Apollo alternatives: prices, pricing units and who each one fits

What are the alternatives to Apollo?

Six tools make the case against Apollo on their own sites: ZoomInfo, Cognism, Clay, Lusha, Seamless.AI and Amplemarket. Five publish a page that compares them with Apollo or lists alternatives to it; Amplemarket's pricing page lists customers that "Migrated off Apollo". We opened every pricing page on 2026-10-06, and every price below is as of that date.

This is not a ranking. We did not use review-site rankings, and the right pick depends on the job. The list runs from quoted packages for larger teams to small-team bundles. For the head-to-head, read Clean vs Apollo or the three-way Clay vs Apollo vs Clean. Every alternatives list sits on the alternatives hub, and every head-to-head on the compare hub.

What Apollo is in 2026, in its own words

As of 2026-10-06, Apollo calls itself an AI sales platform that joins data, intelligence and execution in one system. It says it has 240M+ contacts and 30M+ companies. It offers buying signals: third-party intent topics, job changes, new hires, funding rounds, company news and website visits. It also runs AI agents that it says learn your products and ICP, then research accounts, build lists, write messages and book meetings.

Apollo sends, too. Email campaigns are included on every plan, including free, and it has a built-in dialer. Daily sends are capped at 250 on Free and Basic and unlimited on Professional and Organization.

Pricing is per seat plus credits. Free is $0, and Basic, the entry paid plan, is $49 per seat a month billed annually ($65 monthly). An email address costs 1 credit and a phone number 8, and unused credits do not roll over. That is the baseline each alternative below is measured against; the full plan table and credit math are on Clean vs Apollo.

ZoomInfo: enterprise packages, priced on request

ZoomInfo describes itself as an AI platform for sales and marketing teams built on its B2B data, and says it has data on 500M+ contacts. Its own Apollo comparison page says ZoomInfo is best for enterprise and upper mid-market teams, and describes Apollo as for startups, SMBs and individual reps.

ZoomInfo does not list prices for its paid plans as of 2026-10-06; you fill in a "Get Pricing" form. Its pricing FAQ says price depends on features, number of licenses and credit usage, and that each export costs one credit. Its own pages describe seats differently, so ask how seats are counted. To try it first, ZoomInfo Lite is a permanent free plan with 10 credits a month, and the free trial is typically 7 days with no card. Paid plans add AI account prioritization, an account fit score and buyer intent signals. Our ZoomInfo alternatives page covers the other side of that choice.

Cognism: seat packages with a quote

Cognism publishes no prices as of 2026-10-06. Its pricing page says: "Get a personalised quote for your team." It does publish the shape of the deal: both packages come with 5 seats included, and 1 credit equals 1 revealed contact. The Standard package is pitched at teams that need core prospecting workflows.

Cognism's own comparison page is titled "Cognism vs Apollo.io: Data, Compliance & Enterprise Fit (2026)", which tells you where it wants the comparison to happen. For a team of one or two, set the 5-seat package against Apollo's per-seat pricing before the call.

Clay: build your own data workflows

Clay calls itself infrastructure to get any data and run agentic workflows, and its site speaks to the engineers who build and run them. It says it offers data from 150+ providers, has an AI agent that researches companies and people on the web, and on paid plans can send email from inside Clay or through connected email tools.

Clay bills in two units. Actions measure the platform work Clay does; data credits buy data and AI from its marketplace. As of 2026-10-06 the free plan gives 500 actions and 100 data credits a month, up to 200 rows per table and no phone numbers. Launch is $185 a month billed monthly or $167 billed annually, and Clay says it is for small teams building and automating prospecting workflows. Pick Clay if someone on your team will own the build. More on that trade in Clean vs Clay and Clay alternatives.

Lusha: low entry price for contact reveals

Lusha describes itself as B2B data and AI prospecting for sales teams and AI agents. Its comparison evidence is its own blog post listing Apollo alternatives.

As of 2026-10-06, Lusha's free plan gives 40 credits a month with 1 seat. Starter is $37.45 a month billed yearly, with 4,800 credits a year, or $49.90 billed monthly, with 400 credits a month. Revealing an email address costs 1 credit and a phone number costs 5. Among the tools here that publish plan prices, that is the lowest paid entry price. The allowance is smaller too: Apollo Basic includes 30,000 credits per seat a year on annual billing, so check what you would actually use before you compare sticker prices.

