Apollo.io Pricing 2026: Plans, Credits and What You'll Really Pay

Apollo.io costs between $0 and $119 per user per month on annual billing, and the company says sellers at more than 500,000 companies use it. The seat price is only half the story, though. Every email you reveal, phone number you unlock and contact you export draws on a credit allowance, and those credits decide what you really pay.

This guide covers Apollo's four plans, how its credit system works, what Apollo really costs per contact compared with ZoomInfo, and who it's worth it for. We checked prices against Apollo's pricing page and 2026 pricing data in October 2026.

Apollo.io pricing at a glance (2026)

Apollo publishes its prices, which already sets it apart from enterprise data vendors that only sell through quotes. Here are the four plans:

Annual billing saves about 25% on Basic and 20% on Professional and Organization compared with paying month to month, according to Getlead's check of Apollo's pricing page in September 2026. The Organization plan needs at least three users, so its real entry price is $357 a month, or $4,284 a year.

How Apollo's credit system works

Browsing Apollo's database is free on every plan. You only use credits when you take data out of it, and that's where the real cost sits.

• Email reveals typically use 1 credit.
• Phone numbers cost far more. 2026 pricing analyses report a phone reveal at around 8 credits, so a phone-heavy team burns through credits much faster than an email-first one.
• Exports use credits too. Apollo's pricing page explains that export credits are consumed whenever a contact leaves Apollo, whether through a CSV file, a CRM sync or API enrichment pushed to tools like Outreach or Salesloft.

Paid plans include a yearly credit pool per seat, reported at 30,000 credits on Basic, 48,000 on Professional and 72,000 on Organization. Annual plans receive the full year of credits upfront. Unused credits don't roll over when the plan renews, and if you run out, you can buy more inside the app, although Apollo doesn't publish the add-on price on its pricing page.

Two practical consequences follow. First, a plan that looks generous for emails can feel tight if your reps call a lot. Second, credits you don't use are money you've already spent, so it pays to match your plan to your real usage.

What each Apollo plan includes

Free

The free plan gives you access to the database, the Chrome extension, Gmail and Outlook integration and a small monthly credit allowance, with up to two active sequences. It's enough to test data quality on your own market, but not to run outbound at any real volume.

Basic

Basic ($49 per user per month billed yearly, $65 monthly according to Supered's September 2026 review of Apollo's pricing page) adds full sequences, CRM integrations and a much larger credit pool. It suits solo founders and individual reps who mainly prospect by email.

Professional

Professional ($79 billed yearly, $99 monthly) is the plan most small sales teams land on. It adds a built-in dialer, A/B testing for sequences, advanced reporting, AI writing features and buying intent signals, along with a bigger credit pool.

Organization

Organization ($119 per user per month billed yearly, $149 monthly, minimum three users) is built for larger teams. It adds features such as call transcripts, single sign-on, customizable reports and more advanced API access, plus the largest credit pool per seat.

Apollo's main features, explained

Apollo is more than a contact database, which is part of why its pricing is hard to compare. Here's what you get across the plans:

• B2B database and search filters. Search people and companies by title, seniority, industry, location, company size and technology, then save lists and set alerts.
• Chrome extension. Reveal emails and phone numbers while you browse LinkedIn, company websites or your Gmail inbox.
• Sequences. Build multi-step campaigns that mix automated emails, manual emails, calls and LinkedIn tasks.
• Dialer. Call from inside Apollo, with call logging and, on higher plans, recordings and transcripts.
• AI features. Draft personalized emails and research accounts with Apollo's AI, with larger AI allowances on higher plans.
• Intent and signals. Professional and Organization add buying intent and job-change signals to help you prioritize accounts.
• Enrichment and CRM sync. Keep Salesforce or HubSpot records updated with Apollo data. Remember that syncing contacts out of Apollo uses credits.

For a solo founder, this bundle can replace three or four separate tools. For a larger team that already has a sales engagement platform and a CRM, much of it overlaps with tools you're paying for, and the real question becomes how good Apollo's data is in your market.

Monthly vs. annual billing: which should you choose?

Monthly billing costs more, but it lets you test Apollo for a few months, see how many credits your team really uses and cancel if the data doesn't fit your market. Annual billing is cheaper and delivers all credits upfront, which helps teams that prospect in bursts.

A sensible approach is to start monthly with one or two seats, track credit usage for 60 to 90 days, then move to annual billing only for the reps who use Apollo every day. Before you switch, ask Apollo in writing how your remaining credits carry over when you change billing period or plan. Credit timing changes with the billing cycle, and it's easier to clarify upfront than to discover unused credits have expired after the switch.

