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CB Insights alternatives in 2026

Deal flow as rows from 5¢ each.

CB Insights sells its terminal by the seat and its API and data feeds by consumption, both by quote. Its Dealmaker page prints a User License at $5,000 a year and Team Access at $20,400 a year.

SpecStream is the live web data engine. Write your thesis in plain words, and every company that fits comes back as a structured row read from its own site. 1,000 companies with 5 facts cost $50, quoted before the run.

Describe your data

New accounts get $10 of credit, no card.

SpecStream and CB Insights side by side

SpecStreamCB Insights
What you sendYour thesis in plain words, with the conditions every company must meetSearches in its terminal and its AI agents, inside a seat
What you get backStructured rows, one record per company, with facts from many sites joined. Source URL and read time on every valueCompany and investor profiles, financial transactions and key events in its terminal
Companies coveredAny company on the live web that meets your conditions, found on its own site, venture backed or founder owned13M company and investor profiles, 4M founders, operators and tech talent, 2M financial transactions and 10M key events a month
Data already heldPublic databases read every morning at specstream.ai/data. In the week of November 2, 2026, Form D filings showed 494 operating companies reporting $29.51 billion sold. Signals such as funding rounds, new executives and layoffs at specstream.ai/signalsIts own database, searched in the terminal or pulled through its data solutions
What it costsA delivered row: 5¢, 15¢ or $1 by how much the row needs, plus 5¢ for an email and 15¢ for a phone. The same rate on every plan. 1,000 companies with 5 facts cost $50The terminal and the data solutions are sold by quote. The Dealmaker page prints a User License at $417 a user a month, $5,000 a year, and Team Access at $1,700 a month, $20,400 a year
ContractPay as you go from a balance, or a plan at $19, $99 or $499 a month that turns its whole price into creditWebsite purchases renew automatically unless you opt out at least 90 days before. Fees are non-refundable, and users past the licensed count are invoiced as a true-up
How to start$10 of credit, no card. Pro $19, Scale $99 and Team $499 a month, all spent as credit at the same row rates. A yearly plan adds 20% more creditA free trial or a demo
MCP and APIMCP server, REST API, Python and TypeScript SDKs, a CLI and A2A on every account. An agent can buy one request with no account, by card or in USDCAn Individual MCP in each terminal seat. The API, data feeds and access in Snowflake, BigQuery and Databricks are priced by consumption, on request
Where the data goesAffinity, HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Attio, Google Sheets, Excel, Airtable, Notion, Slack, Teams, Zapier, Make, n8n and signed webhooksIts terminal, a mobile app for iOS and Android, a browser extension for Chrome and Edge, and data platforms

Why CB Insights buyers move to SpecStream

Your thesis is the request

A search in a database starts from the fields that database collected. On SpecStream you write the thesis the way you would brief an associate: "US climate tech startups that raised a Series A in the last six months, with the round size and the lead investor", or "founder-owned industrial software companies in the Midwest with 20 to 200 employees", or "companies that hired a first CFO this quarter". SpecStream reads the request back as parts you can edit, the conditions every row must meet and the facts to bring back. A company that fails one of your conditions is not delivered and not billed.

New raises, read every week

In the week of November 2, 2026, 494 operating companies filed a Form D reporting $29.51 billion sold, as specstream.ai/data/form-d showed when read on November 9, 2026. SpecStream reads each filing from SEC EDGAR. Ask for your own cut: one state, one industry, or first raises above an amount, and each company comes back with its filing, its own site and the facts you name.

The search under every request leads the public benchmarks: SimpleQA Verified, 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 official questions (978 correct), and WideSearch, 64.0 item F1 and 43.4 row F1 on all 200 official tasks. The Extract API scores 0.908 F1 on WCXB. The scores and their method are on benchmarks.

The price is public and set before the run

CB Insights sells its terminal and its data by quote, and its Dealmaker User License runs $5,000 a year. SpecStream bills the rows that meet your request: 5¢ for a row with up to 5 facts, 15¢ for up to 15 facts and one set of related records, and $1 for a deep row with no limit. 1,000 companies with 5 facts cost $50, and the founder's email adds 5¢ a row. Every request gets a quote of the most it can cost, good for 30 minutes, and a run that finds nothing costs nothing.

One balance for people and agents

On CB Insights the MCP comes with a terminal seat and the API is priced separately by consumption. On SpecStream the MCP server at https://api.specstream.ai/mcp, the REST API, the SDKs and the workspace all spend from one balance at the same row rates, with no seats and no true-up for added users.

When a tracked company moves

Save the request and it reruns hourly to yearly. Each row comes back labeled changed, unchanged or no longer matching, a changed or new row costs half its rate and an unchanged row costs 1¢. New matches and changes land in Affinity, HubSpot, Salesforce, Sheets, Slack or Teams with no code. Rows you already own are never charged again.

