The short answer
There's no single right investor database; the right one depends on your stage, geography and budget. This guide compares ten tools founders often consider, including free options (Signal, Visible Connect, OpenVC's free plan, Tracxn Lite) and paid research platforms (Crunchbase, PitchBook, Dealroom, CB Insights), with pricing as published on each vendor's site and checked on 2026-11-01.
- Start with the job: finding investors who fit, managing a raise, or researching a market are different tools.
- Several good options are free: Signal by NFX, Visible Connect, OpenVC's free plan and Tracxn Lite (checked 2026-11-01).
- Research platforms (PitchBook, CB Insights, Dealroom) price on request and are built for teams, not solo founders.
- Zalarma focuses on US investors by stage, check size, sector and state, with 33,282 US startup-investor records (Zalarma investor database, as of 2026-11-01).
Founders usually look for an investor database at the same moment: the round is coming, the network is thin, and a spreadsheet of famous funds isn't working. The tools on the market overlap less than they seem. Some help you find investors who fit. Some help you run the raise once you know who to talk to. Some are research platforms built for analysts. This page lays them side by side so you can pick by job, not by brand.
Pricing is shown exactly as each vendor published it on its official site when we checked on 2026-11-01. Where a vendor doesn't publish prices, we say "pricing on request (as of Nov 2026)". We're Zalarma, so we've kept our own entry factual and listed it alongside the others; read the "when to choose" notes with that in mind.
Side-by-side comparison
| Tool | Main job | Coverage focus | Pricing (as published, checked 2026-11-01) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zalarma | Find US investors who fit your round, plus a warm path | 33,282 US startup-investor records (85,848 investor and firm records in total), filters for stage, check size, sector, state/metro and investor type | No published price; access by request, free match list on request |
| Signal by NFX | Investor search plus your Gmail network and intro list | Curated investors, scouts and angels with self-written profiles | Free; NFX says it will never charge |
| OpenVC | Free fundraising workspace: search, deck sharing, CRM, deck submissions | Early-stage investors in many countries; advertises 16,000+ | Free plan; Premium $99/month or $299/year |
| Visible (Visible Connect) | Investor updates, decks, data rooms, pipeline; free VC database | Visible Connect: 20k+ verified VCs, per its site | Starter $0; Base $59, Core $129, Growth $199 per month billed annually |
| Crunchbase | Private-company intelligence: profiles, funding rounds, forecasts | Global companies and investors | Pro $49/month billed annually or $99 billed monthly; Business from $199/month billed annually |
| PitchBook | Private-capital data for investment professionals | Global companies, deals, funds and investors | Pricing on request (as of Nov 2026) |
| Dealroom | Startup and ecosystem intelligence | Global companies, rounds and investors | Per seat, billed annually, quote on request (as of Nov 2026); free access program for founders |
| CB Insights | Market intelligence for strategy and deal teams | Companies, markets and investor strategy maps | Pricing on request (as of Nov 2026) |
| Tracxn | Global company and sector database, deal-flow tools | 8.4M+ companies and 292K+ investors, per its pricing page | Lite free with usage limits; Premium via sales |
| AngelList | Fund, SPV and Roll Up Vehicle infrastructure (not investor search) | 25,000 syndicates and funds on the platform, per its site | SPV setup $8k plus $2k state regulatory fee; RUVs from $8,000 plus filing fees |
How to choose in five questions
- What's the job? If you need to know who to approach, use a tool built around investor fit. If you already know and need to manage outreach, decks and updates, use a fundraising workspace. If you need market maps, use a research platform.
- Where are you raising? Global tools (Dealroom, Tracxn, OpenVC, PitchBook) help if you raise outside the US or across countries. For US founders outside the big hubs, state and metro filters matter more than global breadth.
- Who writes your first checks? At pre-seed, many checks come from angels, angel groups and family offices whose deals are never announced. Tools built on funding-round data see those investors less clearly.
- What's your budget? Start free. Signal, Visible Connect, OpenVC's free plan and Tracxn Lite cost nothing. Pay only when a tool clearly saves you weeks.
- Can you verify the data? Prefer tools that show where a record comes from, and check an investor's own site before you reach out.
Picks by need
A free way to start
Signal by NFX is free and maps investors to the contacts in your Gmail. OpenVC adds deck sharing, a CRM and deck submissions on a free plan. Visible Connect is a free VC database tied to Visible's update and pipeline tools.
US investors outside the big hubs
Zalarma is built for this case. Of the US startup investors in our database with a known state, 10,508 are based outside California, New York and Massachusetts, and 8,652 list pre-seed as a stage (Zalarma investor database, as of 2026-11-01). Browse pre-seed investors, angel investors or family offices to see the coverage.
Market and competitor research
Crunchbase publishes self-serve plans. PitchBook, CB Insights and Dealroom are priced on request and built for research teams. Tracxn has a free Lite tier for exploring.
Closing many small checks
AngelList isn't an investor search tool, but its SPVs and Roll Up Vehicles can group many small investors into one line on your cap table.
Worked example (hypothetical)
A pre-seed B2B SaaS founder in Nashville wants $750K. She builds a 60-name list: 25 regional angels and angel-group members, 10 family offices, 15 seed and micro-VC funds that back SaaS, and 10 national pre-seed funds. She uses a fit-first database for the regional names, Signal to see which of the 60 she can reach through people she knows, and a free workspace to track outreach. Total tool spend can be zero until she knows which paid tool saves her time.
Red flags in any investor list
- No source or date on the record.
- Only famous firms, nobody who writes small first checks.
- No check size or stage, so you can't tell fit from fame.
- Pay-to-pitch offers. Legitimate investors don't charge founders to be seen.
Bottom line
Pick the tool that matches the job in front of you. Most founders combine one free workspace with one list-building tool. If you want a head start, ask us to hand-pick 5 investors who fit your round, each with a one-line why-they-fit, within 2 business days. Then follow our target list guide and warm intro playbook.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest investor database?
Several are free: Signal by NFX, Visible Connect, OpenVC's free plan and Tracxn Lite (with usage limits), as published on their sites on 2026-11-01.
Is PitchBook worth it for an early-stage founder?
PitchBook prices on request and is built for investment professionals. Most pre-seed and seed founders get more from a fit-first investor list and a free fundraising workspace.
Which tools cover angel investors and family offices?
Coverage varies. Tools built on announced funding rounds see angels and family offices less clearly. Zalarma includes 5,982 angel and 8,385 family-office records among its US startup investors (Zalarma investor database, as of 2026-11-01).
Is AngelList an investor database?
Not today. AngelList focuses on fund administration, SPVs, syndicates and Roll Up Vehicles.
How often should I check prices?
Vendor prices change. Every price on this page was checked on its official site on 2026-11-01; confirm on the vendor's site before you buy.