Job adverts, or the money that pays for them.
Agency Leads, SourceBreaker and the rest sell you live vacancies. They are reliable, high volume and about $295 a month. They are also visible to every competitor at the same moment. This is the signal that arrives first.
The honest summary
Two different moments in the same story.
A job advert is proof that a company is hiring. It is also proof that the decision has been made, the role has been written, and in all likelihood two or three agencies have already been briefed. It is the most reliable signal available and the most contested.
A share allotment is the money arriving. Nobody has written a role yet.
Where job-ad tools are better
- A live vacancy is confirmed demand, not an inference
- Enormous volume: tens of thousands of leads a week
- Hiring-manager contact details included
- You know the exact role, seniority and location
- Around $295 a month, cheaper than this
- Coverage across the UK, US, Canada and Australia
If you want confirmed vacancies today, buy a job-ad tool.
Where a funding signal is better
- It arrives before the role exists, so before the brief is placed
- Far less contested: most of these raises were never reported
- It tells you there is budget, not just a vacancy
- UK statutory record, with the document attached
- Directors named, so you are not calling a switchboard
- About 100 companies a week, small enough to actually work
If you want the conversation before the role is written, this.
Side by side
The comparison that matters.
| Job-ad lead tools | Priorfile | |
|---|---|---|
| Signal | A posted vacancy | A share allotment filed at Companies House |
| Timing | The decision is already made | Money in, before the role is written |
| Competition | Every agency sees the same advert | Most rows were never reported anywhere |
| Certainty | High. They are definitely hiring | Lower. Budget arrived, hiring is likely |
| Volume | Thousands a week | About 100 UK companies a week |
| Contacts | Hiring managers, with email | Directors and controlling persons, by name |
| Price | About $295 / month | £299 / month |
| Geography | UK, US, Canada, Australia | United Kingdom only |
Plenty of desks should run both. Job adverts fill this month. A funding filing is who you talk to now so that you are the one they call when the role does appear. Post-raise hiring typically starts 30 to 90 days after the money lands, which is roughly the gap between these two signals.
Questions
Asked plainly.
Is Priorfile an alternative to job-ad lead tools?
It is the earlier half of the same problem. A job advert is confirmed demand that every agency can see. A share allotment is budget arriving, typically 30 to 90 days before the role is written, and usually invisible because most raises are never reported.
Which converts better?
Honestly, we have not measured it and will not claim it. A vacancy is a real brief you might be third to. A raise is an earlier conversation with less competition and less certainty. Many desks want both, and they cost about the same.
Do you include the hiring manager's contact details?
No. You get the directors and persons with significant control from the public register, because at this point in the cycle there is often no hiring manager yet.
What about SourceBreaker or Bullhorn?
SourceBreaker sits inside Bullhorn and covers job leads, news and funding, on a custom quote that reviewers describe as expensive for small agencies. Its funding data, like everyone's, comes from announcements.
Prices read from each provider’s own pages on 1 September 2026. If any of this is out of date or wrong, tell me and it gets corrected.
100 companies took the money last week. Three in four never told anyone.
The next register is published Monday. Read last week’s first — there is nothing to enter and nothing to book.