Other CB Insights alternatives

SpecStream

The live web data engine for teams and agents. One request in plain words returns every company that fits a thesis as a structured row at 5¢, 15¢ or $1, priced before the run, rechecked on your schedule and delivered to your CRM or agent. New accounts get $10 of credit, no card.

Dealroom

A company and funding database priced per seat and billed annually, with 10,000 export credits per seat and a 3-day free trial. On SpecStream exporting a delivered row costs nothing, and the whole team spends from one balance.

PrivCo

A private company database with a free Researcher plan, List Builder at up to 1,000 company exports a month and Power at 3,000. SpecStream has no monthly export cap: every row it delivers is yours.

Tracxn

A startup database with 8.4M+ companies and 292K+ investors. The free Lite plan is for non-commercial use with 200 export credits a month, and Premium is sold through sales. SpecStream finds the companies on your thesis on the live web, at 5¢ to $1 a row.

How SpecStream scores

The same numbers as the benchmarks page, from the official tasks and scorers.

SpecStreamParallelExaTavilyPerplexity
Web researchWideSearch, GPT-5.6 Luna60.945.553.047.947.0
Factual accuracySimpleQA Verified, GPT-5.6 Luna9694919494
Factual accuracySimpleQA Verified, GPT-5.6 Sol9997919295

How to switch from CB Insights

Write your thesis in plain words, in place of the saved searches you run today. Or import the list you exported from CB Insights, as a CSV, Excel file, Google Sheet or Airtable base of up to 20,000 rows, and SpecStream fills in or checks each row. Sign up and you get $10 of credit, no card. At 5¢ a row, that is up to 200 companies.

Or send the request from code. This call spends nothing: the 402 reply shows how SpecStream read the request, the columns and the most it can cost.

curl -i https://api.specstream.ai/v1/agent/lists \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"request": "US climate tech startups that raised a Series A in the last six months, with the round size, the lead investor, the founders and the headcount", "count": 25}'

Approve that maximum by card through Stripe's Link agent wallet, or in USDC, and you pay for the rows found. On an account, your agent uses the MCP server at https://api.specstream.ai/mcp and your team uses the workspace, from the same balance.

Describe your data

Frequently asked questions

Something we didn't answer? Talk to a human

How much does CB Insights cost?
CB Insights sells its terminal and its data solutions by quote. Its Dealmaker page prints a User License at $417 a user a month, $5,000 a year, and Team Access at $1,700 a month, $20,400 a year. SpecStream charges 5¢, 15¢ or $1 a delivered row.
What is the best CB Insights alternative?
SpecStream, at 5¢ to $1 a delivered row. You write your thesis in plain words, approve the most the run can cost, and get every company on the live web that fits it as a structured row in your CRM or sheet. 1,000 companies with 5 facts cost $50.
Does CB Insights have an API?
Yes, as a data solution priced by consumption on request, beside data feeds and access in Snowflake, BigQuery and Databricks. SpecStream's API is on every account at published prices: $5 per 1,000 searches, $0.80 per 1,000 pages extracted, and 5¢, 15¢ or $1 a Deep Search row.
Can I cancel a CB Insights subscription?
Website purchases renew automatically unless you opt out at least 90 days before the term ends, and fees are non-refundable. SpecStream runs from a balance you top up, or a monthly plan of $19, $99 or $499 that turns its whole price into credit.
Does SpecStream track new funding rounds?
Yes. In the week of November 2, 2026, 494 operating companies filed a Form D reporting $29.51 billion sold, and SpecStream reads each filing from SEC EDGAR. Signals such as funding rounds, new executives and layoffs are at specstream.ai/signals.
Does SpecStream have an MCP server?
Yes, at https://api.specstream.ai/mcp, with OAuth or an API key. Connecting an agent is free on every plan, and a run never costs more than the maximum you approved.

Sources

SpecStream wrote this page. CB Insights sells its main plans by quote, so its prices come from its own Dealmaker page. Every other rival figure comes from that company's own page.

  1. SpecStream pricingspecstream.ai/pricing, read Nov 9, 2026
  2. SpecStream for agentsspecstream.ai/agents.md, read Nov 9, 2026
  3. SpecStream Form D dataspecstream.ai/data/form-d, read Nov 9, 2026
  4. SpecStream benchmarksspecstream.ai/benchmarks, read Nov 9, 2026
  5. CB Insights pricingcbinsights.com/pricing/, read Nov 9, 2026
  6. CB Insights Dealmaker pricingcbinsights.com/pricing-dealmaker/, read Nov 9, 2026
  7. CB Insights Master Subscription Agreementcbinsights.com/terms-of-service/, read Nov 9, 2026
  8. Dealroom pricingdealroom.co/pricing, read Nov 9, 2026
  9. PrivCo pricingprivco.com/pricing, read Nov 9, 2026
  10. Tracxn pricingtracxn.com/pricing, read Nov 9, 2026
  11. Tracxn Lite limitsw.tracxn.com/tracxnlite-learnmore, read Nov 9, 2026