Competitive Intelligence 2026 Statistics (Updated September)

How big is the competitive intelligence market

1. 1

   Mordor Intelligence puts the competitive intelligence tools market at $0.59 billion in 2025 and predicts $1.46 billion by 2030, a 19.96% yearly growth rate.

   Source: Mordor Intelligence, 2025 ^[1]

2. 2

   Software platforms held 68.23% of the competitive intelligence tools market in 2024 and services the rest, according to Mordor Intelligence.

   Source: Mordor Intelligence, 2025 ^[1]

3. 3

   Cloud deployments made up 78.04% of the competitive intelligence tools market in 2024, according to Mordor Intelligence.

   Source: Mordor Intelligence, 2025 ^[1]

4. 4

   Large enterprises held 63.18% of the competitive intelligence tools market in 2024, per Mordor Intelligence, which predicts the small and mid-sized business segment will grow 21.53% a year to 2030.

   Source: Mordor Intelligence, 2025 ^[1]

5. 5

   Market Research Future sizes the competitive intelligence tool market at $7.22 billion in 2025 and predicts $16.82 billion by 2035, an 8.82% yearly growth rate.

   Source: Market Research Future, 2025 ^[2]

6. 6

   Verified Market Research values the competitive intelligence tools market at $445.51 million in 2025 and predicts $1.25 billion by 2033 (12.3% a year).

   Source: Verified Market Research, 2025 ^[3]

7. 7

   Technavio predicts the competitive intelligence tools market will grow by $27.95 billion between 2024 and 2029, at 9.5% a year.

   Source: Technavio, 2025 ^[4]

8. 8

   Data Bridge Market Research values the competitive intelligence tools market at $0.69 billion in 2025 and predicts $2.99 billion by 2033, a 20.10% yearly growth rate.

   Source: Data Bridge Market Research, 2026 ^[5]

9. 9

   Data Bridge expects Asia-Pacific to be the fastest-growing region for competitive intelligence tools, at 24.6% a year from 2026 to 2033 (a prediction).

   Source: Data Bridge Market Research, 2026 ^[5]

10. 10

    Research and Markets estimates the global competitive intelligence software market at $22.5 million in 2025 and predicts $42.0 million by 2032 (9.3% a year).

    Source: Research and Markets, 2025 ^[6]

11. 11

    Coherent Market Insights predicts the competitive intelligence software market will grow 10.1% a year from 2026 to 2033.

    Source: Coherent Market Insights, 2026 ^[7]

12. 12

    5 of the 7 competitor monitoring tools CompetitorBase compares publish their prices; Klue and Crayon quote after a demo.

    Source: CompetitorBase · prices read 2026-09-24 · 7 tools

How many deals are competitive

1. 13

   57.5% of competitive intelligence teams in Crayon's 2026 survey say more of their deals are competitive than a year earlier; 16% say competition eased.

   Source: Crayon, 2026 ^[8]

2. 14

   49.6% of teams in Crayon's 2026 survey saw their win rate against competitors rise over the past year, and 6.3% saw it fall.

   Source: Crayon, 2026 ^[8]

3. 15

   Sellers go head-to-head with a competitor in 68% of deals, according to Crayon's 2025 State of Competitive Intelligence report.

   Source: Crayon, 2025 ^[9]

4. 16

   In Crayon's 2025 survey, teams rated their own competitive selling 3.8 out of 10 on average.

   Source: Crayon, 2025 ^[9]

5. 17

   Crayon estimates that weak competitive selling costs a company $2 million to $10 million a year in deals it could have won.

   Source: Crayon, 2025 ^[9]

6. 18

   In the 2026 survey, respondents rated their reps' readiness for competitive deals at 6.3 out of 10 on average.

   Source: Crayon, 2026 ^[8]

7. 19

   For the average B2B software company, 65% of sales opportunities are competitive, according to Crayon's 2024 report.

