Apollo.io vs CIENCE (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Apollo.io if

• Fits if you want to find people and email them from the same account
• Works for founders trying outbound on a free plan with 2 sequences and 250 emails a day

Look elsewhere if

• Pricey if you call a lot, since each phone number eats 8 credits
• Tight if your usage is lumpy, as unused credits expire at the end of each cycle
• Not for you if you want some reps on cheaper seats, since every seat must be on the same plan and Organization needs 3
• Watch out: downgrades take effect at once with no refund, and annual plans can't move to monthly mid-term
• Pricey if you want inbound visitor identification, at $119 to $639 a team a month on top of a plan, billed yearly

Pick CIENCE if

• Fits if you want meetings booked and have budget to pay people to do it
• Works for sales leaders who prefer a monthly agreement over hiring SDRs

Look elsewhere if

• Pricey if you are a small team, as one SDR costs about $4,249 a month all in
• Skip it if you want software to run yourself, as this is a service
• Watch out: a performance bonus is paid on top once an SDR reaches 60% or more of their meeting target
• Watch out: the one-time setup fee is not shown on the pricing page

Apollo.io

• Phone numbers cost 8 credits each against 1 for an email, and unused credits expire at the end of each billing cycle.
• All seats on an account must be on the same plan, and Organization requires at least 3 seats.
• Downgrades take effect at once with no refund, and annual plans cannot move to monthly mid-term.
• Inbound visitor identification costs $119 to $639 per team a month on top of a plan, billed annually.

CIENCE

• This is an agency service: a typical program costs thousands of dollars a month, and the page's five-SDR offshore example comes to $11,249 a month before bonus.
• A performance bonus is paid on top of each SDR's fee when they reach 60% or more of their meeting target.
• The setup fee is one-time, but its amount is not shown on the pricing page.
• Terms are month to month with no long contract, according to the pricing page.

Apollo.io

Contact and company database

Search about 240 million contacts and 30 million companies by title, company, intent topics and other filters. Paid plans unlock advanced filters.

Credits for emails and phones

Revealing a verified email costs 1 credit and a phone number 8. Credits are pooled across the team, reset each billing cycle and do not roll over.

Email sequences

Multi-step outreach from connected mailboxes. The free plan allows 2 sequences and 250 emails a day; paid plans add unlimited sequences and any email provider.

Chrome extension

Shows emails and numbers for people on LinkedIn, company websites, Gmail and CRMs, and adds them to lists or sequences. Works on every plan.

Enrichment and waterfall

Fill in missing fields for CSV files, CRM records and API calls. From Basic, waterfall enrichment checks partner sources when Apollo has no match.

Dialer and call recording

A US dialer billed in credits, call recording with AI insights, and an Advanced Dialer add-on with parallel and international calling.

CIENCE

Outbound SDR teams

Dedicated SDRs call, email and message your buyers on LinkedIn each working day, and qualified meetings are booked onto your sales calendar.

Verified B2B data

The site lists B2B data, audience data and local data, described as verified contacts and accounts checked by humans.

graph8 platform

Contact data, email, calls and workflows sit in one system, which the page says is also offered for teams to run themselves.

Campaign management

A campaign team writes and adjusts campaigns across email, phone and LinkedIn and reports held meetings each month.

One-time setup

Setup builds your target list and four campaigns and prepares email, phone and LinkedIn infrastructure. The page says it goes live in under 14 days.

Apollo.io

• Free$0

  900 credits per seat a year, granted monthly. 2 sequences, basic filters, 25-record selection limit and 250 emails a day.

• Basic$49

  per seat / month, billed annually, 30,000 credits a seat a year

  Unlimited sequences, advanced filters, CRM integrations, waterfall enrichment, email warmup and the US dialer (credits apply).

• Professional$79

  per seat / month, billed annually, 48,000 credits a seat a year

  Adds A/Z testing, AI lead scoring, 4,000 minutes of call recording with AI insights and more automated workflows.

• Organization$119

  per seat / month, billed annually, 72,000 credits a seat a year

  Minimum 3 seats. Adds 12 intent topics, 8,000 recording minutes, unlimited inbound routers, SSO and advanced security.

CIENCE

• Campaign team$2,000

  per month

  Flat fee for the team that runs and adjusts campaigns, reviews SDR work and reports held meetings, whether you run one SDR or ten.

• graph8 platform$499

  per month

  The system the SDRs work in: contact data, email, calls and workflows, with 75,000 credits a month included.

• Offshore SDR$1,750

  per SDR / month and up

  English-speaking SDRs outside the US and Europe. A performance bonus is paid on top when an SDR hits their meeting target.

• US and Europe SDR$3,500

  per SDR / month and up

  SDRs based in the United States or Europe, in your time zone. The same performance bonus applies.

Apollo.io

• Annual discount

  Save 24% with annual billing

  Apollo's pricing page shows a 24% saving on paid plans when billed annually instead of monthly.

• Startups

  50% off for a year for early-stage startups

  Startups with fewer than 20 employees, no Apollo subscription and a link to a partner program get 50% off Basic or Professional for a year, up to 5 seats.

CIENCE

No public discounts listed.