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AI SDR software · 11 alternatives

Apollo.io alternatives: 11 compared

Sebastiaan Smits Editor Sebastiaan Smits · Published October 22, 2026 · Updated October 22, 2026

Teams look past Apollo.io when monthly credits expire unused, when one plan level has to cover every seat, or when they want an agent to run outbound instead of reps working inside a database. Most go to Amplemarket or Unify for a like-for-like data and sequencing platform, and to Instantly or Lemlist when sending is the main job.

Short answer: The closest replacements for Apollo.io in our AI SDR software ranking are Amplemarket, Unify and Lemlist. Choose Amplemarket if you want data, sequencing and a dialer on an annual contract with a capped renewal. All 11 alternatives below are ranked products from Best AI SDR Software in 2026, and each says where it differs from Apollo.io and when Apollo.io is still the better choice.

Visibility in our rankings can be paid for. Payment moves a vendor's position within the shortlist; it never adds a vendor, and it never changes a word of the review or of this page. The first three alternatives go to challengers, vendors outside the best-known brands in a category, wherever the category has them; the established names follow in their ranked order. How it works: placement disclosure · editorial process.

Apollo.io at a glance

  • Headquarters: United States
  • Pricing model: Free + paid tiers (credits)
  • Pricing: Four plans: Free, Basic, Professional and Custom. Credits are pooled across the team and reset each billing cycle without rollover; every seat on an account shares one plan level. Paid prices were not shown in the page text we fetched.
  • Free option: Free plan
  • Built for: Teams wanting data and sequencer together
  • Wrong for: A team that wants an autonomous agent handling replies and meeting booking. It also fits poorly where mixed plan levels per user matter. Look at AiSDR or Artisan.
  • Place in our ranking: #4 of 12
  • Website: apollo.io

Facts from our AI SDR software ranking, last checked October 22, 2026.

Why buyers look past Apollo.io

  1. Credits reset every billing cycle

    Apollo's pricing FAQ says unused credits expire at the end of each cycle and do not carry over, including purchased add-on credits. Add-on credits renew automatically each cycle until the slider is set back to zero. A team with uneven months pays for capacity it cannot bank.

  2. One plan level for the whole account

    All seats on an Apollo account sit on the same plan, so mixed Basic and Professional seats are not possible. The pricing page advises choosing the plan that fits the heaviest user, or asking about a Custom plan. One power user can set the price for everyone.

  3. Plans are for internal use only

    The pricing FAQ says standard plans may not power an external product, be shared with customers or be resold. Those uses need a separate agreement at custom pricing. Agencies and data products should read that before building on Apollo.

11 alternatives at a glance

Closest replacement first. The last column is our place in the full 12-product ranking.

#AlternativeHeadquartersPricingKey differenceSwitch ifOur rank
1AmplemarketUnited StatesPer plan / month (annual term); free trialAI sales platform with signals, dialer and Duo copilotyou want data, sequencing and a dialer on an annual contract with a capped renewal#6
2UnifyUnited StatesPer seat / month plus credits; free planChat-driven outbound with signals, data and sequencingyou want seat-based pricing with a free tier and signals-driven plays#1
3LemlistFranceFlat or per user / month; free trialMultichannel outreach with a lead database and AI agentsyou want a flat price for many users and multichannel steps beyond email#7
4InstantlyUnited StatesPer plan / month (volume tiers); noneCold email sending with warmup, leads and AI repliesyour main job is high-volume cold email across many mailboxes#2
5ClayUnited StatesUsage-based (actions and credits); free planSpreadsheet-style data enrichment and AI research workflowsyou want to build your own enrichment and research workflows from many data providers#3
6SmartleadAustraliaPer plan / month (send volume); free trialCold email infrastructure with agents and master inboxyou run cold email for several clients and need workspaces and mailbox infrastructure#8
7AiSDRUnited StatesPer contact prospected; noneAI outbound agent priced per person prospectedyou want an agent to run outbound and prefer paying per person reached#5
8ArtisanUnited StatesQuote only; noneAva, an AI BDR for end-to-end outboundyou want an autonomous BDR with hands-on onboarding and accept a quote-only price#10
911xUnited StatesQuote only; noneDigital worker agents for outbound, inbound and expansionyou want agents across outbound and inbound, including voice, under a signed agreement#12
10WarmlyUnited StatesAnnual or quarterly subscription; noneWebsite visitor identification with AI chat and outreachyour site already has traffic worth identifying and you want to act on those visitors#9
11QualifiedUnited StatesQuote only (sessions and contacts); nonePiper, an AI SDR agent for inbound pipelineyour pipeline comes from inbound web traffic and you run Salesforce#11

What each alternative does differently

1. Amplemarket

AI sales platform with signals, dialer and Duo copilot · United States

Annual terms from a published Startup price, with two users included and Growth and Elite quoted. Email credits are allotted per user per year (13,500 on Startup), not pooled monthly. The terms renew automatically unless you give 60 days' written notice, and cap renewal increases at 7%.

Switch from Apollo.io if you want data, sequencing and a dialer on an annual contract with a capped renewal.

