Quick answer: Apollo.io pricing starts with a free plan. Paid plans are Basic at $49, Professional at $79 and Organization at $119 per seat/month billed annually, or $65 and $99 a month for Basic and Professional on monthly billing. Organization is annual only, with a 3-seat minimum. The best Apollo alternatives are Buzz.ai, lemlist, Reply.io, Instantly, Amplemarket, Clay, ZoomInfo, Lusha, Seamless.AI and Outreach. Choose Buzz.ai if you want LinkedIn steps that run on their own, not as manual tasks, next to email and calls, plus an AI Employee that handles replies and books meetings. Buzz Core is $79/month per seat, billed monthly, and you can start on a free seat with no card.
Apollo is popular because it puts a big contact database and email sequences in one tool at a low entry price. Teams usually start comparing Apollo alternatives when credits run out faster than expected, when they want LinkedIn steps to run automatically, or when they want an AI to work replies instead of a rep. This guide covers Apollo's full pricing first, then 10 alternatives. Every competitor fact links to the vendor's own page and was checked on October 8, 2026.
Apollo.io pricing in 2026
| Plan | Annual billing | Monthly billing | Credits per seat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | 900 a year, granted monthly |
| Basic | $49/seat/month | $65/seat/month | 30,000 a year (annual) or 2,500 a month (monthly) |
| Professional | $79/seat/month | $99/seat/month | 48,000 a year (annual) or 4,000 a month (monthly) |
| Organization | $119/seat/month, minimum 3 seats | Annual only | 72,000 a year |
Source: apollo.io/pricing, checked October 8, 2026. Prices exclude taxes.
What each Apollo plan includes
- Free: contact and account data, 2 sequences, 250 email sends a day and a 5-chat AI assistant limit. Apollo's help center says free plans don't include the dialer or call tasks.
- Basic: unlimited sequences, 1 mailbox per user, 250 email sends a day, waterfall enrichment, CRM integrations, 5 automated workflows and the US dialer (credits apply).
- Professional: adds A/Z testing, AI lead scoring, unlimited Google and Microsoft mailboxes plus 5 SMTP mailboxes per user, unlimited daily sends and 4,000 minutes of call recording.
- Organization: adds 12 intent topics, 15 SMTP mailboxes per user, unlimited inbound routers and 8,000 minutes of call recording.
- Add-ons: Inbound (Essentials $119 or Max $639 per team/month, billed annually) and Advanced Dialer ($119 per team/month, billed annually), which adds international, parallel and power dialing.
How Apollo credits work
Apollo charges 1 credit for an email, 8 credits for a phone number, 1 to 8 credits to enrich a record, 1 credit per AI research run and 1 credit per 30 seconds on the US dialer. Credits are pooled across the team and granted at the start of each billing cycle. They don't roll over, and that includes add-on credits you buy. Add-on credits renew every cycle until you remove them. (apollo.io/pricing)
So phone-heavy teams use credits about eight times faster than email-only teams. A Basic seat on monthly billing gets 2,500 credits a month, which covers about 312 phone numbers.
Does Apollo have a free trial?
Yes. Basic and Professional have a 14-day trial, and Apollo says the trial includes 75 credits and most features of the plan you choose. When the trial ends, you can upgrade or drop to the free plan, which has no time limit. (apollo.io/pricing)
Other terms worth knowing
- Every seat on an account has to be on the same plan.
- Downgrades take effect right away, but unused time isn't refunded.
- Annual plans can't switch to monthly until the annual term ends.
- The listed plans are for internal use only. Using Apollo data in products or services for your own customers needs a separate agreement with custom pricing.
Does Apollo automate LinkedIn?
Not on its own. Apollo sequences can include LinkedIn steps: view a profile, interact with a post, send a connection request or send a message. Apollo's help center says automatic email is the only sequence step that runs by itself. LinkedIn, call, manual email and action-item steps create tasks for a rep to complete, and the contact waits at that step until the task is done or skipped. (Apollo knowledge base)
For a head-to-head on deliverability and channels, see Buzz vs Apollo.io.
