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Columns Review

Columns is an AI tool that enables users to qualify leads by creating a spreadsheet where each question can have multiple answers with a confidence score.

shipped Sep 24, 2026marketingfreemium
marketing
Columns — product screenshot

Why it matters

1Offers a freemium pricing model with a free tier.
2Supports uploading CSVs with up to 20,000 rows for lead qualification.
3Provides contextual insights on leads with confidence scores.
4Includes a Starter plan at $29/month and a Pro plan at $99/month.

About Columns

Business Model
Usage-Based (Pay Per Use)
Usage Pricing
$0.001/row-question per row-question
Free Credits
500 row-questions
Platforms
Web
Target Audience
B2B companies looking to qualify leads efficiently

Pricing Plans

Free
Free
  • • 500 row-questions free
  • • Never priced per seat
Starter
$29/mo
  • • 25,000 row-questions
Pro
$99/mo
  • • 150,000 row-questions

Cost Examples

  • • First 500 row-questions: Free
  • • Next 25,000 row-questions: $29
  • • Next 150,000 row-questions: $99

Specs

API Available

Yes, public API

overview

What is Columns?

Columns is an AI lead qualification tool that enables B2B companies to qualify leads by creating a spreadsheet where each question can have multiple answers with a confidence score. Users can upload lists and apply queries to get contextual insights on leads, making it particularly useful for B2B applications.

features

Key Features of Columns

Columns provides a suite of features designed for efficient lead qualification and data analysis within a spreadsheet interface.

  • Create customizable spreadsheets for lead qualification.
  • Upload CSVs with up to 20,000 rows for bulk processing.
  • Generate probability distributions for answers to qualification questions.
  • Qualify leads by assigning confidence scores to multiple answers per question.
  • Apply automated queries to uploaded lists to gain contextual insights on leads.
  • Offers an API for programmatic access and integration with other systems.

use cases

Who Should Use Columns?

Columns is primarily designed for B2B companies and professionals who require efficient and data-driven lead qualification.

  • B2B lead qualification: Sales and marketing teams seeking to streamline the process of identifying high-potential leads.
  • Data validation: Businesses needing to verify and enrich existing lead data with contextual insights.
  • Automated querying for business insights: Analysts and strategists looking to extract actionable intelligence from lead lists.

how to use

How to Use Columns

To begin using Columns, users typically create a new spreadsheet, define their qualification questions, and upload their lead data. The platform then applies AI-driven queries to provide insights.

  • 1Navigate to the Columns web platform at https://columns.live/.
  • 2Create a new spreadsheet for lead qualification.
  • 3Define specific questions for lead qualification, allowing for multiple potential answers.
  • 4Upload a CSV file containing lead data, with support for up to 20,000 rows.
  • 5Apply AI queries to the uploaded list to generate contextual insights and confidence scores for each answer.
  • 6Review the qualified leads and their associated confidence scores for further action.

pricing

Columns Pricing & Plans

Columns operates on a freemium model, offering a free tier and two paid subscription plans: Starter and Pro. The pricing is usage-based, calculated per 'row-question'.

  • Free: Includes 500 free row-questions.
  • Starter: $29/month, includes additional row-questions.
  • Pro: $99/month, includes a higher volume of row-questions.
  • Usage Pricing: $0.001 per row-question for usage beyond included allowances.

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Pros

  • +Provides AI-driven contextual insights with confidence scores for lead qualification.
  • +Offers a user-friendly spreadsheet interface for managing lead data.
  • +Supports bulk lead processing with CSV uploads of up to 20,000 rows.
  • +Includes a freemium model, allowing users to test the service with 500 free row-questions.
  • +Features an API for integration into existing workflows and systems.

Cons

  • −The usage-based pricing model may become costly for very high volumes of row-questions.
  • −Requires users to define qualification questions, which may involve initial setup time.
  • −Primarily focused on B2B lead qualification, potentially limiting broader application.
  • −Reliance on AI for confidence scores may require user validation for critical decisions.

Policies

Pricing Page

View Pricing→

Similar Tools

Columns vs Competitors

Columns differentiates itself in the lead qualification market through its AI-driven contextual insights and confidence scoring within a spreadsheet interface.

1

It provides a spreadsheet-style workspace to build custom lead qualification and enrichment workflows by connecting to over 150 data providers.

Clay offers a similar spreadsheet-like interface for data manipulation and enrichment, allowing for highly customizable qualification logic, which directly mirrors Columns' approach to applying queries to lists. However, Clay requires more manual setup of workflows compared to Columns' potentially more out-of-the-box AI queries.

2

It is a free and open-source marketing automation platform that includes lead nurturing and scoring capabilities, offering full data sovereignty.

Mautic provides robust lead scoring and management as part of a broader marketing automation suite, which can be self-hosted for complete control. While it offers lead scoring, it doesn't have the same AI-driven contextual insights with confidence scores in a spreadsheet format as Columns, requiring more manual configuration of scoring rules.

3
OpenOutreach↗

An open-source, self-hosted AI agent that finds and qualifies B2B leads based on a product description and explains the reasons for qualification.

OpenOutreach directly addresses the AI-powered lead qualification aspect by generating leads and explaining their fit, similar to Columns' contextual insights. However, it's a command-line interface (CLI) tool that requires self-hosting and a more technical setup, unlike Columns' web-based spreadsheet interface.

4

Specializes in providing highly accurate B2B contact and company data enrichment, often through a user-friendly browser extension and CSV enrichment.

Lusha excels at enriching existing lead lists with accurate contact and company data, which is a core component of Columns' lead qualification. While it provides data, it doesn't offer the same AI-driven contextual insights or confidence scoring on multiple answers within a spreadsheet interface as Columns, focusing more on data accuracy and completeness.

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