and act on the intent signals. This gives you flexibility but requires operational maturity to extract value.

💡

Data Feed, Not a Platform

Bombora sells intent data, not an ABM platform. You need your own orchestration layer (Salesforce workflows, 6sense, Demandbase, or custom automation) to turn Surge scores into actions. If you don't have the ops infrastructure to operationalize a data feed, consider a full platform like 6sense instead.

Pricing

What Bombora Actually Costs

Bombora uses custom annual pricing based on data volume, topic coverage, and integration requirements. There's no self-serve tier. The figures below are based on market intelligence from mid-market and enterprise buyers.

Plan	Price	What’s Included
Company Surge (Standard)	~$25,000/yr	Surge scores for your topic taxonomy, standard integrations, account-level intent data, weekly data refresh Entry Point
Company Surge (Plus)	~$35-50K/yr	Standard plus expanded topic coverage, higher data volume, daily data refresh, premium integrations Most Common
Enterprise / Custom	$50-100K+/yr	Full topic taxonomy, real-time data feeds, data warehouse delivery, custom integrations, dedicated support

Keep In Mind

Annual contracts are standard. No monthly or quarterly billing options.
Pricing scales with the number of topics tracked and the volume of account-level data delivered.
Most buyers also pay for the destination platform (6sense, Demandbase, Salesforce) separately. Factor in total stack cost.
Negotiate topic taxonomy carefully. Overly broad topics dilute signal quality. Narrow, specific topics produce better Surge scores.

Core Features

What Bombora Does Well

📈

Company Surge Scores

Bombora's core product. Identifies companies consuming content about specific topics at rates significantly above their baseline. A high Surge score indicates active research behavior, signaling a potential buying cycle. Delivered weekly or daily depending on tier.

🌐

5,000+ Publisher Network

The largest B2B content consumption cooperative. Tracks research across industry publications, review sites, media outlets, and content platforms. Coverage is strongest for technology, business services, and enterprise categories.

🔌

Universal Integration

Plugs into virtually everything: Salesforce, HubSpot, 6sense, Demandbase, Outreach, LinkedIn Ads, Google Ads, Tableau, Snowflake. Bombora is platform-agnostic by design. Your existing stack is the orchestration layer.

🎯

Topic Taxonomy

Customizable topic taxonomy that maps to your product categories and buyer research behavior. Granularity matters: 'CRM software' is too broad, 'Salesforce migration for mid-market' is actionable. Work with Bombora to build the right taxonomy.

📊

Audience Activation

Push Surge data to advertising platforms (LinkedIn, Google, programmatic) to target companies showing active research behavior. More efficient ad spend by focusing impressions on companies already in-market.

📋

Data Warehouse Delivery

Enterprise tier delivers raw Surge data to Snowflake, BigQuery, or your data warehouse for custom analysis. RevOps teams with data engineering resources can build proprietary scoring models on top of Bombora's signals.

Limitations

Where Bombora Falls Short

No tool is perfect. Here are the real trade-offs you should know about:

Company-Level Only, Not Person-Level

Bombora tells you that Acme Corp is researching CRM software. It doesn't tell you which person at Acme Corp is doing the research. You still need to identify the right contact through your sales process, ZoomInfo, LinkedIn, or another tool. This is a fundamental limitation that means Bombora supplements your outreach targeting but doesn't replace contact-level intelligence.

"Bombora's Surge data told us exactly which companies were researching our category. Then our SDRs still had to figure out who to call. The intent signal saved us from wasting time on wrong accounts but didn't get us to the right person at those accounts."

Director of Sales Development, Enterprise SaaS

Cooperative Model Means Competitors See the Same Data

Bombora's cooperative model is its strength (breadth of data) and its limitation (no exclusivity). Every Bombora customer tracking the same topics sees the same Surge scores. Your competitor knows the same accounts are in-market. The competitive advantage shifts from having the data to acting on it faster and better.

Requires Your Own Orchestration Layer

Bombora is a data feed, not a workflow engine. You need to build the automation that turns Surge scores into rep alerts, ad targeting, email sequences, and account prioritization. Without that infrastructure, you're paying $25-50K/year for a spreadsheet of account names. RevOps teams without existing automation capabilities should consider a full ABM platform instead.

