Free
$0
Free
900 credits per seat per year (75 a month on monthly billing), 2 sequences per team, 250 email sends a day, 1 mailbox per user.
API included
Plan details
People search through the API returned 403 on this plan.
Comparison
Apollo vs Instantly
Pick Apollo if you want the contact database, CRM and sequencer in one seat-priced plan: email costs 1 credit and paid plans start at $49 a seat a month billed annually. Pick Instantly if sending volume is the job: every paid plan has unlimited mailboxes and warmup, from $47 a month for 5,000 emails, with its lead database on a separate credits plan.
Pick Apollo if
- You want prospect search, contact data, CRM and sequences under one login and one bill
- You need contact data cheaply: an email costs 1 credit from the plan's allowance, and nothing when no data is…
Pick Instantly if
- You send at volume from many mailboxes: unlimited email accounts and warmup on every paid plan
- You want a flat price rather than per seat: Growth is $47 a month for 5,000 emails
Apollo
Sourcing, Enrichment
Instantly
Sending, Sourcing
At a glance
Apollo
- From
- $49/seat/moBasic annual, $65 monthly
- Free plan
- YesFree plan, $0, no time limit
- Cost per unit
- 1 credit/email, 8 per mobile
- MCP server
- Official
Instantly
- From
- $47/moGrowth monthly, $37.60 annual
- Free plan
- NoNo free plan; 14-day trial, no card
- Cost per unit
- $9/moSeparate credits plan from
- MCP server
- Official
Where they differ
16 points side by side. Open a value for the full detail.
| What | Apollo | Instantly |
|---|---|---|
| Sales platform with database, CRM, sequencesAn all-in-one sales platform: a database of over 240 million contacts and 30 million companies, plus CRM, sequences and a dialer, all behind one API. | Cold-email sending platformA cold-email sending platform with unlimited mailboxes and warmup. Its lead database (SuperSearch, 450M+ B2B contacts) and AI agents run on a separate credits subscription. | |
| Basic $49/seat/mo annual, $65 monthlyPer seat. Basic is $49 a seat a month billed annually, or $65 billed monthly. Professional is $79 annually or $99 monthly. Organization is $119 a seat a month, annual only, minimum 3 seats. Verified 2026-10-25. | Growth $47/mo monthly, $37.60 annualA flat price per plan; the pricing page shows no per-seat charge. Growth is $47 a month billed monthly, or $37.60 a month billed annually. Hypergrowth is $97 monthly and Light Speed $358 monthly. Verified 2026-10-25. | |
| Free plan, $0, no time limitFree plan at $0 with no time limit: 900 credits per seat per year (75 a month on monthly billing), 2 sequences, 250 email sends a day and 1 mailbox per user. Paid plans have a 14-day trial with 75 credits. | No free plan; 14-day trial, no cardNo free plan. A 14-day trial with no card: the pricing page lists 250 uploaded contacts and 1,000 emails, and warmup on only 2 accounts. | |
| 250 sends/day on Free and BasicFree and Basic: 250 email sends a day and 1 mailbox per user. Professional and Organization: unlimited daily sends under a fair use policy, unlimited Google and Microsoft mailboxes plus 5 or 15 SMTP mailboxes per user. | Unlimited mailboxes; 5,000 emails/mo on GrowthUnlimited email accounts and warmup on every paid plan. A monthly email cap per plan: 5,000 on Growth, 125,000 on Hypergrowth, 500,000 on Light Speed. No overage: you move up a tier or buy an $87 add-on from Hypergrowth. | |
| 1 credit/email, 8 per mobileIncluded in the seat plan as credits. An email costs 1 credit and a mobile number 8 credits, charged only when data is found. People search through the API costs 0 credits on paid plans. Credits do not roll over. | Separate credits plan from $9/moA separate Instantly Credits subscription, from $9 a month for 150 credits (Nano) to $197+ a month for 10,000 or more. A work email find costs about 1.5 credits a row. Credits expire 2 months after purchase on monthly plans. | |
| Basic, $49/seat/mo annualBasic, $49 a seat a month billed annually. The docs say every plan includes the API, but on a Free account the people search endpoint returned 403 with the message that all paid plans include full API access. | Growth, $47/mo monthlyGrowth, $47 a month billed monthly. API v2 is on every paid Outreach plan; the plans comparison lists no API on the trial. | |
