A side-by-side look at how the two compare, and which one fits your use case.
| Dimension | PersistData | Wiza |
|---|---|---|
| Data model | Server-side data API; per-request fetch, not a large owned brand-name database | Hybrid model: a LinkedIn-attached real-time extractor and enrichment layer paired with Wiza's own proprietary database. Multiple 2026 third-party reviews characterize it as "primarily a real-time extractor and enrichment layer built around professional-profile searches, not a standalone database you query independently" (per Prospeo's "SMARTe vs Wiza," 2026). Typical workflow: point it at a LinkedIn / Sales Navigator profile or search via the Chrome extension (or paste a Sales Nav URL) and Wiza pulls profile data and runs live SMTP verification at request time. Wiza markets access to "real-time verified contact data for more than 850M B2B professionals" (vendor claim, per wiza.co and ColdEmailKit, 2026); this figure is self-reported, not independently audited, and reviewers note effective coverage depends on LinkedIn profile completeness in your target market. |
| Login / seat required | No login, no seat, no extension | Yes to all three for the mainstream workflow, per Wiza's own site and 2026 third-party reviews. Wiza is login-and-seat based, Chrome-extension-first (the extension sits on top of LinkedIn / Sales Navigator and is described as the primary way to reveal/bulk-export prospects, with reviews citing up to 2,500 at once), and paid plans are priced per seat/user (wiza.co/pricing). Wiza markets that it "works without Sales Navigator," but reviewers note advanced filters and large search volumes effectively rely on a paid Sales Navigator account (per PhantomBuster, 2026). A key-based API is the one seat/extension-free path, and it is gated. |
| LinkedIn account ban risk | None; fully server-side, never touches your LinkedIn session | Real and non-zero for the extension workflow, per multiple 2026 sources, because that workflow operates on top of your own logged-in LinkedIn / Sales Navigator session rather than a detached server-side database. Several 2026 reviews state Wiza's core method involves scraping LinkedIn (a LinkedIn ToS violation) and that this "puts your account at risk of bans" (per Prospeo's "SMARTe vs Wiza" and LeadMagic's "Wiza Alternative," 2026 — both competitor-authored). Wiza-leaning reviews soften this, saying "account bans are rare when using Wiza responsibly," with roughly 50-100 profiles/day cited as a safer range (per PhantomBuster and Vayne, 2026). Our read: lower risk than aggressive raw scrapers if used conservatively, but categorically higher than a fully server-side API. Fairness note: no-ban-risk is not exclusive to PersistData — other server-side tools (e.g., LeadMagic) also carry none. Unverified: we could not confirm from Wiza's docs whether the extension reads your authenticated session/cookies vs. an independent fetch. |
| Pricing model | One-time packs or month-to-month; transparent per-credit (PersistData's published terms) | Per wiza.co/pricing (verified June 2026): Free $0 (20 valid emails, 5 phones). Starter $49/mo (100 valid emails + 100 phones/mo). Email $99/mo or $990/yr (~$83/mo annual), marketed as "unlimited email reveals" with a 500 valid-email allotment, 2,500 exports/mo and CRM integrations (phones $0.35 each on this plan). Email+Phone $199/mo or $1,990/yr (~$166/mo annual), 500 emails + 500 phones/mo. Overages: $0.15/extra valid email, $0.35/extra phone. Team plan custom-quoted (price not published), 3+ users, billed annually, includes API access. Multiple 2026 third-party sources report credits do not roll over and expire each billing cycle. All figures as of June 2026, subject to vendor change. |
| Approx. $ per record | ~$0.02-$0.10 per credit; 1 credit per profile/company, 5 credits per verified email (PersistData's stated rates) | Per wiza.co/pricing (June 2026): marginal valid email = $0.15; phone overage = $0.35 per valid phone. Bundled rate is lower on higher plans — e.g., the Email plan at $99/mo for 500 valid emails works out to roughly $0.20/email at list (~$0.166/email on the annual rate); Email+Phone is $199/mo for 500 emails + 500 phones. Team/"unlimited" and API credit pricing are custom-quoted and not published, so no exact per-record figure could be verified. For framing only (not a like-for-like unit): these published figures are materially higher than PersistData's stated ~$0.02-$0.10/credit, but Wiza's price bundles live SMTP verification and a separate phone product, so the units are not directly comparable. |
| Pay only for found | Yes; a not-found costs 0 credits (per PersistData's terms) | Largely yes on emails, per Wiza's own stated policy: it "only deducts credits for emails that pass verification — if the system can't verify an address, you don't pay for it" (1 email credit = 1 valid email), per the Wiza Help Center and ReachStream (2026), so a verified-email miss generally costs 0 credits, similar in spirit to PersistData. Caveats (third-party): some users report occasional charges for emails that later bounce (per ReachStream's "Is Wiza Legit?," 2026), and phone-credit found-only behavior is less clearly documented and unverified. Fairness note: pay-for-found is therefore not exclusive to PersistData — Wiza markets a comparable valid-email-only billing model. |