What Apollo costs by team size

Because Apollo charges per seat, the bill grows in a straight line with your team. Here's what each setup costs per year at list prices with annual billing:

*Credit pools as reported in 2026 pricing analyses. These are floor prices. For comparison, Vendr's purchase data puts the median Apollo contract at $19,000 a year across 101 purchases, which reflects larger, negotiated team deals. Teams that call a lot or export big lists usually add credit top-ups on top, which is why it's worth tracking usage in the first few months before committing more seats.

The hidden costs of Apollo

Apollo's published prices are honest, but a few costs only show up once you're using it:

1. Credit top-ups. Teams that reveal many phone numbers or export large lists often run out before the year ends.
2. Seat minimums. The three-seat minimum on Organization means a two-person team pays for a third seat.
3. Expiring credits. Credits you don't use by renewal are lost, so overbuying is a real cost.
4. Deliverability tools. Apollo can send email, but many teams add separate tools for inbox warm-up, extra sending domains and email verification once volume grows.
5. Bad data. Every bounced email damages your sender reputation, and every wrong phone number wastes rep time. Verifying data before you use it, as covered in our guide to B2B data validation, adds cost but protects your domains.

Sending volume has its own limits: Google's email sender guidelines require authentication and low spam rates for bulk senders, so heavy Apollo sequences often need extra domains and warm-up tools.

Apollo vs. ZoomInfo: cost per contact

Price per seat is a poor way to compare data tools. A better measure is the cost of each contact you actually use. Here's a worked example using list prices and the credit allowances reported for each plan.

Apollo Professional, one seat: $948 a year with a reported 48,000 credits. Say a rep reveals 500 contacts a month, or 6,000 a year, and unlocks phone numbers for 600 of them. That uses about 10,800 credits, well inside the allowance. The cost works out to about $0.16 per contact.

ZoomInfo Professional: an estimated $14,995 a year for up to three seats with around 5,000 credits. If you export all 5,000 contacts, the cost is about $3.00 per contact. Our ZoomInfo pricing guide breaks down where that price comes from.

On list price alone, Apollo is roughly 20 times cheaper per contact. That doesn't make it the better choice for everyone. ZoomInfo bundles intent data, deeper company information and, according to many users, stronger phone coverage in enterprise accounts. The fair comparison is cost per usable contact: divide what you pay by the contacts that turn out to be accurate and relevant, using a sample from your own target list.

Negotiated deals tell the same story: Vendr's median ZoomInfo contract is $33,500 a year, compared with $19,000 for Apollo.

What users say about Apollo

Across independent reviews and 2026 pricing analyses, the same themes come up. Users praise Apollo's value for money and the convenience of having data, sequences and a dialer in one tool, which is why it's often the first sales tool a startup buys.

The complaints focus on three areas. Credits run out faster than expected, especially for phone numbers. Phone data accuracy is a common frustration: in Cleanlist's 1,000-lead test, Apollo matched 41% of mobile numbers and 78% of emails, and email accuracy also varies by country and industry. Finally, teams sending at volume from Apollo report that deliverability takes extra work and tools. None of these is unusual for a database at this price, but they matter when you calculate what Apollo really costs you.

How Apollo's pricing compares with alternatives

Apollo sits at the low end of the B2B data market on price. Here's how its entry point compares with other popular options:

The cheapest option isn't always the best value. Compare tools on accuracy in your own market and cost per usable contact, using a test list of 50 to 100 real target accounts. Our roundup of the best lead generation tools covers each of these in more detail.

For reference, Lusha's Starter plan costs $37.45 a month on yearly billing, Clay's Launch plan starts at $185 a month, and LinkedIn Sales Navigator Core costs $119.99 a month per user.

Is Apollo worth it? A quick checklist

Apollo is likely worth it if you can answer yes to most of these:

1. You prospect mainly by email, and phone is a secondary channel.
2. Your target market is mid-size or larger companies in well-covered regions like the US.
3. You want data, sequences and a dialer in one tool rather than a separate stack.
4. Your reps will use the credits every month, so little goes to waste.

If you answered no to two or more, test Apollo on the free plan first and compare it against a specialist data source before you buy seats.

How to test Apollo's data before you pay

Because data accuracy varies so much by market, the most useful thing you can do before buying seats is a small, structured test on the free plan or a monthly seat. It takes a few hours and tells you more than any review.

