Key takeaways
- Start by naming the part of Apollo.io you use most: the contact search, the sequences or the dialler.
- ZoomInfo, Cognism and Lusha replace the contact data, not the sending.
- Amplemarket and lemlist replace the outbound engine; Clay replaces custom enrichment.
- Pebbles Ai drafts outreach into your own mailbox rather than sending sequences, so it suits research-led teams.
Why do teams look for Apollo.io alternatives
Teams usually look for Apollo.io alternatives because their needs have narrowed to one part of the product or grown past it, not because the product stopped working. Apollo.io bundles a large contact database, sequences, a dialler and deal tracking, and few teams use every piece with the same intensity.
A founder who only looks up a handful of contacts a week may want a lighter lookup tool. A team selling into Europe may want verified mobile numbers from a vendor that describes its data as compliance-first. A RevOps lead may want to design enrichment logic step by step. And a small team that writes every message by hand may care more about research and writing quality than about sending volume.
What should you look for in an Apollo.io alternative
Look for the tool that covers the job you actually do every week, then check that the rest of your stack still fits around it. A replacement that copies every Apollo.io feature tends to bring the same trade-offs with it.
Take an illustrative eight-person agency that sells to logistics firms in Germany. Its sellers search for operations directors, write a short first email and follow up twice. For this team the questions that matter are data coverage in German logistics, whether follow-ups need to send automatically, and whether the CRM can stay as it is.
- Data coverage: test any tool on twenty accounts you already know well before you sign.
- Phone numbers: decide whether you call prospects, because some tools return only work emails.
- Sending or drafting: decide whether you need automated sequences or well-written drafts you send yourself.
- CRM fit: check whether the tool syncs with your CRM or keeps its own records, and how you get data out.
- Context: check whether the writing uses your own company knowledge and voice or generic templates.
How do the main Apollo.io alternatives differ
The main alternatives split into data vendors, outbound engines, enrichment builders and AI workspaces, and each is strongest in one of those jobs. The notes below are based on each product's own public pages; the product cards further down carry the sources.
- ZoomInfo: enterprise contact and company data with buyer intent, website visitor data and conversation intelligence, sold in quote-based packages.
- Cognism: verified mobile numbers, with data it describes as compliance-first, sold in quote-based packages.
- Lusha: email and phone lookups in the browser and your CRM, on credit-based plans with a free tier.
- Amplemarket: data, multichannel sequences, a dialler and deliverability tools from one vendor, with an AI assistant called Duo.
- lemlist: personalised cold email and LinkedIn campaigns with warm-up and a lead database in the same tool.
- Clay: a table-based workspace for building enrichment workflows across many data providers, with a free plan.
How is Pebbles Ai different from Apollo.io
Pebbles Ai is a go-to-market operating system with its own growing B2B contact database, GDPR compliant: one workspace where AI assistants research accounts, find leads at named companies, keep records in a CRM and draft outreach from your company knowledge. You describe your ideal customer, an assistant finds matching companies, then the right people at up to ten of them.
The boundaries matter. Pebbles Ai finds work emails, not phone numbers, has no dialler and does not send automated sequences: emails are saved as drafts in your connected Gmail or Outlook mailbox for you to send. Teams that depend on Apollo.io sequences or calling can keep it alongside, and Apollo.io is one of the MCP servers in the Pebbles Ai catalogue (the catalogue may change).
How do you move off Apollo.io without losing work
Move in stages: export your contacts first, let running sequences finish, and only then switch off what you no longer need. Apollo.io contacts export as a CSV file, which the Pebbles Ai CRM (in Beta) imports; check each other alternative's own import options before you commit.
Rebuild your best-performing messages in the new tool before the old one lapses, and keep a note of which accounts were mid-conversation so nobody gets a duplicate first email.
Apollo.io alternatives at a glance
Who each alternative suits and whether it publishes a free plan, in each vendor's own terms.
| Best for | Free plan | |
|---|---|---|
| ZoomInfo | Larger sales and marketing organisations that need deep contact coverage, intent signals and conversation intelligence under one enterprise contract. | No |
| Cognism | Teams that call first and want verified mobile numbers, with intent data on the Pro package. | No |
| Lusha | Sellers who want email and phone lookups in the browser and CRM with simple credit pricing. | Yes |
| Amplemarket | Outbound teams that want data, sequencing, calling and deliverability handled by one vendor with an AI assistant in the loop. | No |
| lemlist | Founders and outbound teams running personalised cold email and LinkedIn campaigns who want warm-up and a lead database in the same tool. | No |
| Clay | GTM engineers and RevOps teams who want to design custom enrichment and research workflows across many data sources. | Yes |
| Pebbles Ai | Small teams that want leads at named companies, research and drafted outreach in one workspace; it sends no automated sequences and has no dialler. | No; Pro and Team start with a 1-month free trial |
From each product's own public pages, checked 2 November 2026. Plans change, so confirm on each vendor's site.