Pricing: Startup is $600 per month on an annual term with 2 users and 27,000 contacts; Growth (4 users, 140,000 contacts) and Elite (10 users, 400,000 contacts) are custom quotes. Every plan includes a free trial. (free trial)

Full review: #6 of 12 in our ranking · Visit Amplemarket →

2. Unify

Chat-driven outbound with signals, data and sequencing · United States

Resells data from more than 40 providers rather than one owned database. Credits are allotted per seat, top-ups carry over up to 12 months, and a hard cap pauses actions instead of charging. HubSpot and Salesforce sync is read-only until the custom Business plan.

Switch from Apollo.io if you want seat-based pricing with a free tier and signals-driven plays.

Pricing: Free plan with limited credits and up to 3 seats; Base is $20 per seat per month with 800 credits; Pro is $60 per seat per month with 2,400 credits; Business is custom and billed annually. (free plan)

Full review: #1 of 12 in our ranking · Visit Unify →

3. Lemlist

Multichannel outreach with a lead database and AI agents · France

A Paris company (Lempire SAS) whose Email plan allows unlimited users and 50,000 emails a month, while Multichannel adds LinkedIn, SMS and a dialer per user. Lead data is an add-on: 2,000 credits buy 400 emails or 100 phone numbers. Unused fees are not refunded.

Switch from Apollo.io if you want a flat price for many users and multichannel steps beyond email.

Pricing: Email plan $55 per month billed annually ($69 monthly) with unlimited users and 50,000 emails; Multichannel $87 per user per month annually ($109 monthly); Enterprise is custom. Data add-on from $16 and signals from $21 per month. (free trial)

Full review: #7 of 12 in our ranking · Visit Lemlist →

4. Instantly

Cold email sending with warmup, leads and AI replies · United States

Separates sending from data. Outreach plans include unlimited email accounts and warmup, with 5,000 emails a month on the entry tier, while lead credits are bought on their own plan (1,500 a month at $47). Plans scale by email volume, not seats. Renewals follow the then-current price.

Switch from Apollo.io if your main job is high-volume cold email across many mailboxes.

Pricing: Outreach Growth plan $47 per month (unlimited email accounts and warmup, 5,000 emails a month, 1,000 uploaded contacts); lead credits start at $47 per month; bundles start at $94 per month and the Agency bundle is $555. (none)

Full review: #2 of 12 in our ranking · Visit Instantly →

5. Clay

Spreadsheet-style data enrichment and AI research workflows · United States

Meters two things: actions for platform work, which reset monthly, and data credits, which roll over up to twice the monthly amount on Launch and Growth. It is built on tables and provider waterfalls, with a native sequencer and a 14-day trial. Setup is closer to building than to opening an inbox.

Switch from Apollo.io if you want to build your own enrichment and research workflows from many data providers.

Pricing: Free plan with 500 actions and 100 data credits a month; Launch is listed from $167 per month and Growth from $446 per month, both metered in actions and data credits; Enterprise is custom. (free plan)

Full review: #3 of 12 in our ranking · Visit Clay →

6. Smartlead

Cold email infrastructure with agents and master inbox · Australia

Run from Sydney by 521 Products Pty Ltd. Plans are sized by contacts and monthly sends, from 6,000 on Base to 500,000 on Prime. Mailboxes bought through SmartSenders and extra verified prospect emails are add-ons.

Switch from Apollo.io if you run cold email for several clients and need workspaces and mailbox infrastructure.

Pricing: Base $39, Pro $94, Unlimited Smart $174 and Unlimited Prime $379 per month, sized by monthly sends (6,000 to 500,000); annual billing saves 17%; a free trial needs no card. Managed SmartServices plans are quoted. (free trial)

Full review: #8 of 12 in our ranking · Visit Smartlead →

7. AiSDR

AI outbound agent priced per person prospected · United States

Charges $1.50 for each person prospected, billed daily, with no seat fee and no contract on the pay-as-you-go path. Team plans for 1,000 or more contacts a month run on quarterly contracts. Its agent, Ami, builds and runs campaigns and handles replies, so the buyer reviews instead of builds.

Switch from Apollo.io if you want an agent to run outbound and prefer paying per person reached.

Pricing: Pay as you go at $1.50 per person prospected, charged daily with no contract; team plans for 1,000-plus contacts a month are quoted and priced up to 40% lower per contact; a warmed-up mailbox costs $33. (none)

Full review: #5 of 12 in our ranking · Visit AiSDR →

8. Artisan

Ava, an AI BDR for end-to-end outbound · United States

Ava, the AI BDR, sends, replies and books meetings on its own. Plans are scoped to about 2,500 or 6,000 leads contacted a month and carry no public price. Each plan includes onboarding with a customer success manager in a shared Slack channel. The dialer is for reps and is billed per seat.

Switch from Apollo.io if you want an autonomous BDR with hands-on onboarding and accept a quote-only price.

Pricing: Quote only. Team (about 2,500 leads contacted a month), Scale (about 6,000) and Enterprise are scoped to each buyer; all plans include the full platform and CSM onboarding, with an AI dialer sold per seat. (none)

Full review: #10 of 12 in our ranking · Visit Artisan →

9. 11x

Digital worker agents for outbound, inbound and expansion · United States

Sells digital worker agents across voice, chat, email, social and SMS, including an AI phone agent for inbound calls. No price is published, and the terms apply through signed order forms, so expect a sales process and an agreement instead of card checkout.