| Free tier | Evaluation via low-cost packs (no perpetual free plan) | Yes — a genuine free plan, no card required: $0/mo with 20 valid email credits and 5 phone numbers (wiza.co/pricing, June 2026). Some third-party sources cite a slightly different allotment (~25 credits, or a 5-emails/day cap); we treat the canonical pricing page as authoritative. Per multiple 2026 sources, free-tier credits expire at the end of the billing cycle (no rollover). Best understood as an extended trial / data-quality test for a handful of prospects rather than a sustainable outbound workflow. |
| Annual lock-in | None; one-time packs or month-to-month | Optional rather than mandatory on the self-serve tiers: month-to-month is offered on Starter ($49/mo) and the monthly variants of Email ($99/mo) and Email+Phone ($199/mo), with annual presented as a ~16-17% discount option. The Team plan is billed annually. Auto-renewal applies to all plans. Per third-party summaries of Wiza's billing/ToS (Wiza Help Center "Billing Renewals Explained," 2026): monthly plans cancellable with notice; annual plans typically auto-renew unless cancelled ahead of renewal; refunds reportedly limited (only as required by law, within 14 days), unused credits reportedly not refunded or rolled over. Unverified: the exact cancellation-notice window is from third-party summaries, not a verbatim Wiza ToS quote. Fairness note: PersistData markets no annual lock-in, but Wiza also does not force annual lock-in on its self-serve tiers — the concern is mainly the annual and Team contracts. |
| API access | API-first by design; server-side, no seat | Yes — a real key-based REST API exists, but it is gated and not on free/entry self-serve, per Wiza's own docs. Access must be specifically enabled (the Help Center directs users to contact hello@wiza.co or live chat) and is bundled into the custom Team tier (per Wiza Help Center "Wiza's API" and docs.wiza.co, 2026). Auth is bearer/API-key; keys generated under Settings > API, max 3 per account. Documented endpoints: List creation/enrichment (POST /api/lists, up to 2,500 profiles/list; partial = emails-only or full = emails+phones), list status/contacts retrieval, and Individual Reveal for single real-time lookups. Documented rate limits: Individual Reveal ~15 req/sec; list creation ~10 lists/min; 429 on overflow. API credit pricing is custom-quoted and not published, so no per-record API figure could be verified. |
Wiza is genuinely strong at LinkedIn / Sales Navigator-native prospecting UX — its Chrome extension is widely praised in 2026 reviews as fast and intuitive, with bulk reveal/export of up to 2,500 contacts in one pass directly inside LinkedIn — paired with real-time at-request SMTP verification (Wiza markets ~99% deliverability / under-1% bounce as a vendor claim; independent and third-party testing puts real-world verified accuracy closer to ~90-95%, per LeadsForge and ReachStream, 2026, which is still strong). It treats phone numbers as a first-class product and offers broad native CRM coverage (Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Copper, Salesloft, plus Clay/Pipedream connectors). It carries a large, positive review base: roughly 4.5/5 on G2 from about 1,116-1,142 reviews (per G2, 2026), with Capterra/TrustRadius also reported positive; Trustpilot is the outlier at ~2.0/5 from only about 10 reviews (a very small sample with billing and data-quality complaints, per Prospeo and Trustpilot, 2026). Wiza is live and actively marketed as of June 2026 (WIZA LTD, UK company no. 15482398, status Active, per Companies House) — it is not winding down like Proxycurl nor folded into an acquirer like Clearbit.
PersistData wins on commercial model, integration friction, and account safety rather than database scale, brand, or LinkedIn-native workflow. Because it is fully server-side it never touches your LinkedIn session, so it carries no LinkedIn-account ban risk — though in fairness that is not a uniquely PersistData advantage, since other server-side/cloud tools like LeadMagic also carry none, and the risk is specific to Wiza's extension workflow. There is no login, no seat, and no extension; you call an API rather than logging into a dashboard, and pricing is a single transparent per-credit meter (PersistData's stated ~$0.02-$0.10/credit) with no per-seat licensing and no expiring monthly allotment, on one-time packs or month-to-month. Note that pay-only-for-found is not exclusive either: Wiza markets a comparable valid-email-only billing model, so the sharpest real differentiators versus Wiza are the no-seat, no-extension, no-LinkedIn-risk server-side delivery and the single low per-credit meter.