Lusha vs Apollo: The Real Comparison for B2B Sales Teams

If you're comparing Lusha and Apollo.io, you're probably looking for a B2B contact database and sales intelligence tool. Both platforms promise to help you find verified emails and phone numbers, but they take fundamentally different approaches—and they'll hit your wallet differently too.

After digging through both platforms, here's my take: Apollo is the better value for most sales teams, especially if you need outreach automation bundled in. Lusha wins if you want simpler pricing, better phone number accuracy, or a lighter-weight tool you can pair with your existing sales stack.

Let's break down exactly what you get with each.

Quick Comparison: Lusha vs Apollo at a Glance

Pricing Breakdown: The Numbers That Matter

Lusha Pricing

Lusha runs on a credit-based system. Every contact you reveal costs credits, and phone numbers eat up more credits than emails (10 credits for a mobile vs. 1 for an email).

• Free Plan: 5 credits/month with basic Chrome extension
• Pro Plan: Starts at $29/month (billed annually) for 480 credits/year
• Premium Plan: $51/month (billed annually) for 960 credits/year
• Scale Plan: Custom pricing, estimated around $95/user/month for enterprise features

The catch with Lusha: CRM integrations (Salesforce, HubSpot, etc.) are only available on the Scale plan. If you need to sync your data automatically, you're looking at enterprise pricing. On the lower tiers, you're exporting CSVs.

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Apollo.io Pricing

Apollo also uses credits, but their model is more generous—especially with the free plan.

• Free Plan: 50 credits/month with limited sequences
• Basic Plan: $49/user/month (annual) or $59/month (monthly)
• Professional Plan: $79/user/month (annual) or $99/month (monthly)
• Organization Plan: $119/user/month (annual) or $149/month (monthly)

Apollo's big advantage: even the Basic plan includes CRM integrations and email sequences. You're not just getting contact data—you're getting a full outbound sales platform.

The downside? Mobile credits cost more (8 credits per number), and heavy prospecting teams can burn through credits fast. Additional credits cost $0.20 each with a minimum purchase of 250.

Database Size and Data Quality

Both platforms claim massive databases, but the raw numbers don't tell the whole story.

Lusha's Database

Lusha recently expanded to 280M verified contacts. They claim 95% email accuracy and 90% phone accuracy. Their data is GDPR and CCPA compliant with SOC 2 Type II certification.

In practice? User reviews are mixed. Some report excellent results for North American contacts, while others complain about outdated phone numbers—especially for international markets. One Capterra reviewer noted that out of 100 contacts, they might only get 10 phone numbers, with 8 being accurate.

Lusha's strength is direct dial phone numbers for decision-makers. If you're doing cold calling and need mobile numbers, Lusha tends to outperform on quality (even if coverage is lower).

Apollo's Database

Apollo claims 275M+ contacts (some sources say 210M+ verified). They tout a 91% email accuracy rate through a seven-step verification process.

The reality? Apollo's database is massive but suffers from what users call the "ghost profile problem." Because it's so large, you'll find plenty of outdated records—people who've changed jobs, disconnected numbers, wrong email addresses. One G2 reviewer said they spend 20% of their prospecting time double-checking LinkedIn to verify Apollo's data.

Apollo's advantage is coverage. If you need to find contacts in niche industries or smaller companies, Apollo's sheer volume helps. But you'll want to verify before spending credits on exports.

Features: What Each Platform Actually Does

What Lusha Does Well

• Chrome Extension: Works on LinkedIn, company websites, and even in your calendar. Clean and fast.
• Direct Dials: Lusha's phone number quality is generally considered better than Apollo's for reaching actual mobile phones.
• Intent Signals: Available on Premium/Scale plans via Bombora partnership. Shows which companies are actively researching solutions like yours.
• Simplicity: If you just need contact data and already have an outreach tool (like Lemlist or Instantly), Lusha plugs in without adding complexity.

What Lusha doesn't do: robust email sequencing, built-in dialers, or advanced automation. It's primarily a data tool, not an all-in-one platform.

What Apollo Does Well

• Full Sales Platform: Database + sequencing + dialer + analytics in one tool. You can find a lead and email them without leaving Apollo.
• Email Sequences: Build multi-step outreach campaigns with A/B testing (Professional plan and up).
• Dialer: Built-in calling with recording and transcription (Professional and Organization plans).
• 65+ Filters: Technographics, job postings, funding rounds, revenue data, intent signals—Apollo has granular targeting.
• AI Features: AI-powered messaging, prospect recommendations, and workflow automation.

