> Enrich.chat gives AI agents verified work emails and mobiles. To use it from an agent, read https://enrich.chat/agents.md . This is the Markdown version of https://enrich.chat/use-cases/market-sizing/

# How to size a market with free company and people counts

Count the companies that could buy, narrow to the ones you can serve, count the buyers inside them, then multiply by price. The counts cost no credits.

By Enrich.chat Editorial. Updated October 19, 2026.

**Short answer:** To size a market from the bottom up, count the companies that could buy, narrow the count to the ones you can serve, and multiply by what each would pay. Enrich.chat's company and people count endpoints are free, with no lookup and no credits. A count shows how many records match your filters, not how many companies exist, so check the total against public statistics.

## Key takeaways

- [HubSpot](https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/tam-sam-som) writes the bottom-up formula as total customers in the market times average revenue per customer, and calls it more defensible than a top-down estimate.
- `/v1/companies/count` and `/v1/search/count` are free: no lookup, no credits, and `free_lookups_remaining` does not change.
- Counts take filters for industry, NAICS and SIC codes, country, state, size band, revenue band, technology, funding, growth, traffic and founding year, plus job title and level for people.
- A count is a measure of matching records, not a census. Compare segments with each other and check the total against a source such as the US Census Bureau's SUSB.

## Counts you can run without spending a credit

- **Counts cost nothing.** No lookup, no credits, no signup. Only the rate limit applies, about one request a second.
- **Count companies.** By industry or NAICS code, location, size band, revenue band, technology, funding, growth, traffic and founding year.
- **Count buyers.** People by job title, level, department and role group, inside the companies you filtered.
- **See every filter value.** Free lists of every industry, technology, country and size band, so your filters match.
- **Plain English works too.** Describe the segment in a sentence. `interpreted_as` shows how it was read.
- **Save and share the segment.** Keep the filters as a saved search in the dashboard. Your whole team sees it and can run the count again later.

## From a segment to a market size

1. **Define the segment.** Pick industry, region, size and technology. List the exact values with the free facets endpoint.
2. **Count it three ways.** Count the companies, narrow to the ones you can serve, then count the buyers inside them.
3. **Multiply and cross-check.** Multiply by your price, then check the total against a public statistic.

## How do you size a market from the bottom up?

Count the customers in the segment, then multiply by the revenue each one would bring. [HubSpot](https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/tam-sam-som) writes the bottom-up formula as total customers in the market times average revenue per customer. It calls the method more defensible than a top-down estimate but slower to build. Top-down sizing starts from a published market figure and cuts it with percentages. [Salesforce](https://www.salesforce.com/blog/small-business/tam-sam-som/) says top-down suits a new product with little sales data, while bottom-up starts with real sales data and tends to be more accurate.

TAM, SAM and SOM become three counts. TAM is every company that could buy. SAM is the ones your product, region and size band can serve. SOM is the part of SAM you can win in a set time. Our [TAM, SAM and SOM guide](https://enrich.chat/blog/tam-sam-som/) works through a full example with Census Bureau data.

**Figure 1: Three counts that make up a market size (illustrative numbers).** A bar chart of example numbers. A broad company count by industry and country gives 10,000, which stands for TAM. Adding a size band and a technology gives 1,800 companies, which stands for SAM. Winning 5% of SAM would be 90 accounts, an assumption for SOM. A separate people count of buyers gives 2,400. All numbers are made up and are not Enrich.chat data.

*How three counts map to TAM, SAM and SOM. The numbers are invented for the method. SOM is an assumption, not a count.*

Enrich.chat gives you the counts. You supply the price and the win rate.

## Which counts does Enrich.chat give you for free?

Two count endpoints and the filter lists are free. None of them uses a lookup or a credit, and only the rate limit applies, about one request a second.

| Call | What it counts | Takes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `GET /v1/companies/count` | Companies | `q` and company filters |
| `GET /v1/search/count` | People | `q`, person filters and company filters |
| `count_only=true` on `/v1/companies` or `/v1/search` | Same as the two above | Same parameters |
| `GET /v1/facets/industry` | Nothing: it lists every value a filter accepts | Also country, state, function, persona, level, company_size, company_revenue, funding_stage, technology |

Each count response carries `"credits_used": 0`, and `free_lookups_remaining` stays where it was. In the dashboard, the People and Companies screens show a live count that updates as you edit filters. That count is free too.

Company filters are `industry`, `country`, `state`, `company_size` (or `employees_min` and `employees_max`), `company_revenue`, `uses`, `funding_stage`, `funded_since`, `growth_min`, `traffic_min`, `founded_after` and `founded_before`. People counts add `title`, `seniority`, `level`, `function`, `persona`, `started_role_within_days`, `has_email` and `has_mobile`. Filters combine with AND. Several values of one filter combine with OR. A company must use every technology you list.

