Disclosure: Industry belongs to the City Profit group, which publishes this site. The LinkedIn price comes from public 2026 pricing information. Descriptions of the other services are general and may change, so check each one’s current terms before you commit.
| Channel | What it is | Cost | Strength | Weakness |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Industry | Catalogue, map and forum for business, education, NGOs and government | Free registration | Structured offer formula per organisation; verified owners; anti-spam limits | Newer network, so fewer listings than the big platforms |
| LinkedIn Sales Navigator | Search and outreach on the largest professional network | Core about $89.99 per seat per month billed annually ($119.99 monthly) | Reach and filters | Cold outreach fatigue; per-seat cost |
| Thomasnet | Industrial supplier directory, strongest in North America | Buyers search free; suppliers pay for profiles | Find manufacturers by capability | Regional focus |
| Kompass | Global B2B company and product directory | Company listing with paid tiers for visibility | Many countries and industries | Depth of data varies |
| Clutch | Review directory for IT, marketing and other service vendors | Free to browse; vendors can pay for placement | Verified client reviews | Services only, not manufacturers |
| Enterprise Europe Network | EU-supported partnering network with a partner-search database | Public programme; check current terms | Cross-border matchmaking for SMEs | Slower, request-driven |
Every organisation on Industry is described by one sentence: “We do X for Y so you can Z, even without A.” That is the same Core Offer formula City Profit uses in strategy work, and it turns the catalogue into a search over offers rather than a list of names. Industry also provides a map and an industry forum where only verified representatives can open topics. Against cold spam it applies one direct contact per day, hidden email addresses and an owner status marked with a crown. The person who creates a profile becomes its official owner, and moderation plus a “This is a fraud!” procedure handle impostors. Forum topics with no replies for over a year are cleaned up automatically.
A catalogue is only useful if the people you want are in it. Industry is built for education projects, universities, NGOs and schools looking for partners, employers or communities, and for businesses ready to support learning. If you need a machining subcontractor in Ohio, use Thomasnet. If you need a software agency with verified reviews, use Clutch.
Three sales people on LinkedIn Sales Navigator Core cost about $3,240 a year at the annual rate. That is defensible if each of them opens two qualified conversations a month. The mistake is buying the seats first and measuring afterwards. A free channel with fewer, better-described profiles can beat a paid one with more noise, as long as you count the hours of filtering in the price.
Clutch is where buyers look for vendors, so reviews there matter more than any catalogue entry. For technology partnerships and integrations, LinkedIn is the working channel. Add Industry if you sell to education, NGOs or the public sector, where its verified profiles and offer formula help buyers understand what you do.
Use Thomasnet, Kompass and the Enterprise Europe Network for suppliers, distributors and cross-border partners. Add Industry for the parts of your strategy that touch training, employer branding, university cooperation or local government, where it is the more targeted place to be found.
Your best partners are other professionals who refer clients: lawyers, accountants, consultants, agencies. LinkedIn does most of the work, but a structured profile with a precise offer sentence makes referrals easier on any platform. Write that sentence once and reuse it everywhere.
Yes, registration is free according to the Industry tool page.
One direct contact per day, hidden email addresses, verified owners and moderation.
Education projects, universities, NGOs and schools, and businesses that want to support learning or find partners in that world.
Write your offer sentence and see who answers. Registration is free.