| Per-request only, no event subscriptionsPer-request only: phone reveals and waterfall results are sent to the webhook_url you pass, or you poll for them (kept 30 days). No event-subscription webhooks are documented. | Native webhooks from Hypergrowth ($97/mo)Native webhooks from Hypergrowth ($97 a month). Events include email_sent, reply_received, email_bounced, lead_interested and lead_meeting_booked. A failing webhook is disabled; no retry schedule is published. | |
| x-api-key header, scoped or masterx-api-key header. Keys are scoped to the endpoints you pick, or set as a master key. A key acts as the workspace's longest-standing active admin, who then owns the records it creates. The key is shown once. | Bearer key, scopes fixed at creationAuthorization: Bearer header. You pick scopes when you create a key and cannot change them later. The key is shown once. API v2 needs a new key; v1 keys do not work on it. | |
| Enrichment 1,000/min, search 200/minPer team, per endpoint, in minute, hour and day windows at once. On Basic and Professional: enrichment 1,000 a minute, search 200 a minute and 50,000 a day, other endpoints 200 a minute and 2,000 a day. Free is 50 a minute and 600 a day. | 100/sec and 6,000/min per workspacePer workspace, shared by all keys and by API v1 and v2: 100 requests a second and 6,000 a minute. Listing emails is capped at 20 a minute. Responses carry no rate-limit headers. | |
YesOfficial remote server at https://mcp.apollo.io/mcp over Streamable HTTP with OAuth; headless clients can send a master key in X-Api-Key. It covers people and company search and enrichment, contacts, deals and sequences. It has its own rate limits. | YesOfficial server at https://mcp.instantly.ai/mcp, generated from the API v2 spec. It listed 199 tools on 25 Oct 2026, covering accounts, campaigns, leads, analytics and webhooks. | |
| 10 per bulk enrichment callBulk people and bulk company enrichment take up to 10 records per call. Search shows at most 50,000 records per query (500 pages of 100). | Up to 1,000 leads per callUp to 1,000 leads per POST /api/v2/leads/add call. Lead moves and warmup toggles run as background jobs. | |
| Listed on Basic and upDomain and mailbox purchasing is listed on Basic and up. | Domains $15/yr, Google accounts from $5/moDomains at $15 a year, pre-warmed Google accounts at $10 a month, done-for-you Google accounts at $5 a month and AirMail accounts at $4 a month. | |
| All seats on the same planAll seats on an account sit on the same plan. Unlimited sequences from Basic; A/Z testing from Professional. Free has 2 sequences per team. | Team invites start on HypergrowthInviting team members and adding a workspace start on Hypergrowth. Replying from the unified inbox also needs Hypergrowth; Growth can only preview replies. | |
| No resale, no LinkedIn automationsReselling or redistributing the data is banned, and so is using any Apollo API with LinkedIn automations. | No data resaleThe terms ban any data resale, including data enriched or verified through Instantly. | |
| ISO 27001 and SOC 2Its privacy policy says Apollo is certified under ISO 27001 and SOC 2. | No SOC 2 or GDPR statement foundNo SOC 2 or GDPR statement on its pricing, developer or help pages, and instantly.ai/security returned 404 on 25 Oct 2026. | |
| Data, CRM and sequences in one placeTeams that want prospect data, CRM and sequences in one place, with contact data paid from the seat's credits. | High-volume sending at a flat priceTeams that send at volume across many mailboxes and want a flat price, with the lead database bought only if needed. |
No row matches in this view.
Pricing, plan by plan
US dollars as each vendor's page showed them on 25 Oct 2026. One panel per tool; switch each between monthly and annual billing (an annual price is the monthly rate when you pay for the year up front).
Apollo
4 plans · API reviewBasic
$65/mo
billed monthly
$49/mo
billed annually
Per seat. 30,000 credits per seat per year on annual billing, 2,500 a month on monthly. Unlimited sequences, 250 email sends a day, 1 mailbox per user, domain and mailbox purchasing.
API included
Professional
$99/mo
billed monthly
$79/mo
billed annually
Per seat. 48,000 credits per seat per year on annual billing, 4,000 a month on monthly. Unlimited sequences with A/Z testing, unlimited daily sends, unlimited Google and Microsoft mailboxes plus 5 SMTP mailboxes per user.
API included
Organization
$119/mo
annual billing only
$119/mo
billed annually
Per seat, annual only, minimum 3 seats.
API included
Plan details
72,000 credits per seat per year. Unlimited Google and Microsoft mailboxes plus 15 SMTP mailboxes per user.
