Apollo vs Lusha (2026): which prospecting tool gives you more for the money?
Pick Apollo.io if you want a full prospecting and outreach platform with a large credit allowance per seat, sequences, a dialer and call recording in one subscription; pick Lusha if you want a lighter tool for quick email and phone lookups, with a cheaper entry point, a strong Chrome extension and a team plan that bundles 5 seats. Apollo gives far more credits per dollar; Lusha is simpler to roll out.
Disclosure: I do not resell either tool. At OneGTM I find emails and phones through Deepline and Clay waterfalls and send on Instantly and HeyReach, so I compare data vendors constantly. Every price below was checked on Apollo's and Lusha's pricing pages on 1 November 2026.
Key takeaways
- Apollo Basic is $49 per seat per month billed annually ($59 monthly) with 30,000 credits per seat per year.
- Lusha Pro is $52.45 a month billed yearly ($69.90 monthly) for 7,200 credits a year and 2 seats.
- A phone number costs 8 credits on Apollo; Lusha's docs list 5 credits per phone and 1 per email.
- Lusha Premium is $299.95 a month billed yearly ($399.90 monthly) with 5 seats and 40,800 credits a year.
- Apollo Organization is $119 per seat per month annually with a 3 seat minimum; Lusha Scale is custom priced.
Apollo.io
Apollo.io
A prospecting database plus sequences, dialer, call recording, deal management and workflows, with credits pooled across the team.
Best for: Teams that want data and outbound execution in one tool
Pricing: Free $0 (1,200 credits per seat per year); Basic $49 per seat per month annually or $59 monthly; Professional $79 or $99; Organization $119 or $149 (min 3 seats).
Lusha
Lusha
A contact data platform known for its Chrome extension, with verified emails and phones, bulk enrichment, signals and email sequences.
Best for: Reps and small teams who mostly need fast lookups
Pricing: Free $0 (40 credits a month); Starter $37.45 a month yearly or $49.90 monthly; Pro $52.45 or $69.90 (2 seats); Premium $299.95 or $399.90 (5 seats); Scale custom.
Also consider
ZoomInfo
A full GTM data platform with intent, website visitors and workflows on top of contact data.
Best for: Mid-market and enterprise teams that want one data vendor
Pricing: Quote-based; priced on features, licenses and credit usage.
Cognism
A contact data provider focused on phone-verified mobiles, with Bombora intent on Pro.
Best for: Teams that cold call and want high mobile accuracy
Pricing: Quote-based; Standard and Pro packages with 5 seats included.
Prices are from each vendor's site as of November 2026 and change often, so check before you buy. This is an opinionated list, not a paid ranking. Some links are referral links that may earn us a credit; that never changes what you pay or who makes the list.
Apollo.io vs Lusha at a glance
| Tool | Best for | Starting price |
|---|---|---|
| Apollo.io | Teams that want data and outbound execution in one tool | Free $0 (1,200 credits per seat per year) |
| Lusha | Reps and small teams who mostly need fast lookups | Free $0 (40 credits a month) |
| ZoomInfo | Mid-market and enterprise teams that want one data vendor | Quote-based |
| Cognism | Teams that cold call and want high mobile accuracy | Quote-based |
Starting prices as published by each vendor in November 2026.
Apollo.io vs Lusha: side by side
| Apollo.io | Lusha | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes, 1,200 credits per seat per year, 2 sequences | Yes, 40 credits a month, 1 seat |
| Entry paid plan | Basic $49 per seat per month annually, $59 monthly | Starter $37.45 a month yearly, $49.90 monthly (1 seat) |
| Pricing unit | Per seat | Per plan, with seats bundled (1, 2 or 5) |
| Credits on entry plan | 30,000 per seat per year (annual); 2,500 per seat per month (monthly) | 4,800 a year (yearly); 400 a month (monthly) |
| Email reveal | 1 credit | 1 credit (per Lusha docs) |
| Phone reveal | 8 credits | 5 credits (per Lusha docs) |
| Rollover | No, credits expire each billing cycle | Monthly Pro and Premium roll over up to 2x |
| Sequences | 2 on Free, unlimited on paid | Email sequence automation listed on all plans |
| Dialer / call recording | US dialer on paid plans; 150 to 8,000 recording minutes by tier | Call recordings and AI insights listed in Free features |
| Intent | 1 topic (Free), 6 (Basic, Professional), 12 (Organization) | 5 topics (Starter to Premium), 25 (Scale) |
| SSO | Organization | Scale |
As published on each vendor's own site on November 1, 2026. Plans and prices change often, so check before you buy.