Apollo is trying to replace your data provider, outreach platform, and dialer in one subscription. If that sounds appealing, it's a compelling value proposition.

When to Choose Lusha

Pick Lusha if:

• You already have a sales engagement platform and just need better contact data
• Phone accuracy matters more than volume—you're doing cold calling
• You want simpler, more transparent pricing without getting locked into a massive platform
• Your team is small (1-5 people) and doesn't need advanced automation
• You're targeting European markets where GDPR compliance is critical

Get started with Lusha →

When to Choose Apollo

Pick Apollo if:

• You want an all-in-one platform for prospecting, emailing, and calling
• You need email sequencing and don't want to pay for a separate tool
• Your team is scaling and you need shared workflows, analytics, and reporting
• Volume matters more than per-contact accuracy—you're running high-volume outbound
• You want a generous free plan to test before committing

Apollo's free tier (50 credits/month) is genuinely useful for testing. Lusha's free plan (5 credits/month) is basically worthless beyond a quick demo.

The Hidden Costs Nobody Talks About

Lusha's Hidden Costs

• CRM integrations require Scale plan: Want to push data to Salesforce automatically? That's enterprise pricing.
• Credits burn fast: Phone numbers cost 10 credits each. If you're revealing 50 mobile numbers per month, that's 500 credits—more than the Pro plan provides.
• Advanced features are paywalled: CSV enrichment, bulk searches, intent signals, and API access all require Premium or Scale.

Apollo's Hidden Costs

• Per-action credits: Revealing a phone number costs 8 credits. Exporting to CRM uses export credits. It adds up faster than the subscription price suggests.
• Price increases: Users complain about Apollo changing rates frequently—what was $19/month for Basic is now $49+.
• Data quality variance: You might burn credits on outdated contacts, which effectively raises your cost-per-lead.

Data Accuracy: What Real Users Report

Both platforms claim high accuracy rates, but user reviews tell a more nuanced story.

Lusha users report: Email accuracy around 85-90% for North American contacts. Phone accuracy varies by region—strong in the US, weaker in Europe and APAC. Some users report significant issues with data freshness.

Apollo users report: High email deliverability when using their built-in verification. Mobile numbers are hit-or-miss—the database is so large that stale records are common. Some users report 60% error rates for phone numbers in certain markets.

Bottom line: neither platform has perfect data. Budget for verification tools like Findymail if email deliverability is critical, and always verify before burning credits on bulk exports.

Integration Ecosystem

Lusha Integrations

Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho, Pipedrive, Outreach, Salesloft, and MS Dynamics—but only on Scale plans. Lower tiers get CSV export and the Chrome extension.

Apollo Integrations

Salesforce, HubSpot, Outreach, Salesloft, Marketo, SendGrid, LinkedIn—available on all paid plans. API access is limited to Custom/Organization tiers.

If integrations matter, Apollo is more accessible. You don't need enterprise pricing to connect your CRM.

The Verdict: Which One Should You Buy?

For most B2B sales teams, Apollo is the better value. You get a larger feature set—database, sequencing, dialer, analytics—at a competitive price. The free plan is genuinely useful for testing, and Basic/Professional tiers include CRM integrations.

Choose Lusha if you:

• Only need contact data (you have outreach tools already)
• Prioritize phone number accuracy over volume
• Want simpler billing without per-action credit complexity

Choose Apollo if you:

• Want an all-in-one prospecting and outreach platform
• Need email sequencing without buying another tool
• Run high-volume outbound and need scale

Either way, start with the free plans to test data quality for your specific market before committing to annual contracts.

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Alternatives Worth Considering

If neither Lusha nor Apollo fits, here are a few other options:

• RocketReach: Good for individual lookups with pay-per-contact options. See our RocketReach pricing breakdown.
• Reply.io: Sales engagement platform with its own data enrichment.
• Clay: Waterfall enrichment that pulls from multiple data sources—better coverage but more complex setup.
• Instantly: If you just need cold email infrastructure, Instantly offers unlimited email accounts at a fraction of the cost.

For more on sales intelligence pricing, check out our Lusha pricing guide and Instantly pricing breakdown.