Apollo vs ZoomInfo: which B2B data platform fits your team

Apollo and ZoomInfo both sell B2B contact data but are bought differently. Apollo publishes self-serve per-seat plans from $49 per seat per month billed annually, with a free plan, sequencing and a dialer. ZoomInfo's main platform is custom-priced (third-party Vendr median $33,500 a year) and suits larger teams wanting intent data, direct dials and warehouse delivery. Its GTM.ai product offers pay-as-you-go credits.

Facts about other products checked on 2026-11-09 · sources listed below

Feature	Apollo	ZoomInfo
Pricing model	Per seat, pooled credits (email 1, phone 5)	Custom platform contracts; GTM.ai credits with no seat fees
Starting price	Basic $49/seat/mo billed annually, $59 billed monthly	Platform not published; GTM.ai top-ups from $20
Free plan	Yes: 100 credits per seat per month, no time limit	GTM.ai Free: 1,000 data + 1,000 AI credits, expire after 12 months; ZoomInfo Lite (credits not published)
Data and coverage	Apollo says 240M+ contacts, 30M+ companies	ZoomInfo says 410M+ contact profiles, 122.9M companies
Email verification	Seven-step plus waterfall; steps not published; claims 98%	Syntax, MX, SMTP and risk checks; cites NeverBounce; claims over 95%
API	REST with OpenAPI spec; paid plans 200 req/min general, 1,000/min enrichment	Data API and several others, OAuth; rate limits not published
MCP / AI agents	`mcp.apollo.io`, any plan including Free	`mcp.zoominfo.com`, requires a ZoomInfo licence
Phone numbers	Yes, 5 credits each; US dialer from Basic	ZoomInfo says 135M+ direct dials; mobile on GTM.ai Enterprise only
Compliance	Says SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 (A-LIGN), GDPR, EU-US DPF	Lists ISO 27001, 27017, 27701, AICPA SOC report, EU-US DPF
Best for	Self-serve teams wanting data plus sequencing	Larger teams needing intent, direct dials and warehouse delivery

Apollo vs ZoomInfo at a glance

Apollo and ZoomInfo both sell B2B contact and company data, but they are bought differently. Apollo is a self-serve sales platform: a database plus prospecting, enrichment, email sequencing, a dialer and deal tools, with prices on its website. ZoomInfo is a go-to-market intelligence company whose main platform (SalesOS, MarketingOS and others) is sold as custom packages, alongside a newer self-serve product called GTM.ai by ZoomInfo with published credit pricing.

How we compared: everything below comes from each company's own pages, checked on 2026-11-09. Third-party figures are labelled as such. Database sizes and accuracy rates are the vendors' own claims and have not been independently tested here.

Pricing and how credits work

Apollo publishes four tiers, all per seat. Free is $0 with 100 credits per seat per month. Basic is $59 per seat per month billed monthly or $49 billed annually. Professional is $99 monthly or $79 annually. Organization is $119 per seat per month, billed annually only, with a minimum of three seats. Credits are pooled per team: an email costs 1 credit and a phone number 5. Unused credits, including purchased add-ons, expire at the end of each billing cycle, and Apollo does not publish its per-credit add-on price. More detail is on our Apollo pricing page.

ZoomInfo does not publish prices for its main platform. Buyers fill in a "Get pricing" form and receive a custom package. Third-party marketplace Vendr reports a median of $33,500 per year across 1,581 purchases, with a range of $7,267 to $156,000, and third-party sources describe annual contracts that auto-renew unless written notice is given. GTM.ai by ZoomInfo works differently: a Free tier with 1,000 data credits and 1,000 AI credits at signup (no card, expiring after 12 months), Pay as you go with top-ups from $20 and data credits at $0.38 each at the $1,000 spend tier, and an Enterprise tier with unpublished annual pricing. See ZoomInfo pricing.

Example. Maya Chen runs revenue operations at Northwind Analytics, which has three SDRs. On Apollo Professional billed annually, three seats come to $237 per month ($79 x 3), with 120,000 credits per seat per year. For ZoomInfo's platform she would need a quote; the only public reference point is the third-party Vendr median. If her team mainly wants an agent to enrich a few thousand records, GTM.ai pay as you go lets her test without a contract.

Data, verification and phone numbers

Apollo says it has 240M+ global contacts and 30M+ companies, a 98% email accuracy rate and 2M+ data contributors (inbox connections, CRM syncs and engagement signals) plus third-party providers. Its intent data is powered by Bombora. Apollo does not publish a refresh interval. It describes seven-step email verification plus waterfall verification but does not list the steps.

ZoomInfo says it has 410M+ contact profiles, 300M+ verified business emails, 135M+ direct dial numbers and over 95% accuracy, across 122.9 million companies; other ZoomInfo pages give different counts. ZoomInfo says its sources include a contributory network that reads email signatures, machine learning over websites, filings and job posts, human researchers and partners, and describes refresh as continuous. On verification it describes syntax, domain and MX, SMTP and risk checks for catch-all, disposable and role addresses, cites NeverBounce, and says it uses actual delivery attempts against catch-all domains.