1. Pick 50 real target accounts. Use companies you would actually sell to, not famous brands that every database covers well.
2. Find the right people. Note how many of your target roles Apollo finds at each company, and whether they still work there according to their LinkedIn profiles.
3. Check the emails. Run every revealed email through an email verifier and record how many come back valid, risky or invalid.
4. Call a sample of numbers. Dial 20 phone numbers and count how many reach the right person, a switchboard or a wrong number.
5. Calculate cost per usable contact. Divide the cost of the seat and credits you'd need by the number of contacts that passed every check.

Run the same test on one alternative, using the same 50 accounts, and you'll have a fair, like-for-like comparison. Many teams find that one tool wins on email accuracy while another wins on phone numbers or on a specific region, which is a good reason to keep data and outreach tools separate.

Who Apollo is worth it for, and who should skip it

Apollo is a strong fit for startups and small sales teams that prospect mainly by email, want one tool for data and outreach, and sell to mid-size or larger companies in well-covered markets like the US.

It's a weaker fit if your team lives on the phone, sells mostly into Europe or into small local businesses, or needs data on niche segments that large databases cover poorly. In those cases, you'll likely pay for credits that return incomplete data, or need a second data source anyway. If that sounds familiar, compare options in our list of Apollo alternatives or our roundup of the best lead generation tools.

How to keep your Apollo bill under control

A few habits keep Apollo affordable as your team grows:

• Track credit use per rep every month, so you can move light users to a cheaper plan and avoid paying for unused credits.
• Save phone reveals for high-fit accounts. At around 8 credits each, they're the fastest way to drain your pool.
• Verify emails before sending, to protect your domains from bounces.
• Build tight lists before exporting. Every contact that leaves Apollo uses credits, so filter hard before you export.
• Review seats at renewal. Only pay annual rates for people who prospect every week.

A pay-as-you-go alternative: Spona

If you want verified data without managing seats and credit pools, Spona works differently. You describe your ideal customer in a chat, and Spona's AI mines 40+ data sources, verifies each lead and delivers a ready-to-use list in minutes. You pay for the data you take, on self-serve plans billed monthly or yearly, with no sales call needed to start.

Spona is especially useful for the segments where Apollo is weakest, including local businesses, Shopify stores and recently funded startups. See Spona's pricing to compare.

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FAQ

How much does Apollo.io cost per month?

Apollo's paid plans cost $49, $79 and $119 per user per month on annual billing, or $65, $99 and $149 per user per month on monthly billing. The Organization plan requires at least three users.

Is Apollo.io free?

Yes. Apollo has a free plan with database access, the Chrome extension and a small monthly credit allowance. It's useful for testing, but too limited for regular outbound.

Do Apollo credits roll over?

No. Unused credits don't carry over when your plan renews, and annual plans receive the year's credits upfront.

How many credits does a phone number cost in Apollo?

2026 pricing analyses report around 8 credits per phone number, compared with 1 credit for an email.

Is Apollo cheaper than ZoomInfo?

Yes, by a wide margin. Apollo's list prices start at $49 per user per month, while ZoomInfo's entry plan is estimated at around $14,995 a year. On cost per contact, our example puts Apollo at about $0.16 and ZoomInfo at about $3.00.

What are the best alternatives to Apollo?

It depends on what you need. ZoomInfo and Cognism suit larger teams that need richer data, while Spona suits teams that want verified leads on demand. See our full list of Apollo alternatives.

Is Apollo.io worth it?

For startups and small teams that prospect mainly by email in well-covered markets, usually yes, because it combines data, sequences and a dialer at a low price. Teams that rely on phone outreach or sell into niche segments often need a second data source.

Is Apollo.io an Indian company?

No. Apollo.io is a US company headquartered in San Francisco, with a distributed team around the world.

Was Apollo shut down?

No, Apollo.io is fully operational. The "Apollo" that shut down in 2023 was a third-party Reddit app that closed after Reddit changed its API pricing, and it's unrelated to Apollo.io.

Sources

• Apollo.io: pricing page
• Databar: Apollo pricing 2026
• Supered: Apollo pricing 2026 (pricing page reviewed September 25, 2026)
• Getlead: Apollo pricing explained (checked September 2026)
• Vendr: Apollo.io purchase data
• Google: email sender guidelines
• Factors.ai: ZoomInfo pricing analysis 2026
• Vendr: ZoomInfo purchase data
• Cleanlist: Apollo vs. ZoomInfo test on 1,000 leads
• Lusha: pricing page
• Clay: pricing page
• LinkedIn: Sales Navigator plans