Apollo Pricing 2026: Cheaper Alternatives for Five Users

For five users on monthly list prices, Snov.io Starter ties with Smartlead Base as the cheapest flat-rate plan we could verify: $39 a month for the team, against $245 a month for five Apollo Basic seats. That saves $2,472 a year. Prices below were read on each vendor's own pricing page on 12 October 2026, and the saving holds only while your contacts and credits fit inside the cheaper plan's caps and you skip paid LinkedIn slots.

Toolradar data: Toolradar, the software directory we run, evaluates 109 sales intelligence tools as of October 2026, and 41% of them are free, freemium or open source. Free tiers are worth checking before any paid plan, so the zero-cost options get their own section below.

Five users, 12 months: the main plans side by side

The scenario is one account, five users, 12 months, at monthly list prices in US dollars. The table is sorted by what the team pays over the year. The Against Apollo Basic column shows the gap, and a plan that costs more shows as more.

Instantly Growth costs $47 a month, which would rank third here, but its feature grid lists team invites on Hypergrowth only. Five people therefore need Hypergrowth. Instantly's lead database is a separate Growth Credits plan at $47 a month for 1,500 credits, so a Hypergrowth team that buys both pays $144 a month, or $1,728 a year. That is still $1,212 below Apollo Basic.

Apollo's price per seat

Apollo's pricing page lists Basic at $49 and Professional at $99 per seat a month, next to a free plan and a custom Enterprise tier. Its FAQ says every seat on an account sits on the same plan, so a team cannot run Basic for some reps and Professional for others. Five Basic seats cost $245 a month. Five Professional seats cost $495 a month, or $5,940 a year, which is $3,000 more than Basic on the same billing basis.

Apollo also sells annual billing at a discount, and its FAQ says so. The annual per-seat rate is not among the figures we could quote from its pricing page, so Apollo's row uses the monthly price, and so does every other row that does not state a yearly figure. Two terms matter before you buy. A downgrade takes effect at once with no refund for unused time in the current cycle, and an upgrade to a bigger plan or a higher seat count also applies immediately.

The cheapest five-seat plans

Snov.io Starter is $39 a month with unlimited team seats, 1,000 credits, 5,000 recipients and 3 email warm-ups running at once. Annual billing saves $117 a year, which takes the yearly cost from $468 to $351. Its weak point is LinkedIn. Every LinkedIn account needs its own slot at $69 a month, or $62 on an annual subscription. Five slots add $345 a month, so a Starter team that automates LinkedIn for all five people pays $384 a month. That is more than five Apollo Basic seats. Snov.io's pricing page and our Snov.io profile on Toolradar cover the rest of the plan.

Smartlead Base is $39 a month on monthly billing and $32 a month on yearly billing. It covers 2,000 contacts and 6,000 sends a month. Its plan rows list contact storage, sends and verified emails, with no lead database among them and no per-seat fee on the page. Crossing 2,000 contacts moves a team to Pro at $94 a month, or $1,128 a year. That still saves $1,812 against Apollo Basic, so Pro is the realistic next step for a growing list.

lemlist Email costs $69 a month for unlimited users and senders, 50,000 emails a month, and a 650M+ leads database with an email and phone finder. Yearly billing brings it to $55 a month, or $660 a year. The data add-on is separate: $20 a month for 2,000 credits, which buys 400 emails or 100 phone numbers. Our lemlist review covers the trial terms and the sending limits in more detail.

Where the order flips with headcount

Apollo bills per seat and the flat plans do not, so the ranking depends on how many people log in. It helps to run the numbers at three team sizes.

• One user: Snov.io and Smartlead Base still undercut Apollo Basic, at $39 against $49 a month. Apollo Basic is also cheaper than lemlist Email at one seat.
• Two users: Apollo Basic reaches $98 a month, so lemlist Email's flat $69 is the cheaper of the two from the second seat onward.
• Ten users: Apollo Basic reaches $490 a month, or $5,880 a year. Snov.io Starter stays at its flat price with unlimited seats, and lemlist Email's flat plan does not change.

Before you switch, check whether your list fits the cheaper plan's contact or credit caps, because those caps are where the flat price stops being the whole story.

Who is not cheaper at five users

Lusha is not cheaper. Its Starter plan is $49.90 a month for one seat and 400 credits, and Professional is $69.90 for two seats. Only Premium covers five seats, at $399.90 a month, or $4,799 a year on monthly billing. Yearly billing brings Premium down to $3,599 a year, which still sits $659 above Apollo Basic on monthly billing. Lusha charges 1 credit per verified email and 5 per phone number, and the credit tier, more than the seat count, sets the price. Its pricing page lists each tier.

lemlist Multichannel is the most expensive. It costs $109 per user a month, or $87 billed yearly. Five users pay $545 a month, or $6,540 a year, which is $3,600 more than Apollo Basic. Multichannel adds LinkedIn and calls to the email plan, so compare it with Apollo Professional at $495 a month, not with lemlist Email.

