In the Hunter vs Apollo choice, the short answer is this: Hunter is a domain-first lookup and checking service that also sends cold email, while Apollo is a contact and company database with sequences, a dialer and CRM features built around it. Pick Hunter if your research begins on company websites, want to know where each address was published, and send modest volumes. Pick Apollo if you want to filter a large database by title and company, reveal direct dials alongside addresses, and run outreach from the same app. The sections below compare the two on finding, verification, data scope, outreach, credit costs and price.

The two products in one paragraph each

Hunter is built around one move: enter a company domain and see the email addresses published for it. Its Domain Search does exactly that, listing addresses with the public sources where each was found. Around it, Hunter has added an Email Finder for one person at a time, an Email Verifier, a B2B lead database called Discover, and Sequences for sending cold email from your own mailbox.

Apollo started from the other end. Its core is a searchable B2B database of people and companies, and the Apollo pricing page puts it at 240 million contacts and 30 million companies. Layered over that data are sequences, a dialer, call recording, lead scoring, website visitor identification and deal management. Email finding is one feature among many rather than the center of the product.

Hunter vs Apollo at a glance

Hunter Apollo
Starting point A company domain or a person’s name and domain Search filters across people and companies
Data source, per vendor Public web pages, with sources shown A contributor network the vendor calls proprietary
Database size, per vendor 150 million professional emails indexed 240 million contacts, 30 million companies
Phone numbers Not part of the core lookups Yes, at 8 credits per number
Verification Standalone verifier at 0.5 credits per check Charges only for emails it can verify
Outreach Sequences with 1 to 20 connected mailboxes by plan Sequences, dialer, meetings, call recording
Free plan 50 credits in each month 900 credits for each seat across a year
Entry paid plan Starter, 49 monthly or 34 per month paid yearly Basic, $49 for each seat monthly on an annual contract
Users Unlimited team members on all plans Priced per seat

The rows are expanded below, and they are where a Hunter vs Apollo decision usually gets made. Where a vendor states a figure about itself, such as database size, treat it as that vendor’s claim.

Finding emails

How Hunter finds them

Hunter offers two lookups. Domain Search lists the addresses it has indexed for a company, and each result shows where and when it was found. The Email Finder takes a full name and a domain and returns that person’s likely address with a confidence score. Hunter’s data page says the Email Finder marks each answer as either a pattern-based guess for that domain or an address with public sources, and that records with no remaining public source are dropped after six months.

That transparency is Hunter’s main selling point. When a prospect wants to know where you found them, you have a page to show.

How Apollo finds them

Apollo works from search filters. You narrow the records with filters (the pricing page lists basic filters on Free and advanced ones on paid plans), then reveal emails or phone numbers for the people you choose. Apollo’s credits page describes the data as coming from its own contributor network. Paid plans also list waterfall enrichment.

The practical difference: Hunter answers “who at this company has a public address?” Apollo answers “who in my target market fits this profile?” If you already have a list of target domains, Hunter’s route is shorter. If you are building the list from scratch, Apollo’s filters do that work.

Verification

Hunter sells verification as a separate tool. According to its verifier page, a check reviews the address format, marks throwaway, free webmail and catch-all domains, checks which mail servers the domain’s MX records name, then queries one of them live. Each address ends up with one of five statuses, from valid to unknown. You can verify one address, upload a list or connect a CRM, and Email Finder results include a verification step at no extra cost.

Apollo’s pricing and credits pages do not list a standalone verifier. Its credits page states that you are charged only for email addresses Apollo can verify, so the check is built into the reveal. If you bring in a list from elsewhere, you would verify it through enrichment or a separate tool. For background on why both steps exist, our explainer on finders and verifiers sets out what each one tests.

Database scope

Both vendors publish their own size figures. Hunter’s data page cites 150 million professional email addresses indexed and 30 million web pages crawled each day. Apollo’s site cites 240 million contacts and 30 million companies. These measure different things: Hunter counts email addresses it has seen on the web, while Apollo counts contact records that may include phones, titles and company details. Neither number tells you how many of the people you want are covered.

The honest way to compare coverage is to test it. Take 30 companies from your target list and look each one up in both tools. Count how many decision makers each returns and how many of those addresses pass verification.

Apollo also returns phone numbers, which Hunter’s core lookups do not. If your process includes cold calls, that alone may settle the choice.

Outreach features

Hunter Sequences

Hunter’s sending tool connects to your existing mailboxes. The Hunter pricing page ties the number of connected email accounts to the plan: 1 on Free, 3 on Starter, 10 on Growth and 20 on Scale. Recipients per sequence run from 500 on Free to 15,000 on Scale. The plan comparison also lists an AI writing assistant, SMTP and IMAP accounts, account rotation, link and open tracking, A/B testing and evergreen sequences, so check the table for which tier includes each one. Hunter states that sending emails through Sequences uses no credits.