Seamless.AI: 50 free credits, then a quote

Seamless.AI is free for up to 50 credits as of 2026-10-06. Paid plans are price on request: its pricing address redirects to a pricing inquiry form, which offers special pricing for unlimited users and bulk credits, and its homepage says to contact its sales team for a plan. It pitches its pricing at everyone from startups to the Fortune 500.

Its comparison evidence is its own "Apollo IO vs Seamless AI" page. Since paid pricing is quoted, test the free credits on your real target accounts and set the results next to Apollo's free plan.

Amplemarket: users and credits bundled for small teams

Amplemarket's Startup plan is $600 a month on an annual term with 2 users included, as of 2026-10-06. Each user gets a yearly credit allowance: 13,500 for email addresses and 600 for phone numbers on Startup. All plans include a free trial. Amplemarket says the plan is for small businesses, startups and founder-led sales teams, and its pricing page lists customers that "Migrated off Apollo".

For scale, two Apollo Basic seats are $98 a month billed annually. Amplemarket's entry plan costs more and bundles its own allowance, so price both against the email addresses and phone numbers your team uses in a year.

What is cheaper than Apollo?

Of the tools here that publish plan prices, Lusha has the lowest paid entry. As of 2026-10-06, Lusha Starter is $37.45 a month billed yearly, against Apollo Basic at $49 per seat a month billed annually. Clay Launch ($167 a month billed annually) and Amplemarket Startup ($600 a month, 2 users) cost more at entry. ZoomInfo, Cognism and Seamless.AI quote paid plans, so you can't compare them until you have a number.

Free is a different list. Apollo's free plan gives 900 credits per seat a year, granted monthly, plus email campaigns from a connected Gmail account, up to 250 sends a day. Clay gives 500 actions and 100 data credits a month. Lusha gives 40 credits a month, Seamless.AI 50 credits, and ZoomInfo Lite 10 credits a month.

The real cost sits in the unit. Apollo charges 8 credits for a phone number and Lusha 5, but the plans include very different allowances. Clay charges actions and data credits instead. Work out how many email addresses and phone numbers you need in a month, then price each plan against that.

When to stay with Apollo

Apollo's own published facts make a fair case for staying, as of 2026-10-06.

• The free plan covers you: it stays free with no time limit and includes email campaigns.
• You want contact data, buying signals and sending in one tool rather than three.
• Paid plans start at $49 per seat a month billed annually, with a 14-day trial on Basic and Professional.
• Apollo says it has 240M+ contacts and is built for companies of all sizes.
• Its credit math suits you: 1 credit per email, 8 per phone number, pooled across the team, no rollover.

Where Clean fits next to these tools

Clean is not a contact database you search. It finds businesses with a real reason to buy what you sell, shows the evidence behind each one, and names who decides there. It works from real-world records of what companies do, ranks them against your ICP, and shows who in your team's network can introduce you.

Two things set it apart from Apollo. Clean doesn't use ad clicks, page views or other intent data, and it never sends anything; your team decides who to contact and what to say. Prospects sync to HubSpot or Attio. You can keep a contact tool and use Clean to decide which companies are worth the time; see Apollo and Clean together. To see it on your market, book a demo, and we'll get you started right after the call.

What each approach returns if you sell to plants, employers and insurers, or law firms

A contact tool returns the people who match your filters, plus whatever signals that vendor offers. Apollo's list, for example, covers job changes, new hires, funding rounds, company news, intent topics and website visits (as of 2026-10-06). Whether those mean anything for your buyer is your call. Clean returns companies with a real reason to buy what you sell, the evidence behind each one, and who decides.

If you sell to manufacturing plants, the reasons to buy are things like a new factory or plant expansion; start at Clean for manufacturing. If you sell benefits or coverage to employers, Clean finds employers with a real reason to review their benefits and names the people who own the decision. If you sell software to agencies, brokerages, MGAs and carriers, it finds the firms among them with a real reason to buy what you sell. Both start at Clean for insurance. If you sell to law firms and in-house legal teams, Clean finds law firms and legal teams with a real reason to buy what you sell; the legal tech guides cover the moments those buyers act on, such as a law firm merger.