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Apollo.io Pricing 2025: Hidden Costs & Money-Saving Secrets Revealed
Apollo.io pricing starts at $49 per user monthly, but there's more to the story. Looking at their four-tiered plans—Free, Basic, Professional, and Organization—I found that there was a complex credit system that affects your final costs.
The credit allocation varies across plans: Free users get 100 credits, Basic users receive 5,000, Professional users get 10,000, and Organization level subscribers receive 15,000. These credits run out fast when you look up contact details or make calls.
Let me break down Apollo.io's real costs and show you ways to get the most value without any surprise charges.
Apollo.io Pricing Plans Explained (Free to Organization)
Apollo.io's pricing structure uses tiers that work well for businesses of all sizes. Each plan allocates different credits that control your access to prospecting data.
Free Plan: What You Get and What You Don't
The Free plan costs nothing but delivers great value to test the platform. You get 5 mobile credits and 10 export credits monthly with unlimited email credits (subject to fair usage policy). Corporate domain accounts can send up to 10,000 emails monthly. Non-corporate emails are limited to 100 per month.
You'll notice the limitations soon. The plan restricts you to simple filters, two sequence automations, and few integrations. You can find leads by name, but your credits will disappear quickly when accessing contact details.
Basic Plan: Entry-Level Prospecting Features
The Basic plan costs $49/user/month (billed annually) or $59/user/month (billed monthly) and substantially increases your prospecting capabilities. Your monthly allowance jumps to 75 mobile credits and 1,000 export credits. Advanced filters, unlimited sequences, and integration with all email providers become available at this tier.
The plan also has pre-built dashboards and reports. You get bi-directional CRM integrations with Salesforce and HubSpot.
Professional Plan: Automation and Dialer Access
Teams needing stronger features can opt for the Professional plan at $79/user/month (annually) or $99/user/month (monthly). This tier gives you 100 mobile credits and 2,000 export credits monthly.
The standout features are dialer functionality, call recording, and A/B testing for email sequences. Medium-sized sales teams will find the automation tools particularly useful.
Organization Plan: Enterprise-Grade Features and Costs
Apollo's premium tier, the Organization plan, runs $119/user/month (annually) or $149/user/month (monthly). Your monthly credit allocation increases to 200 mobile and 4,000 export credits.
This enterprise-level plan adds advanced security settings, customizable reports, and permission profiles. After using up credits in any plan, additional credits cost $0.20 each. The minimum purchase is 250 monthly or 2,500 annual credits.
Note that all credits expire when your billing cycle ends. Apollo doesn't offer refunds or extensions.
How much does Apollo.io cost per month?
Apollo.io's monthly costs vary substantially based on billing frequency and user needs.
The monthly pricing structure looks like this:
For monthly billing:
Basic plan: $59 per user per month
Professional plan: $99 per user per month
Organization plan: $149 per user per month with a minimum of three users
Annual billing offers notable savings:
Basic plan: $49 per user per month (saves $10 monthly)
Professional plan: $79 per user per month (saves $20 monthly)
Organization plan: $119 per user per month (saves $30 monthly)
Credit consumption plays a key role in determining your final costs. Additional credits cost $0.20 each after you use up your plan's allocation. You'll need to buy at least 250 credits for monthly plans ($50) or 2,500 credits for annual plans ($500).
How does Apollo.io’s pricing work?
Apollo.io bases its pricing on a credit-based system that controls access to prospecting data. The system differs from flat-rate services because users need to understand how credits work in their ecosystem.
Credits act as currency for platform actions. My account's credit balance decreases whenever I reveal contact details, make calls, or export data. To cite an instance, revealing a business email costs 1 credit and accessing a mobile number needs 5 credits. My actual costs depend on both subscription tier and usage patterns with this consumption-based approach.
The platform's credit system follows strict expiration rules. My unused credits expire at the end of each billing cycle without refunds or extensions. This rule encourages users to maintain steady platform activity instead of occasional bulk operations.
Additional credits cost $0.20 each after my original allocation runs out. Apollo requires minimum purchases of either 250 monthly credits ($50) or 2,500 annual credits ($500), which can substantially affect my total investment.
What are the disadvantages of Apollo pricing?
Apollo.io has powerful features, but you should think about several drawbacks in its pricing model before you commit to the platform.
The biggest problem lies in the credit system that leads to unexpected costs. The original plan prices look competitive, but businesses need to buy more credits as they grow their prospecting efforts. You'll have to buy more credits once you run out at $0.20 per credit. The minimum purchase is 250 monthly credits or 2,500 annual credits.
Your credits expire at the end of your billing cycle without refunds or extensions. This means you must manage your credits carefully or risk losing your investment.
There's another reason to pause - Apollo limits data exports. Each time you export or sync data to external systems like your CRM, Outreach, or Salesloft, it uses up credits. Teams using multiple sales tools end up paying more because of this restriction.
Don't let the "unlimited" plans fool you. Apollo's Fair Use Policy caps free accounts at 10,000 credits monthly. Paid accounts are limited to either $Paid/0.03 or 1 million credits annually - whichever is lower.