"We bought Bombora expecting it to be plug-and-play. It is plug, but the play part is on you. We spent three months building Salesforce workflows, Outreach triggers, and LinkedIn Ads audiences before the data became actionable. Budget for the ops work, not just the data license."

Sr. RevOps Manager, B2B Technology Company

Signal Quality Varies by Topic and Industry

Bombora's publisher network skews toward technology, SaaS, and business services content. Companies researching topics with extensive online content generate strong Surge scores. Industries where buying research happens offline (manufacturing, local services, construction) produce weaker signals. Validate signal quality for your market before committing.

Evaluation

Pros and Cons Summary

+ The Good Stuff

Largest B2B intent data cooperative with 5,000+ publisher sites generating unmatched breadth.
Platform-agnostic architecture integrates with your existing stack without forcing a platform switch.
Company Surge scores are straightforward to understand and operationalize in CRM workflows.
No platform lock-in. You can switch ABM tools without losing your intent data source.
Audience activation pushes intent data directly to ad platforms for more efficient campaign targeting.
Data warehouse delivery (enterprise) enables custom scoring models and proprietary analytics.

- The Problems

Company-level only. No person-level intent means you still need contact discovery tools.
Cooperative model means your competitors see the same Surge data for the same accounts.
Requires your own orchestration layer. Not a turnkey solution for teams without automation infrastructure.
Expensive for raw data ($25-50K/year) when you also need the tools to act on it.
Signal quality varies by industry. B2B tech coverage is strong; niche verticals may see weaker signals.
No platform or workflow capabilities. You're buying data, not a solution to a business problem.

Decision Framework

Should You Buy Bombora?

BUY BOMBORA IF

✅

You want intent data without platform lock-in and have the ops infrastructure to use it

Bombora is the right choice for RevOps teams that want best-in-class intent data fed into their existing stack rather than buying an entirely new ABM platform. You need operational maturity to extract value.

You already have a CRM, sales engagement platform, and ad tools but lack intent signals to prioritize accounts.
You don't want to replace your existing ABM or engagement tools with a 6sense or Demandbase platform.
Your RevOps team has the capability to build CRM workflows and automation triggered by Surge scores.
You want to layer intent data into multiple tools simultaneously (CRM, outbound, ads, analytics).
You've validated that Bombora's publisher network covers the topics and industries relevant to your market.

SKIP BOMBORA IF

❌

You need a turnkey ABM platform or person-level intent data

If you don't have the ops infrastructure to operationalize a data feed, or if you need to identify specific people (not just companies) showing intent, Bombora alone won't get you there.

You don't have CRM workflows or automation to turn Surge scores into actions. A full platform like 6sense is a better fit.
You need person-level intent data (who at the company is researching) rather than company-level signals.
Your industry isn't well covered by Bombora's publisher network and online research patterns are sparse.
Budget constraints mean you can't afford Bombora ($25-50K) plus the tools needed to act on the data.
You want one vendor for intent data, orchestration, and advertising. 6sense or Demandbase is the better package.

Alternatives

Bombora Alternatives Worth Considering

Tool	Starting Price	Strength	Best For
6sense	From $60K/yr	Full ABM platform with intent data, orchestration, and analytics	Teams that want intent data plus a platform to act on it
Demandbase	Custom ($50K+/yr)	ABM platform with advertising and intent data combined	Organizations wanting intent data, ABM orchestration, and display ads from one vendor
ZoomInfo Intent	From $15K+/yr (add-on)	Contact-level data with intent signals included	Teams that prioritize person-level data and want intent as an add-on to their contact database