Apollo sequences and the rest

Apollo’s Free plan includes 2 sequences, and paid plans remove that cap. Basic adds a deliverability suite with email warm-up, mailbox and domain purchasing, CRM integrations and a US dialer (dialer credits apply). Professional adds A/Z testing, AI lead scoring and more call recording minutes. Apollo also offers Gmail and Salesforce extensions on every plan, so reps can work from those tools.

In short, Hunter covers email outreach well enough for a founder or a small team. Apollo is closer to a full sales engagement platform. If you want calls, meetings and deal tracking in the same place as your prospect data, Apollo covers more of that ground. If you already run outreach in another tool, the extra features are less relevant. Whichever you pick, the cold outreach walkthrough on this blog deals with the sending side.

Credit costs

Credits decide your real price, so compare them action by action.

Hunter, per its help article on credits:

  • Domain Search: 1 credit per email revealed.
  • Email Finder: 1 credit per email found, verification included.
  • Email Verifier: 0.5 credits per check.
  • A search that returns nothing costs nothing, and asking for the same lookup again within one billing month is free.

Apollo, per its credits page:

  • Email: 1 credit per contact, covering a personal email, a business email or both.
  • Phone number: 8 credits per number.
  • Unused credits expire when a billing period ends. Annual customers receive the year’s allowance in one block at the start.

For email-only work, the two are close: one credit per address. The gap opens when you need phones, which Apollo prices at eight times an email, and when you verify outside lists, where a Hunter check costs half of one email reveal.

Pricing and free plan limits

Hunter plans

The Hunter pricing page lists five tiers. Some visitors see the page in euros rather than dollars; the figures are the same in both currencies.

Hunter plan Billed monthly Billed yearly, per month Credits
Free 0 0 50 each month
Starter 49 34 2,000 each month
Growth 149 104 10,000 each month
Scale 299 209 25,000 each month
Enterprise Custom Custom Custom

No Hunter tier charges for extra users, and the yearly option is shown as a 30% saving. Yearly subscribers get the full twelve months of credits on day one.

Apollo plans

Apollo’s page quotes its plans on an annual contract, which it says is 24% cheaper than paying month to month.

Apollo plan Per seat each month, annual contract Credits per seat for the year
Free $0 900, released in monthly portions
Basic $49 30,000, all at the start
Professional $79 48,000, all at the start
Organization $119, three seats or more 72,000, all at the start

A 14-day trial is available on both Basic and Professional. Because Apollo bills by the seat and Hunter does not, the gap grows with headcount. Three reps on Apollo Basic means paying for three seats, while three people can sit on one Hunter Starter account, sharing a single credit pool.

Settling Hunter vs Apollo for your team

Choose Hunter if:

  • Your prospect list is a set of company domains.
  • You want to show recipients where their address was published.
  • You verify many addresses from other sources.
  • Several people need access without per-seat fees.

Choose Apollo if:

  • You build target lists from search filters rather than domains.
  • Calls matter to you, so numbers count as much as addresses.
  • You want sequences, a dialer and call recording in one product.
  • Each rep will have their own seat anyway.

You can also use both, with Apollo for list building and Hunter to check the results before sending. If neither fits, our posts on Hunter alternatives and options beyond Apollo cover other tools.

Frequently asked questions

Is Hunter or Apollo cheaper?

For one user, the entry figures look alike: Hunter Starter lists 49 on monthly billing, and Apollo Basic lists $49 per seat a month on an annual contract. For a team, Hunter’s plans include unlimited team members while Apollo bills each seat, so the cost per person drifts apart as you add people. If you need phone numbers, Apollo’s 8-credit phone price matters more than the plan fee.

How do the free plan limits compare?

Hunter’s free plan resets to 50 credits each month. Apollo’s free seat gets 900 a year in monthly slices, an average of 75 a month. Apollo’s free plan also includes 2 sequences, and Hunter’s includes 1 connected mailbox for Sequences.

Does Hunter have phone numbers?

Hunter’s three core lookups (searching a domain, finding one person, verifying an address) all deal with email. If phone numbers are central to your prospecting, Apollo or another contact database is a better match.

Can I use Hunter and Apollo together?

Yes. One workable split is to build lists in Apollo and verify them in Hunter. Keep in mind that each tool charges its own credits, so plan your volume across both.

How do I compare their data quality?

Run the same 30 target companies through both, count the decision makers each returns, and verify every address. Compare bounce rates after a small test send. That test tells you more than either vendor’s database size claim. Our pricing page shows how we charge if you want a third option to test.

Make the call with a test

Sign up for both free plans, feed an identical shortlist of target companies into each, and verify what comes back. Then weigh the results against how you send: domain-first email outreach points to Hunter, and filter-based list building with calls points to Apollo.