B2B discovery, enrichment and email outreach
Primary sources checkedHunter.io
B2B database with filters and an AI assistant, plus email finding, verification and campaign sending, all metered from one credit balance and built for sales rather than recruitment.
The short answer
- Best for
- Recruiters who need contactability more than a hiring pipeline
- Not ideal for
- Phone-led recruitment, and anyone expecting recruitment-shaped search
- Price
- Free (50 credits a month), then from EUR 34 per month on an annual plan
- Closest alternative
- ContactOutWhen you work from a profile rather than a company domain, and phone numbers matter
At a glance
- Recruitment fitWeak
- Ease of useUnknown
- ImplementationStrong
- Price transparencyStrong
- Value for moneyStrong
- ScalabilityStrong
Why these assessments
- Recruitment fitWeak
- Discover is a B2B database organised around companies and roles: no skills, no availability, no pipeline and no phone numbers.
- Ease of useUnknown
- We have not used it, and we found no independent account of the search and campaign experience.
- ImplementationStrong
- A real free allowance and your own mailbox, so you can test coverage on European domains before paying anything.
- Price transparencyStrong
- Prices, credit rules, the half-price verification and the roughly 30 percent monthly premium are all written down.
- Value for moneyStrong
- Discovery, contact data and sending come from one credit balance, and a verification that fails costs nothing.
- ScalabilityStrong
- Unlimited team members on every plan, so a second recruiter costs credits rather than a seat.
Our reading of the evidence on this page. No score, no formula.
Where it sits
- Discover
- Contact
- Outreach
The SourcrLab bottom line
Not recruitment-native, which is a description rather than a criticism: the discovery is organised around companies and roles, so a recruiter uses it to find and reach people, not to run a hiring process. Two things make it worth the attention. Team members are unlimited on every plan including the free one, which is unusual in a category that normally charges per seat. And the credit rules are published precisely: one credit per email found, half a credit per verification, nothing when a lookup fails, and repeated searches counted once per billing period. You can model the bill before you buy.
Best fit
Finding companies and people through Discover, revealing and verifying their addresses, and sending from your own mailbox, all from one credit balance. For a recruiter whose gap is contactability rather than a hiring process, that is a cheaper answer than a recruitment platform.
Think twice if
Phone-led recruitment, and anyone expecting recruitment-shaped search. Discover is a B2B database organised around companies and roles, not a candidate database with skills, availability or a pipeline, and there are no phone numbers.
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 Hunter.io?
Unlimited team members on every plan
Including the free one. What scales with price is credits and connected email accounts, not seats, so a three-person desk pays for volume rather than for headcount.
The credit rules are written down
One credit for one email found through Email Finder or Domain Search, one credit for up to ten emails in a bulk domain search, half a credit for a verification, no credit when nothing is found or verification fails, and the same search counted once per billing period.
Verification is half price, and free when it fails
For a recruiter the practical use is often cleaning a list before sending rather than discovering addresses one by one. At half a credit each, 2,000 credits a month on Starter is 4,000 verifications.
A free plan that is a real allowance
50 credits a month, one connected email account, 500 recipients per sequence, and Discover with basic filters and its AI assistant. Enough to test whether Hunter covers your market before spending anything, which for a database is the only test that matters.
Discovery and contact data sit in one balance
Discover finds the companies and people, the credits reveal and verify the addresses, and the sequences send. Advanced Discover filters, lead enrichment and an AI writing assistant start on Starter at EUR 34 a month.
Main trade-offs
The database is organised around companies, not candidates
Discover is a B2B database: you filter towards companies and roles, and reveal the people in them. What it does not hold is what a recruiter usually filters on, such as skills, seniority in a discipline or availability, and there is no pipeline to move anyone through.
No phone numbers
Email is the whole product. A recruiter who calls candidates needs a second source for numbers, and at that point a combined contact-data tool may be cheaper than two subscriptions.
Monthly billing costs roughly 30 percent more
Starter is EUR 49 a month billed monthly against EUR 34 a month on an annual commitment of EUR 408. Growth is EUR 149 against EUR 104, Scale EUR 299 against EUR 209. The flexibility premium is real money at the higher tiers.
Connected mailboxes are the hidden cap
One on Free, three on Starter, ten on Growth, twenty on Scale. Team members may be unlimited, but the number of people who can actually send from their own address is not.
