Softwr

Sales Enablement · head to head

Brainshark vs Surfe

Brainshark logo

Brainshark

Sales Enablement

Sales Readiness Platform

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Surfe logo

Surfe

Sales Enablement

B2B prospecting, enrichment and CRM sync from the browser

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Surfe has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Brainshark user interface feels outdated with limited formatting customization options; Surfe three native CRMs only: Salesforce, HubSpot and Pipedrive. Anything else needs the API or Google Sheets.
  • They diverge on capability: Brainshark covers Content authoring, Surfe covers Waterfall enrichment.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 17 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Brainshark and Surfe actually diverge.

Attributes where Brainshark and Surfe differ
AttributeBrainsharkSurfe
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelUnknownfreemium
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, Ios, AndroidChrome, Web, API
Founded1999Unknown

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Sales Enablement).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Brainshark

  • Content authoring
  • Video coaching
  • Training
  • Assessments
  • Analytics
  • Salesforce
  • Microsoft Dynamics
  • Slack

Only in Surfe

  • Waterfall enrichment
  • Chrome extension
  • Buying signals
  • CRM sync and automation
  • API and MCP server
  • Company and people search
  • Prospect list builder

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Brainshark

  • Customer Successnot Surfe
  • Sales Readinessnot Surfe
  • Content Authoringnot Surfe

Surfe

  • Enriching LinkedIn prospects with verified email and phone datanot Brainshark
  • Keeping CRM contact records current as people change rolesnot Brainshark
  • Timing outreach against funding, hiring or job-change signalsnot Brainshark
  • Feeding B2B contact data into an AI agent through MCPnot Brainshark
  • Building target account lists from lookalikesnot Brainshark

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Brainshark

  • User interface feels outdated with limited formatting customization options
  • Branching feature is very limited compared to competitors
  • Course catalog and transcript management in Salesforce are clunky and unintuitive
  • Administrative controls are complex and adjusting settings takes longer than expected

Surfe

  • Three native CRMs only: Salesforce, HubSpot and Pipedrive. Anything else needs the API or Google Sheets.
  • API access is an Enterprise feature, so the lower tiers cannot automate beyond the supported connectors even though an API exists.
  • The free tier caps CRM sync at one contact a day, which makes it a demonstration rather than a workable free plan.
  • Mobile number credits are far scarcer than email credits on every tier, 100 a month against 1,000 on Pro, and phone data is usually the reason teams buy a tool like this.
  • Match rates are not published. Enrichment across fifteen providers is a description of method, not a measured outcome, and the figure that decides whether the cost is justified is not on the pricing page.

Pricing, plan by plan

Brainshark

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Brainshark review.

Surfe

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 20 email find credits a month
    • 5 mobile find credits a month
    • Company and people search, 1,000 results a week
  • Essential$49/month
    • 150 email find credits a month
    • 50 mobile find credits a month
    • Full CRM connector
  • Pro$89/month
    • 1,000 email find credits a month
    • 100 mobile find credits a month
    • Search 10,000 results a day
  • Enterprise$undefined/month
    • Custom credit allowances
    • Unlimited company and people search
    • SSO and SCIM

Which should you pick?

Choose Brainshark if

  • You need content authoring.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android.
  • You also want video coaching.
Brainshark review

Choose Surfe if

  • You need waterfall enrichment.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Chrome, Web, API.
  • You also want chrome extension.
Surfe review

Questions people ask

Is Brainshark or Surfe better?
Neither clearly leads. Brainshark starts at On request and Surfe at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Brainshark or Surfe?
Surfe has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Brainshark and Free for Surfe.
Does Brainshark or Surfe run on more platforms?
Brainshark runs on Web, Ios, Android. Surfe runs on Chrome, Web, API.
Can I use Surfe for free?
Yes. Surfe has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Brainshark starts at On request.
What is Brainshark best used for?
Brainshark is most often used for customer success, sales readiness, content authoring. Of those, customer success and sales readiness are not what Surfe is typically brought in for.
What can Brainshark do that Surfe cannot?
Brainshark covers Content authoring, Video coaching, Training, Assessments. Surfe covers Waterfall enrichment, Chrome extension, Buying signals, CRM sync and automation.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Brainshark: What is Brainshark primarily used for?

Brainshark is used for sales enablement, onboarding, and continuous training to prepare customer-facing teams with content, coaching, and certifications for buyer interactions.

Source
Surfe: What does Surfe cost?

Free gives 20 email and 5 mobile credits a month. Essential is $49 a user monthly or $39 billed annually, Pro is $89 or $79 annually, and Enterprise is custom priced with SSO, SCIM and API access.

Source
Brainshark: Does Brainshark integrate with PowerPoint?

Yes, Brainshark offers PowerPoint integrations along with a mobile app for on-demand training access and content authoring capabilities.

Source
Surfe: Which CRMs does Surfe integrate with?

Salesforce, HubSpot and Pipedrive natively. Surfe is the official Pipedrive data enrichment provider and powers HubSpot's native prospecting agent. Salesloft, Outreach and Lemlist connectors are available from the Pro tier.

Source
Brainshark: Can Brainshark track employee training completion?

Yes, Brainshark provides training tracking, analytics, and scorecards for monitoring completion and engagement across your sales team.

Source
Surfe: What is waterfall enrichment?

Looking a contact up across more than fifteen data providers in sequence rather than relying on a single source, so a miss at one provider is retried at the next. It is what drives match rates on contacts a single database would not find.

Source
Surfe: Can Surfe be used with AI agents?

Yes. Surfe publishes an API and an MCP server, which makes the data reachable from Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok and Perplexity. API access sits on the Enterprise tier.

Source
Surfe: Is the Surfe free plan usable?

For evaluation rather than for work. It includes 20 email and 5 mobile find credits a month and limits CRM sync to one contact a day, which is enough to judge data quality and not enough to prospect with.

Source
Share

Related pages

More on Brainshark

More on Surfe

Keep looking

Other head to heads