Both offer phone data. Apollo charges 5 credits per phone number and includes a US dialer from Basic. ZoomInfo cites 135M+ direct dials; on GTM.ai, mobile phone data is listed only on Enterprise.

On G2 (third-party), Apollo shows 4.7/5 from 9,859 reviews on 2026-11-09, and ZoomInfo Sales about 4.5/5 from about 9,000 reviews per search results (live page not confirmed). Third-party review themes for Apollo include outdated records and a learning curve; for ZoomInfo, cost for small teams and contract terms.

API, MCP and AI agents

Apollo has a public REST API with an OpenAPI spec, though plan access is stated inconsistently across its pages. Published rate limits on paid plans include 200 requests per minute on general endpoints and 1,000 per minute on enrichment; Free is 50 per minute and 600 per day. API calls use the same credits as the app. Apollo runs an official remote MCP server at mcp.apollo.io and native connectors in Claude, ChatGPT and Perplexity on every plan, including Free, at no extra cost. Agents can search and enrich, create contacts, build sequences and report on campaigns. It also has an official CLI with an agent skill.

ZoomInfo offers a Data API plus Context, GTM Studio, Marketing, Platform, Agent and Copilot APIs with OAuth. Access depends on package, intent is a separate SKU and rate limits are not published. Its MCP server at mcp.zoominfo.com works with Claude, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Cursor, Codex and VS Code Copilot and requires a ZoomInfo licence (GTM.ai self-serve or Enterprise). ZoomInfo says data accessed through MCP may not be used for model training. New to the term? Here is what an MCP server is.

When to choose Apollo

You want published, self-serve prices and a free plan with no time limit.
You want data and sending in one tool: sequences, a US dialer and, on Professional, AI lead scoring.
You want MCP access on any plan, including Free.
You need SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 today; Apollo says both are certified by A-LIGN.
Watch for per-seat pricing, credits that expire each cycle, and Organization requiring three seats and annual billing.

When to choose ZoomInfo

You are a larger team buying a platform for sales, marketing or recruiting and expect to negotiate an annual contract.
You want direct dials, intent and signal data, and warehouse delivery to Snowflake, Databricks, BigQuery or S3.
You need broad integrations: ZoomInfo lists 194, including bi-directional Salesforce.
You want an agent-first entry point without a contract, through GTM.ai pay as you go.
You need established certifications: ZoomInfo lists ISO 27001, 27017 and 27701 and an AICPA SOC report.
Watch for unpublished platform prices, auto-renewal notice periods reported by third parties, and intent sold as a separate SKU.

Where Leadsets fits

Leadsets is a narrower tool: a B2B data API and remote MCP server for AI agents, not a sales platform. It gives an agent eight tools for people and company search, enrichment, verified work emails and company website scraping. Pricing is flat monthly with no credits (Solo $29, Pro $99, Team $399, Max $999) with fair-use limits per five hours and per week, and 1,000 free records to start (pricing). Emails are labelled verified, catch-all, unknown or invalid.

It is not a fit if you need phone numbers (Leadsets has none yet), sequencing or a dialer, a large established database, or a SOC 2 report today (Leadsets SOC 2 Type I is planned, targeting Q3 2027). Apollo and ZoomInfo both cover those needs. For direct comparisons, see Leadsets vs Apollo and Leadsets vs ZoomInfo.

Questions and answers

Is Apollo cheaper than ZoomInfo?

Apollo publishes prices from $49 per seat per month billed annually, plus a free plan. ZoomInfo does not publish platform prices; third-party Vendr reports a median of $33,500 per year. ZoomInfo's GTM.ai product does offer pay-as-you-go credits with top-ups from $20.

Does ZoomInfo have a free plan?

Yes, in two forms. GTM.ai by ZoomInfo gives 1,000 data credits and 1,000 AI credits at signup with no card, expiring after 12 months. ZoomInfo Lite is a free account whose credit allowance ZoomInfo does not publish.

Which has more contacts, Apollo or ZoomInfo?

By their own claims, ZoomInfo says it has 410M+ contact profiles and Apollo says it has 240M+ global contacts. These are vendor figures that have not been independently tested, and ZoomInfo notes different counts on other pages.

Do Apollo and ZoomInfo have MCP servers?

Both do. Apollo's remote MCP server at mcp.apollo.io is available on every plan, including Free. ZoomInfo's MCP server at mcp.zoominfo.com requires a ZoomInfo licence, either GTM.ai self-serve or Enterprise.

Are Apollo and ZoomInfo SOC 2 compliant?

Apollo says it is SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 certified by A-LIGN. ZoomInfo lists ISO 27001, 27017 and 27701 and an AICPA SOC report, and announced SOC 2 Type II in 2020.

Do Apollo and ZoomInfo include phone numbers?

Yes. Apollo charges 5 credits per phone number and includes a US dialer from Basic. ZoomInfo says it has 135M+ direct dials, and on GTM.ai mobile phone data is listed only on Enterprise.

Sources · checked 2026-11-09

Prices and features change. If something here is out of date, email support@leadsets.ai and we'll fix it.

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