Leadsets vs Apollo: which B2B data tool fits your workflow

Leadsets is a B2B data API and remote MCP server for AI agents with flat monthly plans from $29 and no credits, plus website and careers-page scraping. Apollo is a B2B sales platform with a database it says holds 240M+ contacts, phone numbers, sequencing, a dialer, SOC 2 Type II and per-seat credit plans from $49 billed annually. Choose by workflow: agent-driven data or an all-in-one sales app.

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

Feature	Leadsets	Apollo
Pricing model	Flat monthly, no credits; fair-use limits per 5 hrs and per week	Per seat with credits (email 1, phone 5); unused credits expire each cycle
Starting price	$29/mo (Solo)	$49/seat/mo billed annually, $59 billed monthly (Basic)
Free plan	1,000 records, one time, no card	100 credits per seat per month, no time limit
Data and coverage	Work emails, roles, company data; US personal emails on paid plans; source and checked date per field	Apollo says 240M+ contacts, 30M+ companies; intent data via Bombora
Email verification	Waterfall; verified, catch-all, unknown or invalid with confidence	Apollo says seven-step verification, 98% accuracy; steps not published
API	REST, TypeScript and Python SDKs, idempotency keys	REST with OpenAPI spec; 200/min general, 1,000/min enrichment on paid plans
MCP / AI agents	`mcp.leadsets.ai`, 8 tools incl. scraping; 50 open-source skills	`mcp.apollo.io` on any plan; connectors in Claude, ChatGPT, Perplexity; CLI
Phone numbers	Not yet	Yes, 5 credits per number
Compliance	GDPR-aligned, CCPA opt-out, DPA; SOC 2 Type I planned (Q3 2027)	Apollo says SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, GDPR, EU-US DPF
Best for	Agents and GTM engineers wanting flat-priced data, verification and scraping	Sales teams wanting database, sequencing, dialer and phones in one app

The short version

Leadsets and Apollo overlap on people and company search, enrichment and verified emails, but they are built for different jobs. Leadsets is a data layer: a remote MCP server and REST API with eight tools that an agent or a workflow calls, priced as a flat monthly fee. Apollo is a B2B sales platform that combines a contact and company database with prospecting, enrichment, email sequencing, a dialer and deal management, priced per seat with credits.

Both offer an MCP server, so either can be used from Claude or ChatGPT. The deciding questions are usually whether you need phone numbers and a sending tool in the same product, and whether you want to count credits.

Pricing and how usage is counted

Leadsets has a free plan with 1,000 records, one time and no card, then four flat plans in USD: Solo $29, Pro $99, Team $399 and Max $999 a month. There are no credits and no per-record bill. Search and enrichment each have fair-use limits per rolling five hours and per week; Pro, for example, allows 15,000 enrichments every five hours and 75,000 a week. Records count only when data comes back, so an empty search uses none. Website and careers-page scraping is a separate add-on from $9 for 1,000 units. Full numbers are on the pricing page.

Apollo prices per seat. Its Free plan gives 100 credits per seat per month with no time limit, 2 sequences and a record selection limit of 25. Basic is $59 per seat per month billed monthly with 5,000 credits per seat per month, or $49 per seat per month billed annually. Professional is $99 per seat per month billed monthly with 10,000 credits per seat per month, or $79 billed annually. Organization is $119 per seat per month billed annually, with a minimum of 3 seats. Apollo says an email costs 1 credit and a phone number 5 credits, that unused credits expire at the end of each billing cycle, and that add-on credits are bought separately; the per-credit price is not published. For a fuller breakdown see Apollo pricing.

The practical difference: an Apollo seat buys a full sales app (sequences, a US dialer and CRM integrations from Basic), not only data. A Leadsets plan buys data throughput only.

Data, coverage and email verification

Apollo says it has 240M+ global contacts and 30M+ companies, a 98% email accuracy rate and 2M+ data contributors, with intent data powered by Bombora. It says it uses seven-step email verification plus waterfall verification; the steps are not published, and no refresh interval is published. Third-party G2 data shows Apollo at 4.7/5 from 9,859 reviews on 2026-11-09, with review themes that include outdated contact records and a steep learning curve.

Leadsets does not quote a headline record count. It sources from licensed suppliers and public sources it is permitted to use, re-checks every record monthly, and attaches a source, last-checked date and confidence to each field. Every email runs through a verification waterfall and is labelled verified, catch-all, unknown or invalid; uncertain results are never rounded up to valid. Coverage is work emails, roles and company data, plus US personal emails on paid plans. Leadsets has no phone numbers yet, and Apollo does.

