Replacing Apollo’s database, its sequences, or both
Start from what you actually use Apollo for:
- Finding contacts and phone numbers: another database. ZoomInfo and Cognism publish no subscription prices, and both describe a contact, phone numbers included, as one credit on their pricing pages.
- Enriching lists you already have from several sources: Clay, billed in actions and data credits, from $185 a month with unlimited seats.
- Sending cold email at volume from many mailboxes: Instantly or Smartlead, billed by volume rather than per licence.
- Email and LinkedIn in the same sequence: Emelia, lemlist, La Growth Machine or Reply.io; Apollo only turns LinkedIn steps into manual tasks.
The Apollo alternatives at a glance
- 1
Emelia
Best for: LinkedIn and cold email on your own listsNo database: a finder and verifier on the lists you bring (1 credit per email), LinkedIn and email in one sequence, warm-up included, priced per plan.
From €37/month - 2
ZoomInfo
Best for: A larger database, on contracts of one to three years500M+ contacts claimed, 18.5M+ mobile numbers in Europe; prices on quote, contracts of 1 to 3 years.
- 3
Cognism
Best for: European data and phone-verified mobilesA British database that checks mobile numbers by phone and screens do-not-call lists; prices on quote.
- 4
Clay
Best for: Pooling data from many providers150+ data providers in one table (200+ on other pages of its site), unlimited seats, its own Sequencer for cold email.
Paid plans from $185/monthApollo vs Clay - 5
Instantly
Best for: Cold email at volumeMailboxes unlimited on every plan, billed by emails sent; its lead database is a separate subscription.
From $47/month - 6
Smartlead
Best for: Agencies sending from many mailboxesBilled by emails sent, client workspaces for agencies; LinkedIn through other tools.
From $39/monthSmartlead in detail - 7
lemlist
Best for: Email and LinkedIn, per userLinkedIn steps on Multichannel, one LinkedIn account per user; its own lead database.
€109/user/monthlemlist in detail - 8
Reply.io
Best for: Sequences with a LinkedIn accountMultichannel includes 1 LinkedIn account per user (its pricing page, October 6, 2026).
$99/user/month
Competitors with their own B2B database: ZoomInfo and Cognism
ZoomInfo
The incumbent: founded in 2007 as DiscoverOrg, listed on the Nasdaq, 35,000+ customers. It claims 500M+ contacts and 100M+ companies, against Apollo’s 240M and 30M. Its pricing FAQ counts one credit per exported record, email and phone numbers included depending on the contract, where Apollo charges 1 credit for the email and 8 for a phone number. But ZoomInfo publishes no subscription price, its annual report puts contracts at 1 to 3 years, and its terms say they cannot be cancelled during their term. Details in Apollo vs ZoomInfo.
Cognism
Based in London, Cognism focuses on Europe: mobile numbers verified by phone calls, do-not-call lists screened in several countries, including the UK, Germany and France, an interface in English, French and German. Its pricing page counts one credit per revealed contact, mobiles included, once per account; its French comparison with Apollo says mobiles and emails are not limited by credits. It has no free plan or self-serve trial, sells on quote (plans include 5 licences) and does not send emails: it exports to your CRM or sales engagement tool. Capterra gives it 4.7/5, Trustpilot 2.8/5.
Enrichment without a single source: Clay
Clay is the alternative for teams that already have lists and want to enrich them from several providers: 150+ in its marketplace, plus its own search over 900M people. You pay for the work (actions) and the data (data credits) separately, from $185 a month on Launch, with unlimited seats; unused data credits roll over, actions do not. It can call Apollo as a source, with your own Apollo account.
Per email found, it costs more than Apollo at every volume we checked; its Sequencer, built on Smartlead, sends up to 4 emails per sequence. See Apollo vs Clay for the figures.
Cold email at volume: Instantly and Smartlead
If Apollo was mainly your sending tool, Instantly and Smartlead are built for that: their pricing pages allow unlimited mailboxes, and the price is set by the number of emails sent, not by licences. Instantly starts at $47 a month for 5,000 emails, Smartlead at $39 for 6,000. Neither automates LinkedIn, and both sell their lead data apart from the entry plan: Instantly from $9 a month, Smartlead’s SmartProspect at $59 on its first two plans.
Apollo Professional also connects unlimited Google and Microsoft mailboxes on one licence; the difference is warm-up. Apollo’s plan cards call it included, but its help centre counts only 1 mailbox per licence as covered and charges 200 credits a month for every other one.
Alternatives that also automate LinkedIn: Emelia, lemlist and Reply.io
Apollo has no place on this line, since it does not automate LinkedIn. These three do, with one LinkedIn account and three sending mailboxes included at the prices below; La Growth Machine, billed per identity, is the other option in this family.
1 LinkedIn account + cold email, 3 mailboxes
Billed monthly
Billed yearly (per month)
Mailboxes in that price
How it is billed
lemlist and Emelia show the same figure in euros and dollars; Reply.io bills in dollars only, so the advantage is marked for dollar payments. Reply.io’s figures come from its pricing page as read on October 6, 2026; the page blocks automated checks since. Emelia’s next plans: Grow (3 LinkedIn accounts, €97) and Scale (10 accounts, €297).
Paying per found email rather than per licence
If what you buy from Apollo is mostly emails, compare the credits: 1 per verified email at both Apollo and Emelia, bought each month on top of a plan.
1,000 emails found a month
5,000 emails found a month
10,000 emails found a month
Phone numbers for 10,000 credits
Apollo’s column shows a range: its per-credit tiers can apply to the whole amount at the tier reached (low end) or slice by slice (high end), and Apollo does not say which. Since Apollo invoices in dollars only and Emelia’s packs carry the same number in euros and dollars, the cheaper side is marked for a dollar payment; no conversion is made. Apollo also includes 2,500 to 6,000 credits per licence every month; Emelia’s plans include 500 to 5,000 once, at signup.
Leaving Apollo: four practical questions
It claims more: 500M+ contacts against 240M, and 18.5M+ mobile numbers in Europe. Neither database can be checked from outside; test both on a sample of your market. ZoomInfo’s contracts are longer and its prices are not published.
Yes: Emelia (1 to 10 accounts depending on the plan), lemlist (Multichannel, per user), La Growth Machine (per identity) and Reply.io (Multichannel, per user) run LinkedIn steps automatically. Apollo, ZoomInfo, Cognism, Clay, Instantly and Smartlead do not.
Yes, by CSV export. Depending on the plan, an export may use credits; contacts already exported, imported or without a verified email are free to export. Do it before the end of the cycle.
They are lost: access and credits stay until the end of the paid cycle, then the pot resets. Bought credits do not roll over either.
Emelia is an Apollo.io competitor. We have tried to stay fair: every figure about Apollo.io comes from its own website or public review sites.
