Adapt.io vs Crono (2026)
The decision is whether a person stays in the loop between the search and the send. Adapt.io is built so they do: reveals are initiated one at a time by a user, list building is manual and filtered, and daily contact view caps of twenty five to one hundred depending on plan put a hard ceiling on what a seat can even look at in a day. The core platform carries no dialer and no automation of its own, with a separate sequencer sold alongside it. Crono is built to remove them. Agents can be assembled in an agents hub and assigned to outbound workflows beside representatives, automations are offered with automate everything as a supported mode, and the vendor's claim that every agent action is tracked and every result attributable is closer to an audit position than most here offer while being asserted without a described artefact. Seven hundred million records sit behind a waterfall across ten or more providers. One vendor caps how much a person can do. The other removes the ceiling by removing the person.
- The core tool should stay a data tool. Adapt.io's platform carries no dialer and no automation of its own, so a buyer is purchasing search, verification and export rather than a sending engine they then have to govern, with a separate sequencer sold alongside it if they want one.
- You want to know before you buy what a seat can actually do. Plan names, monthly prices, credit allowances, a permanent free tier, unlimited seats and the daily contact view caps that govern real throughput are all published, which the index grades A on commercial transparency.
- The people in the database should be told. Adapt.io states that it notifies individuals by email the first time their business contact information enters the directory, gives them an opportunity to opt out at that point, and publishes a self service lookup so anyone can check whether they are listed.
- You want the agent layer assemblable rather than fixed. An agents hub lets agents be built into outbound workflows and assigned beside representatives, with automations described as giving full control over every action inside a sequence and tasks runnable manually or end to end at the operator's choice.
- Coverage breadth is the deciding variable. Seven hundred million contacts sit behind a waterfall that queries ten or more providers in sequence, which is a materially larger pool than a single sourced directory of a hundred and fifty to two hundred million records.
- You want the commercial mechanics answered before you sign. The pricing questions state that purchased top up credits carry no monthly expiry and are consumed until exhausted, that an account may be used by one user at a time, that annual licences can be transferred by the administrator, and that upgrades apply immediately while cancellations take effect at period end.
Plain facts
| Adapt.io | Crono | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary category | Data & Enrichment | Sales Engagement & Outreach |
| Founded | Not published | Not published |
| Headquarters | Not published | London, United Kingdom |
| Website | www.adapt.io | www.crono.one |
Side by Side
| Axis | A Adapt.io |
C Crono |
|---|---|---|
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AI Capability
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| AI Centrality | ||
| Autonomy and Oversight Model | ||
| AI Disclosure and Model Transparency | ||
| Operational and Outcome Evidence | ||
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Compliance and Risk
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| Outreach Compliance Posture | ||
| Data Privacy Posture | ||
| Data Licensing and Provenance | ||
| Platform Terms Exposure | ||
| AI Safety and Data Stewardship | ||
| Recipient Disclosure and Authenticity | ||
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Integration and Deployment
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| Ecosystem and Integration Depth | ||
| Deployment Model and Data Residency | ||
| Security Certifications and Trust Center | ||
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Commercial and Operational
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| Commercial Transparency | ||
| Exit and Data Portability | ||
| Deliverability and Sending Discipline | ||
| Segment and Market Coverage | ||
The short version of each
Adapt.io
Adapt.io is a business contact and company database sold at the budget end of the data tier, built around a filtered web application for prospecting and list building plus a browser extension that returns verified emails and direct dials while a user views a profile, with a stated directory of roughly 150 to 200 million contacts and particular depth in technology and software. The GTM Tech Index grades it A on commercial transparency, because a buyer can budget the actual purchase path without talking to anyone: plan names, monthly prices, credit allowances, a permanent free tier, unlimited rather than metered seats, and the daily contact view caps that govern real throughput are all published rather than discovered in month two.
Source: GTM Tech Index, 2026
Crono
Crono is a sales execution platform for business to business revenue teams, combining a seven hundred million contact database with waterfall enrichment across ten or more providers, buying signals and lead scoring, multichannel sequences across email, phone and social messaging, and an agents hub for building agents into outbound workflows. The GTM Tech Index grades it A on ecosystem and integration depth, the deepest integration surface it has graded outside the enterprise platforms, spanning both major systems of record plus a third, two mail providers, two telephony products, a workflow automation tool and a data orchestration tool, with a public interface documented openly and a protocol server published on the vendor's own homepage.
