The best revenue intelligence platforms for GTM teams in 2026 are Gong, Clari + Salesloft, Backstory (formerly People.ai) and Outreach for conversation and deal intelligence, plus UserGems and 6sense for buyer-signal intelligence. The first group helps you win and forecast deals already in the pipeline. The second decides which accounts and people should enter it next. Most GTM teams need one of each.

Key takeaways

• Revenue intelligence splits into two layers: downstream conversation and deal intelligence (Gong, Clari + Salesloft, Backstory, Outreach) and upstream buyer-signal intelligence (6sense, UserGems).
• Clari and Salesloft completed their merger on December 3, 2025, and now operate as one company, Clari + Salesloft.
• People.ai now brands itself as Backstory, with the same product and data infrastructure.
• Gartner's first Magic Quadrant for Revenue Action Orchestration (December 2025) says the category emerged from the convergence of sales engagement and revenue intelligence.
• Downstream tools can't fill a thin pipeline, and upstream tools can't close slipping deals.

What is revenue intelligence?

Revenue intelligence software collects data from customer interactions and buyer activity, then uses AI to help GTM teams decide where to spend time and how to win. It splits into two layers.

• Conversation and deal intelligence (downstream). Records and analyzes calls, emails and meetings, tracks deal health, forecasts the quarter and supports coaching. Gong, Clari + Salesloft, Backstory and Outreach live here.
• Buyer-signal intelligence (upstream). Tracks who is in-market, what changed at an account and which people are worth contacting now. It scores accounts and contacts and turns signals into outreach and ad audiences. 6sense and UserGems live here.

Downstream tools help you win the deals you have. Upstream tools help you create the next ones. If your pipeline is thin, a better forecast won't fill it. If your pipeline is full but deals slip, better targeting won't close them. According to Forrester's State of Business Buying 2024, 86% of B2B purchases stall during the buying journey, so the downstream problem is real. So is the upstream one: the 6sense 2025 Buyer Experience Report found 94% of buying groups rank preferred vendors before first contact, and the vendor preferred before engagement wins 80% of the time.

Why do sales engagement platforms show up in revenue intelligence lists?

Because the two categories have merged. Gartner's first-ever Magic Quadrant for Revenue Action Orchestration (December 2025, 12 vendors evaluated) describes the market as "emerging from the convergence of previously separate sales engagement and revenue intelligence markets."

You can see it in the vendors. Gong added Gong Engage. Outreach added conversation intelligence and forecasting. Clari (forecasting) and Salesloft (sales engagement) became one company. Clari and Salesloft completed their merger on December 3, 2025, and the combined company, Clari + Salesloft, is led by CEO Steve Cox. We compare those vendors in depth in our guide to the best revenue orchestration platforms.

How do the top revenue intelligence platforms compare?

These descriptions reflect how each vendor publicly positions itself as of September 2026.

Gong

• Layer: Downstream (with engagement)
• Best for: Teams that want conversation intelligence, deal visibility and coaching in one place
• Standout: Positions itself as a "Revenue AI OS": call and email analysis, Gong Forecast, Gong Engage, Gong Enable and AI agents
• Watch-outs: Insight comes from interactions that already happened; limited help deciding who to target first

Clari + Salesloft

• Layer: Downstream (with engagement)
• Best for: Revenue leaders who want forecasting, pipeline inspection and cadences from one vendor
• Standout: Positions itself as "The Leading Predictive Revenue System": Clari Forecast, Inspect, Cadence, Conversation Intelligence, Deals
• Watch-outs: Two product lines still coming together after the December 2025 merger; confirm packaging and roadmap

Backstory (formerly People.ai)

• Layer: Downstream
• Best for: Enterprise teams with complex deals that need automatic activity capture and pipeline answers
• Standout: Activity capture into CRM, pipeline health and risk detection, forecasting, stakeholder mapping, MEDDPICC-style qualification
• Watch-outs: Value depends on CRM adoption and activity volume; insight covers accounts you're already working

Outreach

• Layer: Downstream (with engagement)
• Best for: Sales teams that want sequencing, deal management and forecasting in one platform
• Standout: Positions itself as "the Agentic AI platform for revenue teams": sales engagement, conversation intelligence, deal management, forecasting, AI agents
• Watch-outs: A system of action; the quality of who lands in each sequence depends on the targeting data you feed it