The products compared
ZoomInfo
B2B data and sales intelligence platform
An enterprise B2B data platform for sales and marketing teams, offering contact and company data, buyer intent, website visitor data and AI email generation in packaged, quote-based plans.
Best for: Larger sales and marketing organisations that need deep contact coverage, intent signals and conversation intelligence under one enterprise contract.
Pricing model: Packages priced by features, licences and credits (1 export = 1 credit); quote-based. Source: ZoomInfo pricing
Cognism
B2B contact and mobile data
A B2B data provider selling verified mobile numbers and contact data it describes as compliance-first, with intent data on Pro and a CRM enrichment add-on in quote-based packages.
Best for: Teams that call prospects and want phone-verified mobile numbers, with intent data and CRM enrichment from the same data vendor.
Pricing model: Standard and Pro, quote-based, 5 seats included; 1 credit = 1 revealed contact. Source: Cognism pricing
Lusha
B2B contact data and enrichment
A B2B contact data tool for finding emails and phone numbers through a browser extension, CRM integrations, API and MCP, on credit-based plans with a free tier.
Best for: Sellers who want email and phone lookups in the browser and CRM with simple credit pricing.
Pricing model: Free, Starter, Professional, Premium and Scale, by monthly credits. Source: Lusha pricing
Amplemarket
AI sales platform for outbound
An outbound sales platform combining contact data, multichannel sequences, a dialler, deliverability tools, intent signals and an AI assistant, with included contacts on every plan and a free trial.
Best for: Outbound teams that want data, sequencing, calling and deliverability handled by one vendor with an AI assistant in the loop.
Pricing model: Startup, Growth and Elite, each with included users and contacts; Startup is on an annual term, Growth and Elite are custom-priced, and every plan includes a free trial. Source: Amplemarket pricing
lemlist
Multichannel cold outreach platform
A cold outreach tool for email and multichannel campaigns, with a built-in lead database, email and phone finder, LinkedIn automation, warm-up and an AI agent, priced per user.
Best for: Founders and outbound teams running personalised cold email and LinkedIn campaigns who want warm-up and a lead database in the same tool.
Pricing model: Email, Multichannel and Enterprise, priced per user, monthly or annual. Source: lemlist pricing
Clay
Data enrichment and GTM workflow builder
A spreadsheet-style workspace for building enrichment and prospecting workflows, pulling from many data providers with waterfalls and an AI web research agent, priced by actions and data credits.
Best for: GTM engineers and RevOps teams who want to design custom enrichment and research workflows across many data sources.
Pricing model: Free, Launch, Growth and Enterprise; monthly actions and data credits; unlimited seats. Source: Clay pricing
We make Pebbles Ai. Facts about other products come from their own public pages, checked on .
Where Pebbles Ai fits
- CapabilityProspecting & customer recordsFind fresh leads at one to ten named companies by role and location. Leads land as CRM contacts with a work email where one is found, a confidence score and a catch-all flag.
- CapabilityOutreach contentEmail and LinkedIn campaigns of up to seven touches, written from your company knowledge, with emails saved as drafts in your own mailbox.
- FoundationIntegrationsConnect Apollo.io from the MCP catalogue in Settings (the catalogue may change) and use it from assistant chat, following your execution mode.
Common questions
Is there a free alternative to Apollo.io?
Lusha and Clay publish free plans on their own pricing pages, while ZoomInfo, Cognism, Amplemarket and lemlist do not list one. Pebbles Ai has no free plan; Pro and Team start with a 1-month free trial.
Which Apollo.io alternatives include phone numbers?
ZoomInfo, Cognism and Lusha all describe phone or mobile numbers as part of their data. Pebbles Ai finds work emails, not phone numbers.
Can you use Pebbles Ai alongside Apollo.io?
Yes. Apollo.io is in the Pebbles Ai MCP catalogue, so a team can keep its Apollo.io account for data or sequences and use Pebbles Ai for research, lead finding at named companies and drafting.
Does Pebbles Ai send email sequences?
No. Pebbles Ai writes single and multi-touch outreach and saves emails as drafts in your connected Gmail or Outlook mailbox; you send them yourself.
About this page. Written by the Pebbles Ai team for people who run sales, marketing and growth. Last updated .
