Lusha vs Apollo: which B2B data tool fits your team

Apollo suits teams that want a contact database plus sequencing, a dialer and deal tools in one seat-priced platform, from $59 per seat per month (Basic, billed monthly) with 5,000 credits. Lusha suits teams that mainly need contact reveals, including phone numbers, from $49.90 per month (Starter, billed monthly) with 400 credits. Both offer free plans, a REST API and an official MCP server.

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

	Lusha	Apollo
Pricing model	Credit subscription; email 1 credit, phone 5, company 1	Per-seat subscription with pooled credits; email 1 credit, phone 5
Starting price	$49.90/mo Starter, billed monthly (400 credits); $37.45/mo billed annually	$59/seat/mo Basic, billed monthly (5,000 credits/seat); $49/seat/mo billed annually
Free plan	Up to 40 credits per month	100 credits per seat per month, 2 sequences, record selection limit 25
Data and coverage	Lusha says 515M+ verified contacts, 29M+ companies, 238 countries	Apollo says 240M+ contacts, 30M+ companies; intent data via Bombora
Email verification	Confidence tier A1 to A4 with update date; method not published	Seven-step verification plus waterfall, per Apollo; steps not published
API	REST key on every plan; Free and Starter capped at 100 requests/day	REST with OpenAPI spec; plan access stated inconsistently; paid plans 200/min general
MCP / AI agents	Official MCP server over OAuth; same credit balance	Official remote MCP and native connectors in Claude, ChatGPT, Perplexity on any plan
Phone numbers	Yes, 5 credits; mobile, direct or general with Do Not Call flag	Yes, 5 credits; US dialer from Basic
Compliance	Claims SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, 27701, 27017, 31700, 42001; GDPR and CCPA aligned	Says SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 (A-LIGN); GDPR, EU-US DPF, CCPA
Best for	Contact and phone reveals feeding an existing CRM or sequencer	An all-in-one prospecting, sequencing and dialing platform

Lusha and Apollo at a glance

Both tools sell B2B contact and company data on a credit-based subscription, and both now expose that data to AI agents. The main difference is scope.

Apollo describes itself as a B2B sales platform: a contact and company database combined with prospecting, enrichment, email sequencing, a dialer and deal-management tools. Lusha describes itself as a sales-intelligence platform focused on business contact and company data (emails, phone numbers, firmographics), delivered through a web app, browser extension, CRM integrations, an API and an MCP server.

On third-party ratings, G2 showed Apollo at 4.7/5 from 9,859 reviews on 2026-11-09. Lusha shows about 4.3/5 from about 1,660 reviews according to G2 search metadata from June 2026; the live page could not be confirmed.

Pricing and credits

Lusha lists Starter at $49.90 a month billed monthly (400 credits), Pro at $69.90 (600 credits) and Premium at $399.90 (3,400 credits). Billed annually, those are $37.45, $52.45 and $299.95 a month. Scale is custom. Lusha's pricing page does not say whether prices are per user, and teams over five users must contact sales. A verified email costs 1 credit, a phone number 5 and company info 1. Lusha charges a minimum of 1 credit per request even when no data comes back. Monthly plans roll unused credits over up to 2x the monthly limit; annual plans issue credits up front and reset at the end of the cycle.

Apollo prices per seat. Basic is $59 per seat per month billed monthly with 5,000 credits per seat per month, or $49 billed annually with 60,000 credits per seat per year. Professional is $99 monthly or $79 annually. Organization is $119 per seat per month, annual only, with a three-seat minimum. Credits pool across the 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 the add-on per-credit price is not published.

More detail: Lusha pricing and Apollo pricing.

Example. Maya Chen runs RevOps at Northwind Analytics and wants 300 work emails and 50 phone numbers a month for herself. That is 300 + (50 x 5) = 550 credits. On Lusha that exceeds Starter's 400 credits, so she would need Pro at $69.90 a month billed monthly (600 credits), with some headroom for lookups that return nothing but still use a credit. On Apollo, one Basic seat at $59 a month billed monthly covers it with 5,000 credits. If three reps later need their own access, Apollo's cost rises per seat; for Lusha, she would need to confirm with Lusha whether pricing is per user.

Data, verification and phone numbers

These figures are each vendor's own claims and have not been independently tested here.

Lusha says it has 515M+ verified contacts, 165M+ verified emails and 29M+ company profiles across 238 countries and territories; its MCP docs quote 100M+ business contacts and 60M+ companies. It claims 98% email accuracy and 86% global phone accuracy, and says sources are checked daily with contact fields refreshed weekly. Third-party reviews estimate its email accuracy lower, around 75 to 81%.
Apollo says it has 240M+ contacts, 30M+ companies, 2M+ data contributors and a 98% email accuracy rate, with intent data powered by Bombora. No refresh interval is published. Third-party G2 review themes include outdated contact records.