🔍 Questions to Ask Before Signing

Do we have the orchestration infrastructure to operationalize a data feed? Be honest. If you don't have CRM workflows, Outreach sequences, or ad targeting rules that can trigger based on Surge scores, Bombora data will sit unused. Build the plumbing before buying the data.
What topics should our Surge taxonomy cover? Work with Bombora to define a narrow, specific topic taxonomy. Broad topics ('marketing') generate noise. Specific topics ('account-based marketing for enterprise SaaS') generate signals you can act on. The taxonomy is the difference between useful and useless.
Does our industry have enough online research activity for strong Surge signals? Bombora's network is strongest for tech, SaaS, and business services. Request sample Surge data for your target accounts before signing. If your industry buyers don't do extensive online research, the signals will be weak.
How does Bombora compare to intent data included in our existing tools? If you're already on 6sense, Demandbase, or ZoomInfo with intent add-ons, evaluate whether Bombora's standalone data provides incremental value beyond what you're getting from your current platform.
What is our total cost of intent data operationalization? Bombora license ($25-50K) is just the data. Add the cost of CRM workflow development, integration maintenance, and RevOps time to build and tune the automation. The total investment is significantly more than the data license alone.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

How do RevOps teams use Bombora?

RevOps teams use Bombora's Company Surge data to prioritize accounts for outbound and ABM. The typical setup: Surge scores feed into Salesforce via integration, RevOps builds workflows that flag surging accounts for SDRs, adjust lead scores based on intent signals, and push high-intent accounts into targeted ad audiences on LinkedIn or programmatic. RevOps also maintains the topic taxonomy (which topics to track) and tunes the threshold for what constitutes actionable Surge activity. The work is in the orchestration, not the data itself.

Is Bombora worth the intent data investment?

Only if you have the operational infrastructure to act on the data. Bombora at $25-50K/year is a data feed, not a solution. You need CRM workflows to route surging accounts, SDR processes to prioritize them, and ad targeting rules to focus spend. If you already have that plumbing, Bombora's intent signals measurably improve account prioritization and reduce wasted outbound. If you don't have orchestration in place, you're paying $25-50K for a spreadsheet. Build the plumbing first, then buy the data.

How much does Bombora cost?

Bombora's Company Surge Standard starts around $25,000/year for Surge scores on your topic taxonomy with weekly refresh and standard integrations. Most mid-market buyers land on the Plus tier at $35-50K/year for expanded topics, daily refresh, and premium integrations. Enterprise and custom data warehouse delivery runs $50-100K+/year. Annual contracts only, no monthly option. Remember, this is just the data. You're still paying separately for your CRM, sales engagement, and ad platforms where the data gets activated.

What are Bombora's biggest limitations for RevOps?

Company-level only is the biggest gap. Bombora tells you Acme Corp is researching your category but not which person is doing the research. You still need ZoomInfo or LinkedIn to find the right contact. The cooperative model means your competitors see identical Surge scores for the same accounts. Signal quality varies by industry: B2B tech is strong, niche verticals are weaker. And without your own orchestration layer (CRM workflows, Outreach triggers, ad rules), the data just sits there generating no pipeline.

How does Bombora compare to 6sense?

Different products entirely. Bombora is a data feed you plug into your existing stack. 6sense is a full ABM platform that includes intent data, orchestration, advertising, and analytics. Bombora gives you flexibility and no platform lock-in at $25-50K/year. 6sense gives you a turnkey system but costs $60K+/year and becomes your ABM platform. If you have mature ops and want to keep your current stack, Bombora adds the intent layer. If you want one platform to handle intent, orchestration, and activation, 6sense is the package deal.

The RevOps Report’s Bottom Line

Bombora is the best standalone B2B intent data provider for RevOps teams that want intent signals without platform lock-in. The Company Surge data from 5,000+ publisher sites is the largest intent dataset available, and the platform-agnostic integration model lets you feed signals into whatever tools you're already using. The trade-off is clear: Bombora is data, not a solution. You need your own CRM workflows, sales processes, and orchestration to turn Surge scores into pipeline. Company-level signals (not person-level) and the cooperative model (competitors see the same data) are real limitations. For operationally mature RevOps teams with an existing stack, Bombora is the intent data layer that ties everything together. For teams that need a platform to do the thinking for them, a full ABM suite is the better investment.

But know the trade-offs:

Build CRM workflows and automation before buying the data license. Bombora without orchestration is an expensive report.
Define a narrow topic taxonomy with Bombora's team. Signal quality is directly proportional to topic specificity.
Budget for the full cost: Bombora license plus integration development plus RevOps time to maintain and tune.