   Source: Crayon, 2024 ^[10]

How companies run competitive intelligence

1. 20

   Marketing owns the competitive intelligence function at 42% of companies in Crayon's 2026 survey, ahead of strategy or executive teams and product.

   Source: Crayon, 2026 ^[8]

2. 21

   Two-thirds of competitive intelligence teams run a dedicated CI platform in 2026, up from roughly a third in 2022, according to Crayon.

   Source: Crayon, 2026 ^[8]

3. 22

   60.5% of competitive intelligence teams track a KPI in 2026, up from 30% in 2022, according to Crayon.

   Source: Crayon, 2026 ^[8]

4. 23

   Teams that track KPIs saw a rising win rate 66% of the time, against 24% of teams that do not, in Crayon's 2026 data.

   Source: Crayon, 2026 ^[8]

5. 24

   56.7% of teams have an executive sponsor in sales, a share Crayon calls flat for years; 62% of teams with one see their win rate climb, against 33% without.

   Source: Crayon, 2026 ^[8]

6. 25

   52% of competitive intelligence programs in Crayon's 2025 survey had no sales executive sponsor, although 85% of those programs count sales enablement as their job.

   Source: Crayon, 2025 ^[9]

7. 26

   44% of companies lack competitor visibility in their CRM, according to Crayon's 2025 report.

   Source: Crayon, 2025 ^[9]

8. 27

   78% of CI leaders in Crayon's 2024 survey equip sales with battlecards, and 41% say they want sellers to use them more often.

   Source: Crayon, 2024 ^[10]

9. 28

   63% of market and competitive intelligence teams sit at an intermediate maturity level, in Valona Intelligence's 2026 benchmark of 196 professionals at 143 companies.

   Source: Valona Intelligence, 2026 ^[11]

10. 29

    Only 7% of the organizations in Valona's 2026 benchmark score as world class (4.4 or higher across all factors).

    Source: Valona Intelligence, 2026 ^[11]

11. 30

    78% of world-class intelligence teams measure the return on their work, against 20% of average teams, according to Valona.

    Source: Valona Intelligence, 2026 ^[11]

12. 31

    46.1% of life sciences CI leaders say competitive intelligence plays a critical and consistent role in strategic planning, up from 41% in 2025, in Sedulo Group's 2026 survey.

    Source: Sedulo Group, 2026 ^[12]

13. 32

    91% of life sciences CI professionals expect the strategic importance of CI to hold steady or grow over the next five years (a prediction).

    Source: Sedulo Group, 2026 ^[12]

Where competitive intel comes from and how it reaches sales

1. 33

   Internal knowledge (employees, internal documents and call recordings) is the most-cited source of competitive intel at 54% of teams, ahead of competitor websites at 48%, in Crayon's 2026 survey.

   Source: Crayon, 2026 ^[8]

2. 34

   46% of teams use a call recording tool such as Gong for competitive intelligence, according to Crayon's 2026 survey.

   Source: Crayon, 2026 ^[8]

3. 35

   About 56% of competitive intelligence teams in Crayon's 2026 survey share intelligence weekly, daily or in real time; teams that share weekly or faster report revenue impact 79% of the time, against 41% for monthly or slower.

   Source: Crayon, 2026 ^[8]

4. 36

   60% of CI teams in Crayon's 2024 survey share competitive updates with sales through Slack or Teams.

   Source: Crayon, 2024 ^[10]

5. 37

   On average, 40% of deals go through win-loss analysis, according to Klue's 2025 Win-Loss Trends Report.

   Source: Klue, 2025 ^[13]

6. 38

   2 out of 3 program leaders in Klue's 2025 survey run win-loss and competitive intelligence together, and 10% plan to combine them.

   Source: Klue, 2025 ^[13]

7. 39

   98% of win-loss programs have executive visibility, according to Klue.

   Source: Klue, 2025 ^[13]

How CI teams use AI

1. 40

   80% of competitive intelligence teams use AI to create sales-facing competitive content, up from 61% in 2025 and 25% in 2024, according to Crayon.