API, MCP and AI agents

Apollo offers a public REST API with an OpenAPI spec. It publishes rate limits such as 200 requests a minute on general endpoints and 1,000 a minute on enrichment for paid plans, and 50 a minute and 600 a day on Free; API calls use the same credits as the app. Apollo states API plan access inconsistently across its pages, so confirm it for your plan. Apollo also runs an official remote MCP server at mcp.apollo.io with native connectors in Claude, ChatGPT and Perplexity on any plan, including Free. Through it an agent can search and enrich people and companies, create contacts, build sequences and report on campaigns. There is also an official CLI with an agent skill.

The Leadsets MCP server at https://mcp.leadsets.ai exposes eight tools: search_people, search_companies, enrich_person, enrich_company, verify_email, scrape_company, scrape_jobs and get_usage. The scraping tools turn homepages and careers pages into structured data, which helps with hiring signals, and get_usage is free so the agent can pace itself. The same tools are REST endpoints with TypeScript and Python SDKs, idempotency keys and Retry-After headers. Setup is covered in the MCP docs. Leadsets does not send email or build sequences; it hands lists to sequencers such as Instantly or Smartlead.

Example: a monthly enrichment run at Northwind Analytics

Maya Chen runs RevOps at Northwind Analytics (northwind.co). She wants Claude to enrich about 20,000 existing contacts each month, refresh titles and fill in work emails.

On Leadsets Pro at $99 a month, 20,000 enrichments spread across a few runs fit inside the 15,000-per-five-hour window and the 75,000 weekly limit, so the price does not change with volume inside those limits. On Apollo Professional at $99 per seat billed monthly, one seat includes 10,000 credits a month; at 1 credit per email, the remaining volume would need add-on credits, whose price Apollo does not publish. If Maya also needed direct dials and wanted her SDRs to sequence and call from the same tool, the Apollo seat would cover things Leadsets does not offer, and the comparison would tilt the other way.

When to choose Leadsets

Your agent in Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor, or your n8n, Clay or Make workflow, should call the data directly and reason over structured JSON.
You want a flat monthly price with visible limits instead of per-seat credits that expire.
You need hiring signals or a structured profile of a company website alongside contact data.
You want explicit catch-all and unknown labels and a checked date on every field.
You already have a CRM and a sequencer and only need the data layer.

When to choose Apollo

You need phone numbers today. Leadsets does not offer them yet.
You want one app for database, sequencing, a dialer, call recordings and deal management.
Your security review requires SOC 2 Type II or ISO 27001 now. Apollo says it holds both; Leadsets SOC 2 Type I is planned for Q3 2027.
You want intent data or an established database with published size figures.
You want a free plan that refreshes every month rather than a one-time allowance.

If neither fits, compare more options in Apollo alternatives.

Questions and answers

Is Leadsets cheaper than Apollo?

It depends on what you need. Leadsets Solo is a flat $29 a month with no credits, while Apollo Basic is $49 per seat per month billed annually or $59 billed monthly. An Apollo seat also includes sequencing, a dialer and CRM integrations, which Leadsets does not offer.

Does Apollo have an MCP server?

Yes. Apollo runs an official remote MCP server at mcp.apollo.io with native connectors in Claude, ChatGPT and Perplexity, available on any plan including Free. Leadsets also runs a remote MCP server, at https://mcp.leadsets.ai, with eight tools including website and careers-page scraping.

Does Leadsets have phone numbers like Apollo?

No. Leadsets returns work emails, US personal emails on paid plans, roles and company data, and will only add phone numbers once sourcing rights and costs are clear. Apollo offers phone numbers at 5 credits each.

Do Apollo credits roll over?

Apollo says unused credits, including purchased add-on credits, expire at the end of each billing cycle. Leadsets has no credits on paid plans; it uses fair-use limits per five hours and per week, and its 1,000 free records do not refill or expire.

Is Apollo or Leadsets SOC 2 certified?

Apollo says it is SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 certified by A-LIGN. Leadsets is not SOC 2 certified yet; Type I readiness work is underway with a target of Q3 2027, and it runs a GDPR-aligned program with a DPA.

How accurate are Apollo and Leadsets emails?

Apollo says its emails have a 98% accuracy rate from seven-step verification, though the steps are not published. Leadsets does not promise 100%; it labels every email verified, catch-all, unknown or invalid with a confidence score and publishes its benchmark method.

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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