6sense

• Layer: Upstream
• Best for: Enterprise ABM programs planning by account
• Standout: Keyword-level intent, predictive buying stages, advertising and AI email agents
• Watch-outs: Intent is account-level first, so reps still need to find the right people; reviewers often mention predictive scores are hard to explain

UserGems

• Layer: Upstream (uses downstream call data as input)
• Best for: B2B sales and marketing leaders ($20M+ revenue) who need to know who to target, when and why for outbound and ABM
• Standout: Contact-level buying signals, custom and transparent scoring built on your own sales history, outputs into your SEP, CRM, MAP and LinkedIn, Meta and Google
• Watch-outs: Doesn't record calls or forecast the quarter; pair it with a downstream tool

For peer reviews across the downstream vendors, see G2's Revenue Operations & Intelligence category.

What does each revenue intelligence platform do best?

Each platform is strongest at one job. Here's that job, and where it stops.

1. Gong

Gong is the best-known name in conversation intelligence and now calls itself the "#1 AI OS for Revenue Teams." It analyzes calls and emails, flags deal risk, forecasts with Gong Forecast and supports coaching with Gong Enable. Gong Engage adds sequencing. Gong announced a Leader placement in Gartner's 2025 Magic Quadrant for Revenue Action Orchestration.

Fair note: Gong's insight comes from conversations that already happened. It's strongest once a buyer is talking to you.

2. Clari + Salesloft

Clari brought forecasting and pipeline inspection. Salesloft brought cadences, conversation intelligence and deal management. The combined company markets one "Predictive Revenue System" to "turn buyer signals into action," with Clari Forecast, Inspect, Cadence, Deals and Rhythm under one roof.

Fair note: a forecast is only as good as the pipeline behind it. Ask how the two product lines are packaged and priced today.

3. Backstory (formerly People.ai)

People.ai now operates as Backstory. Its site says: "People.ai is now Backstory. Same product, same data infrastructure." It captures emails, meetings and calls into the CRM and uses that data for pipeline health, risk detection, forecasting and stakeholder mapping in complex sales.

Fair note: it improves the record of what reps did and which deals are real. Deciding which new accounts deserve attention happens elsewhere.

4. Outreach

Outreach started as a sales engagement platform and now positions itself as "the Agentic AI platform for revenue teams." It covers sequences, conversation intelligence, deal management, forecasting and AI agents. It also announced a Leader placement in the same Gartner Magic Quadrant.

Fair note: Outreach is a system of action. Who lands in each sequence depends on your targeting data.

5. 6sense

6sense sits upstream and describes itself as "Intelligence for Agentic GTM." It combines keyword-level intent, predictive buying stages, advertising and AI email agents, and is a common pick for enterprise ABM.

Fair note: intent is mostly at the account level, so reps still have to work out who to contact. Many teams also find predictive scores hard to explain in pipeline reviews. More in our UserGems vs 6sense comparison.

6. UserGems

UserGems is the AI command center for outbound and ABM, and it sits upstream of your conversation and deal tools. Data Agents capture contact-level buying signals like past users joining target accounts, website visits, hiring and funding, plus bespoke research. Among the Intelligence Agents, the Scoring Agent uses 600+ ICP fit criteria plus signals to build a custom, transparent scoring model on your own sales history. The Writing Agent drafts outreach and the ABM Agent builds ad audiences. Outputs go into your SEP (Outreach, Salesloft, Gong Engage), your CRM, your MAP and LinkedIn, Meta and Google.

UserGems also uses your downstream data as input. With Gong connected, the Research Agent reads call transcripts on closed-lost opportunities to find why deals were lost and when to re-engage. Our closed-lost re-engagement playbook shows the workflow.

Where it wins: knowing who to target and why, data accuracy (UserGems has never lost a head-to-head data comparison), scores reps can explain, and a money-back guarantee tied to pipeline and revenue. At Frontify, UserGems account scoring drives 40% of SDR pipeline.

Fair note: UserGems doesn't record calls or forecast your quarter. Pair it with Gong, Clari + Salesloft or your SEP's built-in conversation tools.