Instantly
5 plans · API reviewGrowth
$47/mo
billed monthly
$37.60/mo
billed annually
5,000 emails a month, 1,000 uploaded contacts, unlimited email accounts and warmup.
API included
Plan details
No webhooks; replies can only be previewed in the unified inbox. Billed monthly, or annually at $37.60 a month.
Hypergrowth
$97/mo
billed monthly
$77.60/mo
billed annually
125,000 emails a month, 25,000 uploaded contacts, webhooks, subsequences, workspaces and team members.
API included
Plan details
Billed monthly, or annually at $77.60 a month.
Light Speed
$358/mo
billed monthly
$286.30/mo
billed annually
500,000 emails a month, 100,000 uploaded contacts, private sending servers and IP rotation.
API included
Plan details
Billed monthly, or annually at $286.30 a month.
Enterprise
Custom quote
500,000+ emails and 100,000+ contacts a month, private deliverability network.
API included
Plan details
Price on request.
Show all 5 plansShow fewer plans
Credits Nano (lead database and AI)
$9/mo
billed monthly
$9/mo
monthly billing only
150 credits a month, a separate subscription from Outreach.
Plan details
Billed monthly.
Which one to pick
Choose Apollo if
- You want prospect search, contact data, CRM and sequences under one login and one bill.
- You need contact data cheaply: an email costs 1 credit from the plan's allowance, and nothing when no data is found.
- You want to start free: the Free plan has 2 sequences and 250 sends a day with no time limit.
- You want company data with it: firmographics, job postings and news through the same API.
- You want a published security certification: Apollo states ISO 27001 and SOC 2.
Choose Instantly if
- You send at volume from many mailboxes: unlimited email accounts and warmup on every paid plan.
- You want a flat price rather than per seat: Growth is $47 a month for 5,000 emails.
- You want reply events pushed to your systems: native webhooks from Hypergrowth ($97 a month).
- You load leads by API in large batches: up to 1,000 leads per call.
- You want to buy domains and pre-warmed mailboxes inside the sending tool.
If neither fits: Pick neither if you only need emails for a list you already have. A finder or waterfall tool returns the email without a sending plan, and you can then load the list into any sender.
How to find a person's work email addressWant us to build it for you?
Choosing between Apollo and Instantly, or moving from one to the other? Tell us your setup. We will show you how we would run it, and what we would check first.
Questions people ask
Is Apollo software free?
Apollo has a Free plan at $0 with no time limit. It includes 900 credits per seat per year (75 a month on monthly billing), 2 sequences per team, 250 email sends a day and 1 mailbox per user. People search through the API returned 403 on a Free account in October 2026. Instantly has no free plan, only a 14-day trial with no card.
Is there a free platform for cold email outreach?
Of these two, only Apollo has a free plan, and it allows 250 email sends a day from 1 mailbox per user, with 2 sequences per team. Instantly offers a 14-day trial with no card; its pricing page lists 1,000 emails and 250 uploaded contacts on the trial, then paid plans from $47 a month.
How to send 1000 cold emails a day?
On Apollo, Free and Basic cap sends at 250 a day from 1 mailbox per user, so 1,000 a day needs Professional or Organization, which list unlimited daily sends under a fair use policy. On Instantly, 1,000 a day is about 30,000 a month, which is above Growth's 5,000; Hypergrowth allows 125,000 emails a month across unlimited mailboxes.
Which is cheaper for a team of five?
Apollo bills per seat, so five seats on Basic cost $245 a month billed annually ($49 each), and each seat adds credits to a pool the team shares. Instantly bills per plan with no per-seat charge, but inviting team members starts on Hypergrowth at $97 a month billed monthly, and lead data is a separate credits subscription.
Which one can push replies to my CRM or app by webhook?
Instantly, from Hypergrowth ($97 a month). It sends events such as reply_received, email_bounced and lead_interested. Apollo documents webhooks only for async phone and waterfall enrichment results, not for email events.
Do both have an MCP server for AI agents?
Yes, both are official and hosted. Apollo's is at https://mcp.apollo.io/mcp with OAuth or a master key, and covers search, enrichment, CRM and sequences. Instantly's is at https://mcp.instantly.ai/mcp and listed 199 tools on 25 Oct 2026.
Related
Read from apollo.io/pricing, instantly.ai/pricing.md and each tool's API docs. Verified 25 Oct 2026.
