B2B intent data in 2026 is no longer a single category: co-op signals (Bombora), first-party platform intent (G2, TechTarget), AI-inferred behavioral intent, and bundled intent in full ABM platforms are all viable, with varying signal quality, coverage, and cost.
The intent data market has consolidated around five core platforms: 6sense, Bombora, Demandbase, Clearbit, and Warmly. But each vertical has different buyer profiles, different buying triggers, and different research patterns. Healthcare buyers research compliance and EHR integration. Cybersecurity buyers react to threat events. Devtools buyers start with GitHub forks, not enterprise RFPs.
The most consequential shift in intent data strategy over the past few years is the maturation of first-party intent as a credible alternative to third-party intent data, particularly for companies with meaningful inbound traffic.
Sales tech buyers are under constant pressure. CROs and RevOps leaders are accountable for win rate, sales cycle length, and quota attainment. Every quarter brings new tools claiming to solve those problems. Buyers evaluate in parallel, often comparing Salesforce, Outreach, Apollo, Gong, and internal custom solutions simultaneously.
Fintech B2B sales is a category where many vendors are targeting the same accounts simultaneously. If your buyer is evaluating payment processors, compliance platforms, or fraud detection software, other vendors are working those same accounts in parallel.
HR tech buying has fragmented dramatically. A Chief Human Resources Officer can be evaluating tools across talent acquisition, payroll, compliance, benefits administration, and employee experience simultaneously, with each category involving different vendors, different buying signals, and different decision-makers.
Ecommerce tech buying follows a pattern that differs from most B2B categories. Merchants adopt point solutions for specific problems: Shopify for their storefront, Klaviyo for email, Gorgias for support, and so on. The result is a best-of-breed culture where tool evaluation is ongoing and switching costs are lower than in enterprise software.
Intent signals are the behavioral indicators that a company or individual buyer is actively researching, evaluating, or considering a purchase in your category. They answer one of B2B marketing’s most persistent questions: who is actually in market right now?
Intent data tells you something most marketers don’t know: who’s actively buying right now.
You have 500 target accounts. Your team can realistically work 50.
G2 is a powerful source of buyer intent. When someone visits G2 to research your category, they’re signaling purchase intent. Many B2B revenue teams have integrated G2 buyer intent signals into their demand gen and sales workflows to identify in-market accounts.
Intent data has become the core input for effective outbound sales. Instead of cold calling random companies, SDRs can now target accounts actively researching your solution.