Contact database and sequencing, built for sales
Primary sources checkedApollo.io
Contact database with email and phone data, a Chrome extension and built-in sequencing, priced on credits you spend per record you unlock.
The short answer
- Best for
- Sourcers who work by email and can budget credits
- Not ideal for
- Phone-led recruitment, and anything that has to land in an ATS
- Price
- Free, then from USD 49 per seat / month, metered in credits
- Closest alternative
- CognismBuys one full contact including the mobile number instead of charging eight times the credits for a phone
At a glance
- Recruitment fitWeak
- Ease of useUnknown
- ImplementationFair
- Price transparencyStrong
- Value for moneyFair
- ScalabilityFair
Why these assessments
- Recruitment fitWeak
- Built for sales: the vocabulary, the sequences and the CRM integrations point at sales systems, not at recruitment software.
- Ease of useUnknown
- We have not used it, and we found no independent account of the search and sequencing experience.
- ImplementationFair
- A free plan and a Chrome extension let one person start alone; connecting it to a recruitment stack is not a path the product supports.
- Price transparencyStrong
- Seat prices, credit allowances, the three-seat minimum and the monthly surcharge are all published.
- Value for moneyFair
- Search, contact data and sequencing in one subscription is cheap against three tools; a mobile number costing eight emails is not.
- ScalabilityFair
- Priced per seat with credits granted per year, so growth is predictable, but Organization starts at three seats.
Our reading of the evidence on this page. No score, no formula.
Where it sits
- Discover
- Contact
- Outreach
- ATS
The SourcrLab bottom line
The strongest argument is consolidation: search, contact data and outreach on one bill, with credits granted per seat per year rather than metered per month. The catch is what the credits buy. An email is 1 credit and a phone number is 8, so the plan you need depends on how you work, not on how many people you hire. From our reading, this is a sales platform that recruiters use rather than a recruitment product, which shows up in what it integrates with and in the questions the interface asks you.
Best fit
Email-first sourcing at volume, where you want the search, the contact data and the sequence in one tool instead of three subscriptions.
Think twice if
Phone-led recruitment and anything that has to land in an ATS. A mobile number costs eight times an email in credits, and the CRM integrations point at sales systems, not at recruitment software.
SourcrLab assessment
Everything on this page comes from the vendor's own pages, checked on the dates below. SourcrLab has not used this product in real recruitment work, so you will not find a first-hand opinion here.
Why choose Apollo.io?
One tool instead of three subscriptions
Search, contact data and sequencing sit in the same product, with a Chrome extension for working from a profile page. For a sourcer that removes the usual chain of a database, an enrichment tool and a sending tool, each with its own bill.
Credits arrive per year, not per month
Paid plans grant the full year's credits upfront: 30,000 on Basic, 48,000 on Professional, 72,000 on Organization, per seat. A heavy month does not stop you working, which is a genuine difference from monthly-metered competitors.
A free plan you can actually test with
900 credits per seat per year, granted monthly, with the extensions and two sequences. Enough to check whether the database holds the people you need before any money moves.
Sequencing is included, not an add-on
Unlimited sequences from the Basic plan at USD 49, with deliverability tooling and mailbox warm-up. Tools that only sell data leave you to buy a sending product on top.
The entry price is low for what it covers
USD 49 per seat per month on an annual commitment puts the whole stack below the price of most single-purpose contact databases. Whether that holds depends entirely on your credit burn.
Main trade-offs
A phone number costs eight emails
The credit table is explicit: 1 credit for an email, 8 for a phone number. A recruiter who calls candidates burns a Basic seat's 30,000 credits in a fraction of the time a sales rep emailing prospects would. Model your own mix before choosing a plan.
It integrates with sales systems, not with your ATS
The integrations named on the plan table are CRM systems and Gmail or Salesforce extensions. We found no ATS or recruitment CRM listed there, so getting a sourced candidate into your hiring system is your own step.
The vocabulary is not yours
Intent topics, deal execution, lead scoring, dialers. The product is organised around a sales pipeline, and a recruiter has to translate continuously. That is a real cost in a tool you use daily, and no plan removes it.
Organization has a three-seat minimum
USD 119 per seat with a minimum of three seats means the top self-serve plan starts at USD 4,284 a year. SSO and the advanced security settings live there, so a company that needs single sign-on cannot buy one seat.
Monthly billing costs 29 percent more
The page advertises annual billing as a 29 percent saving, so the USD 49, 79 and 119 figures assume a year's commitment. The page also labels the prices introductory and says they may change.