More filters go further. `naics` and `sic` take industry codes, so you can match a government table. `exclude_industry`, `exclude_size` and `exclude_company_name` cut out segments you cannot serve. Others cover company type, headquarters city, funding totals, investors, web traffic, technology categories and team-size signals. `GET /v1/filters` lists them free, with a type and an example for each. A filter works on the data we hold, so not every company has every field.

## How do you count a market step by step with Enrich.chat?

Start from the exact filter words, count broad, narrow, then count the buyers. The example sizes a made-up product, billing software for US software companies that use HubSpot. Every number in it is invented to show the method.

1. **List the exact words.** `GET /v1/facets/industry?q=software` returns the industry names. A wrong value returns `unknown_filter_value` with `did_you_mean`.
2. **Count the broad segment.** `GET /v1/companies/count?industry=Software%20Development&country=United%20States` gives the count of everyone who could buy.
3. **Narrow to who you can serve.** Add `company_size=11-50,51-200` and `uses=hubspot`. This is the SAM count.
4. **Count the buyers.** Call `GET /v1/search/count` with `title=head of finance` and the same company filters. This counts people, not companies.
5. **Read `interpreted_as` every time.** It lists the filters that were applied. A filter you pass replaces what `q` says about the same thing.
6. **Record the filters and the date.** Save them as a saved search in the dashboard. Saved searches are shared by the whole team, so a colleague can run the same count again. A viewer can open them but cannot spend credits.

Few segments have a hard edge. To see how the buyer count grows as you loosen a filter, send the same buyer search as match tiers. Tier 1 is your core definition, tier 2 drops the technology and tier 3 widens the size band. With `count_only`, `POST /v1/search/cascade` returns a free count for each tier, so you can see which filter shrinks the market most. The [match tiers](https://enrich.chat/features/match-tiers/) page has the detail.

```text
Use www.enrich.chat to count US software companies with 11 to 200 employees that use HubSpot, then count the heads of finance at them, and show how each request was interpreted
```

**Figure 2: The Companies screen: filters, a free live count and results.** A drawing of the dashboard Companies screen. Filters for industry, country, company size and technology sit on the left with a save search button. On the right sit a free live count of matches, three example company rows with a find people button, and a footer that says counts are free and each company read uses credits. The numbers and companies are examples.

*The dashboard Companies screen, drawn as a diagram. Filters on the left, a free live count and results on the right. Numbers and companies are made up.*

## How do you turn the counts into TAM, SAM and SOM?

Multiply each count by an assumed yearly price, then cut SAM by the share you can win. The table uses the example counts and made-up prices.

| Layer | What you add | Example count | Assumed price a year | Example market |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| TAM | Industry and country | 10,000 companies | $6,000 | $60 million |
| SAM | Size band and technology | 1,800 companies | $6,000 | $10.8 million |
| SOM | Assumed win of 5% of SAM in three years | 90 companies | $6,000 | $540,000 |

Every figure in this table is made up. None of it comes from Enrich.chat's data. The price and the win rate are your assumptions, and a count cannot supply either one. [HubSpot](https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/tam-sam-som) defines SOM as the portion of SAM you could realistically capture, so it needs your sales capacity as well as the count.

The buyer count answers a different question: how many roles you would have to reach inside the SAM companies. Use it to size an outreach plan, not revenue.

Sizing costs nothing. Reading rows is what uses lookups or credits. On a plan, each company or person returned in a search uses 5 credits, and a work email found uses 10. On the free tier, a search uses one lookup however many rows it shows. To keep the companies behind a count, save them to a list and export it as CSV or XLSX, or run a file of company websites through Bulk enrich as a [background job](https://enrich.chat/features/background-jobs/) to add size and industry.

| Task | Credits on a plan |
| --- | --- |
| Run 40 counts to compare segments | 0 |
| Read one page of 25 companies | 125 |
| Read all 1,000 companies one search can page through | 5,000 (Growth plan at $29 a month) |
| 100 people read, plus 100 work emails | 1,500 (Growth plan at $29 a month) |

The plan is a fixed monthly price. Growth $29 for 100,000 credits, Scale $90 for 500,000 credits, Pro $299 for 2,500,000 credits. Every plan has every product and unlimited seats, bills monthly and cancels anytime. Credits renew with each payment and unused credits do not roll over. See [pricing](https://enrich.chat/pricing/) for the full rate card.

## How far can you trust a count?

A count tells you how many records match your filters. It does not tell you how many such companies exist. The UK government's [business population estimates](https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/business-population-estimates-2025/business-population-estimates-for-the-uk-and-regions-2025-statistical-release) make the point: they say there is no single database containing all private sector businesses in the UK, so they combine a business register with survey and tax data. Treat counts from any provider, Enrich.chat included, as a way to compare segments, then check the total against a public figure.