Apollo Professional costs $495 a month for five seats. Apollo's FAQ describes it as the tier for full-time reps who need higher credit limits, AI features, call recording and advanced CRM integrations. If your reps need those features, the $3,000 a year gap is the price of getting them from Apollo.

Free plans, and what they cover

Clay's Free plan costs $0 with unlimited seats and tables, 500 actions and 100 data credits a month, up to 200 rows per table, and Clay Sequencer for email. Five users pay nothing. The 100 data credits a month cover only a small enrichment run, so the plan suits testing a workflow more than working a full prospect list. Clay's pricing page has the paid tiers, and our Toolradar profile for Clay gives the wider picture.

Lusha's Free plan gives up to 40 credits a month for one seat. It covers one rep's spot checks, and five people cannot share it.

Apollo's Free plan has no fee and a limited contact database. Its policy also caps non-paying accounts on a verified corporate domain at 10,000 credits a month, so the free tier is a real trial, not a permanent alternative for a team.

Hidden costs that move the ranking

• Snov.io LinkedIn slots: $345 a month for five users, on top of the Starter plan.
• Instantly's database: Growth Credits at $47 a month for 1,500 credits and access to the 450M+ lead database.
• lemlist data: $20 a month for 2,000 credits, which is 400 emails or 100 phone numbers.
• Clay data: Data Credits start at $0.05 each, so 1,000 credits cost at least $50 at the entry rate.
• Smartlead's contact cap: 2,000 contacts on Base, then Pro at $94 a month.
• Apollo changes: all seats share one plan, and a downgrade gives no refund for unused time.

Instantly's Growth plan also lacks an API and the Unibox reply inbox, which Hypergrowth includes. Teams that route replies through a shared inbox should price Hypergrowth, not Growth, from the start. Our Instantly review covers the rest of the product, and our best cold email software guide ranks the wider field.

How we priced this

We read each vendor's pricing page on 12 October 2026, in US dollars, and used the monthly list price for every row. Yearly prices appear only where the vendor's page gives one. The pages are Apollo, Lusha, Snov.io, Clay, Instantly, lemlist and Smartlead. Hunter sells its plans in euros on its pricing page and gives no US dollar price, so we left it out rather than convert it. ZoomInfo and RocketReach publish no list prices on their pricing pages, so neither is ranked. The method matches our Ahrefs alternatives cost comparison, our Mailchimp pricing breakdown and the Ahrefs pricing breakdown, which lists every Ahrefs plan.

If your list needs cleaning before any of these tools sends, our best email verification tools guide prices the checkers. For a wider look at senders and platforms, see our best email marketing software guide. Our newsletter runs on beehiiv, which we compare with Kit in beehiiv vs Kit.

Cite this: MarketingShot, "Apollo Pricing 2026: Cheaper Alternatives for Five Users", October 2026.

FAQ

How much does Apollo cost in 2026?

Apollo Basic costs $49 per seat a month and Professional costs $99 per seat a month, on monthly list prices read on 12 October 2026. Apollo also has a free plan, and its Enterprise tier is quote-only.

Is there a cheaper alternative to Apollo?

Snov.io Starter ties with Smartlead Base as the cheapest flat-rate plan in this comparison. Snov.io includes unlimited team seats, but its LinkedIn slots cost extra. lemlist Email, on its flat plan for unlimited users, beats Apollo Basic from the second seat. The cheap plans limit contacts, credits or emails, so check those caps against your list before you switch.

Is there a free Apollo alternative?

Clay's Free plan costs $0 with unlimited seats, but it allows 200 rows per table and 100 data credits a month. Lusha's Free plan gives 40 credits a month for one seat. Apollo's own Free plan costs $0 with a limited contact database.

How much does Apollo cost for five users?

Five Basic seats cost $245 a month, or $2,940 a year on monthly billing. Five Professional seats cost $495 a month, or $5,940 a year. Every seat on the account must sit on the same plan.

Which Apollo alternative stays cheap past 10 users?

Snov.io Starter's base price and lemlist Email stay flat, because Snov.io includes unlimited team seats and lemlist includes unlimited users. Snov.io's per-account LinkedIn slots are the exception. Apollo Basic would reach $490 a month, or $5,880 a year, at 10 seats.

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