Forelight vs Bombora

Intent data is a proxy.
Infrastructure is the event.

Bombora tracks anonymous content consumption across B2B publishers and infers interest. Forelight reads Certificate Transparency logs — when a company actually deploys Shopify or enters a new market, the cert proves it. No inference required.

Two different kinds of signal

Understanding the fundamental difference helps you decide when to use each — and when Forelight gives you a stronger signal.

Bombora intent data

Aggregates content consumption from ~5,000 B2B publisher sites
Infers "intent" when a company reads more than usual about a topic
Account-level only — no specific action, no specific person
Delay: 1–2 week aggregation cycle before score updates
Probabilistic — could be competitive research, not buying interest
Requires enterprise contract ($25K+/yr)
No API; data delivered via CRM integrations

Forelight infrastructure signals

Reads public Certificate Transparency logs (RFC 6962) in real time
Fires on concrete events: cert issued, domain registered, SaaS detected
Domain-level precision — you know exactly which property changed
Delay: minutes from cert issuance to signal available via API
Deterministic — a cert proving HubSpot adoption is not ambiguous
Free tier available; paid plans from $99/mo
REST API with JSON, cursor pagination, and webhook delivery

Comparison table

Head-to-head on the dimensions that matter for outbound GTM teams.

Dimension	Forelight	Bombora
Signal type	Infrastructure events (certs, domains, SaaS adoption)	Content consumption (topic intent scores)
Signal confidence	deterministic — event happened	probabilistic — inferred interest
Latency	minutes	1–2 week aggregation cycle
Specificity	domain-level (e.g. app.acme.com)	account-level only
SaaS adoption detection	yes — cert SANs prove it	indirect — topic interest only
Geographic expansion signal	yes — ccTLD cert detection	no
New company / fresh domain	yes	no (no content history)
REST API	yes — full JSON API	no (CRM integrations only)
Webhook / real-time push	yes	no
Clay / enrichment table compatible	yes	no
Entry price	free → $99/mo	$25,000+/yr

When infrastructure beats intent

Intent data works best mid-funnel when a prospect is actively researching. Infrastructure signals fire earlier — before they're researching, because they just made a decision.

saas_adoption_detected · score 65

They just deployed HubSpot

The cert proves it. Bombora might show intent in a few weeks. You can call today while they're still setting up their first pipeline.

geographic_expansion · score 85

They just entered Germany

New ccTLD cert registered. New market = new headcount, new budget cycle. Bombora won't pick this up because they haven't consumed content yet.

domain_velocity · score 90

3 new domains in 7 days

Acquisition or major launch. Budget is being deployed right now. No intent signal needed — the infrastructure change is the signal.

fresh_domain · score 80

Brand new company

Zero content history, so Bombora shows nothing. Forelight sees the cert the day they launch. First vendor in wins.

Use both, or pick the right one

Use Bombora when:

→ You need mid-funnel intent signals for known accounts
→ Your buyers research heavily before buying
→ You want topic-based targeting (e.g. "reading about cybersecurity")
→ You have a large enterprise budget

Use Forelight when:

→ You want to be first — before intent fires at all
→ Your trigger is a concrete infrastructure event (SaaS adoption, new market)
→ You need an API to route into Clay, your CRM, or Slack
→ You're prospecting new companies with no content history

Intent data is a proxy.Infrastructure is the event.