Switch from Apollo.io if you want agents across outbound and inbound, including voice, under a signed agreement.

Pricing: Not published; the site offers a demo and a Try Voice AI button, and a pricing page we tried returned not found. Terms refer to signed order forms. (none)

Full review: #12 of 12 in our ranking · Visit 11x →

10. Warmly

Website visitor identification with AI chat and outreach · United States

Starts from the website visitor, not a prospect search: the entry product identifies who is on your site and routes alerts to Slack and the CRM. Annual or quarterly subscriptions include 10,000 credits a month, and a signals package is a $10,000 yearly add-on.

Switch from Apollo.io if your site already has traffic worth identifying and you want to act on those visitors.

Pricing: AI Web-Deanonymization from $10,000 a year, Inbound Chat from $20,000 and AI Inbound Autopilot from $30,000, each from 10,000 credits a month; quarterly billing is $4,875, $6,500 and $9,750; add-ons are $10,000 a year each. (none)

Full review: #9 of 12 in our ranking · Visit Warmly →

11. Qualified

Piper, an AI SDR agent for inbound pipeline · United States

Piper works inbound: it talks to visitors on your site and emails inbound leads. Plans are sized by monthly web sessions (250,000 on Premier) and active email contacts, with no public price. The pricing page lists no outbound prospect search, and the site footer carries a Salesforce, Inc. copyright notice.

Switch from Apollo.io if your pipeline comes from inbound web traffic and you run Salesforce.

Pricing: Quote only. Premier covers 250,000 monthly web sessions and 2,500 monthly active email contacts, Enterprise 2 million and 10,000, and Ultimate 5 million and 24,000 with a dedicated IP. (none)

Full review: #11 of 12 in our ranking · Visit Qualified →

When Apollo.io is still the right choice

Apollo.io is still the right choice when you want contact data, a sequencer and a dialer under one login at a low entry cost. The free Starter plan has no time limit, the database holds 240 million contacts and 30 million companies, and the Custom plan adds SSO and API access. A team whose seats all need the same features also loses nothing from the single plan level.

What to expect when you switch from Apollo.io

  1. Sync contacts before the account ends

    Apollo's terms give you a perpetual licence to contact data you incorporated into your own records during the term, such as by syncing to a CRM or adding it to a campaign. After termination, uploaded information may be destroyed. Push the records you need into your CRM first.

  2. Time the exit to the end of the cycle

    Paid subscriptions renew for an equal period unless either party gives written notice of non-renewal at least 30 days before the term ends. Cancellations take effect at the end of the current plan term, and downgrades earn no refund. Credits expire then anyway, so spend them first.

  3. Export in batches of up to 10,000

    Without a record selection limit you can select and export up to 10,000 leads in one click. With a limit you save records in smaller batches, then bulk-export everything saved at once. Record the limit on your plan before planning the export.

Questions and answers

Can I keep the contacts I pulled from Apollo after I cancel?

Yes, for records you incorporated into your own systems, under the perpetual licence in section 2 of Apollo's terms. It covers internal business purposes only and keeps the restrictions on use. Data that stayed only inside Apollo may be destroyed after termination, so sync it first.

How much notice do I need to cancel Apollo?

30 days' written notice of non-renewal before the end of the subscription term, according to the terms of service. You can send it through account settings where available. The pricing FAQ adds that cancellations take effect at the end of the current plan term, so an annual plan runs to its end.

Do unused Apollo credits roll over if I switch?

No. Unused credits expire at the end of each billing cycle, and that applies to plan credits and purchased add-on credits alike. Use them before the cycle ends, or remove the add-on credits before the next renewal date so they do not charge again.

Can I downgrade an annual Apollo plan mid-term?

Not on an annual plan: mid-cycle downgrades on annual plans are not permitted. Switching from annual to monthly means cancelling and waiting for the term to end. On other plans a downgrade takes effect immediately, with no refund for unused time.

Can I drop to the free plan instead of leaving?

Yes. The pricing FAQ says that when a trial ends you can move to the free Starter plan, which has no time limit. Free accounts connect Gmail only, and Apollo may deactivate and delete data from a non-paying account after six months of inactivity.

Can I use Apollo data inside a product I sell?

No, not under standard plans. The pricing FAQ states that plans are for internal business use and that powering external products, sharing with customers or reselling needs a separate agreement with custom pricing. Ask Apollo for that agreement before building on the data.

Sources

Prices, plan limits and product facts about Apollo.io on this page were checked against the vendors' own pages on October 22, 2026. Vendors change both without notice, so treat the figures as of that date.

Who wrote this

Sebastiaan Smits Sebastiaan Smits, Founder, wrote, edited and fact-checked this page. Founder of The Interregnum and of 2 Steps Ahead, an AI search visibility agency. Editorially responsible for every page here; research and drafting are AI-assisted. Last reviewed October 22, 2026. How we review.