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Apollo vs Lusha · build a list and send, or look up one contact at a time

Notes from GTM teamsWritten by people who run outboundWe use the tools we recommend.Updated Oct 26, 2026

The short answer

Pick Apollo if you want one login that finds contacts and sends email sequences, the sets of email steps that go out over days. Apollo charges a price per seat, and a seat is one user login. Pick Lusha if you look up a contact one at a time from LinkedIn or a CRM, the system a sales team keeps contacts in. Lusha’s small monthly plan comes with a Chrome extension, a browser add-on that shows contact details on the page you are viewing. Apollo charges credits, a unit you spend per contact found, for both emails and phone numbers, and its plans start at $49 a seat a month billed yearly. Lusha charges 1 credit for an email reveal, which just shows one contact’s email, and 5 credits for a phone number. Lusha’s smallest paid plan starts at $49.90 a month billed monthly. If sending at volume is the job, Apollo’s bigger credit pools and sequences fit better. If a rep needs a few phone numbers fast inside LinkedIn, Lusha’s small plan fits better.

our pick

Our pick

Apollo wins for a small team that wants to find contacts and send sequences from one login. It also bundles a dialer, a tool for calling contacts right from the browser. The Free plan already gives 900 credits a seat a year, granted monthly, and Basic starts at $49 a seat a month billed yearly. Lusha wins for a rep who looks up one contact at a time from LinkedIn or a CRM and wants a small seat plan. Starter is $49.90 a month billed monthly for 400 credits, and the Chrome extension works right inside LinkedIn.

What each tool does

Apollo

List build

Apollo finds people and lets you pay credits to see an email or phone number. You can also send email from the same login. Use another tool for the contacts Apollo can’t find.

Go to the website

How the two tools compare

	Apollo	Lusha · build a list and send, or look up one contact at a time
What it is	A database of people and companies with email sequences and a dialer, all in one login.	A contact lookup tool with a Chrome extension that shows an email or phone number on a LinkedIn or company page.
What you pay for	Credits for both emails and phone numbers. A verified email reveal costs 1 credit. The credit cost for a phone number is not published.	Credits too. An email reveal costs 1 credit and a phone number costs 5 credits.
Free plan	900 credits a seat a year, granted monthly.	40 credits a month on 1 seat.
Entry paid plan	Basic is $49 a seat a month billed yearly, or $65 a seat a month billed monthly, for 30,000 credits a seat a year on yearly billing.	Starter is $49.90 a month billed monthly, or $449.10 a year billed yearly, for 400 credits a month on 1 seat.
Mid plan	Professional is $79 a seat a month billed yearly, or $99 a seat a month billed monthly, for 48,000 credits a seat a year.	Professional is $69.90 a month billed monthly, or $629.10 a year billed yearly, about $52.43 a month, for 600 credits a month on 2 seats.
Top plan	Organization is $119 a seat a month billed yearly only, with a 3 seat minimum, for 72,000 credits a seat a year.	Premium is $399.90 a month billed monthly, or $3,599.10 a year billed yearly, for 3,400 credits a month on 5 seats. Teams past 5 users need a sales quote.
Seats	Priced a seat a month. Add seats at the same per seat price, and Organization needs 3 seats or more.	Seats come bundled in the plan. Free and Starter include 1 seat, Professional includes 2, and Premium includes 5.
Sending after you find contacts	Email sequences and a dialer sit in the same login as the database, so one tool finds and sends.	No sender is built in. Pair Lusha with a tool built to send email if a team needs to send at volume.
When it falls short	Skip Apollo if a team needs an API, a way for code to ask a service for data, that runs several finders in order, or if Apollo is meant to be the only data tool for a hard list.	Skip Lusha if a team sends at volume and bounces hurt. In Growth Cab’s 600 lead test, paid for by Prospeo, 49 of the emails Lusha marked valid were dead.

How to pick one if you only have 10 seconds

The math: Lusha Professional gives 600 credits a month billed monthly for $69.90. A phone number costs 5 credits, so 120 phone numbers × 5 credits = 600 credits, the full monthly allowance.
Apollo’s Free plan gives 900 credits a seat a year, granted monthly, so a small team can try list building and sending without paying.
Lusha’s Starter plan is $49.90 a month billed monthly for 400 credits on 1 seat. It fits a single rep doing lookups. A team that sends email at volume needs something else.
Apollo charges credits for phone numbers too, but the credit cost per number is not published, so budget with email reveals as the known number.
In Growth Cab’s 600 lead test, paid for by Prospeo, Lusha’s valid label passed on 87.4% of emails, so 49 of the emails it marked valid were dead.

Who should buy each one

Pick Apollo if

A team wants one login to find contacts and send email sequences, the sets of email steps that go out over days.
A small team wants to start free, since Apollo’s Free plan gives 900 credits a seat a year.
A team plans to grow past a handful of seats and wants a database built for list building.

Pick Lusha · build a list and send, or look up one contact at a time if

A rep looks up a contact one at a time from LinkedIn or a CRM and does not need a sender built in.
A small team wants a low monthly plan, since Starter is $49.90 a month billed monthly for 400 credits.
Phone numbers come first over volume email sending, even though a phone reveal costs 5 times an email reveal.

What users say

“Apollo goes first... because it’s the cheapest per-credit... easy 60% before you spend real money on the hard 40%.”

“C tier... Apollo... only for listbuilding”

Common questions

Is Apollo cheaper than Lusha?▾

For a single seat, yes on the entry plans. Apollo Basic is $49 a seat a month billed yearly for 30,000 credits a year. Lusha Starter is $49.90 a month billed monthly for 400 credits a month, or 4,800 a year. Apollo gives far more credits for a close price.

Does Lusha send email sequences?▾

No. Lusha is a lookup and enrichment tool with no sender built in. Pair it with a tool built to send email if a team needs to send.

How much does a phone number cost on each tool?▾

On Lusha, a phone number reveal costs 5 credits, 5 times an email reveal. Apollo also charges credits for phone numbers, but the exact credit cost per number is not published.

Does Apollo have a free plan?▾

Yes. Apollo’s Free plan gives 900 credits a seat a year, granted monthly. Lusha’s Free plan gives 40 credits a month on 1 seat.

Is Lusha accurate?▾

In Growth Cab’s 600 lead test, paid for by Prospeo, Lusha’s valid label passed on 87.4% of emails, so 49 of the emails it marked valid were dead. Test the tool against a team’s own list before sending at volume.

what to do next

What to do next

Count the contacts a team needs to find this month, then count the ones that need a phone number too. Match both totals against the credits above. Try Apollo Prices are from Apollo pricing and Lusha pricing. The test figures are from Growth Cab’s 600 lead test by Federico Donatone.