   Source: Crayon, 2026 ^[8]

2. 41

   Half of respondents in Crayon's 2026 survey say their sales team runs AI agents in production or in a pilot, and another 14% plan to within a year.

   Source: Crayon, 2026 ^[8]

3. 42

   Teams running AI agents report revenue impact 82% of the time, against 42% for teams that do not use them, according to Crayon.

   Source: Crayon, 2026 ^[8]

4. 43

   Crayon's 2025 report counted a 76% year-over-year increase in AI adoption among compete teams, with 60% using AI daily.

   Source: Crayon, 2025 ^[9]

5. 44

   In 2024, 25% of CI leaders used AI for competitive intelligence work and 56% planned to start, according to Crayon.

   Source: Crayon, 2024 ^[10]

6. 45

   88% of CI and product marketing professionals in Klue's 2026 survey have active AI workflows or agents for competitive intelligence.

   Source: Klue, 2026 ^[14]

7. 46

   76% of respondents have had an AI-produced competitive intelligence output they could not stand behind, according to Klue.

   Source: Klue, 2026 ^[14]

8. 47

   Only 2% of teams fully trust AI competitive intelligence outputs to go to sellers with no review; 53% have a manual review step.

   Source: Klue, 2026 ^[14]

9. 48

   81% of teams using AI for competitive intelligence do not know how fresh their underlying data is, according to Klue.

   Source: Klue, 2026 ^[14]

10. 49

    47% of teams treat all data sources equally in their AI workflows; 12% have source weighting built in.

    Source: Klue, 2026 ^[14]

11. 50

    53.9% of life sciences CI professionals report applied or developing AI use in 2026, nearly double the 29% a year earlier, according to Sedulo Group.

    Source: Sedulo Group, 2026 ^[12]

12. 51

    41% of win-loss program leaders used AI in their program in Klue's 2025 survey, and another 41% planned to start in 2025.

    Source: Klue, 2025 ^[13]

What competitors run, from CompetitorBase scans

1. 52

   204 of the 310 company domains scanned with CompetitorBase between August 13 and September 25, 2026 (65.8%) showed evidence of paid ads on at least one network.

   Source: CompetitorBase scans of 310 domains, August 13 to September 25, 2026 · method

2. 53

   Google was the most common ad network among 310 company domains scanned with CompetitorBase between August 13 and September 25, 2026: 182 had Google ads evidence, against 115 for Meta and 96 for LinkedIn.

   Source: CompetitorBase scans of 310 domains, August 13 to September 25, 2026 · method

3. 54

   58 of the 310 company domains scanned with CompetitorBase between August 13 and September 25, 2026 (18.7%) had confirmed cold email infrastructure: separate sending domains carrying the company's brand name.

   Source: CompetitorBase scans of 310 domains, August 13 to September 25, 2026 · method

4. 55

   The median company domain scanned with CompetitorBase between August 13 and September 25, 2026 was active in 5 of the 8 non-ad channels CompetitorBase checks, and 43 of the 310 were active in all 8.

   Source: CompetitorBase scans of 310 domains, August 13 to September 25, 2026 · method

5. 56

   113 of 309 company sites scanned with CompetitorBase between August 13 and September 25, 2026 (36.6%) published at least one blog post in the 90 days before the scan.

   Source: CompetitorBase scans of 310 domains, August 13 to September 25, 2026 · method

What competitive intelligence jobs pay

1. 57

   The average base salary of competitive intelligence professionals is $115,065 worldwide, according to the Competitive Intelligence Alliance's 2024 salary report.

   Source: Competitive Intelligence Alliance, 2024 ^[15]

2. 58

   CI professionals in North America earn an average base salary of $149,034, against $86,391 in Europe and $40,398 in Asia.

   Source: Competitive Intelligence Alliance, 2024 ^[15]

3. 59

   48% of CI practitioners are unhappy with their pay, according to the Competitive Intelligence Alliance.