Apollo.io vs Lusha pricing compared
For a 5-rep team on annual billing, Apollo Basic costs $245 a month and Professional $395 a month. Lusha Premium covers the same 5 seats for $299.95 a month. The credit gap is large: 5 Apollo Basic seats get 150,000 credits a year (about 18,750 phone reveals at 8 credits each), while Lusha Premium gets 40,800 credits a year (about 8,160 phone reveals at 5 credits each, per Lusha's docs). If your team reveals phones in volume, Apollo is cheaper per contact.
For one person, Lusha Starter at $37.45 a month billed yearly is the cheapest paid entry, but 4,800 credits a year is only 960 phone reveals. Apollo Basic at $49 per seat per month annually gives 30,000 credits, which is enough for most solo outbound. On monthly billing, Apollo grants 2,500 credits per seat per month on Basic, and Lusha grants 400 a month on Starter. Apollo credits do not roll over; Lusha's monthly Pro and Premium plans roll over up to twice the monthly cap.
- Apollo Free: $0, 1,200 credits per seat per year granted monthly, 2 sequences, 250 emails a day.
- Apollo Basic: $49 per seat per month annually or $59 monthly, 30,000 credits per seat per year, unlimited sequences, CRM integrations, US dialer.
- Apollo Professional: $79 annually or $99 monthly per seat, 48,000 credits per seat per year, A/Z testing, 4,000 call recording minutes, unlimited mailboxes.
- Apollo Organization: $119 annually or $149 monthly per seat, 3 seat minimum, 72,000 credits per seat per year, SSO, custom reports.
- Lusha Starter and Pro: $37.45 and $52.45 a month yearly ($49.90 and $69.90 monthly); 4,800 and 7,200 credits a year; Pro adds 2 seats, API, signals and webhooks.
- Lusha Premium: $299.95 a month yearly or $399.90 monthly, 5 seats, 40,800 credits a year, team management and credit allocation; Scale is custom with 50%+ off per credit and SSO.
Features compared
Apollo is built to run outbound end to end: find contacts, enrich them, sequence them, call them and track deals. Lusha is built around finding and enriching contacts quickly, especially from LinkedIn and CRM pages through its extension, and pushing them into your CRM or sequencer. Lusha has added sequences and call features, but Apollo's execution side is deeper.
- Data access: both offer verified emails and phones with search filters. Apollo adds Google Maps business search and lookalikes; Lusha offers contact and company lookalikes from Starter.
- Outreach: Apollo includes unlimited sequences on paid plans, A/Z testing on Professional, deliverability tools and domain and mailbox purchasing. Lusha lists email sequence automation.
- Calling: Apollo has a US dialer on paid plans (1 credit per 30 seconds) and an Advanced Dialer add-on at $119 per team per month annually. Lusha does not list a dialer.
- Enrichment: Apollo includes CSV, CRM and API enrichment, waterfall enrichment and job change enrichment on paid plans. Lusha includes bulk and CSV enrichment, with API from Pro.
- Extension: both have Chrome extensions. Lusha's works on LinkedIn, CRMs, any website and Gmail; Apollo's covers prospecting, Gmail and Salesforce.
- Admin: Apollo pools credits across the team with per-user caps. Lusha Premium adds team groups and credit allocation.
- Compliance: Lusha lists GDPR, CCPA, SOC 2, ISO 27701 and do-not-call list support. Apollo states GDPR compliance and ISO 27001 and SOC 2 certification.
Who should pick Apollo.io
- You want data, sequences, dialer and call recording in one subscription.
- You reveal a lot of phones and emails and want the most credits per dollar.
- You are a founder or small team starting outbound and want a usable free plan.
- You want workflows, lead scoring and inbound routing alongside prospecting.
Who should pick Lusha
- Reps mostly look up contacts while browsing LinkedIn or your CRM.
- You already have a sequencer and only need a data layer.
- You want 5 seats in one bundle at a fixed $299.95 a month on yearly billing.
- You want unused credits on monthly plans to roll over.
The verdict
For most small sales teams, Apollo is the better value. Basic at $49 per seat per month annually includes more credits than Lusha Premium spreads across 5 seats, plus sequences and a dialer you would otherwise buy separately.
Lusha makes sense when reps want quick lookups inside LinkedIn and the CRM and you already run outreach elsewhere. Its plans are simple to buy and the 5-seat Premium bundle is easy to budget.
I do not rely on a single database for either. I run Deepline and Clay waterfalls that try several providers for each record, and I send from Instantly and HeyReach. If you buy one tool, test both on a sample of your own target accounts and compare hit rates before committing to an annual plan.
Sources
Every price and feature claim above was checked on these pages on November 1, 2026. Something out of date? Email team@getaob.com.
Apollo.io vs Lusha FAQ
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