Apollo is a contact database with a sequencer, CRM and dialer, priced per seat from US$49 a month billed annually. Smartlead is a cold email sender priced on monthly sends and stored contacts, with unlimited mailboxes on every plan, from US$39 a month. Apollo has a free plan; Smartlead has a 14-day trial. Smartlead's API and webhooks start on Pro at US$94 a month.
Pick Apollo if
Pick Smartlead if
Apollo
Sourcing, Enrichment
Smartlead
Sending
Apollo
Smartlead
16 points side by side. Open a value for the full detail.
| What | Apollo | Smartlead |
|---|---|---|
| Free; Basic US$49/seat/mo annual, US$65 monthlyFree plan at US$0. Paid plans are per seat: Basic US$49 a month billed annually or US$65 billed monthly. Every seat on an account is on the same plan. Verified 2026-10-25. | Base US$39/mo monthly, US$32 annualBase US$39 a month billed monthly, or US$32 a month billed annually. One price per account, not per seat. Verified 2026-10-25. | |
| Basic, US$65/seat/mo monthlyThe Free plan card lists API Access, but people search through the API returned 403 on a Free account on 25 Oct 2026, with an error saying all paid plans include full API access. Basic (US$49 a month billed annually, US$65 monthly) is the first paid plan. | Pro, US$94/mo monthlyPro, US$94 a month billed monthly or US$78 billed annually. Base has no API and no webhooks. The 14-day trial comes with a working API key. | |
| Credits per seat, no rolloverPer seat. Each seat brings a credit allowance, pooled across the team and granted upfront each billing cycle: 2,500 a seat a month on Basic monthly, 30,000 a seat a year on Basic annual. Unused credits do not roll over, including add-on credits. | By send volume and stored contactsBy send volume and stored contacts, not per seat and not per mailbox. Email credits renew each monthly billing date. The stored-contact count does not reset monthly; it is fixed by the plan. | |
| Free plan, no time limitFree plan with no time limit: 75 credits a seat a month (900 a seat a year on annual), 2 sequences per team, 1 mailbox per user. Basic and Professional also offer a 14-day trial with 75 credits. | No free plan; 14-day trial, no cardNo free plan. A 14-day trial with no card. In the app on 25 Oct 2026 the trial allowed 2,500 sends a month and 1,250 stored contacts. | |
| x-api-key header, OAuth 2.0 for partnersAPI key in the x-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 admin. The key is shown once. OAuth 2.0 for partners. | API key in the query stringAPI key in the query string (?api_key=). Up to 25 named admin keys per account plus client-level keys per client. A Default admin key is created at first login, including on the trial. | |
| 200/min default; enrichment 1,000/minPer team and per endpoint, in minute, hour and day windows at once. Default on Basic and Professional: 200 a minute, 400 an hour, 2,000 a day (Organization 600 an hour, 6,000 a day). Enrichment on paid plans: 1,000 a minute with no hourly or daily cap. Search on paid plans: 200 a minute, 6,000 an hour, 50,000 a day. | 60 to 120/min by tierPer account, shared by all admin keys. The docs list Standard at 60 a minute, 1,000 an hour, burst 10 a second, and Pro at 120 a minute, 3,000 an hour, burst 20 a second, without saying which plan maps to which tier. A trial key's responses carried a limit header of 200 per window of about a minute on 25 Oct 2026. Three analytics endpoints allow 10 calls per 60 seconds. | |
| Per-request only, no event subscriptionsPer-request only: phone reveals and waterfall enrichment results go to the webhook URL you pass, or you poll for them (kept 30 days). No event-subscription webhooks are documented. | Event webhooks from ProEvent webhooks from Pro: email sent, open, link click, reply, bounce, unsubscribe, lead category change, campaign status change and more. They can be set per user, per client or per campaign. | |