How do Apollo credits work?
Apollo's credit system works like currency to access contact details and perform key actions. Here's what each action costs:
1 credit per email address verified
1 credit for each email enrichment
8 credits per mobile number
1 export credit when exporting a contact outside Apollo
Getting mobile numbers costs by a lot more credits than emails, which makes phone-based outreach more expensive. Users with verified corporate domains get 10,000 credits monthly. Non-corporate emails only get 100 credits per month.
You can customize your plan with add-on credits, but these only come as recurring purchases added to your billing cycle. The system charges you the full amount whatever time you buy add-ons during the cycle.
How much are Apollo’s features and integrations?
Apollo.io's feature pricing goes beyond their standard subscription costs. Users need to pay extra for several advanced features that power users often need.
Email finding and verification is crucial for prospecting. Apollo charges 1 credit per business email address found. Mobile number access costs by a lot more at 8 credits per number. These credit costs add up fast during large prospecting campaigns.
Teams should think over the costs of external platform integrations. Apollo's paid plans include native integrations with major CRMs like Salesforce and HubSpot at no extra charge. In spite of that, each contact sync to these platforms uses up an export credit. This becomes a substantial expense for teams that heavily rely on CRM synchronization.
API access adds another cost layer. Enterprise users who need programmatic access to Apollo's database must first get the Organization plan. Custom API pricing then applies based on usage volume and specific needs.
Advanced sequencing features come with paid plans but use credits whenever they access new contact details. The dialer feature in Professional and Organization tiers also works on the credit system for certain actions.
Sales teams need to include these extra costs in their total investment calculations. A five-person sales team doing active prospecting might need many more credits each month beyond their basic allocation.
Does Apollo offer a free trial?
Apollo.io lets you test their platform with a free plan and time-limited trials of paid tiers before spending any money.
The platform has 14-day free trials for both Basic and Professional plans. You can try premium features without paying upfront. The Basic trial has all Basic plan features plus 50 free email credits to experiment with. The Professional trial gives you access to Professional features along with 5 free mobile credits and 50 free email credits.
The trial periods have some restrictions. Your record selection stays limited to 25 throughout the trial. You can't link non-Gmail/Microsoft accounts for email campaigns during standard trials. These features become available only with paid plans or through direct trials from Apollo's sales team.
After your 14-day trial ends, you'll need to choose between a paid plan or the free "Starter" plan. The free option has unlimited email credits (with fair usage limits), 60 mobile credits per year, and 120 export credits yearly.
How to cancel an Apollo contract?
Canceling your Apollo.io subscription needs a clear understanding of the process and timing. The platform's termination policies have several key details you should know.
Your subscription type determines when you need to cancel. Annual subscribers must ask to cancel 30 days before their term ends. Monthly subscribers need to cancel before 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time on the day before their next billing date. Missing these deadlines will auto-renew your subscription for another billing cycle.
The cancelation process isn't as simple as it seems. Apollo's website states you can "cancel, upgrade, or downgrade your plan via your billing settings within the app". However, many users have found they need to use Apollo's chatbot to request cancelation instead of finding a direct cancel button.
Here's how to cancel through the website:
Log into your Apollo.io account
Go to Settings > Manage Plan
Look for the Billing section
Click on "Manage Subscriptions"
Select "Cancel Subscription"
How is Apollo.io’s cost calculated?
Apollo.io's real cost goes beyond the advertised plan prices. You need to look at both fixed subscriptions and usage-based fees to get the full picture.
Your total Apollo.io cost starts with the base subscription price from your chosen tier and billing cycle. You'll need to add extra credit costs when you use up your plan's limit. Here's how it works:
Total Monthly Cost = Base Plan Price + (Additional Credits Needed × $0.20)
Let's look at a real example. The Professional plan costs $79/month with annual billing. If you need 2,000 extra credits above your limit, your monthly cost adds up to:
$79 + (2,000 × $0.20) = $479 per month
Alternative to Apollo you can try
Looking for better options than Apollo.io? Several platforms might work better for your business needs. After looking at many options, here are the top competitors you should think over.
SalesIntel
ZoomInfo
Cognism
Seamless.AI
Want help picking the right option for your needs? Persana.ai uses AI to compare these choices against what you're looking for, helping you find affordable options that match your business.
The Bottom Line on Apollo.io Pricing
Apollo.io's platform packs a punch with its data-rich prospecting capabilities. The real cost goes way beyond the advertised monthly fees, though. A closer look at their pricing structure shows a complex credit system that can substantially affect your budget, especially if your team does a lot of outbound sales.
Smart credit management becomes crucial when you use Apollo. Your credits will expire when the billing cycle ends, whatever you've used. Your credit allocation drops faster when you access mobile numbers. Users often miss the extra expense from minimum purchase requirements for additional credits.
The platform's extensive database and automation features bring real value. Teams should add up their base subscription costs and expected credit usage to figure out their true investment. Your specific usage patterns will determine if Apollo turns out to be affordable for your business.
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