- **US.** The Census Bureau's [SUSB](https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/susb/about.html) counts firms with paid employees by industry, state and enterprise size, and says private businesses use it for market research and sales territories. Data arrive about two to two and a half years after the reference year. Businesses with no paid employees sit in [Nonemployer Statistics](https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics.html).
- **Europe.** Eurostat's [structural business statistics](https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/structural-business-statistics) cover the business economy by activity.
- **Definitions.** Decide whether one-person businesses can buy from you. They change the count a lot, as the next figure shows.

**Figure 3: UK private-sector businesses with and without employees, 2025.** A single stacked bar for the United Kingdom at the start of 2025. Of 5,690,265 private-sector businesses, 4,272,535 had no employees and 1,417,730 were employers, about one in four. A count that includes only employers leaves out the rest.

*Employers are about one in four of the UK's private-sector businesses. Source: [UK Department for Business and Trade, business population estimates 2025](https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/business-population-estimates-2025/business-population-estimates-for-the-uk-and-regions-2025-statistical-release).*

Enrich.chat counts have their own edges. Company size is a band, `employees_on_linkedin` is a signal for size and not an exact headcount, and revenue is a band, not an exact figure. The `industry` filter takes names from the facets list. To line up with a government table, use the `naics` or `sic` filter, which matches the code held on each record. Funding stage is a company's latest stage. Read `interpreted_as` on every count.

Counts only fix the first multiplier. Investor Bill Gurley argued in a [2014 essay on Uber's market size](https://abovethecrowd.com/2014/07/11/how-to-miss-by-a-mile-an-alternative-look-at-ubers-potential-market-size/) that two assumptions, the size of the market and the share a company could win, might be off by a factor of 25 or more. Your price and win rate deserve as much scrutiny as the count.

## What does Enrich.chat not do for market sizing?

- **No market reports or revenue estimates.** It gives counts. You supply the price, the win rate and the multiplication.
- **No spend or demand data.** A count says who matches your filters, not who will buy. There are no intent signals.
- **Bands, not exact figures.** Size and revenue are bands, and funding stage is the latest stage only.
- **At most 1,000 results per search.** A count can be far larger, but a search reads only the first 1,000. Narrow the filters to go deeper.
- **No SSO and no per-person credit limits.** A team shares saved searches, lists and the owner's credits, but you cannot cap what each member spends.
- **Companies by website, not name.** A company lookup takes a domain.

For a wider view of what to count and why, read our guides to [firmographic data](https://enrich.chat/blog/firmographic-data/), [technographic data](https://enrich.chat/blog/technographic-data/) and the [ideal customer profile](https://enrich.chat/blog/ideal-customer-profile/). When the sizing says go, the [company search](https://enrich.chat/features/company-search/), [technology search](https://enrich.chat/features/technographic-search/) and [lead list building](https://enrich.chat/use-cases/lead-list-building/) pages show how to turn a segment into a list. Your agent can run the counts too: the [install page](https://enrich.chat/install/) has the MCP steps. For one company at a time, see the [company enrichment API](https://enrich.chat/api/company-enrichment/) and the free [lead list builder](https://enrich.chat/tools/lead-list-builder/).

## Frequently asked questions

### How do you size a market bottom-up?

Count the customers in your segment and multiply by the average revenue each would bring. [HubSpot](https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/tam-sam-som) writes it as total customers in the market times average revenue per customer. Count companies by industry, region and size, price each band, add the bands for TAM, then narrow to the companies you can serve for SAM. Our [TAM, SAM and SOM guide](https://enrich.chat/blog/tam-sam-som/) has a full example.

### Are Enrich.chat's counts really free?

Yes. `GET /v1/companies/count` and `GET /v1/search/count` use no lookup and no credits, and `free_lookups_remaining` stays the same. The filter lists at `/v1/facets` are free too. You need no signup or key to run them, and only the rate limit applies. Reading the companies or people behind a count is what uses lookups or credits.

### Can I count companies by technology or funding stage?

Yes. Use `uses` for technology, such as `uses=hubspot`, and `funding_stage` and `funded_since` for funding. You can also filter by `industry`, `country`, `state`, `company_size`, `company_revenue`, `growth_min`, `traffic_min` and founding year. More filters add NAICS and SIC codes, investors and exclusions. A company must use every technology you list.

### How reliable are the counts?

A count shows how many records match your filters. It is not a census of all companies, and no commercial database is. Use counts to compare segments with each other, then check your total against a public statistic such as the US Census Bureau's [SUSB](https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/susb/about.html) or Eurostat's structural business statistics.