A contact database is a GDPR question
Personal data you did not collect, used to approach people who did not apply, needs a lawful basis and a privacy notice from you. The vendor states it is GDPR compliant; that covers their processing, not your use of it. Settle this before a European sourcing programme, not after.
Pricing and buying reality
Free, then from USD 49 per seat / month
- Free: USD 0, 900 credits per seat per year granted monthly, 2 sequences, basic filters, Gmail and Salesforce extensions
- Basic: USD 49 per seat / month billed annually, 30,000 credits per seat per year upfront, unlimited sequences, CRM integrations, advanced filters
- Professional: USD 79 per seat / month billed annually, 48,000 credits, automated workflows, call recordings with 4,000 minutes, analytics
- Organization: USD 119 per seat / month billed annually, minimum 3 seats, 72,000 credits, SSO, advanced security, 8,000 recording minutes
- Credit cost: 1 credit per email, 8 credits per phone number
- Add-ons, each USD 119 per team / month billed annually: Inbound (website visitor identification) and Advanced Dialer
- 14-day trial on paid plans, with 50 credits and 5 mobile credits. Annual billing is advertised as 29 percent cheaper; prices are labelled introductory
What we do not know
- The exact monthly prices behind the advertised 29 percent annual saving
- What happens when a seat's yearly credits run out mid-year
- Coverage and accuracy of European mobile numbers specifically
- Where the contact data originates and under which lawful basis it is offered in the EU
Checked on the vendor's pricing page, August 2026. Apollo.io pricing page and credit table, read in a browser
How it fits your stack
Works with
- Gmail, Salesforce and other CRM systems, from the Basic plan
- A Chrome extension for working from a profile page
- CSV, CRM and API enrichment, plus webhooks through automated workflows
Likely replaces
- A separate contact database and a separate sending tool
- Manual enrichment of a sourced list before outreach
May overlap with
- Cognism and Lusha on contact data, at very different credit economics
- LinkedIn Recruiter on search, though the data and the reach are not the same thing
Check before buying
- Your ratio of emails to phone numbers, because that is the real price
- Whether European mobile coverage is good enough in your niche, tested on the free plan
- How a sourced candidate reaches your ATS, since no ATS integration is listed
- Your lawful basis and privacy notice for approaching people from a bought database
Apollo.io vs alternatives
Products a buyer would genuinely put next to this one, with the reason you would pick each instead.
Choose Cognism when mobile numbers are the point and you would rather buy one full contact per credit than pay eight for a phone number.
Consider Lusha for lighter, occasional contact lookups without committing to a sequencing platform you will not use.
Consider hireEZ when you want the search and outreach built around recruitment rather than translated from sales.
Stay on LinkedIn Recruiter if reach and profile freshness matter more than owning the contact details.
Apollo.io head to head
Pairs SourcrLab has looked at as a single buying decision, with the trade-offs written out.
Used Apollo.io?
Tell other recruiters what worked, what did not, and who it suits. Positive, mixed or critical — all useful.
Evidence
- Plan prices per seat, billed annually — checked against a primary source: Apollo.io pricing page and credit table, read in a browser
- Credit allowances: 900 free, 30,000 / 48,000 / 72,000 paid — checked against a primary source: Apollo.io pricing page and credit table, read in a browser
- 1 credit per email, 8 credits per phone number — checked against a primary source: Apollo.io pricing page and credit table, read in a browser
- Organization requires a minimum of 3 seats — checked against a primary source: Apollo.io pricing page and credit table, read in a browser
- SSO and advanced security start on Organization — checked against a primary source: Apollo.io pricing page and credit table, read in a browser
- Add-on prices for Inbound and Advanced Dialer — checked against a primary source: Apollo.io pricing page and credit table, read in a browser
- 14-day trial with 50 credits and 5 mobile credits — checked against a primary source: Apollo.io pricing page and credit table, read in a browser
- Annual billing advertised as a 29 percent saving — vendor claim, not independently verified: Apollo.io pricing page and credit table, read in a browser
- No ATS or recruitment CRM integration listed on the plan table — checked against a primary source: Apollo.io pricing page and credit table, read in a browser
- European mobile number coverage — not enough evidence
- Data provenance and lawful basis for EU use — not enough evidence
- Behaviour when a seat's yearly credits are exhausted — not enough evidence
Last reviewed: August 2026. How SourcrLab verifies information
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