   Source: Competitive Intelligence Alliance, 2024 ^[15]

4. 60

   Competitive Intelligence Managers earn $102,000 on average and Directors of Competitive Intelligence about $155,700.

   Source: Competitive Intelligence Alliance, 2024 ^[15]

What research papers find

1. 61

   68.7% of South African small and medium businesses surveyed disagreed that they actively use competitive intelligence to understand market trends; 26.3% agreed.

   Source: International Journal of Applied Research in Business and Management, 2026 ^[16]

2. 62

   65.4% of the same 179 small and medium businesses disagreed that they have a structured approach to competitive intelligence; 22.4% agreed.

   Source: International Journal of Applied Research in Business and Management, 2026 ^[16]

3. 63

   67.6% of the surveyed South African small and medium businesses disagreed that competitive intelligence is part of their decision-making.

   Source: International Journal of Applied Research in Business and Management, 2026 ^[16]

4. 64

   65% of the surveyed South African small and medium businesses disagreed that competitive intelligence is crucial to their competitiveness.

   Source: International Journal of Applied Research in Business and Management, 2026 ^[16]

5. 65

   Of 95 competitive intelligence measures tested in a 2020 study, 56 (59%) were significantly correlated with the study's measure of innovation.

   Source: Journal of Intelligence Studies in Business, 2020 ^[17]

Frequently asked questions

How big is the competitive intelligence market?

Estimates for 2025 range from $22.5 million (Research and Markets, CI software only) to $7.22 billion (Market Research Future). Mordor Intelligence puts CI tools at $0.59 billion and Data Bridge at $0.69 billion. The firms define the market differently, so growth rates compare better than sizes: the seven firms quoted here predict 8.8% to 20.1% a year.

What share of B2B deals are competitive?

Crayon's 2025 report says sellers face a competitor in 68% of deals, and its 2024 report put the share at 65% for the average B2B software company. In its 2026 survey, 57.5% of CI teams said more of their deals were competitive than a year before.

How many companies use AI for competitive intelligence?

In Crayon's 2026 survey, 80% of CI teams use AI to create sales-facing competitive content, up from 25% in 2024. Klue found 88% of CI and product marketing professionals have active AI workflows, but 76% have had an AI output they could not stand behind and only 2% send AI output to sellers without review.

Does competitive intelligence improve win rates?

Vendor surveys say teams with certain habits report better results. In Crayon's 2026 survey, 49.6% of teams saw their win rate against competitors rise. Teams that track KPIs saw rising win rates 66% of the time against 24% for teams that do not, and teams with a sales executive sponsor 62% against 33%. These are self-reported correlations, not controlled measurements.

How much do competitive intelligence professionals earn?

The Competitive Intelligence Alliance's 2024 salary report puts the average base salary at $115,065 worldwide and $149,034 in North America. Competitive Intelligence Managers average $102,000 and Directors about $155,700. 48% of practitioners said they were unhappy with their pay.

Which channels do competitors use most?

In CompetitorBase scans of 310 company domains between August 13 and September 25, 2026, 65.8% showed evidence of paid ads, 182 of them on Google. 18.7% had confirmed cold email infrastructure, and the median company was active in 5 of the 8 non-ad channels checked.