YesOfficial remote server at https://mcp.apollo.io/mcp over Streamable HTTP with OAuth 2.0; a client that cannot open a browser can use an API key. Also offered as a built-in connector in ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Replit and Cursor. Apollo prohibits AI model training through it. | YesOfficial server at https://mcp.smartlead.ai/sse with the API key in the URL. SSE transport only; the help article sets it up in Claude Desktop. A trial key listed 168 tools on 25 Oct 2026, covering campaigns, leads, mailboxes, master inbox, analytics and SmartProspect search. | |
| 250 sends/day on Free and BasicDaily email sends: 250 on Free and Basic, unlimited on Professional and Organization. Mailboxes: 1 per user on Free and Basic; unlimited Google and Microsoft mailboxes plus 5 SMTP mailboxes per user on Professional, plus 15 on Organization. | 6,000 sends/mo on BaseMonthly sends: 6,000 on Base, 90,000 on Pro, 150,000 on Smart, 500,000 on Prime. Stored contacts: 2,000, 30,000, then unlimited. Unlimited email accounts on every plan, with sending rotated across the mailboxes in a campaign. | |
| Warmup and mailbox buying from BasicDeliverability Suite and Email Warmup, plus domain and mailbox purchasing, on Basic and above. Apollo's pricing FAQ says credits pay for email warmup and for domains and mailboxes. | Warmup pool on every planA warmup pool on every plan: Foundation on Base, Growth on Pro, Premium on Smart and Prime. Mailboxes and domains can be bought in the app, billed outside the plan (from US$3.99 a mailbox a month). A campaign setting pauses sending at a 5% bounce rate. | |
| 1 credit/email, 8 per mobileA database of over 240 million contacts and 30 million companies. A work email costs 1 credit per match and a mobile number 8 credits. People search costs 0 credits on paid plans and returns no emails or phones. | SmartProspect, emails add-on US$59/moSmartProspect, described in the app as 270M+ verified profiles. Emails stay masked until fetched. Verified prospect emails are a US$59 a month add-on on Base (2,000) and Pro (30,000), and included on Smart (50,000) and Prime (170,000). | |
| Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Outreach, SalesloftSalesforce, HubSpot and Pipedrive CRM integrations, Outreach and Salesloft, SendGrid and Mailgun, Slack, LLM integrations (MCP) and workflow integrations. Email: Gmail and Microsoft on Free, all email providers on paid plans. | HubSpot (Beta), Clay, Listkit, LeadMagicIn the app on 25 Oct 2026, Native Connections listed HubSpot (Beta), Clay, Listkit, LeadMagic and OutboundSync. More tools connect through its SmartAgent AI Connections. | |
| ISO 27001 and SOC 2Its privacy policy says Apollo is certified under ISO 27001 and SOC 2. The pricing page carries a GDPR Compliant label. | No certification namedNo security certification is named on its pricing page or in its API docs. | |
| No client workspaces listedNo client-workspace or white-label option is listed on Apollo's pricing page. | Client workspaces US$29/mo each from ProClient workspaces with white-label at US$29 a month each from Pro; Prime includes 3. Each client can have its own API key and view-only dashboard access. | |
| Deals, tasks and US dialerDeals, tasks, lead management and a US dialer (1 credit per 30 seconds) in the plans. Free and Basic include 150 minutes of call recording. | CRM from Pro; dialer from US$9/moCRM access from Pro. SmartDialer is a separate credit plan from US$9 a month. | |
| Data, sequences, CRM, calling per seatSmall sales teams that want prospect data, sequences, CRM and calling in one per-seat app. | High-volume cold email and agenciesHigh-volume cold email across many mailboxes, and agencies sending for clients. |
No row matches in this view.
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).
$0
Free
US$0, no time limit.
75 credits a seat a month on monthly billing, or 900 a seat a year on annual. 2 sequences per team, 1 mailbox per user, 250 email sends a day. The plan card lists API Access, but people search through the API returned 403 on a Free account on 25 Oct 2026.
$65/mo
billed monthly
$49/mo
billed annually
Per seat: US$65 a month billed monthly (2,500 credits a seat a month), or US$49 a month billed annually (30,000 credits a seat a year, granted upfront).
