Apollo.io vs lemlist
We give Apollo.io a 2.4 GPA and lemlist a 2.8, out of 4.0. lemlist grades higher on value for money. They get the same grade on the free plan, features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Apollo.io
B2B contact database with built-in email sequences and a dialer
lemlist
Cold email and LinkedIn sequences with a built-in lead database
How we grade them
| 2.4GPAApollo.ioFair | 2.8GPAlemlistGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | C$245 a month for five on Basic, billed yearly: $49 a seat, right at this category's dearer quarter ($49). That buys 30,000 credits a seat a year, about 2,500 a month each, pooled, at 1 credit an email and 8 a phone number. | AFive people share the Email plan, which has unlimited users: $55 a month billed yearly for 50,000 emails, $11 a head, a third of the cheaper quarter. LinkedIn, calls and SMS are another story: Multichannel is $87 per user billed yearly, in this category's dearest tenth. |
| Free plan and trial | CA free plan for good with 900 credits a seat a year, 2 sequences and 250 emails a day, plus a 14-day trial of the paid plans. But 900 a year is 75 a month, a cap you'll hit if you prospect every day. | CNo free plan you can send from, since Freemium can't launch campaigns. The 14-day Multichannel trial needs no card and gives 200 credits and 50 emails a day, but leaves out lemwarm and calling. |
| Features | BAbout 240 million contacts with emails and phone numbers, waterfall enrichment, unlimited sequences, a dialer, call recording and a Chrome extension. It covers the whole job, and the outreach after it. | BThe whole job: emails, LinkedIn invites, messages and voice notes, calls, SMS and WhatsApp in one sequence, with conditions and an automatic stop on a reply. Warm-up, a 650M-lead database and one inbox for every channel sit alongside. |
| Ease of use | CNo App Store rating on record. It's a big web app with a database, sequences, mailboxes and a dialer, so expect a learning curve before it pays off. | CNo App Store rating on record. There's a fair bit to set up, from senders and warm-up to conditional steps and personalized images, so give it a few days before a sequence feels right. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb and a Chrome extension that works on LinkedIn, Gmail and CRMs, with Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Outreach, Salesloft and Slack. No desktop or phone apps on record. | BWeb, plus a Chrome extension that runs lemlist from Gmail and LinkedIn on Multichannel. HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Zapier, Make, n8n, Clay and Aircall connect, and there's a public API. No phone or desktop app. |
| Best for | contact data and outreach in one account | email and LinkedIn in one sequence |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Apollo.io and lemlist. How we grade
Where they differ
- Apollo.io starts at $49 per seat / month, billed annually. lemlist starts at $55 per month for 50,000 emails, billed yearly ($69 monthly).
- Apollo.io has a free plan. lemlist does not, though it has a free trial.
- Apollo.io also covers web clipper and sales pipeline.
- lemlist also covers templates and AI agents.
At a glance
| Apollo.io | lemlist | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | $49 per seat / month, billed annually | $55 per month for 50,000 emails, billed yearly ($69 monthly) |
| Free plan | 900 credits per seat a year, granted monthly, 2 sequences, basic filters, 250 emails a day from 1 mailbox, and the Chrome extension. | None |
| Free trial | 14-day trial of Basic or Professional with 75 credits | 14-day free trial of Multichannel, no card required, with 200 credits and 50 emails a day |
| Web | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | ZenLeads Inc. (Apollo.io) | lempire |
| Price read from | apollo.io | lemlist.com |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Apollo.io
- Sales teams that want contact data and outreach in one account
- Founders trying outbound prospecting on a free plan
- Reps who prospect from LinkedIn through a browser extension
lemlist
- Sales teams that combine cold email with LinkedIn and calls
- Teams sending email at volume with many users on one bill
- Senders who personalize each message with images or conditional text
Worth knowing
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.
lemlist
- No free plan for sending: after the trial, accounts drop to Freemium, which cannot launch campaigns. The trial itself leaves out lemwarm and calling.
- Lead data costs extra: the enrichment add-on is $16 a month billed yearly ($20 monthly) for 2,000 credits, and buying signals $21 ($29) for 100.
- On Multichannel, WhatsApp is $20 per user a month, extra email senders $9 each a month, and SMS needs a $15 a month number plus 6 credits a text.
- LinkedIn, SMS and calling need the per-user Multichannel plan; SSO, custom roles and CRM-embedded use are Enterprise only.
Key features
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.
lemlist
- Multichannel sequences
- Campaigns mix emails with LinkedIn visits, invites, messages and voice notes, calls, SMS and WhatsApp, with conditional next steps and an automatic stop.
- lemwarm and deliverability tools
- Warm-up, inbox rotation, rotating IPs, custom tracking domains, sending limits and a deliverability hub with alerts are included on every plan.
- Lead database and finders
- Search more than 650 million leads and find emails and phone numbers through 25+ data providers, paid for with credits: $1 covers 20 emails or 5 phone numbers.
- Personalization
- Liquid syntax for conditional content, custom variables, personalized images and AI-written lines tailored to each lead.
- lemAgent and AI agents
- lemAgent plus signal, enrichment and messaging agents research leads and write outreach. AI also flags reply intent and out-of-office replies and drafts answers.
- Unified inbox and extension
- Replies from every channel land in one inbox, and on Multichannel a Chrome extension runs lemlist from Gmail and LinkedIn.
Plans
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.
lemlist
Email$55
per month for 50,000 emails, billed yearly ($69 monthly)
Unlimited users and email senders, lemwarm, the lead database and AI agents. Price rises with volume: $71 a month at 100,000 emails, billed yearly.
Multichannel$87
per user / month, billed yearly ($109 monthly)
Unlimited emails and messages, 5 email senders per user, LinkedIn and SMS steps, a call dialer, and lemlist inside Gmail and LinkedIn.
EnterpriseCustom
Multichannel plus lemlist inside your CRM, custom roles, SSO and SAML, custom terms and a dedicated account manager.
Ways to pay less
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.
lemlist
- Annual discount
Save 20% with yearly billing
lemlist lists a 20% saving for yearly billing and 10% for quarterly: Email at 50,000 emails is $55 a month yearly, $62 quarterly and $69 monthly.