Sources

1. [1]Mordor Intelligence. 2025.↑1 ↑2 ↑3 ↑4
2. [2]Market Research Future. 2025.↑5
3. [3]Verified Market Research. 2025.↑6
4. [4]Technavio. 2025.↑7
5. [5]Data Bridge Market Research. 2026.↑8 ↑9
6. [6]Research and Markets. 2025.↑10
7. [7]Coherent Market Insights. 2026.↑11
8. [8]Crayon. “State of Competitive Intelligence 2026”. 2026.↑13 ↑14 ↑18 ↑20 ↑21 ↑22 ↑23 ↑24 ↑33 ↑34 ↑35 ↑40 ↑41 ↑42
9. [9]Crayon. “State of Competitive Intelligence 2025”. 2025.↑15 ↑16 ↑17 ↑25 ↑26 ↑43
10. [10]Crayon. “State of Competitive Intelligence 2024”. 2024.↑19 ↑27 ↑36 ↑44
11. [11]Valona Intelligence. 2026.↑28 ↑29 ↑30
12. [12]Sedulo Group. 2026.↑31 ↑32 ↑50
13. [13]Klue. “Win-Loss Trends Report 2025”. 2025.↑37 ↑38 ↑39 ↑51
14. [14]Klue. “AI in Competitive Intelligence Report 2026”. 2026.↑45 ↑46 ↑47 ↑48 ↑49
15. [15]Competitive Intelligence Alliance. 2024.↑57 ↑58 ↑59 ↑60
16. [16]International Journal of Applied Research in Business and Management. 2026.↑61 ↑62 ↑63 ↑64
17. [17]Journal of Intelligence Studies in Business. 2020.↑65

Method

We searched Google for competitive intelligence statistics, competitive intelligence market and CI statistics, plus the vendor survey reports those pages cite, read about 60 pages, and counted how many repeat each number. Each outside number was traced to the company or survey that produced it and checked against that page on September 24, 2026. Most survey numbers come from vendors that sell competitive intelligence software (Crayon, Klue, Valona) and survey their own audiences. The market figures come from seven paid research reports; their 2025 size estimates run from $22.5 million to $7.22 billion, more than 300 times apart, because each firm defines the market differently. Forecasts are marked as predictions. We found few peer-reviewed papers with usable numbers; the ones here are open-access survey studies. CompetitorBase numbers come from the latest scan of each of 310 company domains run through the product between August 13 and September 25, 2026 (test domains removed), and from the prices on our competitor monitoring cost page.

CompetitorBase numbers new on this page:

• 204 of the 310 company domains scanned with CompetitorBase between August 13 and September 25, 2026 (65.8%) showed evidence of paid ads on at least one network. Latest report per domain; a domain counts when any ad network has a confirmed or likely verdict (ad library entry, pixel, or keyword history). Test domains removed.
• Google was the most common ad network among 310 company domains scanned with CompetitorBase between August 13 and September 25, 2026: 182 had Google ads evidence, against 115 for Meta and 96 for LinkedIn. Same reports; count of domains per ad network with a confirmed or likely verdict. Microsoft/Bing 40, Reddit 34, Quora 27, X 21, TikTok 20, Pinterest 7, Snapchat 4.
• 58 of the 310 company domains scanned with CompetitorBase between August 13 and September 25, 2026 (18.7%) had confirmed cold email infrastructure: separate sending domains carrying the company's brand name. Outbound channel verdict 'confirmed' in the latest report per domain. The largest fleet found was 92 brand-variant domains.
• The median company domain scanned with CompetitorBase between August 13 and September 25, 2026 was active in 5 of the 8 non-ad channels CompetitorBase checks, and 43 of the 310 were active in all 8. Channels: outbound, SEO, PR, backlinks, reviews, socials, founder audience, buzz. A channel counts as active on a confirmed or likely verdict; founder audience only when the founder has posts or podcast appearances.
• 113 of 309 company sites scanned with CompetitorBase between August 13 and September 25, 2026 (36.6%) published at least one blog post in the 90 days before the scan. SEO channel posts_90d above zero, read from sitemap lastmod dates; one domain whose sitemap check failed is excluded.

All 65 statistics as a CSV: competitive-intelligence-statistics.csv.

Cite this page

CompetitorBase, “Competitive Intelligence 2026 Statistics (Updated September)”, updated September 2026, https://competitorbase.com/research/competitive-intelligence-statistics

To cite one number, link its anchor: each statistic has one, for example https://competitorbase.com/research/competitive-intelligence-statistics#stat-1.