How is Draftboard different than The Swarm? - Draftboard Blog

Draftboard vs. The Swarm: A Comparison

Both Draftboard and The Swarm help sales teams leverage warm introductions through network mapping. Here's how they compare.

Core Philosophy

The Swarm: Positions itself as a "relationship data company" with a large database approach. They maintain 580 million profiles and focus on data enrichment alongside relationship mapping.

Draftboard: Focuses specifically on making your team's existing relationships actionable. The emphasis is on relationship quality over database quantity.

Network Approach

• Combines team LinkedIn and email connections

• AI-powered discovery of hidden connections

• Relies on a large external database for enrichment

• Offers community-supported connectors

• Maps your team's 1st and 2nd degree connections

• Focuses on relationships you and your team actually have

• No reliance on external connector marketplaces

• Intros come through people who already know and trust you

Relationship Scoring

The Swarm: Uses AI to identify work and education overlaps. Tracks job changes daily for signal detection.

• Length of overlapping employment
• Recency of the connection
• Multiple overlaps (worked together at different companies)
• Titles and departments
• Relative seniority

Both platforms score relationships, but Draftboard provides more granular visibility into why a path is strong.

Data & Integrations

• 580M+ profiles, 100M companies

• Native integrations with HubSpot, Clay, Gmail

• Focus on data enrichment capabilities

• Open API for CRM enhancement

• CSV import from any prospecting tool

• CRM tracking for intro request lifecycle

• Purpose-built for warm intro execution

• Less focus on data enrichment, more on relationship activation

Tracking and CRM

The Swarm: Basic intro tracking with signal stacking for timing outreach.

• Marking when you've requested an intro
• Tracking declined intros
• Seeing intros in progress
• Confirming completed intros
• Preventing duplicate asks across your team

Cost Structure

The Swarm: Free tier available (up to 100 connectors). Paid plans start at $99/month scaling to enterprise.

Draftboard: Free to start, no credit card required. Usage-based after that: $0.30 per quality path, and about 2 out of 3 paths are free.

Best For

• You want data enrichment bundled with relationship mapping

• You need a large database for prospecting research

• You use Clay or HubSpot heavily in your workflow

• You want to leverage external community connectors

• You want to focus specifically on warm intro execution

• Your team has existing relationships to activate

• You need detailed relationship intelligence and scoring

• You want full lifecycle tracking of every intro request

The Bottom Line

The Swarm takes a broader approach, combining relationship mapping with data enrichment and a large profile database. Draftboard is purpose-built for one thing: helping you find and execute warm intros through your team's existing network. If your primary goal is activating relationships for warm introductions, Draftboard's focused approach delivers deeper relationship intelligence and better intro tracking.