The GDPR documentation is theirs, the obligation is yours
Hunter publishes compliance material, and that is worth reading before you buy. It does not answer your side: emailing a candidate at an address you did not collect needs your own lawful basis and privacy notice, whatever the vendor's paperwork says.
Pricing and buying reality
Free, then from EUR 34 per month on an annual plan
- Free: EUR 0, 50 credits per month, 1 connected email account, 500 recipients per sequence, basic Discover B2B database filters and the AI assistant in Discover
- Starter: EUR 49 per month billed monthly, or EUR 34 per month billed annually (EUR 408 a year), 24,000 credits per year, 3 connected email accounts, advanced Discover filters, lead enrichment, auto-verification and an AI writing assistant
- Growth: EUR 149 per month, or EUR 104 per month billed annually (EUR 1,248 a year), 120,000 credits per year, 10 connected email accounts
- Scale: EUR 299 per month, or EUR 209 per month billed annually (EUR 2,508 a year), 300,000 credits per year, 20 connected email accounts
- Enterprise: quoted. Team members are unlimited on every plan
- Paid plans list add-ons separately: inbox protection, managed email accounts, extra email account slots and credit packs
- A separate Data Platform line offers API-only access to Hunter's data
- Credits: 1 per email found, 1 per up to 10 emails in a bulk domain search, 0.5 per verification. Nothing is charged when no email is found or a verification fails, and the same search or verification is counted once per billing period
- Euro prices served from Belgium
What we do not know
- Whether unused monthly credits roll over
- Where data is hosted and which transfer safeguards apply, beyond the published compliance material
- Coverage and accuracy for European domains specifically
- What Enterprise costs and from what volume
Checked on the vendor's pricing page, August 2026. Hunter pricing page, euro prices from Belgium
How it fits your stack
Works with
- Gmail and Outlook, as connected sending accounts
- An API, for enriching a list you already hold
Likely replaces
- Guessing an address format and hoping it lands
- A separate verification tool run before a campaign
May overlap with
- ContactOut and Apollo, which add profile-level lookup and phone numbers
- The sequencing built into your ATS or sourcing platform
Check before buying
- Whether your gap is finding people or reaching them, because this only solves the second
- Your monthly volume of finds against verifications, since they cost differently
- How many people need to send from their own mailbox
- Coverage on the domains you actually recruit from, tested on the free plan
Hunter.io vs alternatives
Products a buyer would genuinely put next to this one, with the reason you would pick each instead.
Choose ContactOut when you work from a profile rather than a company domain, and when phone numbers matter as much as email.
Compare Snov.io directly: the same job of finding, verifying and sending, at a similar entry price.
Consider Apollo if you want candidate search bundled with the contact data and can live with sales-shaped vocabulary.
Hunter.io head to head
Pairs SourcrLab has looked at as a single buying decision, with the trade-offs written out.
Used Hunter.io?
Tell other recruiters what worked, what did not, and who it suits. Positive, mixed or critical — all useful.
Evidence
- Plan prices in euro, monthly and annual — checked against a primary source: Hunter pricing page, euro prices from Belgium
- Credits: 50 a month free, then 24,000 / 120,000 / 300,000 a year — checked against a primary source: Hunter pricing page, euro prices from Belgium
- Discover B2B database on every plan: basic filters free, advanced filters from Starter — checked against a primary source: Hunter pricing page, euro prices from Belgium
- AI assistant in Discover on every plan, AI writing assistant from Starter — checked against a primary source: Hunter pricing page, euro prices from Belgium
- Add-ons: inbox protection, managed email accounts, email account slots, credit packs — checked against a primary source: Hunter pricing page, euro prices from Belgium
- Connected email accounts: 1 / 3 / 10 / 20 — checked against a primary source: Hunter pricing page, euro prices from Belgium
- Unlimited team members on every plan — checked against a primary source: Hunter pricing page, euro prices from Belgium
- 1 credit per email found, 0.5 per verification, nothing when a lookup fails — checked against a primary source: Hunter pricing page, euro prices from Belgium
- Repeated searches counted once per billing period — checked against a primary source: Hunter pricing page, euro prices from Belgium
- GDPR compliance material published by the vendor — vendor claim, not independently verified: Hunter GDPR compliance article
- Whether unused credits roll over — not enough evidence
- Hosting location and transfer safeguards — not enough evidence
- Coverage on European domains — not enough evidence
- SourcrLab hands-on use — not enough evidence
Last reviewed: August 2026. How SourcrLab verifies information
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