Apollo alternatives at a glance
| Tool | Best for | Entry price (checked Oct 8, 2026) | Built-in contact data |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buzz.ai | Email, LinkedIn and calls in one campaign, with an AI SDR | Core $79/month per seat, billed monthly; free seat to start | Yes, waterfall enrichment |
| lemlist | Multichannel sequences with a lead database | Email plan $55/month billed yearly ($69 monthly) | Yes, 650M+ leads |
| Reply.io | Multichannel sequences at a per-user price | Multichannel $89/user/month billed annually ($99 monthly) | 50 live data credits/month |
| Instantly | High-volume cold email | Growth $47/month | Separate lead database plans |
| Amplemarket | Data, sequences and dialer on one contract | Startup $600/month on an annual term (2 users) | Yes |
| Clay | Custom enrichment workflows | Free plan; Launch from $167/month billed annually | 150+ providers |
| ZoomInfo | Enterprise data, intent and ABM | Custom pricing / contact sales | Yes |
| Lusha | Quick contact lookups | Free plan; Starter $49.90/month billed monthly | Yes |
| Seamless.AI | Real-time contact search | Free up to 50 credits; paid plans custom | Yes |
| Outreach | Enterprise sales engagement | Custom pricing / contact sales | No (integrates with data tools) |
The 10 best Apollo.io alternatives
1. Buzz.ai: email, LinkedIn and calls with an AI SDR
Buzz is an AI SDR and sales agent platform for outbound. Like Apollo, it finds and enriches contacts and runs sequences. The difference is in the channels: LinkedIn steps run from the cloud as part of the campaign, not as tasks, alongside email, calls and voicemail drops.
- LinkedIn: connection requests with or without a note, messages, InMails (with your Sales Navigator subscription), profile views, follows, likes and AI-written comments. Leads can come from Sales Navigator searches and lists, LinkedIn posts, events, groups and CSV files. See LinkedIn automation in Buzz.
- One campaign: mix LinkedIn, email, phone calls and voicemail drops (beta, US and Canada). Smart campaigns can branch on whether a prospect accepted your connection request.
- Data: a waterfall enrichment that checks multiple providers for verified emails and phone numbers. Enriching an email costs 1 credit, and no credit is used if Buzz can't find verified contact information (help center).
- AI Employee: researches prospects, writes personalized email and LinkedIn messages, handles replies and books meetings. See AI Employee.
- Pricing: Core is $79/month per seat, billed monthly, with 500 credits a month, LinkedIn and email outreach, phone calling and voicemail drops. AI Employee is $695/month per seat with 5,000 credits a month. See Buzz pricing.
Where it fits: teams that want LinkedIn to run as a real channel next to email and calls, and teams that want an AI to work replies. Where Apollo may fit better: if you mainly want a large searchable database with email sequences at the lowest per-seat price, and you're fine doing LinkedIn by hand.
2. lemlist
lemlist pairs a 650M+ lead database with sequences. The Email plan is $55/month billed yearly ($69 monthly) and includes unlimited users and 50,000 emails a month. The Multichannel plan is $87/month billed yearly ($109 monthly) and adds LinkedIn automation, SMS, a built-in call dialer and 5 senders per user. Enterprise is custom. Extra lead enrichment is an add-on at $16/month billed yearly ($20 monthly) for 2,000 credits. (lemlist.com/pricing)
3. Reply.io
Reply.io's Multichannel plan is $89 per user/month billed annually ($99 monthly) and covers email, LinkedIn, calls and SMS, with a 14-day trial. The Email Volume plan starts at $49 per user/month billed annually, and LinkedIn ($69/month per account) and calls and SMS ($29/month per account) are add-ons on that plan. Both plans include 50 live data credits a month. Reply also sells an AI SDR called Jason AI as a separate plan. (reply.io/pricing)
4. Instantly
Instantly is built for cold email volume. Outreach plans are Growth at $47/month (5,000 emails a month), Hypergrowth at $97/month and Light Speed at $358/month, with higher email and contact limits on each step up. All of them include unlimited email accounts and warmup. Its 450M+ lead database is sold separately as Instantly Credits, starting at $47/month for 1,500 to 2,000 credits. (instantly.ai/pricing)
Good fit: email-first teams sending at scale. Compare more options in our cold email software roundup.
