Clean vs Apollo: what each one does, what it costs, and when to use both

How is Clean different from Apollo?

Apollo describes itself as an AI sales platform that joins data, intelligence and execution in one system: a contact database it puts at 240M+ contacts, buying signals, AI agents, email campaigns and a dialer, on published plans from free to $119 a seat a month billed annually (as of 2026-10-06). Clean finds companies with a real reason to buy what you sell, ranks them against your ICP, shows the evidence behind each one and names who decides. It never sends anything, and access starts with a demo.

The two answer different questions. "Who works at these companies, and can I reach them from one place?" is Apollo's question, and it publishes what that costs. "Which companies have a real reason to buy what I sell, and how do I know?" is the one Clean was built for. If you need both answers, you can run both; the last section covers when that makes sense.

What Apollo is in 2026, from its own pages

Apollo's homepage, read on 2026-10-06, says it has 240M+ contacts and 30M+ companies and that over 600,000 companies use it. Those are Apollo's own figures; we did not check them. It describes its data as your own data, Apollo's proprietary data and third-party signals in one place.

On signals, Apollo's data page lists third-party intent data, job changes, new hires, funding rounds, company news, website visitor tracking and custom AI signals, across 65+ filters. On AI, its homepage says agents research accounts, build lists, write messages, follow up and book meetings, and its intelligence page says Apollo learns your products, ICP, messaging and playbooks. Professional and Organization add AI scoring.

On sending, Apollo's pricing FAQ says email campaigns are included on every account, and free accounts can connect Gmail only. Its execution page lists a built-in dialer with automatic call logging. The same FAQ says Apollo is built to work for companies of all sizes.

How much does Apollo cost? Prices as of 2026-10-06

Apollo publishes its prices, so this part is easy to check. The table shows its pricing page on 2026-10-06, per seat per month, before taxes. Annual billing is the default view, and Apollo labels it "save 24%".

By our arithmetic on those prices, one Basic seat costs $588 a year billed annually or $780 billed monthly, and one Professional seat $948 or $1,188. Organization at its three-seat minimum comes to $4,284 a year. Apollo's FAQ says every seat on an account must be on the same plan. Basic and Professional have a 14-day trial, and Apollo says its free plan stays free with no time limit.

Clean has no price list on this page. Book a demo. We'll get you started right after the call.

How Apollo credits work, and what a seat's credits buy

Apollo charges for data in credits on top of the seat price. Its pricing page lists 1 credit for an email address, 8 for a phone number, 1 to 8 to add data to a contact or company record, 1 per AI research run and 1 per 30 seconds on its US dialer. Credits are pooled across your team, reset at the start of each billing cycle and do not roll over, and that applies to add-on credits too.

Run the numbers before you pick a plan. A Basic seat billed annually gets 30,000 credits a year: 30,000 email addresses, 3,750 phone numbers, or a mix. A free seat's 75 credits a month cover 75 email addresses or 9 phone numbers. If your reps call more than they email, the 8-credit phone number is the line to budget around.

Plans also cap how many records you can select in one action: 25 on Free, 1,000 on Basic, 2,500 on Professional and 10,000 on Organization.

Does Apollo use intent data? Yes. Clean doesn't.

Yes. Apollo's pricing page lists intent topics on every plan: 1 on Free, 6 on Basic and Professional, and 12 on Organization. Its data page calls the intent data third-party and lists website visitor tracking and custom AI signals next to it. The free plan identifies up to 20 visiting companies a month.

Clean doesn't use ad clicks, page views or other intent data. Intent data infers interest from what people read and click online. Clean works from real-world records of what companies actually do, and each prospect shows the records behind it, so you can check the reason before your team reaches out. Buyer signals, not intent data sets out the difference.

The two are not exclusive. You can keep Apollo's intent topics and still use Clean to see which companies have a real reason to buy, with the records attached.

What Clean does instead

Clean is not a contact database you search. It finds the companies with a real reason to buy what you sell first, ranks them against your ICP, then names who decides. Each prospect comes with the records behind it, so a rep can read why the company is on the list before writing a word. How Clean works explains the process.

Clean also shows who in your team's network can introduce you, so where a path exists the first touch can be a warm introduction instead of a cold message. Clean connects to LinkedIn, Gmail, HubSpot, Granola, Attio and Instantly: prospects sync to HubSpot or Attio, and Instantly sends the campaigns you add them to.

Clean never sends, posts or replies. Your team decides who to contact and what to say, from its own tools. The security page covers data access and why Clean never sends.

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

Clean is built industry by industry. Apollo sells the same plans in every market, with the filters and signals above. Here is what Clean returns in each of the three markets, in the words of Clean's own pages.

Manufacturing plants: plants with a real reason to buy what you sell, the evidence behind each one and who decides at the plant. Start at Clean for manufacturing, and read why intent data misses manufacturing plants before you pay for intent topics in this market.

Employers and insurance firms: benefits brokers, ICHRA platforms and commercial insurance sellers need employers and businesses with an open decision, and software sellers need agencies, brokerages, MGAs and carriers with a real reason to buy. In both cases Clean shows the company, the evidence behind the reason and who decides. Clean for insurance splits the two readers: employee benefits sales is for sellers to employers, and selling software to insurance agencies is for software sellers.

Law firms and legal teams: Clean finds law firms and legal teams with a real reason to buy what you sell, shows the evidence behind each one and names who decides. A merger, a new office or a new general counsel can each give a firm or legal team a reason to buy; legal tech buying signals covers those moments. Start at Clean for legal tech.

When to choose Apollo, when to choose Clean, and when to use both

Choose Apollo if you want contact data, signals and sending in one product and want to see the price before you talk to anyone. Its free plan lets you try it, and paid plans start at $49 a seat a month billed annually as of 2026-10-06. Professional and Organization add unlimited daily sends, which suits a team that reaches out from inside one tool.

Choose Clean if the hard part is deciding which companies to work and why. That matters most when each conversation is valuable, the market is narrow and a rep needs the evidence in front of them before the first touch.

Use both when you want Clean to pick the companies and the reason, and Apollo to reach the people. Clean ranks the accounts and shows the evidence, your rep reads it, and the first touch goes out from Apollo or your own inbox, built on that reason. Apollo and Clean together walks through the setup.

Still choosing a tool rather than a pairing? Apollo alternatives lists other options with their prices, ZoomInfo alternatives covers a vendor that quotes instead, Clay vs Apollo vs Clean adds Clay to the comparison, and Clean vs Clay takes Clay on its own. The compare hub and the alternatives hub have the rest.