How do upstream and downstream revenue intelligence work together?

They work as a loop, with outcomes flowing back to sharpen targeting.

1. Upstream: buyer-signal intelligence picks the accounts and people most likely to buy, based on your own win history.
2. Action: the SEP and ad platforms reach those buyers with relevant messages.
3. Downstream: conversation and deal intelligence helps reps run and forecast the deals that follow.
4. Feedback: call insights and closed-won and closed-lost outcomes flow back to improve the targeting model.

In practice: a former user of your product joins a target account as VP of Sales. Upstream, that signal plus a strong fit score puts her at the top of an SDR's list, with a draft email that references her past experience. She replies, and downstream tools record the call and track stakeholders and risk. If the deal is lost, the call notes explain why, and the upstream model watches for the right moment to try again.

Those handoffs matter more as buying groups grow. According to Forrester's 2026 State of Business Buying report, a typical buying decision involves 13 internal stakeholders and 9 external influencers. A call recording won't capture all of them, and an account-level score won't tell you who to reach first.

The gap most teams hit is between insight and action. We cover it in system of insight vs system of action, and in our look at the AI command center for go-to-market.

How do you choose a revenue intelligence platform?

Start with the problem, then match the unit of insight to the decision you need to make.

• Name the problem first. Thin pipeline points upstream. Slipping deals and missed forecasts point downstream.
• Check the unit of insight. Account, contact, deal or call? Match it to the decision.
• Ask how scores are built. Models trained on your own sales history are easier to trust and explain than generic ones.
• Follow the output. Does insight land in the CRM, SEP and ad platforms you already use?
• Look for overlap. Many SEPs now include conversation and forecasting features. According to Salesforce's State of Sales research, sales teams use an average of 10 tools to close deals and 94% of sales orgs plan to consolidate. Avoid paying twice.

Frequently asked questions

What's the difference between revenue intelligence and sales intelligence?

Sales intelligence usually means contact and company data for prospecting, such as emails, phone numbers and firmographics. Revenue intelligence is broader. It covers conversation, deal, forecasting and buyer-signal insights across the whole revenue cycle, from deciding who to target to forecasting which deals will close this quarter.

Is Gong a revenue intelligence platform?

Yes. Gong is one of the best-known revenue intelligence platforms and now positions itself as a "Revenue AI OS." Its core is conversation and deal intelligence, with Gong Forecast, Gong Engage and Gong Enable added on top. Gong was named a Leader in Gartner's 2025 Magic Quadrant for Revenue Action Orchestration.

Did Clari and Salesloft merge?

Yes. Clari and Salesloft completed their merger on December 3, 2025. The combined company operates as Clari + Salesloft, led by CEO Steve Cox, and markets a "Predictive Revenue System" that brings Clari's forecasting and pipeline inspection together with Salesloft's cadences, conversation intelligence and deal management.

Is People.ai the same as Backstory?

Yes. People.ai now operates under the Backstory name. Its website states that People.ai is now Backstory, with the same product and data infrastructure. Backstory focuses on activity capture, pipeline health, risk detection and forecasting for teams running complex, multi-stakeholder sales motions.

Do I need both conversation intelligence and buyer-signal intelligence?

Most mid-market and enterprise B2B teams benefit from both. Conversation intelligence helps reps win and forecast deals already in the pipeline. Buyer-signal intelligence decides which accounts and people should enter the pipeline next. If you can only fund one, pick the layer that matches your biggest gap today.

Can UserGems use Gong data?

Yes. UserGems connects to Gong so its Research Agent can read call transcripts on closed-lost opportunities. It identifies why each deal was lost and watches for signals that the account is worth re-engaging, then routes the next step into your sales engagement platform with the context already attached.

How much do revenue intelligence platforms cost?

Most vendors price per seat or by platform tier, and many don't publish list prices. Ask each vendor for a quote that includes implementation, add-ons and required modules, then compare total cost across the upstream and downstream tools you need, including features your current SEP may already cover.

Start upstream

Great deal intelligence can't help with deals that never start. UserGems tells your team who to target, when, why and what to say, inside the tools you already use. See how the AI command center works or book a demo.