5. Amplemarket
Amplemarket is a closer match to Apollo's all-in-one approach, sold on an annual contract. The Startup plan is $600/month on an annual term with 2 users, 27,000 contacts, multichannel sequences and AI intent signals. Growth and Elite are custom-priced and add more contacts, users and AI features such as AI voice messages. All plans include a free trial. (amplemarket.com/pricing)
6. Clay
Clay is for teams that want to build their own enrichment. It pulls from 150+ data providers with multi-provider waterfalls and an AI research agent. There's a free plan. Launch starts at $167/month and Growth at $446/month billed annually ($185 and $495 monthly), and the price rises with the actions and data credits you pick. Clay can send email through its own sequencer or an integration. (clay.com/pricing)
7. ZoomInfo
ZoomInfo is the enterprise option. Prices aren't public. Its pricing page says cost depends on features, licenses and credit usage, with a credit used per exported profile. Sales plans are Professional, Copilot Advanced and Copilot Enterprise, and there's a free trial. (zoominfo.com/pricing) Comparing data vendors? Read our ZoomInfo alternatives guide.
8. Lusha
Lusha is a lighter data tool with a browser extension. There's a free plan with 40 credits a month and no card. On monthly billing, Starter is $49.90 (400 credits a month), Pro is $69.90 and Premium is $399.90. Yearly billing is cheaper. (lusha.com/pricing)
9. Seamless.AI
Seamless.AI is free for up to 50 credits, and paid plans are quoted by sales. It refunds the credit when an email turns out to be invalid. (seamless.ai)
10. Outreach
Outreach is an enterprise sales engagement platform. It doesn't publish prices. Pricing combines per-user seats with AI credits based on usage, and you request a quote. (outreach.ai/pricing) More detail is in our Outreach pricing guide.
Buzz vs Apollo: quick comparison
| Buzz.ai | Apollo.io | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry paid price | Core $79/month per seat, billed monthly | Basic $49/seat/month billed annually, $65 monthly |
| Free option | Free seat with limited credits and a timed trial, no card | Free plan; 14-day trial on paid plans |
| LinkedIn in sequences | Automated: connection requests, messages, InMails, profile actions | Manual tasks a rep completes |
| Calls | Phone calling and voicemail drops (beta, US and Canada) in Core | US dialer on paid plans (credits apply); Advanced Dialer add-on |
| Contact data | Waterfall enrichment; no credit used on a failed lookup | Own database; email 1 credit, phone 8 credits |
| AI that handles replies and books meetings | AI Employee ($695/month per seat) | AI assistant, AI research and AI writing |
| Reselling to clients | White Label for agencies | Internal use only on standard plans |
Apollo details are from apollo.io/pricing and Apollo's knowledge base as of October 8, 2026.
How to pick an Apollo alternative
- List your channels. If you only send email, Instantly or lemlist's Email plan may be enough. If LinkedIn and calls matter, pick a tool that runs them as automated steps.
- Price your real credit use. Count how many emails and phone numbers you reveal a month, then check each vendor's cost per phone number. That's usually where bills grow.
- Decide who works the replies. If reps are buried in follow-ups, an AI SDR that answers and books meetings can save more time than a cheaper seat.
- Check contract terms. Look for annual-only plans, seat minimums, credits that expire, and whether you can use the data for clients.
For agencies
Apollo's standard plans don't allow reselling its data. If you want to sell outbound software to clients under your own brand, Buzz White Label puts LinkedIn, email and data on a branded dashboard on your domain, with wholesale pricing and Stripe billing for your clients. It's $1,000/mo for 20 seats, billed annually.
Try Buzz free
Run your first email, LinkedIn and call campaign on a free seat with limited credits and a timed trial, with no card needed. Start free on Buzz, or compare plans on the pricing page.
Sources (checked October 8, 2026)
- https://www.apollo.io/pricing (monthly and annual views)
- https://knowledge.apollo.io/hc/en-us/articles/28705458602125-Tasks-Overview
- https://www.lemlist.com/pricing
- https://reply.io/pricing/
- https://instantly.ai/pricing
- https://www.amplemarket.com/pricing
- https://www.clay.com/pricing
- https://www.zoominfo.com/pricing
- https://www.lusha.com/pricing/
- https://seamless.ai/
- https://www.outreach.ai/pricing
- https://buzz.ai/pricing/ , https://buzz.ai/products/social/ , https://buzz.ai/products/data-enrichment/ , https://buzz.ai/whitelabels/ , https://help.buzz.ai/articles/5643606844-prospect-enrichment