Unlimited sequences, 1 mailbox per user, 250 email sends a day, deliverability suite and email warmup, API enrichment. 14-day trial.
$99/mo
billed monthly
$79/mo
billed annually
Per seat: US$99 a month billed monthly (4,000 credits a seat a month), or US$79 a month billed annually (48,000 credits a seat a year).
Unlimited sequences with A/Z testing, unlimited Google and Microsoft mailboxes plus 5 SMTP mailboxes per user, unlimited daily sends. 14-day trial.
$119/mo
annual billing only
$119/mo
billed annually
Per seat, minimum 3 seats, annual billing only: US$119 a month billed annually (72,000 credits a seat a year).
The monthly view shows US$149 a seat a month marked Annual Billing Only. Unlimited Google and Microsoft mailboxes plus 15 SMTP mailboxes per user, unlimited daily sends.
$39/mo
billed monthly
$32/mo
billed annually
6,000 sends a month, 2,000 stored contacts, unlimited email accounts, Foundation warmup pool.
No API and no webhooks.
$94/mo
billed monthly
$78/mo
billed annually
90,000 sends a month, 30,000 stored contacts, API and webhooks, CRM access, Growth warmup pool.
Client workspaces US$29 a month each.
$174/mo
billed monthly
$144/mo
billed annually
150,000 sends a month, unlimited stored contacts, 50,000 verified prospect emails included, call access with a CSM, Premium warmup pool.
$379/mo
billed monthly
$315/mo
billed annually
500,000 sends a month, unlimited stored contacts, 170,000 verified prospect emails, 3 SmartServers, 3 or more client workspaces, a dedicated manager and a private Slack channel.
Billed monthly or annually.
If neither fits: Whichever you pick, verify a list before you upload it. Smartlead pauses a campaign at a 5% bounce rate, and a clean list keeps any sender's mailboxes healthy.
How to verify email addresses before you sendChoosing between Apollo and Smartlead, 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.
Apollo has a Free plan with no time limit: 75 credits a seat a month (900 a seat a year on annual billing), 2 sequences per team, 1 mailbox per user and 250 email sends a day. Its plan card lists API Access, but people search through the API returned 403 on a Free account on 25 Oct 2026. Paid plans start at US$49 a seat a month billed annually. Smartlead has no free plan, only a 14-day trial.
Apollo's privacy policy says it is certified under ISO 27001 and SOC 2. Its terms limit how the data is used: no resale, no use of the API with LinkedIn automation tools, and Apollo prohibits AI model training through its MCP server. Smartlead names no security certification on its pricing page or in its API docs.
Apollo's Free plan can send: 2 sequences per team, 1 mailbox per user and 250 email sends a day, with Gmail mailboxes only (paid plans add Microsoft and other providers). Smartlead has no free plan; its 14-day trial needs no card and allowed 2,500 sends and 1,250 stored contacts in the app on 25 Oct 2026. Smartlead's paid plans start at US$39 a month billed monthly.
Both include warmup. Apollo lists Deliverability Suite and Email Warmup on Basic and above, and its pricing FAQ says warmup uses credits. Smartlead includes a warmup pool on every plan, and the tier rises with the plan: Foundation on Base, Growth on Pro, Premium on Smart and Prime.
Divide your daily send target by the cap you set per mailbox; our launch checklist caps each mailbox at 15 sends a day. Smartlead does not charge per mailbox: every plan includes unlimited email accounts. On Apollo, Free and Basic allow 1 mailbox per user and 250 sends a day; Professional allows unlimited Google and Microsoft mailboxes plus 5 SMTP mailboxes per user.
Yes, as two steps: find and enrich contacts in Apollo, then load them into Smartlead to send. Apollo supports CSV export and API enrichment. Smartlead takes leads by CSV upload, from saved lists, or through its API at up to 400 leads per request. Neither tool lists the other as a native integration: not Apollo's pricing page, and not Smartlead's in-app integrations list on 25 Oct 2026.
Read from apollo.io/pricing, smartlead.ai/pricing and each tool's API docs. Verified 25 Oct 2026.
