Dataset
Methodology and schema publishedVendor Cost Per SQL
Vendor Cost Per SQL is the panel dataset that divides disclosed quarterly spend on an AI vendor by the CRM-verified sales-qualified leads that vendor is credited with in the same period. It exists because vendor pricing pages report seats and credits, not the cost of an accepted lead. Only disclosed spend and CRM-verified counts are used. Nothing is estimated.
By Jonathan Kvarfordt, Founder and Principal Analyst
What this dataset contains
- One row per vendor per quarter per submitting organization, anonymized
- Disclosed quarterly spend for that vendor
- CRM-verified sales-qualified leads credited to the vendor in the period
- Cost per SQL, and the acceptance rate behind it
- Segment and panel size so a reading is comparable to your own
Schema
| Column | Definition |
|---|---|
| quarter | Calendar quarter of the reading. |
| vendor_category | AI SDR, conversation intelligence, enrichment, agent platform, or content generation. |
| segment | Mid-market or enterprise, by employee count band. |
| spend | Disclosed quarterly spend on the vendor. Never estimated. |
| sqls | CRM-verified sales-qualified leads credited to the vendor in the period. |
| cost_per_sql | Spend divided by CRM-verified SQLs. |
| acceptance_rate | Share of vendor-sourced leads accepted by sales. |
| panel_n | Number of qualifying submissions behind the row. |
Download
Column definitions only. No observations have been published for this dataset yet, so the file is a header row and a method note, not a benchmark. The first reading publishes with the next panel cycle. Open to anyone, no email required, under CC BY 4.0. Attribution: The Revenue AI Report, therevenueaireport.com.
Methodology and caveats
Cost per SQL is only meaningful when the SQL definition is stable across the period. Submissions that changed their SQL definition mid-quarter are excluded rather than adjusted. The related analysis is the AI SDR unit economics issue at /blog/ai-sdr-unit-economics, and the spend-to-outcome ratio it feeds is defined at /methodology/proof-gap-index.
Frequently asked questions
What is cost per SQL for an AI vendor?
Disclosed quarterly spend on the vendor divided by the CRM-verified sales-qualified leads credited to that vendor in the same quarter.
Why not use vendor-reported lead counts?
Vendor dashboards count activity and self-attributed leads. This dataset only counts leads sales accepted in the CRM, which is the number a board will ask about.
Is any figure estimated?
No. Rows without disclosed spend or without CRM-verified counts are excluded rather than modeled.
How do I cite Vendor Cost Per SQL?
Kvarfordt, J. (2026). Vendor Cost Per SQL. The Revenue AI Report. https://www.therevenueaireport.com/data/vendor-cost-per-sql
How to cite this dataset
Written by Jonathan Kvarfordt, Founder and Principal Analyst, The Revenue AI Report. Published under CC BY 4.0.
APA
Kvarfordt, J. (2026). Vendor Cost Per SQL. The Revenue AI Report. Retrieved from https://www.therevenueaireport.com/data/vendor-cost-per-sql
MLA
Kvarfordt, Jonathan. "Vendor Cost Per SQL." The Revenue AI Report, 31 Aug. 2026, www.therevenueaireport.com/data/vendor-cost-per-sql.
BibTeX
@misc{kvarfordt2026vendorcostpersql,
author = {Kvarfordt, Jonathan},
title = {Vendor Cost Per SQL},
year = {2026},
publisher = {The Revenue AI Report},
url = {https://www.therevenueaireport.com/data/vendor-cost-per-sql}
}