Overview

Apollo combines prospect research with the tools to contact leads and manage sales activity. It is best suited to sellers and go-to-market teams that want data and outreach in one workflow; the trade-off is that expiring credits and plan-specific trial limits require careful usage planning.

The platform’s database covers more than 240 million contacts and 30 million accounts, while Apollo says it offers more than 200 integrations. Its scope runs from account research and lead prioritization to email sequencing, dialing, call recording, and pipeline tools. AI agents can research accounts, write outreach, follow up, and book meetings, making Apollo broader than a contact lookup tool alone.

Direct-dial data, intent data, and technographic filters give prospecting teams several ways to narrow their search. The free Chrome extension adds contact and account insights, email finding, dialing, and the ability to add prospects to lists or sequences. These features make Apollo useful for teams working directly in a browser as well as those coordinating outreach across a sales stack.

Key features

Prospecting and sales engagement

Apollo brings contact discovery together with email sequencing, outreach automation, dialing, call recording, and pipeline tools. That consolidation can suit teams that want to move from identifying a lead to acting on it without shifting between separate prospecting and engagement products. Teams already committed to distinct tools for those stages may find the breadth less compelling unless Apollo’s integrations fit their existing setup.

AI and integrations

Apollo’s agents can handle several parts of sales preparation and follow-up, including account research, lead prioritization, outreach writing, and meeting booking. The platform integrates with Salesforce, HubSpot, Outreach, SalesLoft, Marketo, Sendgrid, LinkedIn, and major email providers. That range is useful for teams connecting prospecting with an established sales stack, though the presence of integrations alone does not establish how deeply each connection supports a particular workflow.

Security and support

Apollo says it is ISO 27001 and SOC 2 certified, GDPR compliant, and encrypts data in transit and at rest. It also describes encrypted passwords, two-factor authentication, intrusion detection, and VPC firewall settings for its databases. Custom plan customers receive dedicated support, which may matter to larger teams that need a defined support relationship.

Pricing

Apollo uses a freemium model, with a free plan and a free trial. Paid pricing starts at 49 /user/mo.

Plan	Price	What it includes	Best fit
Free	0.00 USD per free	900 credits per seat per year, granted monthly; 2 sequences; API access; 1 intent topic	Individuals or early-stage teams evaluating prospecting and limited sequencing
Basic	49.00 USD per month, billed annually	30,000 credits per seat per year, granted upfront; email sequencing; core integrations	Users who need more annual credits and sequencing for regular outreach

The Free plan gives a useful starting point, including API access, but its two-sequence cap and 900 annual credits per seat constrain sustained outreach. Basic expands the credit allowance substantially and adds email sequencing and core integrations, but its annual billing commitment and upfront credit grant make usage planning important. Unused credits expire at the end of each billing cycle rather than rolling over, so seats that underuse their allocation may lose paid capacity.

A free trial provides credits and access to most features of the selected plan, subject to trial-specific limits. Teams should account for those limits when evaluating a paid tier rather than assuming the trial represents unrestricted plan usage.

Platforms

Apollo is available on the web, through an extension, and via API. That combination supports browser-based prospecting, integrations into other tools, and workflows that connect through the API.

Who it's for

Apollo identifies founders and early-stage teams, individual sellers, full-time sales reps, and larger teams as audiences for its plans. The Free plan is a practical entry point for low-volume use or initial evaluation; Basic is more appropriate when a seller needs substantially more credits and email sequencing. Teams that need dedicated support should consider the Custom plan, while keeping in mind that it uses custom pricing.

Pros and cons

Prospect data and outreach share one platform. Teams can research leads and follow through with sequencing, dialing, and pipeline tools in the same product.
Multiple prospecting signals are available. Direct-dial data, intent data, and technographic filters support different ways to identify and qualify targets.
The free plan includes API access. That gives builders a way to explore API-based workflows without starting on a paid plan, although the plan’s credits and two sequences limit scale.
Credits expire. Unused balances do not roll over, which can reduce the effective value of an allocation for seats whose usage varies month to month.
Basic is billed annually. Its monthly price is paired with an annual billing term, a material commitment for teams still assessing their ongoing prospecting needs.

Alternatives

For a different emphasis, consider Factors.ai, whose plans include tracked-user and company-identification allowances, or Mixdesk, which has a free tier with conversation and connected-channel limits. Teams seeking a phone-focused option can compare LimeCall, while 6sense is another paid option.

Common Room is a paid option with an Essential plan that includes five seats and contact and research-credit allowances. Conversica offers a custom enterprise plan. QualifyBase has a paid Starter plan with monthly AI credits, inbound and outbound agents, and follow-up sequences. Demandbase is another paid option.

Apollo also belongs in the broader context of B2B Contact Data Providers, Lead Qualification Software, Sales Engagement Software, AI Lead Generation Software, Email Outreach Software, and Email Tracking Software.

Verdict

Apollo is a strong fit for sellers and go-to-market teams that want prospect data, research, and sales engagement in a connected workflow, especially if API access or browser-based prospecting matters. Its breadth and free entry point are compelling, but credit expiration, limited free sequencing, and annual billing on Basic make it less suitable for teams that need highly flexible usage or are not yet confident in their recurring volume.

	Apollo	VanillaSoft
Free plan	Yes	No
Free trial	Yes	No
Paid from	$49/mo	—
Open source	No	No
Platforms	api, extension, Web	Web, iOS, Android
Free plan	Yes	No
Paid from	49 /user/mo	—
Sequence channels	—	email+call
Native calling	—	Yes
CRM synchronization	—	Yes

Apollo vs VanillaSoft

Apollo

VanillaSoft