### How do I find the right filter values?

Call `GET /v1/facets/industry`, or another facet name such as `technology`, `country` or `funding_stage`, with `q` to search the list. It is free. If you pass a value we do not know, the API returns `unknown_filter_value` with `did_you_mean` suggestions. The `interpreted_as` field in every count shows which filters were applied.

### What is the difference between TAM, SAM and SOM?

TAM is the revenue if every possible buyer bought from you. SAM is the part your product, region and customer profile can serve. SOM is the part you can realistically win in a set time. [HubSpot](https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/tam-sam-som) defines SOM as the portion of SAM you could capture. Counts give you the first two. SOM also needs your win rate.

## Sources

1. [TAM, SAM & SOM: What Do They Mean & How Do You Calculate Them?](https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/tam-sam-som)
2. [TAM, SAM, and SOM: Made Simple for Growing Businesses](https://www.salesforce.com/blog/small-business/tam-sam-som/)
3. [How to Miss By a Mile: An Alternative Look at Uber's Potential Market Size](https://abovethecrowd.com/2014/07/11/how-to-miss-by-a-mile-an-alternative-look-at-ubers-potential-market-size/)
4. [About Statistics of U.S. Businesses (SUSB)](https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/susb/about.html)
5. [Nonemployer Statistics (NES)](https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics.html)
6. [Business population estimates for the UK and regions 2025: statistical release](https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/business-population-estimates-2025/business-population-estimates-for-the-uk-and-regions-2025-statistical-release)
7. [Structural business statistics](https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/structural-business-statistics)

## Examples

**Companies**

```text
# Free: no lookup, no credits
curl "https://enrich.chat/v1/companies/count?industry=Software%20Development&country=United%20States"

# Example response (illustrative numbers)
{
  "count": 10000,
  "interpreted_as": {
    "industry": ["Software Development"],
    "country": ["United States"]
  },
  "credits_used": 0,
  "free_lookups_remaining": 10
}
```

**Narrower**

```text
# Same call, two more filters
curl "https://enrich.chat/v1/companies/count?industry=Software%20Development&country=United%20States&company_size=11-50,51-200&uses=hubspot"

# Example response (illustrative numbers)
{
  "count": 1800,
  "interpreted_as": {
    "industry": ["Software Development"],
    "country": ["United States"],
    "company_size": ["11-50", "51-200"],
    "uses": ["hubspot"]
  },
  "credits_used": 0,
  "free_lookups_remaining": 10
}
```

**People**

```text
# Buyers inside those companies
curl "https://enrich.chat/v1/search/count?title=head%20of%20finance&industry=Software%20Development&country=United%20States&company_size=11-50,51-200&uses=hubspot"

# Example response (illustrative numbers)
{
  "count": 2400,
  "interpreted_as": {
    "title": "head of finance",
    "industry": ["Software Development"],
    "country": ["United States"],
    "company_size": ["11-50", "51-200"],
    "uses": ["hubspot"]
  },
  "credits_used": 0,
  "free_lookups_remaining": 10
}
```

**Values**

```text
# Free: the exact words a filter accepts
curl "https://enrich.chat/v1/facets/industry?q=software&limit=3"

{
  "facet": "industry",
  "total": 3,
  "returned": 3,
  "values": [
    "Software Development",
    "IT Services and IT Consulting",
    "Computer Software"
  ]
}
```

**Tiers**

```text
# Free: count the buyers tier by tier. count_only returns each tier's count.
curl -X POST "https://enrich.chat/v1/search/cascade" \
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d '{"count_only": true, "tiers": [
    {"name": "Core", "q": "heads of finance at US software companies with 11 to 200 employees that use HubSpot"},
    {"name": "No tool filter", "q": "heads of finance at US software companies with 11 to 200 employees"},
    {"name": "Wider size", "q": "heads of finance at US software companies with 11 to 1000 employees"}]}'

# The response gives one count per tier. Counts use no lookups and no credits.
```

## Prices

| What you get | Credits |
| --- | --- |
| Work email found | 10 |
| Mobile number found | 250 |
| Company tech stack or profile found | 5 |

10 free lookups a day for every IP address, no signup. Nothing is charged when nothing is found. Monthly plans start at $29 for 100,000 credits.

## Try this prompt

Size a market from your agent

```text
Use www.enrich.chat to count US software companies with 11 to 200 employees that use HubSpot, then count the heads of finance at them, and show how each request was interpreted
```

## Related

- [Company search](https://enrich.chat/features/company-search/)
- [How to build a lead list](https://enrich.chat/use-cases/lead-list-building/)
- [Outbound for startups](https://enrich.chat/use-cases/startup-outbound/)