On verification, Lusha gives each email a confidence tier (A1 to A4) and an update date but does not publish its method. Apollo says it uses seven-step verification plus waterfall verification but does not publish the steps. For background on what these checks involve, see how email verification works.

Both sell phone numbers at 5 credits each. Lusha classifies phones as mobile, direct or general and adds a Do Not Call flag. Apollo includes a US dialer from Basic.

API, MCP and AI agents

Lusha issues an API key on every plan, including Free. Free and Starter are limited to 40 requests a minute and 100 a day; Pro to 50 a minute, 150 an hour and 1,500 a day; Premium to 300 a minute and 18,000 a day. Endpoints cover person and company enrichment (single and bulk of 1 to 25), prospecting, signals and ICP fit scores. Its official MCP server connects over OAuth, has setup guides for Claude, ChatGPT, n8n and Cursor, and draws on the same credit balance.

Apollo has a public REST API with an OpenAPI spec, though its pages describe plan access inconsistently. Published limits include 200 requests a minute on general endpoints and 1,000 on enrichment for paid plans, and 50 a minute and 600 a day on Free. Its remote MCP server and native connectors in Claude, ChatGPT and Perplexity are available on any plan, including Free, and can search and enrich, create contacts, build sequences and report on campaigns. Apollo also offers a CLI with an agent skill.

If MCP is new to you, start with what an MCP server is.

When to choose Lusha

Your main need is revealing emails and phone numbers, and you value phone type and Do Not Call flags.
You already run a CRM or sequencer such as Salesforce, HubSpot, Outreach or Salesloft and want data to feed it.
Your volumes are modest and you prefer monthly credits that roll over (up to 2x).
Your security review asks for the certifications Lusha lists, including SOC 2 Type II and several ISO standards.

When to choose Apollo

You want the database, email sequencing, a dialer and deal management in one platform.
You need more credits per seat at entry level: Basic includes 5,000 credits a month against Lusha Starter's 400.
You want an agent to go beyond lookups, for example building sequences through MCP.
You want intent data, SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001, and a large third-party review base to check.

Where Leadsets fits

Leadsets is a different kind of product: a B2B data API and remote MCP server for AI agents, not a sales platform. It offers eight tools for people and company search, enrichment, email verification and company website and careers page scraping, at flat monthly prices from $29 (Solo) to $999 (Max) with no credits and visible fair-use limits per five hours and per week. Free is 1,000 records, one time, with no card. Emails are labelled verified, catch-all, unknown or invalid.

It is not a fit if you need phone numbers (not offered yet), a sequencer or dialer, or SOC 2 today (Type I is planned, targeting Q3 2027). In those cases Lusha or Apollo is the better choice. See Leadsets vs Lusha and Leadsets vs Apollo for direct comparisons.

Questions and answers

Is Lusha cheaper than Apollo?

Lusha's entry plan is lower on list price: Starter is $49.90 a month billed monthly, while Apollo Basic is $59 per seat per month billed monthly. Apollo Basic includes 5,000 credits per seat per month against Lusha Starter's 400, so which costs less depends on your volume and number of users.

Does Lusha or Apollo have more contacts?

Lusha says it has 515M+ verified contacts, while its MCP docs quote 100M+ business contacts. Apollo says it has 240M+ contacts and 30M+ companies. These are vendor claims, so test both on your own ICP before deciding.

Do Lusha and Apollo have MCP servers for Claude and ChatGPT?

Yes. Lusha has an official MCP server over OAuth with guides for Claude, ChatGPT, n8n and Cursor, using the same credits as the app. Apollo has a remote MCP server and native connectors in Claude, ChatGPT and Perplexity on any plan, including Free.

Which is better for phone numbers, Lusha or Apollo?

Both charge 5 credits per phone number. Lusha classifies numbers as mobile, direct or general with a Do Not Call flag and claims 86% global phone accuracy. Apollo pairs phone data with a built-in US dialer from its Basic plan.

Do unused credits roll over on Lusha and Apollo?

On Lusha monthly plans, unused credits roll over up to 2x the monthly limit, while annual plan credits reset at the end of the cycle. On Apollo, unused credits, including purchased add-on credits, expire at the end of each billing cycle.

Can I use Lusha or Apollo for free?

Yes. Lusha's free plan gives up to 40 credits a month with the browser extension and CRM integrations. Apollo's free plan gives 100 credits per seat per month, 2 sequences and a record selection limit of 25, with no time limit.

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.

Go deeper

More comparisons