ContactOut vs Hunter
We give ContactOut a 2.6 GPA and Hunter a 2.8, out of 4.0. ContactOut grades higher on features. Hunter grades higher on value for money. They get the same grade on the free plan, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
ContactOut
Email and phone finder for recruiters and sales, priced flat
Hunter
Email finder and verifier with cold email sequences built in
How we grade them
| 2.6GPAContactOutGood | 2.8GPAHunterGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | COne person pays $39 a month billed yearly for emails, or $79 with phone numbers, right at this category's middle ($39). Self-serve is one user per company, so a team of five gets a quote from sales, with no figure on record. | AStarter is $34 a month billed yearly for the whole team, about $6.80 a head for five, under 60% of this category's cheaper quarter ($34). That buys 2,000 credits a month, shared: an email found costs 1, a check 0.5. |
| Free plan and trial | CA free plan for one user with 5 emails, 5 phone numbers and 5 exports a day, plus the extension and the search portal. Handy for the odd lookup, but 5 a day goes quickly. | CA free plan with 50 credits a month that reset, basic filters, 1 email account and unlimited team members. Fine for a taste, but 50 lookups won't last a working week. |
| Features | BWork and personal emails, phone numbers, a search portal with 20-plus filters, a LinkedIn extension, email campaigns, enrichment and recruiting integrations. It covers the whole job, though numbers need the dearer plan. | CDomain search, an email finder and verifier, a lead database, cold email sequences, an API and an MCP server. It does the email job fully, but that's a smaller job: the pricing page lists no phone lookups. |
| Ease of use | BNo App Store rating on record, but it's a Chrome extension on the LinkedIn and Sales Navigator you already use. Open a profile and the details are there. | BNo App Store rating on record, but this is about as simple as the category gets: type a company domain and the addresses come up, or click the extension on the site you're on. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb and a Chrome extension, with Salesforce, HubSpot, Lever, Greenhouse, Bullhorn, Zapier and Gmail. The API comes with team plans. No desktop or phone apps. | BWeb, Chrome and Firefox extensions and a Google Sheets add-on, with HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Zoho CRM, Zapier and Clay, plus an API. No desktop or phone apps. |
| Best for | personal emails and numbers for recruiters | work emails for a whole team on one bill |
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: ContactOut and Hunter. How we grade
Price against what you get
ContactOut starts at $39 a month and scores 3.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Hunter starts at $34 a month and scores 2.7.
ContactOut scores higher, and starts $5 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other lead and email finders on the chart, none scores higher than ContactOut for less, and none scores higher than Hunter for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- ContactOut starts at $39 per month, billed annually. Hunter starts at $34 per month for 2,000 credits, billed annually.
At a glance
| ContactOut | Hunter | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $39 per month, billed annually | $34 per month for 2,000 credits, billed annually |
| Free plan | 5 emails, 5 phone numbers and 5 exports a day for 1 user, with the browser extension, the search portal and a trial of premium features. | 50 credits a month (an email found costs 1, a verification 0.5), basic Discover filters, 1 connected email account and 500 recipients per sequence. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | ContactOut | Hunter Web Services, Inc. |
| Price read from | contactout.com | hunter.io |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Who each one suits
ContactOut
- Recruiters reaching candidates at personal addresses
- Single users who want a flat price instead of credits
- Prospecting from LinkedIn and Sales Navigator
Hunter
- Teams that need work emails rather than phone numbers
- Companies with many users, since every plan has unlimited team members
- Small teams that want lookup and cold email in one tool
Worth knowing
ContactOut
- Paid self-serve plans allow 1 user per company; teams and API access go through sales.
- Unlimited plans fall under a fair use cap of 2,000 emails and 1,000 phone numbers per account a month in the terms of service.
- Phone numbers need the Email + Phone plan; the Email plan has no phone lookups.
- Exports are capped separately from lookups: 300 a month on Email and 600 on Email + Phone, billed monthly.
Hunter
- Hunter finds email addresses only; the pricing page lists no phone number lookups.
- Credits reset monthly and do not roll over on monthly billing; yearly billing grants the whole year's credits upfront.
- Extra connected email accounts cost from $10 a month each on Starter and Growth.
- API-only access is sold separately as the Data Platform, with bulk credits usable for 12 months.
Key features
ContactOut
- Chrome extension
- Shows personal and work emails and phone numbers on LinkedIn and Sales Navigator profiles, and saves people to a CRM or campaign.
- Search portal
- Search people and companies with more than 20 filters, including job title, revenue, company size, skills and technologies used.
- Email campaigns
- Send outreach to saved prospects and track opens, clicks and replies, with an AI Email Writer on the Email + Phone plan.
- Data enrichment and API
- Refresh CRM and spreadsheet records with contact data, through ContactSheets, Gmail enrichment or the API on team plans.
- Recruiting integrations
- Save candidates straight to Lever, Bullhorn and Greenhouse, alongside Salesforce and HubSpot for sales teams.
Hunter
- Domain Search and Email Finder
- List the addresses Hunter has for a company domain, or look up one person by name and company. Each email found costs 1 credit.
- Email Verifier
- Checks whether an address is deliverable for half a credit. Paid plans verify found addresses automatically.
- Discover lead database
- Search companies and people with filters and an AI assistant; paid plans add advanced filters and weekly suggestions of new leads.
- Sequences
- Send cold email from connected Gmail, Outlook or SMTP accounts with tracking, A/B testing and an AI writing assistant on paid plans.
- Browser extension and Sheets add-on
- Extensions for Chrome and Firefox find addresses on the site being viewed, and a Google Sheets add-on finds and verifies in a sheet.
- API and MCP server
- An API and an MCP server give Claude, ChatGPT and other tools access to Hunter's data; an API-only Data Platform is sold separately.
Plans
ContactOut
Free$0
5 emails, 5 phones and 5 exports a day, the browser extension and search portal, 1 user per company.
Email$39
per month, billed annually ($49 billed monthly)
1 user. Unlimited emails under a fair use cap of 2,000 a month, 3,600 exports a year (300 a month billed monthly), email campaigns and list builder.
Email + Phone$79
per month, billed annually ($99 billed monthly)
1 user. Adds unlimited phone numbers under a fair use cap of 1,000 a month, 7,200 exports a year, data enrichment and the AI Email Writer.
Team / APICustom
Team plans and API access through sales, with bulk licensing, Salesforce and ATS integrations, team reports and an account manager.
Hunter
Free$0
50 credits a month that reset and do not roll over, basic filters, 1 email account and unlimited team members.
Starter$34
per month for 2,000 credits, billed annually ($49 billed monthly)
Auto-verification, lead enrichment, advanced filters, AI Writing Assistant, 3 email accounts and 2,500 recipients per sequence.
Growth$104
per month for 10,000 credits, billed annually ($149 billed monthly)
10 email accounts, 5,000 recipients per sequence, 450 AI searches a month and 10 million saved leads.
Scale$209
per month for 25,000 credits, billed annually ($299 billed monthly)
20 email accounts, 15,000 recipients per sequence, unlimited signals and an account manager.
EnterpriseCustom
A custom number of credits and connected email accounts, through sales.
Ways to pay less
ContactOut
- Annual discount
About 20% off with annual billing
ContactOut's pricing page lists the Email plan at $39 a month billed annually ($468 a year) against $49 monthly, and Email + Phone at $79 against $99.
Hunter
- Annual discount
About 30% off with yearly billing
Hunter's pricing page marks yearly billing -30%: Starter is $34 a month billed yearly against $49 billed monthly.
