Apollo.io vs Hunter

Updated November 2026 · AppBreakup editorial

Apollo.io

B2B contact database and outbound sales platform with built-in email sequences and dialer.

Free plan + paid

Visit Apollo.io Apollo.io profile

Hunter

Email finder and verifier that also sends cold email sequences from your own inbox.

Free plan + paid

Visit Hunter Hunter profile

The short answer

Apollo.io suits startups and sales teams that want a large contact database with phone numbers, email sequences and a dialer in one product. Hunter suits marketers, link builders and small teams that mainly need accurate work email addresses, verification and simple cold email from their own inbox. The biggest difference is scope: Apollo is a full outbound sales platform, Hunter is an email-first tool.

Apollo.io or Hunter: our take

Apollo.io starts from its database of 240M+ contacts and 30M+ accounts. Reps filter by role, company size and industry, reveal verified emails and phone numbers, and send prospects into email sequences, a dialer or a CRM sync. A Chrome extension shows contact details while browsing, enrichment updates existing CRM records, and AI assistants draft outreach and prioritise accounts. It integrates with Salesforce, HubSpot, Outreach and more, though API access is limited to custom plans.

Hunter started as a way to find the email addresses behind a company's domain, and that remains its core: Domain Search, Email Finder and Email Verifier. It has since added a company database with AI-assisted search, enrichment, buying signals and Sequences that send warmed-up cold emails from a connected Gmail or Outlook inbox. Extensions for Chrome, Firefox and Edge, a Google Sheets add-on, an API and an MCP server bring the data into other tools. It has no phone number data, and its sequences are basic compared with dedicated sales engagement tools.

Both are freemium and credit-based, and in both credits reset each cycle without rolling over. Apollo's free plan has no time limit, but it can only connect Gmail inboxes. Hunter's free plan gives 50 credits/month with no credit card, and paid plans start at $49/month (Starter, monthly). Hunter allows unlimited users on all plans, which makes it easy to share across a team, and lists GDPR and CCPA compliance. Data quality in Apollo varies by region and industry, as with every vendor in this space.

Pick Apollo.io if you run outbound sales and want calling, sequencing and a big prospect database in one tool. Pick Hunter if you need reliable email addresses for outreach, PR or link building, want to verify lists before sending, or prefer a simpler tool that the whole team can use.

Choose Apollo.io if…

Startups and small sales teams that want contact data and outreach sequencing in one affordable tool
Free plan with no time limit for light prospecting
Data, email sequences and dialer in one product

Choose Hunter if…

Small teams, marketers and link builders who need accurate work email addresses and simple cold email
Free plan with 50 credits a month and no credit card
Unlimited users on every plan

What is Apollo.io?

Apollo.io combines a large B2B contact and company database with the tools to act on it. Sales reps search for prospects by role, company size, industry and other filters, reveal verified emails and phone numbers, and then send them through email sequences, a dialer or a CRM sync without leaving the app. A Chrome extension shows contact details while browsing professional profiles and company sites, and enrichment keeps existing CRM records up to date. Newer features add AI research assistants and agents that draft outreach and prioritise accounts. Apollo is popular with startups and small sales teams because it has a free plan with no time limit and paid tiers far cheaper than older enterprise data vendors; usage is metered in credits that reset each billing cycle and don't roll over. It runs in the browser, with the Chrome extension and integrations for Salesforce, HubSpot and the major email providers. Data quality varies by region and industry, as with every vendor in this space.

What is Hunter?

Hunter started as a way to find the professional email addresses behind a company's website and is still best known for that. Domain Search lists the public addresses tied to a company domain, Email Finder guesses and checks a specific person's address from their name, and Email Verifier tests whether an address will bounce. Around that core it has added a B2B company database with filters and AI-assisted search, lead enrichment, buying signals, and Sequences for sending automated, warmed-up cold emails from a connected Gmail or Outlook inbox. A Chrome extension (also on Firefox and Edge), a Google Sheets add-on, CRM integrations, an API and an MCP server bring the data into other tools. It suits freelancers, small sales teams, marketers and link builders who mainly need reliable email addresses rather than phone numbers or a full sales platform. There's a free plan with a small monthly credit allowance; paid plans add more credits and connected inboxes, with users unlimited on every tier. Credits reset monthly and don't roll over.

Side by side

Attribute	Apollo.io	Hunter
Pricing	Free plan + paid	Free plan + paid
Open source	No	No
Self-hostable	No	No
Platforms	Web, Browser extension	Web, Browser extension
Best for	Startups and small sales teams that want contact data and outreach sequencing in one affordable tool	Small teams, marketers and link builders who need accurate work email addresses and simple cold email
Status	Active	Active

Verified facts, compared

Facts both apps publish, checked on each vendor's own site.

Fact	Apollo.io	Hunter
Free plan	Yes, no time limit	Yes, 50 credits a month
Credit rollover	No	No