Source: GTM Tech Index, 2026
Common questions
Is Adapt.io better than Crono?
Whether a person stays in the loop between the search and the send. Adapt.io is built so they do, with user initiated reveals, manual filtered list building and daily contact view caps of twenty five to one hundred by plan, and a core platform carrying no dialer or automation of its own. Crono is built to remove them, with an agents hub assigning agents to outbound workflows beside representatives and automate everything offered as a supported mode. One vendor caps how much a person can do. The other removes the ceiling by removing the person.
Which database is bigger and what is known about it?
Crono holds far more records and says far less about them. Seven hundred million sit behind a waterfall querying ten or more providers in sequence, with no provider named, no licence stated and no collection method described. Adapt.io states roughly 150 to 200 million and describes provenance in classes, saying most directory information comes from its own members, that individuals may add their own details, and that it is supplemented with publicly available information and records from providers it describes as legally authorised.
How much do Adapt.io and Crono cost?
Adapt.io, and the GTM Tech Index grades it A against B. Plan names, monthly prices, credit allowances, a permanent free tier, unlimited seats and the daily contact view caps that govern real throughput are all published, so the purchase path is budgetable without a conversation. Crono publishes named tiers, a feature comparison and unusually detailed commercial answers covering credit expiry, seat transfer and cancellation timing, with the tier figures coming from third party reporting because the pricing page declines automated access.
Do the people in these databases get told?
Only Adapt.io. It states that it notifies individuals by email the first time their business contact information is added to the directory, gives an opt out at that point, and publishes a self service lookup. At Crono no notification, self service lookup or removal route was located for the people in a seven hundred million record database, while the vendor's own compliance glossary separately states that where contact information is obtained through a third party, the source must be specified during the initial contact with the data subject.
Do either publish security documentation?
Neither publishes a certification. Adapt.io commits in its privacy policy to reasonable security controls against loss, misuse and unauthorised access, with no trust centre, enumerated certification, audit report or penetration test attestation located. Crono's security surface is a self produced compliance badge in the footer and a single line committing to maintaining data security standards, with no trust centre, security page, audit, penetration test, control set or status page located, on a platform holding connected mailboxes, extension activity under the operator's account and write access into systems of record.
How does the GTM Tech Index grade Adapt.io and Crono?
Both are graded on the same seventeen capability and compliance axes from public sources, and both sit at full documented depth. The GTM Tech Index grades Adapt.io A on commercial transparency and B on autonomy and oversight, data privacy posture, data licensing and provenance, AI safety and stewardship, recipient disclosure and authenticity, ecosystem depth and segment coverage. Crono takes A on ecosystem and integration depth, where Adapt.io holds B, and B on autonomy and oversight, operational evidence, commercial transparency and segment coverage. The index publishes no composite score and declares no winner.
Related comparisons
Other published head to head assessments involving these vendors or their closest peers. The full set for this category is on the Sales Engagement & Outreach page.
Both products put a browser extension on a professional network profile and neither states how it works. At Adapt.io the extension is the headline workflow, surfacing verified emails and direct dials while a user views a profile, and nothing public states whether it reads page content, whether it operates through any sanctioned interface, or what the company's position is if accounts using it are restricted. The risk is real and unpriced for the buyer, who holds the account.
Crono's extension is marketed for finding leads while scrolling and for running multichannel sequences that include social messaging, which places automated action on that network under the operator's own account rather than only data retrieval.
Custody appears to stay with the user, since the mechanism is a browser extension rather than server side sending, and none of the aggravating patterns appear anywhere: no rotation, no proxies, no multi account stacking, no warmup of social accounts and no undetectability language.
What Crono publishes instead of a position is a footer trademark disclaimer stating no affiliation with two named platforms, which is a legal shield for the vendor rather than a conformance answer for the customer, and no rate limit, automation policy or account risk statement was located. This index records what is published and asserts nothing about whether any platform's rules have been breached.
Ask both what happens to your team's accounts if the extension is restricted, and ask Crono specifically whether social messaging inside a sequence is automated action or a queued task. The shared silence underneath is measurement. Adapt.io markets verification and publishes no methodology, accuracy rate or bounce figure.
Crono publishes one accuracy figure and publishes it twice on the same page at two different values, with independent review sentiment on the platform it cites recording contact data accuracy as a recurring complaint.